Our Money Advice Officer – Steven – has been keeping his expert eye on the changes to the benefits system, which have just begun or will be coming into place over the next couple of months.
Here he has created a summary of these changes to keep you informed.
From 28 November 2018
The two child limit rules have been relaxed for adopted or kinship care children, who no longer count towards the limit.
From 31 December 2018
18 to 21 year olds will automatically be able to get housing costs as part of their Universal Credit. (This group of people will have had to meet certain criteria before this change).
From 16 January 2019
If you get a severe disability premium in your benefits, you won’t be able to move onto Universal Credit and will stay on old-style benefits for the next few years, which will be better as you will be paid more. If you’ve already moved to Universal Credit and lost out on a severe disability premium, you’ll be able to get compensation for what you’ve missed, and some extra ongoing Universal Credit.
From 1 February 2019
If you have three or more children, you’ll no longer be exempt from having to claim Universal Credit if your circumstances change. The two child limit is also becoming more strict so it doesn’t matter when your children were born, you can still only get support for two of them unless an exemption applies to one or more of them. Before this change, only children born after 6 April 2017 were affected by the two child limit.
From 1 February 2019
If you are over pension age and become responsible for children, you’ll not be able to claim Child Tax Credit anymore, and support for the children will come from Pension Credit instead if you qualify.
The rules can be very complicated so it’s always best to get some help to understand them. Why not get in touch with Steven for some free advice: stevenh@wha.org.uk or 01925 246810
