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Thinking of changing to Universal Credit from Legacy Benefits advice request
bigben1984
Member Posts: 4 Listener
Hello everyone
Looking for some advice please if possible in regards to changing from legacy benefits to universal credit
My partner unfortunately has become unwell over the last 2 years and now claims all eligible benefits but we are still currently on the old legacy benefits
We did a entitled2 check last night to find that we as a family would be far better off by a very large amount monthly if we went onto Universal Credit
The difference is £456.65 which is a huge amount of money to miss out on I’m also aware £80 of that would be the COVID uplift until April but even if that stops it’s still a huge amount of money to gain by changing over
My concerns are I’ve heard so many horrible stories about Universal credit and would love some advice please on what people would recommend ? Would we be crazy to change to Universal Credit or has everything settled down now ?
Looking for some advice please if possible in regards to changing from legacy benefits to universal credit
My partner unfortunately has become unwell over the last 2 years and now claims all eligible benefits but we are still currently on the old legacy benefits
We did a entitled2 check last night to find that we as a family would be far better off by a very large amount monthly if we went onto Universal Credit
The difference is £456.65 which is a huge amount of money to miss out on I’m also aware £80 of that would be the COVID uplift until April but even if that stops it’s still a huge amount of money to gain by changing over
My concerns are I’ve heard so many horrible stories about Universal credit and would love some advice please on what people would recommend ? Would we be crazy to change to Universal Credit or has everything settled down now ?
Is there anything else we need to be aware of if we change over ?
We currently claim the following
TAX CREDITS
CHILD BENEFIT
NEW STYLE ESA CONTRIBUTIONS BASED ( SUPPORT GROUP )
PIP ( HIGHER RATE ON BOTH PARTS )
CARERS ALLOWANCE
HOUSING BENEFIT
COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT
Thank you all in advance
We currently claim the following
TAX CREDITS
CHILD BENEFIT
NEW STYLE ESA CONTRIBUTIONS BASED ( SUPPORT GROUP )
PIP ( HIGHER RATE ON BOTH PARTS )
CARERS ALLOWANCE
HOUSING BENEFIT
COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT
Thank you all in advance
Replies
Some people are better off on UC but I would compare each element of your current benefits against UC elements
You wont get any tax credit if you go over to UC
You really need to get expert advice before doing anything maybe contact welfare rights
They stated we would get a 2 week run on with housing benefit and the only other benefit that will stop instantly is Tax Credits
Really not sure what to do and don’t want to make the wrong decisions
The government are supposed to compensate people who have lost the premiums but as far as I know it's half what you would get on legacy benefits.
I lost those premiums over 14 months ago. I'm still waiting on compensation.
I really hope you get the compensation soon that’s shocking
Welcome to the community, hope you're well.
I hope the above advice has been helpful. Please note that while benefit calculators offer a useful estimate of what you might be able to get, they don't guarantee entitlement. As advised above, it might be worth seeking professional advice on this, or wait until managed migration comes to you, as @woodbine says.
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It would be worth seeing if you can get a 'better off' calculator done to double-check your findings.
Some people are hundreds better off on UC, so it does happen.
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