Reapply for Universal Credit
Mae'r cyngor hwn yn berthnasol i Cymru. Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Lloegr, Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Gogledd Iwerddon, Gweler cyngor ar gyfer Yr Alban
If you've claimed Universal Credit before, you might not have to go through the full application process again - it depends on when you last claimed Universal Credit.
Before working out how to reapply, you should check if you’re still eligible for Universal Credit.
If the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have rejected your claim, you can ask them to change their decision.
If it's been more than 6 months since your last Universal Credit payment
You’ll need to start a new claim - you won’t be able to use your old account. Find out how to start a new claim.
Usually it’s best to apply for Universal Credit as soon as you can.
If you’ve left a job, you should wait until the day after you get your final wages or any holiday pay from work. If you get paid after you apply for Universal Credit, the money will count as income - this means you'll get less in your first Universal Credit payment.
You should apply as soon as you can if you’re only waiting for redundancy pay because it doesn’t count as income.
If you had a sanction when your claim ended
The sanction won't affect your payments if it ended while you weren't claiming Universal Credit.
Your payments will be reduced if you start getting Universal Credit again before the date your sanction was due to end. The sanction will finish on the same date it was originally due to end, and it will cut your payments by the same amount.
The DWP should have told you when your sanction would end - check you've been given the right sanction if you're not sure how long it should be.
The DWP give you a 91-day sanction on 1 March. It’s due to finish on 31 May.
You stop claiming Universal Credit on 21 March because you get a job. The job only lasts 2 months, and finishes on 20 May. On 21 May you start claiming Universal Credit again.
Your previous sanction is still going, and will still finish on 31 May. This means the sanction reduces your May Universal Credit payment.
If you get a sanction after you stop claiming
Sometimes you might do something to get a sanction, but stop claiming Universal Credit before it affects you.
When you make a new claim, the DWP will work out how long that sanction would have lasted. It will run from the day before your previous claim ended. Your Universal Credit will be reduced if your new claim starts before the sanction finishes.
If you’re not sure if you’ll be affected, check what you can be sanctioned for.
It’s still worth restarting your Universal Credit claim even if you’re worried you might get a sanction. Your payments might be reduced, but you could still get something, depending on your income. You might also be able to challenge the sanction decision.
You don’t apply for a job your work coach has asked you to apply for. This could get you a sanction. You end your Universal Claim on 9 April, before the DWP decide to sanction you.
On 20 July you claim Universal Credit again. The DWP look at your previous claim and decide the sanction would have lasted 91 days. The sanction will start on 8 April, the date you ended your previous claim. This means it finishes on 8 July.
Because you start your new claim on 20 July the sanction doesn’t affect you.
If you’d started your new claim on 1 July the sanction would have reduced your payment from 1 July to 8 July.
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Adolygwyd y dudalen ar 05 Tachwedd 2021