Tax credits stopped, now told to apply for universal credit

mandieclarke

I tried to change my tax credits from joint to single in  Jan 2017 .to which they were stopped in July 2017 ..I've emailed  wrote and rang ( more times than i can remember )  as was told it was easy to just do change of circumstances  .....finally after visit to job centre I got new tax credits to now been told  that I'm not  entitled   and I have to apply for universal credit    so fed up with this

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @mandieclarke, welcome to the community!

So sorry to hear this, especially after all the trouble you went to. UC is slowly being rolled out so more and more people are likely to be in similar situations. Have you begun the UC application now? Citizens Advice have some good guidance on preparing to apply, which you may find helpful.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi Mandie and massive apologies in getting back to you.

Unfortunately, if you're in a 'full service' area (i.e. the UC claims where you live are dealt with online) then this is correct.

Hope the UC is in now. Is there going to be a period for which you are not covered by either Tax Credits or UC? If so, if you have a disability you may be able to apply for backdating for up to one month. If you don't have a disability there is no provision for backdating, but in that instance it may be worth making a complaint to the DWP and asking for compensation.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Mary

kami24

yep they say that 'any change' in 'any' circumstance means that you come off of old benefits and onto the new which is crazy and what a waste of money the whole stupid 'universal role out' is . I think its unbelievable and this country needs to sort it out quick or stop all fraudsters so that genuine people with illness don't have to go through all of this