Moving from Child Tax Credits to UC

Dazzy999

Hi,

I work full time, earning 40K. Have 4 children. My wife is a housewife. We are currently getting child tax credit and child benefit for all 4 kids.

I get the following figures from the entitledto caluculator (tried all 3, get the same from other too)

I also called the citizen advice, they said that the calculators are pretty accurate but it doesnt look right to me.

First of all we dont claim housing benefit as we dont belive we are eligible for it (We pay £700 to private landlord)

I havent recived any letter for migration yet, Am i better off staying with child tax credits or consider moving to UC ? 

poppy123456

You can't start a new claim for housing benefit anyway because it no longer exists for new claims. UC includes help with the rent known as housing element.

As you have children on your claim then you'll be entitled to the work allowance, which for you will be £379/month, therefore you can receive that amount of earnings each month before the 55% deductions apply.

Tax credits will be based on the previous years earnings. UC is based on earnings received each month, so if earnings increase your UC decreases, if earnings decrease UC increases. It will also depend on how often you're paid your earnings. 

If it's weekly/fortnightly then your UC entitlement will be less because you'll receive more earnings each month.

I'd advise you to use a couple of different benefits calculators to see what it comes out with. I suspect that it will be more than what you're receiving with Tax credits because UC includes help with your rent, where as you're not claiming for help with that at the moment. 

One thing i will add is, please make sure you're 100% better off with UC because once you submit the claim you can't go back to tax credits. 

If you do submit you will at some point receive your final tax credits award notice so if there's an overpayment you will need to repay that back. 

Dazzy999

poppy123456 said:

You can't start a new claim for housing benefit anyway because it no longer exists for new claims. UC includes help with the rent known as housing element.

As you have children on your claim then you'll be entitled to the work allowance, which for you will be £379/month, therefore you can receive that amount of earnings each month before the 55% deductions apply.

Tax credits will be based on the previous years earnings. UC is based on earnings received each month, so if earnings increase your UC decreases, if earnings decrease UC increases. It will also depend on how often you're paid your earnings. 

If it's weekly/fortnightly then your UC entitlement will be less because you'll receive more earnings each month.

I'd advise you to use a couple of different benefits calculators to see what it comes out with. I suspect that it will be more than what you're receiving with Tax credits because UC includes help with your rent, where as you're not claiming for help with that at the moment. 

One thing i will add is, please make sure you're 100% better off with UC because once you submit the claim you can't go back to tax credits. 

If you do submit you will at some point receive your final tax credits award notice so if there's an overpayment you will need to repay that back. 

Thanks for your reply. Yes I am aware that you can't go back which is why I posted here. There are 3 calculators on the official UC website and they are almost the same with the calculation. 
Do you know what's the threshold or criteria for the housing element. Is it the same with the previous housing benefit or has it changed under the UC

poppy123456

Housing element and housing benefit are similar but some rules are different. 

If you're privately renting then your entitlement will be based on local housing allowance for the area you live and on how many bedrooms you're entitled to. You can check here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/ please do be aware that the amounts will be weekly, so you'll need to convert it to monthly.

If you're renting from social housing then you'll be entitled to full rent, unless you have spare bedrooms.

I always find this benefits calculator accurate but of course it will only be as accurate as the information you put into it. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/

The only thing i will say is that you mention your wife being a "housewife" there's no such thing when claiming UC.

At the moment she won't have any work commiments because of your earnings but this may change in the future.

Dazzy999

poppy123456 said:

Housing element and housing benefit are similar but some rules are different. 

If you're privately renting then your entitlement will be based on local housing allowance for the area you live and on how many bedrooms you're entitled to. You can check here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/ please do be aware that the amounts will be weekly, so you'll need to convert it to monthly.

If you're renting from social housing then you'll be entitled to full rent, unless you have spare bedrooms.

I always find this benefits calculator accurate but of course it will only be as accurate as the information you put into it. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/

The only thing i will say is that you mention your wife being a "housewife" there's no such thing when claiming UC.

At the moment she won't have any work commiments because of your earnings but this may change in the future.

poppy123456 said:

Housing element and housing benefit are similar but some rules are different. 

If you're privately renting then your entitlement will be based on local housing allowance for the area you live and on how many bedrooms you're entitled to. You can check here. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/ please do be aware that the amounts will be weekly, so you'll need to convert it to monthly.

If you're renting from social housing then you'll be entitled to full rent, unless you have spare bedrooms.

I always find this benefits calculator accurate but of course it will only be as accurate as the information you put into it. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/

The only thing i will say is that you mention your wife being a "housewife" there's no such thing when claiming UC.

At the moment she won't have any work commiments because of your earnings but this may change in the future.

The point of mentioning housewife was she didn't work so just one income. If you notice I've provided by screen shots, they are from entitledto, and I put in all the info including the lha entitlement and the no of beds etc  

poppy123456

If you put all the correct information in then it must be correct. 

Sorry I can’t be more specific but I don’t know how much net earnings you receive each month or how often you're paid so difficult to advise.

I will say that your earnings that you've entered seem wrong based on a 40K salary. Please double check. It's net earnings you need.

Dazzy999

poppy123456 said:

If you put all the correct information in then it must be correct. 

Sorry I can’t be more specific but I don’t know how much net earnings you receive each month or how often you're paid so difficult to advise. 

I've mentioned it all in the post  
40k yearly pay. Around £2500 after deductions paid monthly 

poppy123456

Dazzy999 said:

poppy123456 said:

If you put all the correct information in then it must be correct. 

Sorry I can’t be more specific but I don’t know how much net earnings you receive each month or how often you're paid so difficult to advise. 

I've mentioned it all in the post  
40k yearly pay. Around £2500 after deductions paid monthly 

You mentioned 40K salary but not net monthly pay..