Changes on the way to those who receive Universal Credit
There will be some changes to claimants receiving Universal Credit and who also work but in either part time or zero hours contract type jobs. These changes will take effect from September 26, 2022.
Currently if you work and also claim and receive Universal Credit you may still have to accept job seekingcommitmentsifyoursalaryisonorbelowacertainamount. These amounts will change after September 26.
Currently if you are single person as long as you earn £355 or moreeachmonthyouwillnothave additional job seeking commitments. After the aforementioned date this figure will increase to £494 per calendar month.
If you claim UC as a couple the currentearningsfigureis£567per calendar month, again after the date this figure will increase to £782 per calendar month.
For couple claims you may have a situation where only one person in the household works and thus the non-working partner is likely to already have some sort of UC commitments unless theyareexempt,forexample,they cannot work due to illness or they may have to care for children or a disabled person.
Alternatively both could work but both jobs are part time or zero hours so the income figure could come from two jobs.
These changes mean that if you earn less than the figures, you will find the DWP/your work coach will request you agree to a new UC commitment and failing to agree this will mean a sanction willbeappliedtoyourbenefitsresulting in either a reduction or no payment of your UC standard element (housing costs cannot be sanctioned).
The agreed new commitment will likely be that you will be in the same position as a UC claimant who has no work and claims UC as a job seeker.
Thiswillmeanthatyouagreed to intensive job searches (consideration will be given to your existingjobifyouhaveonesoyouwon’t have to job seek for a full 35 hours each week for example).
So you would be expected to see if you can increase your hours of work with your current employer (if that is possible), agree to seek a second part time job or evenlooktoseekworkinaprofession, industry sector, etc. that you mayneverhaveworkedorconsidered before.
If you then reach the required earnings level the UC commitments will be amended again so there will be no requirement to work or search for work to increase your earnings.