Universal Credit & earnings (2024)

FAQs

Universal Credit & earnings? ›

If you or your partner are working, how much Universal Credit you get will depend on how much you earn. There's no limit to how many hours you can work and still get Universal Credit. If your wages go up, your Universal Credit payment will reduce. If you stop working or your wages go down, your payment will increase.

Your Universal Credit payment will reduce as your wages go up, and increase again if you stop working or your wages go down. For every £1 you or your partner earns your payment goes down by 55p. This amount will be automatically deducted from your Universal Credit payment.

Your sanction should not be more than half your standard allowance. If you receive additional elements for Universal Credit, you will carry on getting them. If you receive money in your Universal Credit to help with your rent, it is important you carry on using it for your rent.

When your capital is £6,250 or less, your Universal Credit will be reduced by £4.35 a month until the value of your capital is £6,000 or less. Once your capital is £6,000 or less, your Universal Credit will no longer be reduced. If you have capital valued at £16,000 or more, you are not entitled to Universal Credit.

The scam involved true claimants, who were usually looking for extra cash, being approached by fraudsters posing as jobcentre staff or personal loan advisors. Then, in return for helping them put in false information, the scammers took a cut of £500 a time from the advance payments of £1,500.

Savings are counted as any money you can get hold of relatively easily, or financial products that can be sold on. If you live as a couple any money they have in savings or capital is counted as well. These include: cash and money in bank or building society accounts, including current accounts that don't pay interest.

DWP investigators do have the power to gather various types of evidence against those they suspect may be acting fraudulently. This may include looking into financial data, such as bank statements or savings accounts.

Universal Credit sanctions. If you don't meet the responsibilities you agreed in your Universal Credit commitment, without good reason, your payments may be reduced for up to 6 months.

High level. The sanction lasts for 91 days (approximately 3 months) for the first sanction in any 12-month period and 182 days (approximately 6 months) for a second high level sanction. High level sanctions apply, for example, where a claimant refuses the offer of a job.

If you fail to apply for a job or fail to accept a job that is offered to you or if you leave your job without a good reason, you may get a high level sanction. High level sanctions usually last for 91 days. If you have had a high level sanction before in the past year, the sanction might last 182 days.

Do Universal Credit need to see bank statements? ›

You'll get a message in your online account asking to see your ID and bank statements. You might also need to share documents about your circ*mstances and the amount of Universal Credit you're getting. For example you might need to provide documents about your: housing costs.

Universal credit is not a like for like replacement for tax credits. Some people will be better off claiming universal credit than their current tax credits and/or other benefits, some will be about the same and some will be worse off.

Deprivation of capital is when a claimant knowingly reduces their savings and other capital, or transfers them elsewhere either to get or increase their Universal Credit payments. This may be before making a claim or during an existing claim.

How and when you get paid Universal Credit. You will get your first Universal Credit payment about five weeks after you claim and you will receive payments twice a month. Help is available if you do not have enough money to live on until you get your Universal Credit payment.

The Flexible Support Fund is available across the UK through your local Jobcentre Plus adviser or work coach and may be able to help you with extra costs associated with getting into and starting work. It is a discretionary fund and your local Jobcentre Plus adviser decides if you can get it.

Universal Credit is calculated based on your circ*mstances each month. These are called your 'assessment periods'. You'll usually get your Universal Credit payment 7 days after each monthly assessment period ends. Changes in your circ*mstances can affect how much you're paid for your assessment period.

If your savings are: under £6,000, your benefit claim is not affected by your savings. between £6,000 and £16,000, you lose some of your benefit payment.

You can claim Universal Credit if you and/or your partner are in employed or self-employed work and are on a low income.

Despite benefits, including Universal Credit, set to rise by 6.7% from April 8, the actual increase in payments may not be felt until May or June due to the way Universal Credit is calculated. This calculation is based on an "assessment period" which considers changes in earnings and savings each month.