Universal Credit

If you or your partner currently receive any of the following then Universal Credit will eventually affect you:

• Working tax credit
• Child tax credits
• Income based job seekers allowance
• Income related employment and support allowance
• Income support
• Housing benefit

Universal credit is the government’s attempt to simplify the welfare system and to provide a greater incentive for people on benefits to work by ensuring they do not lose out financially. The government also hopes that it will reduce the amount of over/underpayment errors and fraud within the system.

It is already being trialed in parts of Greater Manchester and Cheshire and will be rolled out across the rest of the UK in phases between October 2013 and October 2017.

Claims for UC will be joint, as is currently the case for tax credits, but instead of weekly or fortnightly payments, under UC a single payment for the household will be made directly to a bank or building society account once a month. All claims will have to be made online.

The Department of Work and Pensions will receive information about earnings from HMRC (under Real Time Information reporting) and this will allow them to adjust the UC payment each month based on changes to income levels.

If you receive any of the benefits or credits listed above there is nothing you need to right now - continue to claim as normal and keep the DWP up to date with any changes to your circumstances.