moving from tax credits to UC

Cheesecake

I currently receive tax credits for my two children. This includes my 19 year autistic son who I claim pip for on his behalf.

He will be leaving the education system soon so tax credits will stop. My question is, do I apply for universal credit for him or shall I get him to apply in his own right ?

He struggles making sensible financial decisions but at the same time I do want him to try to learn some independent life skills as I won’t be around forever there is no other family to help. 

Can other parents please give me some advice?

He looks and can at times come across as ‘normal’ however, he has the emotional regulation of a toddler and very limited social skills. He has been vulnerable to bullies in his school/college life. Despite all the issues he faced, he never had an EHIC but managed to scrape some reasonable exam results. He also suffers anxiety and depression and has had paranoid episodes in the past. He is on medication for this. 

Ideally I would like for him to get a job of some type but I worry about what type of work he could do but in the meantime until we find some type of work he will need UC.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you for reading this.

poppy123456

Once your tax credits stop for him then he can claim UC in his own right.

Claims can be done online. You will be able to claim on his behalf as if you were him. Put all of his details in when you claim. You will need to make sure you report his health condition and then it will prompt you to send a fit note within 7 days. He will then be referred for a work capability assessment usually from day 29. 

Once his claim is up and running and you have access to his journal leave a message and ask to become his appointee, if he’s unable to manage his own claim.