Can you get universal credit for being a SAHM if husband works f/t?

[faultywiring]

I am a SAHM and dh works full time, only min wage but he does about 50 hours.
Would I be able to get Universal credit and stay at home dc are 5 and 7 both at school.
I don't want job seekers as I'm not looking for jobs but just wondering if UC was an option or if I'd be expected to look for work?

Also @Cheesebag you and your family may very well be entitled to what you receive BUT you have came on here and it feels like you've gloated about it

Do you believe we’re all teachers? 🤦🏼‍♀️😄

That’s your interpretation. My post was only ever intended to counteract negative responses to the OP. Contrary to popular* belief there aren’t an abundance of term time/hour jobs. Childcare also isn’t in infinite supply in all areas. Partners may not work regular set hours that you can work around. Part time jobs are not famously flexible if you have unexpected childcare issues.

*ie mumsnetter beliefs.

You wanted a link to jobs in schools - you can work and train simultaneously with routes such as Teach First. Being a teacher allows me to have the holidays off with my children (sometimes there’s an overlap because I teach in a different LEA to them) but on the whole it means I don’t have to find childcare in holidays.

As other posters have said. If the will is there to work, then childcare shouldn’t be a barrier. I have no family and have had to use childcare since my children were 9 months old. Eldest is now Yr 7 so takes herself to school and back. 3 more years and the youngest can do that too!

Ooh off to investigate teach first. Thanks.

Again, you are looking for every excuse not to work. You are making out it is physically impossible to work when your children are at school, the most ridiculous excuse I have personally ever heard. Again I'm all for people who physically cannot work due to disabilities or anything of the sort having money that makes a full time wage, but for you to come on here and gloat that you sit on your arse all day and make a full time wage is outrageous

Why? Seems you're pretty happy not working and sponging off the state while rubbing it in us hardworking people's faces that you earn more than a full-time wage. Just gross.

@Cheesebag

I believe the rules are changing, I don't know if they've set a date for it yet though.

So currently if one person on a joint claim earns enough, the other person isn't under pressure to work. The changes coming in will mean that both people will need to earn enough, or will be expected to spend time looking for work. It will depend on the ages of their children as to how much they'll be expected to earn, but it'll be the equivalent of 'X' amount of hours at minimum wage.

No, not true. You can do the application first, even when you are not eligible, and then submit your receipts. This is what I did.

Also, I could have applied for a loan from UC to pay the upfront costs. This was offered to me by an advisor on the UC helpline. It is then divided over an agreed period with no interest applied.

Plus, they are changing how UC works and now the costs will be paid upfront.

Not misinformation.

@Saltired I think you have misunderstood. I'm not talking about the start of applying for UC.

I am saying people who claim childcare costs regularly have to pay A LOT of money UPFRONT. Before they can claim a percent back. So the Easter holidays, Christmas and Summer holidays which are around 7 weeks long. Paying 7 weeks childcare upfront is a lot of money. Especially as a single person.

You don't get the money back until your next pay date and depending on the dates sometimes it runs into the pay month after.

Do you have a link about childcare costs being paid upfront please? It's a disgrace working tax were great you could ring them 1 week and the money would be in the bank the following week. Other than that UC is better than the old system.

I very much doubt it with school age kids unless you can prove you can't work for xyz reasons.

It is difficult juggling work and kids. Up until last year I worked evenings and weekends around my husband. The benefits were obviously no childcare issues but after several years it took it's toll so a few month's before my youngest started school I got a 9-3 Tues-Fri job so I do the school runs and then we pay for childcare for holidays/take time off and occasionally get family to help. We spend a bit less than £150 a month (put £150 aside each month to make sure we have plenty) so we don't come out with much more than we did previously but have a better family balance.

The biggest issue is unexpected days off for sickness because one of us has to take the day off. I find it very stressful because even though we share it there still seems to be a lot of time needed off and I worry it looks bad. I seem to have had a lot of days off since starting last year but they've been very good about it.

It doesn't seem right being able to claim UC when there is nothing physically stopping you from working even if it's not desirable.

No I haven’t - I’m not sure why the length of the holiday is relevant though? When I went back I had to pay a whole
month of childcare (£600, for 3 days per week) when I was on SMP and my partner worked PT.

However, the month previous, I applied for UC even though we weren’t eligible. Then, as soon as I paid the childcare, I submitted the claim to UC and had it the following UC pay date.

