Dreaded migration notice

[morningcoffeevanillalatte]

Hello everyone so as the title says I got the awful uc notice come through to say it's the most basic letter is an understatement. I have a question for anyone who has already gone through this process because upon calling them up they don't really no their arse from their elbow still 🤦🏻‍♀️

I understand once I apply for uc my tax credit payments stop however according to this letter it mentions a transition payment who actually pays it??

I have been given so much conflicting advice on it.

Do I continue to get any payments at all from anybody while this is being assessed??

They keep saying about an advanced payment that I have to pay back that doesn't make sense at all so I have to take out a loan that I wouldn't have needed to in the first place if TC continued to pay me until my uc assessment has been finalised.

Honestly can some please shed some light on this as I am panicking now. I don't want to be in debt and have my payments reduced.

Thank you.

What benefits are you getting now?

WTC, CTC, both or anything else like ESA or JSA that replaces income?

@Bromptotoo hello I get CTC & WTC aswell as DLA my child gets HRC and LRM so with my CTC I get the serve disability element which according to them I loose everything I get now until my claim gets processed.

CTC and WTC will stop straight away. DLA will continue to be paid as it's paid separately to UC. IT's one calendar month and seven days from the day you apply to getting your first payment and you will be offered an advance to tide you over those five weeks.
Transitional protection would only kick in if the amount of UC you are going to be getting is less than what you currently get in CTC and WTC now. I would say it's unlikely you will be worse off on UC as you'll have a carers element on there also.

OK.

Tax Credits are what will be replaced by Universal Credit. Your Child's DLA is not affected. I assume you do not have significant savings or other capital (a) over £6k or (b) more than £16k.

You don't mention rent or Housing Benefit. I'm treating you as a homeowner with or without mortgage or somebody living with family or similar.

When you claim Universal Credit (UC) your Tax Credits Claim will be ended effective the day before your UC claim. Unless there's money in transit payments of CTC/WTC will stop immediately. HMRC will check your income to date an finalise your TC account including any under or overpayment than might occur.

Your claim for UC will start immediately you make it. UC is calculated and paid monthly. Each month is called an Assessment Period (AP). UC regs prescribe what you are seen to need to live on. That will be a Standard Allowance for yourself, a Child Element for your Child and an Addition because of the DLA and rate it's paid at. If you pay child care you can add that too. There might also be a Carer Element as you're looking after a child with DLA. The sum of those is called Max UC.

The first AP ends one month after you claim. So if you claimed today AP#1 will end on 22 September. First payment will be 7 days later and will be your Max UC less an adjustment for net earnings ie after tax, NI and pension conts. Assuming you've no Rent etc you'll get a Work Allowance, earnings you keep before UC is affected of £631. For every £1 over that UC is reduced by 55p.

Without knowing your salary I cannot give an exact prediction of what you'd get in UC but for most people the difference from what they got in TC is small.

A claculator such as EntitledToo or Turn2Us should give an accurate prediction.

If you cannot manage over the wait period of approx 5 weeks you can get a UC Advance. This is repayable over a period of up to two years.

Transitional Payments are mostly protections for people who are worse off under UC. The main cohort affected that way are folks getting JSA, ESA or IS with Premiums for their own disabilities but it can also help if you've got Capital which counts in UC but is ignored in Tax Credits.

@Babyroobs has said the same as me only they're much more succinct!!

@Bromptotoo Thankyou so much makes sense now still a little crappy of them to make us take out loans.

So I don't get housing benefit I just pay my rent out of what I get as I was badly screwed over by them so I just decided to manage it myself instead yes silly I no but I didn't want to be back into a position of them over paying. I keep within my means and budget really well however this has sort of caught me off guard simply as I was total by tax credits i would be getting a run on while my claim was getting accessed obviously incorrect 🤦🏻‍♀️.

All I get is CTC, WTC, CB and DLA of HRC/LRM.

I currently don't get carers allowance as I earned too much while working but I am now currently on sick leave from my job so on SSP due to serve mental health issues. I don't no if I can go back to work yet so might have to put a claim for ESA at some point, I have had a number of break downs over the last 6 months and this has made it worse.

So I hope this gives a bit more info.. obviously if I take out an advance payment will I be paying lots back a month?? Also will I still be entitled to the cost of living payment this autumn??

I am so down now as it's happening now. All they keep saying is think of when you apply should I do it at the beginning of the month or end should I wait for next sick wages to go in to tide me over a bit?? So confused.

