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Deliberately moving from HB to UC in a digital area
My client is having a nightmare with HB because her wages fluctuate all the time and the LA won’t recalculate regularly. She is in a UC digital area, so if she asks for her HB claim to be closed, can she claim UC straightaway for housing costs? I’m assuming there is no gateway condition that stops her doing that in a digital area, but just want to check. In a live UC area I don’t think she could claim UC if she’s had an HB claim in the last month or 3 months (can’t remember off the top of my head).
Thanks
Doesn’t even need to close HB award and probably best not too. Simply making a UC claim should trigger transfer and then HB will end from when UC awarded.
This has just occurred to me… weren’t LA’s supposed to start using the live income data from HMRC for HB claims, too?
I also seem to remember reading somewhere that some small employers don’t provide live wages data to HMRC, so if any of their employees claim UC their payments wouldn’t fluctuate automatically and they would have to submit income data to UC?
Term time only worker who was on UC but found they messed it up so badly they accrued significant arrears from day one and the client is adamant they will not reclaim UC until absolutely forced to. Reverted to HB and we have found someone within the benefits team who will deal with each recon. as the holidays arrive. A less than optimum solution but a solution nevertheless.
This has just occurred to me… weren’t LA’s supposed to start using the live income data from HMRC for HB claims, too?
I also seem to remember reading somewhere that some small employers don’t provide live wages data to HMRC, so if any of their employees claim UC their payments wouldn’t fluctuate automatically and they would have to submit income data to UC?
I think PAYE real time info (RTI) for HB is mainly used for retrospective data matching to identify possible overpayments.
See: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/6592/
The micro-employer exemption for RTI ended in April 2016 - there are now very few exceptions.
This has just occurred to me… weren’t LA’s supposed to start using the live income data from HMRC for HB claims, too?
I also seem to remember reading somewhere that some small employers don’t provide live wages data to HMRC, so if any of their employees claim UC their payments wouldn’t fluctuate automatically and they would have to submit income data to UC?
I think PAYE real time info (RTI) for HB is mainly used for retrospective data matching to identify possible overpayments.
See: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/6592/
The micro-employer exemption for RTI ended in April 2016 - there are now very few exceptions.
Thanks, Jon
Similar situation with fluctuating wages but this client is not in a UC full service area. Can he choose to claim UC without needing a certain time gap since he last received HB?
There’s no issue with a time gap. HB will end entitlement from the day before any UC award and any overpaid HB will be recovered.
The only issue you might have in a ‘gateway’ area is the expected earnings being too high?
This CAB website says you can’t get UC if you’re waiting for a decision on a legacy benefit, but doesn’t include JSA in the list of benefits to which entitlement prevents you from claiming UC. So that makes me think that maybe you can choose to apply for UC if you’re currently on HB/JSA in a UC live area…
My client won’t be able to claim UC because, as Sarah pointed out, his earnings in the first assessment period would probably void his claim. But the main reason is that he’s over 60.5 years old (but not PC age yet).
Our handbook does include JSA in benefits your waiting to hear about, so will exclude from gateway - see p20, last bullet point
He’s already getting JSA, so he wouldn’t pass the gateway conditions due to the bullet point above that one.
Indeed
I think PAYE real time info (RTI) for HB is mainly used for retrospective data matching to identify possible overpayments.
See: http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/6592/
The micro-employer exemption for RTI ended in April 2016 - there are now very few exceptions.
Following on from that… in full service areas are they actually using RTI derived income figures yet?
My mole in HMRC thought there would be a fanfare when they began; penalties for micro employers that didn’t comply and the like yet it’s all been rather quiet.