WTC migration to UC - questions re transitional protection & stopping UC

Really sorry to hear this happened to you, and shocking to hear that they actually do this sort of penalisation for having savings up to £16K! You would think they'd want to encourage saving, so in the long term, you are entitled to less state pension say, as it's clear they intend to make that means tested in future.

Thanks Chris. To be honest it doesn't look like Labour will be any different or undo any of the proposed changes to the benefits system.
For eg, all the rifling through claimant's bank accounts. I'm fairly sure Labour waved the legislation through in the Commons, indicating they don't see anything wrong with it, which is worrying.

Thanks to all for your advice so far.

To be honest I may not apply for UC at all now, as I have just gone through the online questions and they ask about all your bank accounts etc and how much money you are likely to have in them on a monthly basis.

If I have TP for savings for 12 months, why do they need to know all this?
There's also a limit of 10 on the number of current accounts, so if I don't list the rest, do I get into trouble?! I have lots of current accounts with £1 or less in and I don't use them. Seems pointless to list them.

Also the fit note thing irritates me. I've already been granted basic PIP so the DWP have accepted I suffer with my conditions for over 50% of the time, plus I have letters with confirmed diagnoses that they have. Why do I then need to go to my GP to ask for further evidence of my conditions, and also do I need to get a new fit note every month? Because that would be unfeasible/impractical with my conditions. If I don't or can't supply a fit note every month/regularly, will I automatically lose UC?

I think this is just a way for them to wean people off benefits/hassle you and TP is a bit of a disguise to lull you into a false sense of security.

Hello Chris (and hello again, MDBond!),

My sympathies - this is so unfair! I know from previous posts of MDBond's that we're in a similar position with regards to being self-employed (although I'd be applying alongside my husband as he is the one who is self-employed). I've been looking into this carefully as we, too, have received a migration notice to apply by the end of the tax year. I used the calculators on entitledto.com (for people with savings above £16,000) as advised by the Gov.uk website, but in spite of the transitional protection, it seems we wouldn't receive anything worth the rigmarole of applying anyway.

I'm not complaining too much - Tax Credits have helped us a lot over the years, and we've appreciated that help (thank you, Gordon Brown) - but I do feel sorry for anyone who has no choice but to apply. We are now only a few years away from retirement, and we have decided not to apply for UC, as the conditions seem too strict for the very small amount we might receive.

Like you, I feel that any Government worth its salt should encourage saving, but this one is just so short-sighted and clearly wants to penalise those on a low income who try to make provision for their own future.

The best thing about Tax Credits is that they were, in the words of the promotional adverts when they were introduced, "an entitlement not a benefit", so you didn't have to spend all your time battling the DWP!

Best wishes,

Wendy Woo