When I expressed my concern about this; the UC advisor explained they could lend me the £600 and I could pay it back at an agreed rate over a set period of time, for example a year. In the end I didn’t do this but the option is available. This was the case as recently as 3ish months ago.

They announced in the budget that childcare costs are going to be paid upfront, it was all over the media a few weeks ago - im sure you’ll be able to find evidence of this.

@Saltired because the bigger school holidays cost more money. You keep going on about the loan. But that is irrelevant. Yeah you have a partner some of us don't so to pay the full school holidays and wraparound childcare it quickly adds up that was my point to you not sure why it's so difficult for you to comprehend.

No I've not heard anybody tell me that UC is changing at all to paying childcare costs upfront.

That's literally not possible if you're just talking about the basic child element of UC. So either you're lying, or getting disability benefits or something similar that you haven't mentioned. I'm a lone working parent getting UC top up so I know how it works.

Yes but you are only ever out of pocket for one month? Providing you submit the receipts on time anyway. It isn’t like you pay it a year in advance or anything. It’s literally a month, and you can get a loan from UC so you don’t actually have anything to pay upfront.

Im actually £600 per month worse off since going up to full-time from part time, which is crazy. So actually, I’m better off on UC and a part time wage than I am working full-time.

When I first returned from mat leave, I had to pay a months childcare upfront, on one part time wage, one statutory maternity pay wage, with no UC top up, so I’m betting you had at least the same amount of income as I had. (household income of £1600 per month, which was £1000 partners wage, £500 SMP, plus child benefit, nursery cost £600, after school cost £180, mortgage £500, my travel for work is £12/day …) so yeah, don’t imply I’m clueless about how expensive childcare can be. But it is only 1 month you pay upfront, as you then have the following months money to pay it, and you can advance your UC as a loan to cover it ….

And the UC being paid upfront has been reported on every single media outlet pretty widely as one of the main headlines from the budget, I really don’t see how you could have missed it, but if you really want to find out, a quick Google will enlighten you. There really is loads of info about it.

i completely get why this post has annoyed everyone so much but it is so frustrating and short sighted when people ALWAYS respond to things like this with ‘her kids are at school, she can work during the day’. What exactly then happens to the kids during all of the school holidays?! They are currently on 2 weeks off for Easter, how should she be making a day job work now?!
Having said that, I would absolutely look into evening/ weekend work before looking into any benefit option OP. I realise this might not be easy with childcare if your partner is working 50+ hours (another thing that posters seem to have missed when reading your op) but as shops are open so late nowadays you might be able to squeeze in a couple of 4 or 5 hour evening shifts a week which would help top up your household income? My partner also works long hours and works away regularly so I just got a couple of local evening weekend shifts once my maternity leave was over to still keep something coming into my own account. Could this be an option for you if your needing some extra cash?

Uc is definitely changing to pay the costs/ childcare element upfront. This was announced in the spring budget. I think it's starting maybe later this year?

Yes exactly. It's so unrealistic to think people can work 9-3. Not everyone can work in a blooming school, most office based jobs would be 9-5. I think the system with UC and the hours being determined as a couple currently is reasonable when there is one of a couple working 50 hours like in op's case. It's not like he's slacking is it? I absolutely think the number of hours a couple need to work should be significant, for years people have been able to claim working tax credits whilst only working 24 hours between a couple which is ridiculous, but that's not the case here, he's working 50 hours. If a couple chose for one to work way more hours than full time I don't see the problem - he's probably working more hours just with him working than others on here with partners working 37 hours and the doing a few hours a week. I think posters have been unreasonable harsh !

@Babyroobs single mothers manage. What are you talking about? OP could work if she wanted to. She doesn't want to though so I have no idea why she posted. People have been covering school holidays for decades this isn't a new thing.

I work in a hospital as a single parent, no family support at all. I worked throughout lockdown. It's hard yes it is. It can be done though.

The ones working a few hours.... Will have job opportunities, something recent on their CV, if the relationship breaks down they will have their own finicial independence to fall back on.

Your view is short sited. Don't go pulling the "few hours people" down just because OP can't be arsed to go to work!

She posted because she's asking if she can get UC which actually yes she most likely can right now assuming her partners 50 hours are low enough to qualify.

@Skybluepinky
I thought I was the only person who knew this colour.