universal credit income support migration letter

jjdd70

hi so sorry to ask but im getting myself in a right state today>Ok so we are on income support with full housing benefit and full council tax support leeds area.We have 3 bedrooms 3 adults in the house my self sleep in the 3rd bedroom becuase i cant sleep with my husband becuase of my disability so we get full housing on income support, dont pay any council tax neither.My husband is on standard care and high mobility im on standard care and high mobility but we have been each others carers for years so claim carers each, our son lives at home he claims his own uc and is on the lcwra support,Anyway has for my self and husband we got the migration letter to apply for uc i understand we have to apply separately so ive read we cant claim has a couple for uc?even though we are a couple my question is when i apply for both of us hopefully has a couple would we be put on the lcwra group automatically or is this something we both have to do and send sick notes in? and if we get full housing at moment on the form do i put down the cost of the rent of £100.19 that what our full housing allowance is and as for the council tax do we have to reapply separately for that because does uc pay for the council tax im really getting so confused around how do i put down we get full rent paid at moment or do i have to apply again to housing and council tax how do go about that many thanks for the help in advanced im so sorry to ask but googling comes up with different things

poppy123456

You each need to start a claim of your own. Then one of you will receive a linking code, which the other person needs to use to join both claims together. You can't claim UC as single people because you live together.

No, you will not be entitled to the LCWRA element because you're claiming Income Support. For this you will need to go through the work capability assessment because your PIP award doesn't automatically entitle you to this.

However, as you're both carers then you do not need to go through the work capability assessment because you have no work commitments as carers.

IF you report your health condition and provide a fit note to go through the work capability assessment and are found to have LCWRA then you could be worse off financially, if your UC includes any Transitional Protection.

The reason for this is because the same person can't receive carers element of UC at the same time as the LCWRA element. If your UC includes Transitional Protection, this will erode with the additional element being added and you will also lose the one carers element as well, which would mean you could end up being about £200/month worse off by going through the WCA.

Once a claim for UC is submitted your Income Support and housing benefit will continue for 2 weeks and then stop. Your first payment for UC will be about 5 weeks after your claim is submitted. Help with the rent will then be included with your UC known as housing element.

Both of your carers allowance will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. Your UC will then include 2 carers elements. You both need to make sure you report being carers when filling out the form.

I note that you're claiming an extra bedroom because you're unable to share a bedroom with your partner. When you claim UC you will need to apply for this again because it's not automatically awarded. A decision maker will need to make a decision on that before it's awarded.

Your council Tax reduction will continue to be paid through your local Authority because it's not part of UC. It will be recalculated based on your UC award. Unfortunately I can't give any further advice on that because all LA's have their own rules but some people have found that they need to pay more Council when claiming UC.

Citizens Advice have a help to claim phone number and you can contact them if you need help and support to claim.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/claiming/contact-us-about-universal-credit/

jjdd70

hi thank you for the reply when you say this(. If your UC includes Transitional Protection, this will erode with the additional element being added and you will also lose the one carers element as well, which would mean you could end up being about £200/month worse off by going through the WCA)

we do have the tp on the letter we recieved,so its best to state we are caring for each other and will that will automacily add the carers element be added to our claim or is that something we have to ask for?sorry for so many questions.also we are better of not putting in for the wca part in but it does ask for health conditions online do we fill that in or leave out that part

Also i hate been in debt even to my family so my other question is the housing element side of it when we claim uc is the rent back paid to the council if i put on the form i would like the rent to be sent directly to them instead of to me,I do suffer with brain fog and dont like to deal with that sort of thing id forget my own name sometimes

poppy123456

TP will be included in your first statement if your UC entitlement is less than your current benefits and they won't know that until Income Support send the figures across to them.

When you fill out the form it will ask if you're caring for someone, you should. both answer yes to that part. Your UC will then include 2 carers elements. Both of your carers allowance will be deducted in full and you will continue to receive the money from carers allowance as normal.

When it asks if you have a health condition you can tick yes. It will then ask you if that affects your ability to work and for this you should tick no and then it will not prompt you to provide a fit note.

Once a claim for UC is submitted your IS and HB will both continue for 2 weeks. Your first UC payment will be just under 5 weeks after submitting your claim. Your payment will be for 1 months money. For example, if you claimed UC on 15th of the month, this means your assessment periods will be 15th to 14th of every month and your payment date will be 21st of every month, unless payment date falls on a weekend or bank holiday and then you will receive payment on the Friday before. That payment will be for the period of 15th to 14th and that's how it works each month.

Yes, you can ask for them to pay your landlord directly and then your rent will be sent on the same date as your payment date.

jjdd70

Hi poppy123456 im getting myself worked up today im so sorry ive used these benefit calculator but geting too many conflicts

we get income support £160 weekly

get full housing paid of £100.19

we get full council tax £30.79

£81.90 x2 weekly so £163.80 thats for 2 carers weekly

i know both our pip doesnt count so i wont put that down

we have a non dependent in the house he claims uc for his self

someone said if 1 of us claims the health part of uc we would be £200 worst off a week i dont know what to put on the form and what we would get if we claimed 1 health reasons and 1 carers element

poppy123456

There will be no non dependent deductions for housing because you are claiming daily living PIP.

As you are both claiming carers allowance then your UC will also include 2 carers elements. Yes, if you look back at my first comment here you will see that I advised you about the loss of one carers element and your Transitional Protection if one of you goes through the work capability assessment and are found to have LCWRA. This would mean you would be about £200/month worse off.

I can’t tell you what you should do, I can only advise but if it was me I would not go through the work capability assessment now and I would just claim as carers. You will not have any work commitments as carers.

There is an Upper Tribunal case about the removal of the carers element and the loss of the Transitional Protection but no decision has been made on that yet as far as I’m aware.

For council Tax reduction this will be recalculated based on your UC entitlement. As all local Authorities have their own rules on that I won’t be able to advise, other than to say some people have had to pay more Council Tax once they’ve claimed UC.

jjdd70

poppy123456 does that mean before myuc is sorted i have to pay for our housing 3 weeks rent before its sorted wonder if my leeds housing will do a descprenion payment or will that mean i will owe 3 weeks rent money to leeds housing?

jjdd70

When migrating to Universal Credit, you typically receive your existing Housing Benefit for an additional two weeks after applying, meaning you do not need to worry about paying the remaining weeks as this is automatically factored into the transition process; you will not be expected to pay the remaining weeks of Housing Benefit separately as it is considered part of the transition period and will not affect your Universal Credit amount.