@Babyroobs thank you so much my anxiety is through the roof 🤦🏻‍♀️ x

@morningcoffeevanillalatte

If you're not working at present due to ill health, only on SSP AND paying rent but getting no HB I'm thinking you'll be better off on UC now. ESA only kicks in once SSP finishes and is <£90/week.

What was the issue with Housing Benefit?

If you're renting from a relative or have some weird species of undocumented tenancy then you might have some hoops to jump for UC as one would in HB.

OTOH, if the issue was around tracking fluctuating earnings, then UC does that automatically as it uses the real time numbers your employer reports to HMRC.

In your shoes I'd be looking at a checking tool or calling Help to Claim for a 'better off' check ASAP.

@Bromptotoo oh housing benefit was a nightmare kept I would put my wage slips in and it wasn't getting done correctly so they over paid and I had to sort it all out it was so much of a headache so I decided to do it myself. Yes I am checking the online thing but I don't understand all the deductions if I claim carers etc it's such a mess 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Bromptotoo I forgot to add my mum helps with my rent I got into such a state it really affected my mental health so decided to tell them I will manage myself with the help of my mum the over payment was nothing stupid only a few hindered but it was awful trying to sort it all out and gave me serve anxiety.

I'm in same situation. I work 29.5 hours per week currently and I'm worried I'm going to be forced to look for more hours.

@lollipoprainbow it's honestly a joke the way they're merging us onto it no run on payments we have to take loans out that need to be paid back shocking really so I will be worse off slightly paying their loan back that I didn't actually ask for.

You do not have to take the loan, it's completely up to you.

@Babyroobs I will have to unfortunately as I won't be able to get through 5 weeks without my tax credit income. I don't no anyone that could potentially last 5 weeks without a huge chunk of their income missing I am loosing £330 a week.

If I were to call uc do you think they could help me do the calculations I am trying online but getting all different amounts come up and it's rather confusing as I pay into a private pension but it's one of those were my employer pays in to so I don't pay a set amount each month it goes on my earnings but now I am on ssp I don't think I will be paying into it. Help this is stressing me out to the max. Thank you

Do children's savings accounts have to be declared with universal credit ?

Is there any particular reason why you can’t work full time? You won’t get much sympathy if you want the tax payer to fund your part time hours.

They won't be counted if in the child's name. I think it depends if you ahve access to them, it's a bit of a grey area I think.

@WhatAPalaverer I have a disabled child is that ok with you ??

If your pension is dealt with through employer's payroll and you get salary net of employee deductions then UC will use the same figure as is credited to your bank. Employer contributions don't affect it.

UC staff are not the best people to answer theoretical 'what if' questions and may be unwilling to do so.

The Help to Claim service mentioned upthread provided by Citizens Advice is funded by HMG specifically to help people navigate the system form possible claim to first correct payment. When it started clients were mostly people with some sort of change in their lives that led them to think 'do I need to claim benefits'.

I'm pretty sure now that receipt of a migration notice is a big entry point for them.

Just give them a call on 0800 144 8 444 - that's for England and Wales, there's a separate service in Scotland as there are differences in how UC works north of the Border.

@Bromptotoo yes it all comes out of my wages I don't directly pay into it separately. Yes I did notice that to be honest they couldn't arsed to help me yesterday when I was asking just standard questions doesn't fill me with much hope. It's hard because it's asking questions that I am confused on how to answer especially with regards to my income from work as my wages aren't the same due to going onto sick leave. I hate change I really struggle with it thankfully I get sometime to sort this out. I think I will give them a call to see if they can explain it more and they might be able to do the checker for me as I can't seem to get it right,

@morningcoffeevanillalatte I really would urge you to try Help to Claim. They will use a professional checking tool such as Quick Benefits Calculator (QBC) or the professional version of EntitledTo.

You should get a follow up letter or email including copies of the check outcomes including variotins if you're on long term SSP for example.

I think, particularly if you add in your rent, you'll actually be quite a bit better off on UC. I know that doesn't help you through the wait period but it's a real thing.

Your questions about variable income etc are commonplace. UC actually deals very well with that as there's a link to HMRC so UC pick up exactly the same net pay numbers you see on your payslip. If pay goes down due to being on SSP then UC will increase. Conversely, if it goes up due to extra hours or Commission then UC goes down.