Benefits Factsheet
If you are out of work and do not have significant savings to live on, you may want to look at claiming benefits. Most people will need to claim Universal Credit but you may also be able to claim additional benefits if you have children in the form of child benefit and/or disability living allowance. If you have a disability or ongoing health condition or if you are caring for another person who has a disability or ongoing health condition who is able to receive benefits for this.
To find out how much you could apply for any benefits, including how it will be affected by any savings, use the benefits calculators on the
Turn to Us website or on the
EntitledTo website
More information about Universal Credit can be found at this
link
If you need to make a new application for benefits, due to redundancy or reduced income you will need to apply for Universal Credit. Universal Credit has replaced all the old benefits such as Job Seekers Allowance.
Universal Credit is made up of a standard allowance and then additional elements are added on for housing, whether you have children and whether you have an illness or disability that means you have limited capability for work.
If you are part of a couple your partner’s savings and income will be taken into account. You will not be entitled to Universal Credit if you have over £16,000 in savings.
Claiming as a couple – When you click to state you are claiming as a couple you will be given a code. The second person then starts their claim and inputs the code. This joins together the two applications. The benefits will be paid into one bank account so you need to decide together where this will be. Click
here for more information on claiming as a couple.
Advances – There is a five week wait before Universal Credit starts to be paid. You can get up to two advance payments for Universal Credit. This can be as high as 100% of what you are projected to get each month in UC Payments. Whilst it may be tempting to borrow as much as possible to get you through the five week wait for payments to kick in, do remember that they have to be repaid within a period of twelve months and that the repayments will be taken out of further benefits. You can ask us for help with food to try and keep the amount you need to borrow as low as possible.
How to apply: Ensure that you have the list of documents required and then click
here. If you have any difficulties with your application, please contact us and we can help!
When you apply you will need an email address. If you do not have an email address click the link below which shows you how to set one up. You will also need a contact number and details of your last job/s, childcare provider, rent, landlord and any savings. If you are a carer for a person with a disability for over 35 hours a week you will need their details.
Redundancy and Universal Credit
Any claims for Universal Credit should not be affected if you are made redundant, or if you have taken voluntary redundancy as long as your company is going through the redundancy process.
Whilst your redundancy payment is not counted as income it will be counted as capital and could affect the level of Universal Credit that you can receive.
Pay in lieu of notice and holiday pay are treated as earnings for Universal Credit for the assessment period in which they are paid. As Universal Credit is paid in arrears and is based on what you earned the previous month your first payment could be affected by this.
For more information about the various benefits mentioned please click on one of the following links: