Universal Credit is a single monthly payment to help towards your living costs if you are on a low income or out of work and replaced the following benefits: housing benefit, child tax credit, income support, job seekers allowance (income-related), employment support allowance (income-related) and working tax.
All Universal Credit applications are online so our contract holders will need internet access in order to apply. However there is a telephone number for Citizen Advice who can help complete the forms 08000 241 220. Alternatively, if someone is unable to manage an online claim, they can contact UC who can arrange for them to have a telephone claim rather than an online claim.
It should take 5 weeks between the applicant making a claim and receiving their first payment but can take longer where the case is more complex or the claimant fails to respond in a timely fashion to the “to do’s” on their online UC Journal. However, they can apply for an advance payment during this time to help with their living costs, which also includes their housing costs. This payment will then be repaid via deductions from their benefit over the following 12 months .
Unlike housing benefit, Universal Credit is paid directly to the applicant not to the landlord and their single payment contains their housing cost and personal costs. Their Universal Credit journal will show a breakdown of their payment. There may be a deduction in the amount paid dependent on the bedroom tax.
In some circumstances we can apply for direct payments (e.g if there are vulnerabilities/high level arrears) – This is called an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA).