Back pay from work and accrued holiday pay. How will this affect benefits

HMcC
HMcC Scope Member Posts: 12 Listener
edited May 2023 in Universal Credit (UC)
Hello. I'm not sure if anyone can help me but I'd appreciate any advice offered.
I am going to be dismissed from work on health grounds within the next month or two. I am currently claiming UC, ESA & PIP. Work stopped paying me in September 2022. I have been off work sick since January 2022. I've had regular meetings with my Matron (I work for NHS) and HR throughout my sickness period. They've informed me I will be receiving back pay, I don't know what dates the back pay covers. The amount of back pay will be around 2,000 I will get after tax, about 1,300. Then I will also get accrued holiday pay, but 
don't know the amount. My question is how is this going to affect my benefits? I recently received the COL. Will that be clawed back? I'm assuming I will have my benefits reduced accordingly. I am dreading it. All that I can see happen is my benefits will be all over the place, maybe I'd have to reapply even? This all comes as I approach state retirement age at the end of September this year. I would consider not accepting the back pay etc but that isn't possible. Also, would my Council Tax reduction be affected. All I can see are big problems, and I won't actually benefit at the end of the day.
My Matron (unofficially) suggested that I could drag my heels as much as possible to try and stretch the time out up to my retirement date then I would benefit from the money I've earned. I doubt it would be possible to do though as their time scale for my dismissal won't stretch that far. I am aware that the PIP won't be affected. My ESA ends 
I think in June or July. I've only just got everything sorted out and feel it's all going to start again, reclaiming stuff. Any replies are gratefully received. Thank 
you. 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Your ESA and PIP won't be affected. For the holiday pay your UC will be affected in the month you receive the money that's owed from your employer as it will be classed as earnings. If you're owed any redundancy pay then this is not classed as earnings, it's classed as savings.

    You have the work allowance which means a certain amount of earnings are ignored before the 55% deductions apply. If you claim for help with any rent your work allowance will be £379/month, if you don't it will be £631/month.

    Your UC maybe reduced to zero in the month you receive the money. If this happens you do not need to reclaim UC because your claim will remain open. Your UC will just continue as normal the following month.

    The CoL payment of £301 will not be affected and you will not have to repay that back.

    I'm not sure what happened here but there seems to be an issue with your thread and there's quite a long way to scroll down to be able to reply. I've flagged this to a member of the team who will hopefully be able to correct that issue so there won't be so far to scroll down. Please don't worrry because you haven't done anything wrong.

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