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RE information on universal credits and benefits

loutom84
loutom84 Community member Posts: 2 Listener
Hi my name is louise i am currently on income support and i look after my disabled son. I have been looking at getting back into work but 16hours or less. I am just wondering how it would work with me still being on income support would i go over to universal credit if i took a job for say 11 hours a week on minimum wage. also i have heard that if i go into work then i have to wait 6 wks then for the likes of tax credits etc to start is this right or would i still recieve what i do each week?

Comments

  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Pioneering
    Hi Louise

    It is very unlikely that a move into work will lead to you having to claim Universal Credit (UC). However, you may be required to claim UC if you then had to give up work and tried to reclaim income support. It depends on when your area becomes part of the "full service" for UC. You can look here to see when your area is affected by the full service - until then you would almost certainly be able to return to income support. 

    A move into work will almost certainly make you better off, but it is difficult to say what is the "best fit" for you and how much better off you will be as it will depend on a number of things. It is likely that there will be at least two good options: 1) Limiting your work to earn no more than the Carer's Allowance earnings limit which is currently £110 per week (£116 from April 2017); 2) working 16 hours per week and earning as much as possible for those hours.

    I've made a number of assumptions here (e.g. i'm assuming you are single) and it would be well worth speaking to someone to get a comprehensive and exact better off calculation. To some extent you can do calculations yourself on the entitledto website here. You could of course speak to the Scope helpline for further advice.

    David
    The Benefits Training Co:

  • loutom84
    loutom84 Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    Hi David thank you for getting back to me. Yes I am a single parent. I have checked in my area and it's said currently not rolling out UC yet. I have done a calculation and got some figures and I am better off working but it had one figure for current system I'm on and another for if your on UC which confused me. So if I was to get a job and UC isn't being rolled out in my area how would that work -would I still keep child tax credits as I'm on now but instead of IS id get my wages?
    Thank you
  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Pioneering
    Hi Louise

    It depends on how many hours you work  and how much you earn. Like my colleague David said if you earn less than £110 a week you would still be entitled to receive carer's allowance and your child tax credits.

    If you worked less than 16 hours there is a possibility that you might keep some of your income support but only if your earnings were below a certain level which only a full benefit check taking into account all of your circumstances would allow me to ascertain.

    I would suggest calling the Scope helpline to make sure before you make any decisions.

    Best wishes

    Paul




    The Benefits Training Co:

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