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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be abit hmm that the universal credit calculator wont be accurant :/

21 replies

M0naLisa · 19/02/2013 00:24

Just working out what help we'd get if any, if i took a job at 20 hours per week, maybe at NMW.

According to the calculator i would only have to pay £14.50 per week towards my rent and we would be £320.44 better off per month!!

I think in reality though it wouldnt be right and we would end up being worse off.

Or am is it accurate?

OP posts:
JackieTheFart · 19/02/2013 00:36

Oh where is it? I want to have a go!

I'm almost certain it will be wrong - however the tax credits calc was always wrong by about £20 in our favour so it worked out ok.

I am panicking a bit that our income will drastically drop.

Original poster
M0naLisa · 21/02/2013 13:32

Just put in universal credo calculator. Think it's one of top links

OP posts:
stretch · 21/02/2013 13:39

I used it a while ago, I think it said I will be £500 better off if I worked 35 hours, (I am SAHM at ATM), so that means I will lose £500.??? I really didn't get it :/

stretch · 21/02/2013 13:41

I mean, If I don't work 35 hours, they will remove £500 tax credits/UC and if I want to be better off I will have to work 35 hours ??? My god, I've just confused myself!

stretch · 21/02/2013 13:49

It just tells you how much better off you'd be in work??? I really don't understand.

beamme · 21/02/2013 14:25

policyinpractice.co.uk/universal-credit/universal-credit-calculator/
I've used this one

HappyJoyful · 21/02/2013 14:27

Every single time I've tried one of these it's told me I'd be better off - every single time I've phone up to find out about any of the working tax credits or whatever the other one is called I've been told not entitled. Don't even waste time. Speak to someone.

StormyBrid · 21/02/2013 15:20

Unless they're planning to scrap LHA rates, the housing element of the policyinpractice calculator is buggered. It specifically says to input your actual housing costs - in my case that's £415 monthly, or £95.77 weekly. The LHA rate that applies to me is £86.54 weekly, ie £375 monthly. The calculator tells me the housing element of UC for me would be £415 monthly. Does make me a bit suspicious about the accuracy of the rest of it.

LegoAcupuncture · 21/02/2013 16:27

It's told me I'm £15.13 better off a month by working. Hardly seems worth it eh?

MoodyDidIt · 21/02/2013 16:30

ooh i am having a go

am stressing a lot bit about this....see my other thread!

pixi2 · 21/02/2013 16:41

Oh it will miscalculate. When I quit working we rang child tax credits up for advice. Just to see really. Make a claim they said, according to the calculations we have done based on your information you are entitled to £90 a week. DH and I were a bit confused but we followed their advice anyway. The estimate, everytime we chased up the application decreased based on the same effin figures until it was £5 per week. I don't think we were awarded anything in the end as we were helpfully informed they used my previous years salary to calculate our income. What a waste of form filling when I could have been drinking wine!

Rhiannon86 · 21/02/2013 16:43

This reply has been deleted

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ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 21/02/2013 16:47

Of course any Universal Credit calculator will be wrong!

They've not finished writing the legislation for it yet.

nickelbabe · 21/02/2013 16:49

I don't get it.

why are they telling em how much better off we'll be if we're in work?
that's not how tax credits work now. Confused

why can't it just tell me if we'll get any credits at all?
we currently get about £2k a year. (i think)

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 21/02/2013 16:51

The cynic inme would answer that they are making the process as convoluted and inaccessible as possible to make it hard for people to apply.

IneedAsockamnesty · 21/02/2013 16:53

I'm pretty sure its already been reported as inaccurate even less accurate than the current available benefit calculators.

MoodyDidIt · 21/02/2013 16:55

I think it will be araisin. Or asultana

pmsl

stretch · 21/02/2013 21:24

Exactly nickelbabe. We need to know if we're still entitled to any. This is important so i can adjust finances/budget accordingly ASAP.
We get a fair amount (4 kids, me SAHM) I fully expect to have it reduced, considerably so even, but I NEED to know how much by.

I would also like to know how it is going to affect parents who are at Uni/college. Part of our plan was for me to SAHM until DS2 was 4, then I would go to college and try to get into maternity support. That may be buggered now, and i'll have to work in the co-op forever instead of doing something I would really enjoy and be good at. Hmm

I mean, this is coming in in APRIL FGS, and nobody has a clue what to expect.

nickelbabe · 21/02/2013 21:59

we need it. I earn no money and the money we get from tax credits basically pays for our groceries and the car.

LineRunner · 21/02/2013 22:04

It tells me what I would have if out of work.

But I'm in work.

nickelbabe · 21/02/2013 22:08

I'm in work too but self-employed so don't earn anything.

and I jyst realised the op meant accurate and not accruant. Blush

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