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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

UC and 2 children cap

Peter Patton
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Chatsworth Care, Surrey

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Hoping someone can assist me with this clients case please.

Client is a single mum with 4 kids from age 3 up to age 15; she was on old style benefits HB, IS, CTC when in April last year she moved to the next LA area due to domestic circumstances beyond her control.
She was then told by the new HB office she could not claim HB there and had to claim UC, which to her utter dismay was then capped at the 2 kids limit.
Seems wrong to me when there was already benefits in place for her 4 kids she is forced to claim UC and suffer the 2 kids cap; she has lost c/£600 pcm in benefits since.
Existing now on some help from a charity and food banks and free fresh foods nearing use by dates being made available.

Recall there were/is ? rules when already on benefits for more than the 2 kids there remained preserved access to those former benefits for all her children and not be forced to claim UC and be subject to the UC 2 kids cap, but am having difficulty bottoming this out.

Anything from your knowledge here most welcome please

Charles
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Accountant, Haffner Hoff Ltd, Manchester

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There used to be a rule stopping claims for UC from people in this situation (and allowing legacy benefit claims), but that ended over a year ago now.
However, even under UC she should be getting for all 4 children, as all children born before April 2017 can be paid for.

Is it possible that what she is seeing is not the two child cap, but the overall benefit cap?

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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It may be worth mentioning that I have just seen a case in which the Benefit Cap was applied by UC to a claimant who was first of all exempt and then, if by anything at all, only about £20 over the cap. UC applied a cap of £135 for the AP.

They have admitted this was an error, but haven’t yet explained how and why.  So it could be another of these….

HB Anorak
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Benefits consultant/trainer - hbanorak.co.uk, East London

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Andrew Dutton - 20 February 2020 12:56 PM

It may be worth mentioning that I have just seen a case in which the Benefit Cap was applied by UC to a claimant who was first of all exempt and then, if by anything at all, only about £20 over the cap. UC applied a cap of £135 for the AP.

They have admitted this was an error, but haven’t yet explained how and why.  So it could be another of these….

They have a strange way of calculating the cap, which might explain that one.  They cap the maximum UC, before applying any income taper.  This is wrong of course, but it results in an award below the cap in cases where there is an income reduction

Peter Patton
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Chatsworth Care, Surrey

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thanks for the tips and advice here.
The client was indeed confusing the 2 child cap with the overall benefits cap having now seen pages from the UC award; and the way the UC assessment has been displayed is also confusing. The overall UC total quoted less the benefit cap deduction just does not add up. But when including Child Benefit in the sum deducted for the benefit cap it just about makes sense, so little wonder UC claimants are left confused.
Thanks again for the advice offered here. If I am still on the wrong lines here do let me know !

HB Anorak
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Peter Patton - 20 February 2020 01:15 PM

thanks for the tips and advice here.
The client was indeed confusing the 2 child cap with the overall benefits cap having now seen pages from the UC award; and the way the UC assessment has been displayed is also confusing. The overall UC total quoted less the benefit cap deduction just does not add up. But when including Child Benefit in the sum deducted for the benefit cap it just about makes sense, so little wonder UC claimants are left confused.
Thanks again for the advice offered here. If I am still on the wrong lines here do let me know !

Is the problem that her rent is £600 a month higher at the new place?  The amount of benefit ought to be exactly the same give or take a few coppers.  By my calculation her living cost benefits including Child Benefit come up £111 a month short of the cap, meaning she will only get £111 a month towards rent (or c£25 a week on legacy benefits).  The amount she is left to pay above that is the variable that determines whether she loses out.

If she is receiving less benefit in absolute terms, there is something wrong: either she was correctly exempted from the cap before and is wrongly subject to it now, or she was incorrectly exempted from the cap before and the error has been corrected now, maybe?  Any of the kids on DLA?

Gareth Morgan
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HB Anorak - 20 February 2020 01:34 PM

Is the problem that her rent is £600 a month higher at the new place?

Or has she moved from a high LHA area to a low one?