Universal credit

[Justme68]

Just checked my UC, and they took my disabled son off my claim he's 16 , but staying on at school 6th form untill he's 19.I genuinely didn't think that I had to let them know what was happening after he's 16.so this month I've got £129 to last me a month. I've now updated my journal page with my sons details, will I get my under payment back at all.

I'm surprised you were not asked but I suspect the expectation is that you tell them (and Child Benefit) that he's staying on.

Normal rule in UC is that if you notify a change it applies for the whole of the Assessment Period in which you notify. I fear therefore that you will struggle to get the Child Element applied for your August/September AP but give it a try and see how you get on.

I told CB he was stopping on and I though with doing that the UC would know too, I've updated my journal so let's see what they say.

CB is separate from UC.
you may need to do an appeal. Get on the phone to explain because getting an answer on your journal may take a while.

Will be ringing then tomorrow when ds is at school

Sorry, but they would have put it in tasks to be completed on your journal. They did for my -6 year old, I had to tell them by end of august if he was staying in education

*16 year old

Do be sure to use very clear language in the journal notes, stopping on is very colloquial and anyone down south might interpret that as stopping education not continuing.

Of course UC should pay you back. You didn't have a change of circumstances that you failed to notify. The correct process of for UC to put a question through your journal or a task asking you to confirm if the 16 year old is still in education. They can't just take him off the claim. They have definitely got this wrong and you need to kick up a fuss.

A To Do was uploaded into every relevant claim asking people to declare what was happening as regards their 16 year old. Not a payment blocker but did need to be attended to. So not necessarily UC that "definitely got this wrong"

@Justme68

I've just checked and it was in my to do list on 15/08

I also had a 'To do' for both of my teenage daughters regarding this.

@Blackbyrd where does the OP say that a To Do was put in her journal/claim?

@NotABeliever I don't think she does mention a ToDo. Does that mean there was not one or was it missed, for example because she thought telling Child Benefit (which of course is not DWP) was enough?

I agree that telling child benefit doesn't count because the two don't communicate or you shouldn't assume they do. However it seems that UC just bumped the OP's son off the claim once he reached 16 and that's not ok.

UC just bumped the OP's son off the claim once he reached 16 and that's not ok

I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here but the UC regs provide for the Child Responsibility Element (CRE) to stop on 31 Aug after the child attains 16.

If the child continues in non advanced education post 16 then it can continue subject to DWP being OK that the course meets the requirements of the regs in terms of content, time taken etc. DWP calls post 16s in education Qualifying Young People rather than children.

We're now in 21st century world where post 16 education is the norm. One can argue that, to dovetail with that, and other regs that prevent most U18s from claiming UC, continuation of CRE until 18 should be the default.

It should be an issue people are campaigning for.

Tax Credits I think are similar. Parent's with complaints similar to that of the OP are, for advisers, a common thing around now. One of the year's milestones along with relationship issues immediately after Xmas.

Hi can anyone advice me please 🙏 so when I have to claim universal credits will they ask me to find work I am sons carer he is 13 on dla but because his dad is working and gets good pay I can't then clam carers allowance sorry I have jumped on this page but can't find anything about it thank you

You can claim carer’s allowance. It goes on your earnings, not DH’s. With UC, you will be eligible for the carer element which will mean you won’t have work requirements.

@OvertakenByLego thank you so much for your help I am on tax credits at the moment so that's why I can't get cears allowance but when they tell me to move over to uc I was just wondering how it worked out

You can get carer’s allowance while claiming tax credits.

@OvertakenByLego OK but don't they just take if of you ? As in the man told me on the phone that if i want to claim cares allowance they will just take it of my tax credits ? So there will be no point ? Confusing to me really 😕

@Sunnyshine12121 carer’s allowance is taxable so counts towards income for tax credits and it reduces UC £ for £, but it is still worth claiming it because of the better NI credits.

Hi all. Just had the dreaded brown envelope through the door to migrate to universal credit. Anyone know will I have to increase my hours as my son is 15 years old and I work 25 hours? And also do we still have help with dental and opticians?

Hi, after some advice off someone who may have been through similar? I work full time but receive child tax credits. My son is disabled so I get the disability element too. As everyone is due to move over to UC I did an assessment and it looks like my UC payment will nearly half of what I get now due to the disability element on UC being a lot lower. Is this correct from anyone's experience? Very worried as I just about scrape by as it is 😔

@LindyOB the disabled child element is lower on UC compared to CTC, unfortunately. The severely disabled child element is the same. Don’t forget you will have a carer element. And you can have transitional protection to begin with.

@Misshowe it goes on earnings rather than hours. Some get free prescriptions etc. but I think working 25 hours is over the threshold (worth checking I can’t remember what the threshold is).

When I apply for ur what verification do they need online?