Universal Credit updates — Thousands to receive DWP cash boost TOMORROW after rule change – are you eligible?

Are you eligible for benefits?

A number of charities have benefits calculators that you can use to work out if you are entitled to any extra help.

This includes:

• Turn2Us
• Policy in Practice
• EntitledTo

It’s worth looking into, as if you do qualify, it could make you eligible for the £900 cost of living payment too.

How do you log in to Universal Credit?

Universal Credit claimants can see their online account by logging in via the gov.uk website.

You’ll need your username and password – which are the same ones you had to set up when you first applied for benefits.

If you have forgotten your login details, you can put in a request to reset your username or password by entering your email address.

If you have an online Universal Credit account, you can also sign in via gov.uk verify.

In a worse case scenario, you can always try calling the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644 (Textphone: 0800 328 1344).

You can also get in contact via NGT text relay on 18001 then 0800 328 5644.

There’s a Welsh language helpline available on 0800 328 1744 too.

Why have mortgage rates gone up?

The Bank of England has hiked the base rate 13 times so far since December 2021, from 0.1% all the way up to 5%.

It means mortgage lenders have to pay higher rates of interest to their savers as well as when they borrow from the money markets.

This has pushed up their “cost of funds” so they have passed their higher costs to customers by hiking mortgage rates.

Free debt advice

If you’re in debt there are plenty of services you can take advantage of and they offer free advice on how to manage debt.

Most of them can offer you free guidance and help in person, over the telephone or online.

Martin Lewis issues urgent warning to millions on Universal Credit

Martin Lewis has issued an urgent warning to millions of families on Universal Credit who could be missing out on free cash.

The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com said that these households could cut their water bills by £160 a year.

Martin said: “Water’s often the forgotten utility, but the bill certainly isn’t forgotten, with it being £100s for most and over £1,000 a year for some.

“While water firms are privatised – so there’s no competition and you can’t switch provider – there are still loads of other ways you can try to cut the bill.”

What is Universal Credit?

Universal Credit is a welfare scheme which was designed to combine a number of old “legacy benefits” into a single monthly payment.

The old legacy benefits it replaced are:

• Child Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Working Tax Credit

DWP to close 36 job centres

Dozens of Jobcentres will shut for good in months, affecting thousands of households on benefits.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is closing a further 36 Jobcentres as it looks to shrink its high street presence.

Free childcare available

All three to four-year-old children in England are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare – amounting to 570 hours per year – from the term after their third birthday.

The free allowance is usually taken as 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year, but it is possible to take it at a time that suits you.

The free early education and childcare must be with an approved childcare provider and stops when your child starts school.

Working parents may be eligible to get up to 30 hours of free childcare if they are working at least 16 hours a week on average and earning the National Minimum Wage or more.

Check out what you could get and apply online at Gov.UK.

Child benefit

You can get Child Benefit if you’re responsible for a child aged under 16, or if they are under 20 and in approved education or training.

The free money is paid every four weeks, and there’s no limit to how many children you can apply for – though only one person can claim for each child.

But do note that those who earn more than £50,000 a year may need to pay back some of their Child Benefits in tax.

While this help isn’t directly for childcare, the money can help to cut costs.

Tax-free childcare

If you don’t qualify for Universal Credit you may qualify for tax-free childcare.

You can get up to £500 every three months – up to a maximum of £2,000 a year – for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. 

If your child is disabled, it’s even more – £1,000 every three months, up to £4,000 per year.

To receive the tax-free benefit you need to create an online childcare account.

For every £8 you pay into this account, the government will add £2 which you can use to pay your approved provider. 

Who’s eligible for the pay rise?

There isn’t a minimum amount of working hours to qualify for this change, according to the DWP.

Instead, Universal Credit work coaches have been told that parents need to increase their hours by “at least a few hours more every week” to qualify for upfront cash.

Any increase in work hours would need to alter their childcare pattern by at least a few hours per week over the course of a month.

This means that parents will be expected to require more childcare hours to qualify.

It’s vital that claimants entering work or increasing their hours speak to their work coaches as soon as possible to request upfront childcare cash.