Tax credits to UC

[boomboom25]

Hi everyone

Was hoping someone had an insight/been through this recently and can advise about the process!

I currently receive tax credits and housing benefit, however am considering voluntarily moving over to universal credit before it becomes compulsory next year.

According the the calculators etc I would be relatively the same if not slightly better off on UC but am worried about the timings of it all? And if/who I need to notify about the swap eg the council for HB.... and when, to ensure I am not weeks/months without payments...

Thanks 😊

Uc takes one month and seven days to get your first payment. You can apply for an advance to tide you over. I think you still get a 2 week run on of housing benefits. You don't need to notify anyone as tax credits and housing benefit will automatically stop once you make a UC claim.

@Babyroobs thank you!!
I get nervous because I had letters saying the dwp had informed them of changes so I assumed they communicated about everything then got in trouble for not updating my childcare costs 😬😬
I guess as a back up I could just call and double check they've been informed.
Any idea if I call tax credits to switch over or do I have to apply completely new online?

You need to make a UC claim online. If you have a partner then you each make seperate claim initially and it will give you a linking code to link the 2 claims together.