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Worried about abolishment of WTC & how I'll manage on UC

TheSunAlwaysShines

I'm feeling really concerned about the upcoming phasing out of Working Tax Credits.

I am self employed and work from home, as I'm unable to leave the house, owing to disability.

We (my husband and I) claim Working Tax Credits, he has carers allowance, as he is my full time carer, and I get the enhanced rates for both PIP categories.

With my limited earnings, we manage ok on this and can maintain our lifestyle.

I was fortunate to have a Citizens Advice phone call with someone through my electricity supplier and she told me that when WTC were phased out I'd have to switch to Universal Credit.

She ran the numbers for me and said we'd be £450 worse off.

I thought that was ok and said we could manage, assuming she meant annually. But she meant MONTHLY! This is around 1/4 of our income and it's just not manageable.

I have been playing with the Turn2Us calculator all weekend and am coming up to similar figures to her - the results are showing we're not entitled to any UC at all. Or, if I play with the figures, I can get it to about £23 a month.

I am utterly confused. And very worried.

How can I go from being qualified to over £500 a month in WTC (I qualify for both the disability elements and severe disability) to virtually nothing on UC?

Even getting to an assessment is going to be very difficult both physically and mentally for me, so I am beyond stressed right now.

I haven't had any notification that my benefits are changing, but I want to be prepared for when it does.

Can anyone offer me advice on what to do next please?

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Comments

2oldcodgers

From memory I believe that it was the intention to pay less on UC than with WTC.
I remember when I was claiming Disability WTC the amount being handed to me was over £7000 a year which to me was a fortune and allowed us to have a living standard way beyond what I expected or even needed.
So it is no surprise to me that UC is cutting it down to subsistence level only - hence forcing the sick and disabled into some work.

poppy123456

2oldcodgers said:

From memory I believe that it was the intention to pay less on UC than with WTC.

That's not correct for everyone. Some are better off by claiming UC and some are worse off.

@TheSunAlwaysShines When managed migration takes place there will be a transitional protection in place so that you won't be any worse off when you claim.

As you have a health condition, if this limits your capability to work then you can report the health condition, supported by a fit note. You will then be referred for a work capability assessment. If you're found to have limited capability for work related activity (LCWRA) you will recieve an extra amount per month.

As you're self employed then you will need to report your earnings and expenses on the last day of your assessment period each month. UC is based on earnings received each month, unlike WTC which is based on your previous annual earnings.