UC claim by QYP

Client is a single parent of an 18 year old daughter, who is in non-advanced education. Client has been getting CB and CTC/WTC.

Daughter became quite seriously ill a few months ago and has claimed PIP (good) and UC (not so good). She is awaiting a PIP decision, but has already been awarded UC. As a result Mum has heard that her CB has stopped, as have her tax credit payments. (She has no other children.)

So far as I can tell the UC award was incorrectly made, because the daughter was a QYP and therefore counted as “receiving education” and didn’t fall within any of the exceptional cases of claimants who can get UC notwithstanding that they are in education.

Client is losing a fair amount of CB and CTC already, and will lose a lot more if her daughter is awarded PIP, as she would otherwise have been able to get a disabled child element added to her CTC that might have been worth as much as £4,825 per annum.

My first thought is to suggest that the daughter cancels her UC claim and that the client re-claims CB and get her daughter reinstated on her tax credit claim, but I am concerned that if we proceed in this way the client will be advised that her tax credit claim has already been closed and can’t be re-opened. (As mentioned above, she doesn’t have any other children, but she does work 40 hours per week, so in that sense qualifies for WTC. However her income is sufficiently high that she won’t have any continuing tax credit entitlement if she’s no longer responsible for a child/QYP.)

From what you say, it appears the CTC should have continued, so you could perhaps get the decision to terminate her CTC revised. But even if not, it shouldn’t be a problem to make a new CTC claim, as she has an ongoing WTC award (albeit at a nil rate).

Thank you Charles, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.