Managed Migration

Your deadline day of 25 April is the day on which your tax credits will end. If you choose to claim earlier, they will end on the day that you claim. Any other legacy benefits will stop two weeks after the date you claimed Universal Credit.

Even if you miss the deadline of 25 April, you should still have a further month after your deadline day within which you can claim Universal Credit and still be eligible for TRANSITIONAL PROTECTION. This is known as your ‘FINAL DEADLINE DAY’. So long as a valid claim for Universal Credit is made by 24 May, your claim would be automatically backdated and you will still be eligible for transitional protection.

There are two potential problems with waiting until closer to the final deadline day.

1. Firstly, the gap between your tax credits stopping and your Universal Credit payments starting will be even longer than the normal five weeks (as your tax credits will definitely end on 25 April at the latest).
2. Secondly, you might run out of time if you have any last-minute problems in getting your UC claim completed

Contact Aberdeen City Council’s Financial Inclusion Team for further advice.

The Universal Credit rules make clear that you cannot be asked to take part in any work-related activities like job-seeking if you are eligible for Carer’s Allowance (or if the only thing that stops you being eligible for Carer’s Allowance is that your earnings are too high). Since this applies to you, Universal Credit cannot force you to look for work or take part in any other work-related activities.

Although you can’t be expected to look for work, there is a risk that your partner might. Where two people both provide 35 hours or more of care to the same disabled person, only one of them will be treated as a carer and be exempted from work-related conditions. The other carer is usually expected to take part in work-related activities like job-seeking.

If this happens to your partner, they should seek advice. The DWP can use their discretionary power to also treat your partner as a carer and exempt them from any work-related conditions. The number of hours you would be expected to work, if not classed as a carer, will depend on your own situation (for example, any health or disability-related problems).

But if you and your husband each care for a different person (for example, if you have two children who get DLA, PIP, CDP or ADP), then you would both be treated as carers under UC. This applies even if your husband does not qualify for Carer’s Allowance, so long as the reason why he doesn’t qualify is because his earnings are too high. In this case, neither of you would be asked to look for work or increase your working hours.

There is usually a wait of at least five weeks before you get your first UC payment after lodging a claim.

If the delay in waiting for Universal Credit payments to start would cause you financial issues, then it is possible to ask for an ‘ADVANCE PAYMENT’.

An advance is effectively a loan from the DWP that you will need to repay by having a regular deduction made from your monthly Universal Credit payments, once these start.

This does mean that your Universal Credit payments would then be lower than they normally should be for a period of time while you’re paying back the DWP for the advance loan.

Depending on your circumstances, there may also be other sources of support available to help with household costs such as water, fuel and other utility bills. Contact Aberdeen City Council’s Financial Inclusion Team for further advice.

On transfer to Universal Credit from ESA, if you have already been assessed as having Limited Capability for Work (LCW) or Limited Capability for Work and Work-related Activity (LCWRA), your status under ESA should transfer to the Universal Credit claim without the need for a new Work Capability Assessment and the LCWRA element should be paid from the first UC payment.

If you had a Limited Capability for Work element prior to April 2017, this should also be paid from the first UC payment.

Where a claimant was in the process of assessment of their capability for work in connection with an award of old style ESA at the time that award terminated, the assessment period for universal credit will be adjusted accordingly.

Similar provision is made in respect of claimants who were not entitled to old style ESA, but who were entitled to credits of contributions and earnings on the grounds of limited capability for work.