All about universal credit

The Universal Credit is a payment granted by the Government to help with living costs such as rent, utilities and food.

Eligibility

Who can apply for this benefit?

It is especially aimed at people with:

• Low income
• Unemployed
• Living in the UK
• Who have less than £16,000 saved

Universal Credit and Other Benefits

If you enjoy any of the following benefits

• Child Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseekers Allowance
• Working Tax Credit

You don’t have to do anything, because Universal believes it is now unified: All benefits became Universal Credit. In case you need to report a change in your circumstances, you can contact the Drop Center directly, so they can tell you if you need to change or if they will change you to Universal Credit.

All you need to know

Disability

If you have a disability, and you are already using the Disability benefit, you cannot apply for Universal Credit in this case.

Couple – Married

If you are married or living with a partner, both your incomes and those of all the people living in the same house will be taken into account. In this case, both of you will have to do the process. You will each have to make the application, register in the system and follow a few steps. Everything will be done based on the income of both.

Students

If you are a full-time student and do not have any financial support from your parents, you can apply for Universal Credit without any problem. Or if you have children and are studying full-time, you can do so too.

Children

If you have children, you can increase the amount of the benefit:

• First child: £277.08, if born before 06/04/2017 If born after that, you will get £231.63.
• Second child or more: You will get £231.67 for each child.

If your child has a disability, the amount may be increased, ranging from

• £126.11 to £392.08, depending on the case

If you need help paying for childcare, the government can pay you up to 85% of the total amount of the childcare:

• First child: £646.35
• Two or more children: 1108.04 pounds

Disability

If you are a person with a disability or a health condition that limits you to work, you can get £336.20 in addition to the initial amount.

If you are responsible for a person with a health condition or disability, and that person receives some benefit and you care for them at least 35 hours a week, you can get an extra £160.20 over and above the initial amount.

• If you care for a person with a disability for at least 35 hours a week: £160.20 extra.

Housing benefit

Universal Credit also has a housing benefit that is related to housing costs. You can get help with housing, i.e. rental costs. But this will depend on your circumstances.

If you are a homeowner, you may be able to get a credit to pay the interest on your mortgage.

Your Income and Universal Credit

In case you start working or are already working, Universal Credit can start to decrease gradually. This means that for every pound you earn, you can have 63 pence of your payment reduced. There is no limit to the number of hours you can work or not work, but it all depends on your income.

If you start to have a full-time job, you may stop receiving the benefit.

First Payment

The first payment will take approximately 5 weeks to be made once you complete the application. Payment will be made directly into your bank account, meaning you need to have a UK bank account. The payment will be monthly, that is, if the first payment was received on the 2nd of the following month your next payment will be on the 2nd.

If you live in Scotland, you can opt to receive your payment every two weeks, but this will be once you have received your first payment. This means that 5 weeks after you receive your first payment you will be asked if you want to be paid every two weeks thereafter, but this is only in Scotland.

Duties and Obligations

It’s important to know that when you apply for Universal Credit, you also have to fulfill certain duties and obligations, such as committing yourself to look for a job.

They will advise you on the way to finding a job, they will assign you a person directly from the Job Center, who will be your guide to fill out applications, change or modify your curriculum if you do not have it or if you need it in another language. They will advise you where you can get a job depending on what you are looking for, what kind of job or where you can fill in the applications, etc., everything related to the job search. This will be part of your duties.

If you want to know how to apply step by step to obtain this benefit in a satisfactory way, then we leave you this article.