Universal credit managed migration thread

[ChristmasCatBells]

Anyone else waiting for a migration notice this year?
Looks like they are planning to move people on tax credits only onto universal credit this year but haven't released any detailed timetables about areas.
Thought it might be useful to share experiences and information on here for those affected.

Just received migration notice today (Kent). Does anyone know pls if transitional protection starts from the date of the letter or the date you then apply and start the process of migration?

Sorry not 100% clear on the date you claim, so the date you start your claim will end up being close to your payment date? So as I am paid on 25th, starting claim in 2nd week of month would be safe bet for me?

@AlmostAJillSandwich
if you get the single persons disability premium in with your ESA & your in the support group
if you move over voluntarily you will lose almost 60 a week as it’s not inc in UC

For anyone with savings/capital it does look like they will implant a tariff on savings from £6k-£16k even though payment is meant to be protected for a year, so still budget for an income drop once you transfer across.

Where did you find this information? Has yours dropped?

I used the online calculators, I think it was “entitled to”. and looked at rightsnet.org. We will not know for certain until we actually apply and information is very vague. My deadline is 5/10/23 so going to hold off applying until beginning of September. Hopefully someone will post in a similar situation who has been through the process.

Oh, do the calculators factor in transitional protection then?

I've never found one that does

You may find you have an overpayment of tax credits because of the different way they calculate tax credits in the year you move to UC. Bonuses inflate your annual income disproportionately so it may be worth getting some advice on whether its better to claim UC before or after.

My pension contributions will more than cancel out the bonus.

Do you mean you are making additional pension contributions with the bonus?

in working out your annual income they will effectively assume you have received the bonus 3 or 4 times in the year.

I'm on ESA (Fortnightly) and am dreading going from weekly payments (TC) to monthly with UC. I'm used to budgeting for the week and I've never had to do a once a month thing. Even before I was sick and working my wages were weekly!

Bonus is 1.5%, 4 months into the year, so could be assumed to be 4.5% over the year. Pension is 5%. So roughly equal.

yes I found the same thing on one of the websites- I think it was entitled to

Apologies if this has already been discussed (couldn't find an exact answer).
I've been ordered to migrate from CTC to UC. Applied, and i've been summoned into the Job Centre next week. Following divorce, I am in a lucky position to have over £16k from marital house sale.

They've asked to see 3 months of bank statements - does anyone know if they actually pore through all your transactions? I don't think I want to live like that...

The capital can be disregarded for 12 months I think due to transitional rules. After that if you still have over 16k I don't think you would get UC. I guess bank statements will be to see if you had a lot of money post divorce and to check you haven't intentionally deprived yourself of capital. I don't think I realized until yesterday ( I am a benefits advisor) just how closely they can and do go through things when they want to determine where money has gone ! I won't go into detail as to what they were looking into but it was from years ago and how much money my client had received from somewhere !

My understanding from reading another thread is that you can hang onto that money for 6 months, and longer under some circumstances i.e. if it's being used to buy another home for you and the DC.

@whonickedmyusername that sounds awful. I didn't realise they would do that. Let us know how you get on. Is it because you are claiming housing benefit too?

She won't be getting Housing benefit if she has savings over 16k. Likely just child tax credits where savings don't really count unless earning over £300 in interest over the year.

Yeah doesn't sound great. Tbh i'm 99% not going to go for it as i'm a carer for my mum and it will affect her benefits (which trying to get was an awful experience) and I don't want to rock the boat IYKWIM.

Thanks for this @Babyroobs . Yes was aware of that, but i'm very wary of it affecting my mum's benefits too (i'm her live-in carer). This has only strengthened that tbh

You claiming Uc will not affect your mum's benefits.

@Babyroobs

• If the person you care for receives a severe disability premium as part of their benefits, they will lose this if you are granted the carer element of Universal Credit.

And she's already received the letter. Royal Mail is still bloody quick for some gov. depts!

Yes but you can still claim Universal credit without claiming the carers element if you don't want it to affect your mum's benefits. Or are you saying you would not qualify for Uc without the carers element added ?

If you are your mum's live in carer then she won't be getting the sdp on her benefits anyway unless all the other adults in the household are in receipt of a disability benefit also ?