Working tax credit

Hi Denise yes it seems my area is a UC area , so will get help with housing benefit or something ..thanks in advance 

Hi,

Have you thought about doing permitted work while still claiming ESA? The only thing with this is you have to work less than 16 hours per week and earn no more than £125.50 per week after tax and NI. You can do this and still keep all of your ESA and other benefits BUT you must inform DWP before starting work because you'll need to fill out a PW1 form. This will also give you the opportunity to see how working goes for you before you decide fully how many hours you can cope with. Coming off ESA and working is huge difference and so many people do this and then go on to find out that they can't cope. Google permitted work to see all the rules for yourself.

Failing that because you're in a full UC area as i stated you won't be able to claim WTC, it has to be UC. Your housing benefit will stop once you've started a claim for UC. likewise so will your ESA and any other benefits you receive. The housing benefit (element) will be included in the UC monthly payment. UC is paid monthly not weekly. Council tax reduction is NOT part of UC so you'll need to claim for this from your local council.

New claimants for UC have a 6 week wait before receiving their first payment, so you would need to contact your landlord to tell them this. Also when claiming UC it has an assessment period and if you're paid wages twice within that assessment period then you'll receive less UC that month. This means that there could be some months when you won't receive any UC because you've been paid wages twice during that assessment period. Assessment period differ for everyone and it will depend on when you start your claim, when yours will be. If it works out that you have a month without any UC then the following month you could receive more.  There is also no disability element to UC like there was with WTC. UC is very complex and for this reason before you decide to do anything i'd ring your local CAB or the likes for a full benefits check. They will also be able to explain it in more detail than i can. I'm still training my brain with UC, i'm getting there but i'm not as clued up on this like i am with the old benefits.

Hope this helps, a little. Good luck.

 

PIP isn't part of UC and you'll still receive that as normal.

Thanks Denise I do recieve pip ,but feel I am ready to start work in an office so I’m not in my feet , I was offered 15 hours and refused as I thought I wouldn’t get any help I should have asked you first as I would have known ...

thanks  again for your valuable input 

You're welcome. Maybe you can speak to them about those 15 hours? As long as the weekly pay is less than what i stated above.  Anything is better than moving onto UC in my opinion.

Are you in a group for ESA or assessment rate? You say standard rate, is that daily living? If so then you should also be claiming the Severe disability premium on top of your ESA, providing no one claims Carers Allowance for looking after you. I just want to make sure you're claiming everything you should be claiming even though you're considering returning to work.

Good luck with your job if you decide to stop your ESA.