What’s it like when you claim Universal Credit
Last Updated on 24 April 2020
Sole trader Sarah Carless has been freelancing for 25 years. She’s a floor manager, so nothing daunts her!
Listen to her experience of applying for Universal Credit when her work dried up because of coronavirus. (See also the important note below the video.)
Recorded Wednesday 25 March 2020
Of course everyone’s experience will be slightly different, but for creative freelancers this might held you understand the process.
Important note: If you’re already on other benefits, such as Housing Benefit or JSA it might not make you better off to be on Universal Credit – in fact you could be worse off.
This is because UC replaces other benefits for new claimants, but can be calculated at a lower rate.
There is an excellent outline of this issue on the Equity website:
www.equity.org.uk/about/coronavirus-advice/financial-support/
Posted on 25 March 2020
This was extremely helpful and I thank you for putting up this quick video. The whole Universal Credit process is long and daunting and to get a better idea of what is expected in the application process and in regards to the “commitments” part of UC was extremely helpful. Thank you, David, for organising this and thank you, Sarah for sharing your experience in detail!