You may be worried about your income during Coronavirus. Here is some information that may help:
Job Retention Scheme (Furlough)
Advice on the furlough scheme for employees and employers here
Eligibility date extended to 19 March here
Scheme operation extended to the end of June here
If you left your job after 28 February, you can be re-hired to get furlough here
Zero Hours contract and agency workers
In most cases, if you are on PAYE, you should be eligible for the furlough scheme, if your employer has taken it up. Here
Who's hiring now?
Jobs on the Leicester Mercury website here
If you have become ill and can’t work
You may be able to get New Style ESA (as well as Universal Credit) if you have enough NI contributions here
How furlough wages are calculated here
Self Employed
What to do if you are getting less work or no work here
Self Employment and Universal Credit here
How Furlough and Self Employed Income Support Scheme affect Housing Benefit
Recent guidance from the DWP outlines how payments from the Self-employment Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will affect Housing Benefit.
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme is a payment of taxable income received from self-employment and will therefore count as self-employed income.
Payments from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to employees via their employer will be treated as earned income, based on the number of hours the employee normally works.
In addition, the guidance also states that claimants who are no longer paying childcare costs to a childcare provider will have those costs removed from the claim. However, any additional amounts paid as part of a tax credit claim for childcare continue to be treated as income for Housing Benefit purposes.
More details can be found here
Universal Credit
Making a new claim
You'll need to do this online, and you won't need to go to the JobCentre unless you don't have ID. Here
In this case, DWP will call you from an unknown or withheld number. To check it's not a scam call, ask then to input specific terms on to your journal that you can see.
You can now also confirm your ID through government gateway accounts, that you may have used for tax purposes.
Already claiming?
You’ll need to go to the JobCentre less often, and Universal Credit rates have increased by £1,000pa
Information here
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
New regulations in force from 16 April 2020 have added those who are shielding, and have been notified, onto the list of people that can claim SSP.It’s our understanding that this is only a new option, not to replace existing adjustments such as furloughing or working from home, as per 7.2 of the explanatory memorandum of the regulations:
This is intended as a safety net for individuals, in cases where their employer chooses not to furlough them under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and does not have other suitable policies in place (e.g. the ability to work from home, or the provision of special leave).
As of yet, both the employer and employee guidance still has furlough as an option for those who are shielding.
Tax Credits
Tax Credits have increased by up to £20pwk here
HMRC no longer require clients to report short-term changes to working hours here
Housing Benefit
The Local Housing Allowance (which helps determine how much Housing Benefit you can get) has gone up from 1 April. Here
Register for Leicester City Council online services to get your new award letter more quickly. This service will also allow you to see all your Housing Benefit and Council Tax and Discretionary Council Tax Support and Discretionary Housing Payment in one place here
PIP and DLA
New and repeat assessments have been suspended here
Child Benefit
You can now claim Child Benefit if unable to register the birth due to coronavirus. HMRC state that you can let them know that you’re unable to register the baby by putting a note on the claim form or mentioning it over the phone.
Benefits Entitlement
Check your entitlement to benefits, and for the effect of changes to your own circumstances here using EntitledTo here
Or go straight to the Benefits Calculator here
Help for those with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) here
Including:
- Confirmation by HMRC in guidance that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furloughed workers) is available to an employee who has no recourse to public funds.
- Changes to the eligibility criteria for free school meals, enabling children in many no recourse to public funds households, including those who are supported by social services under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, to access these or the national voucher scheme whilst schools are closed.
- A new online application process for making a change of conditions application to the Home Office to request that the NRPF condition is lifted.