To ask if anyone else is struggling on one low universal credit payment?

[Evasmummy2019]

I'm not working at the moment as I lost my job as a palliative care nurse while doing my 8th round of fertility treatment last March. I reacted pretty badly to the ivf drugs and overstimulated my ovaries making me really poorly. Thankfully I got pregnant. I then couldn't get a new job while pregnant as I had HG (constantly suck 30x a day) and then in and out of hospital for fluids etc then with diabetes, bleeds, too much fluid and at the end reduced movements. I had my daughter in December. My husband is self employed so took no paternity leave. He's only been self employed for just under a year and doesn't qualify for the 80% SE (self employed) benefit payment. We were living on £20 a week child benefit between March and April and have no savings as he only earns £1600 per month on average and it goes straight on bills. We've cancelled his van insurance, pet insurance for our dog and cat, reduced our energy bills, suspended our loan repayment and council tax break for 2 months . We get no benefits only child benefit for our daughter. We've been really really struggling. We applied for universal credit and was awarded £629 per month. That only got paid on the 6th of May so we've had to still pay all our utilities etc. And I hope our mortgage break continues as that money will be gone on the mortgage alone if it starts back up in June . Its been very hard indeed and our relationship has suffered. I also suffered a traumatic birth and pnd has crept in.

Your DH needs to find a job. It doesn't matter if you don't want him to.

It does annoy me when posters come on and paint a bleak picture of UC and don’t give full info.

It was clear from the rates that OP was receiving less due to deductions. If your partner received pay during the assessment period then that will be why. You had wages. Plus a work allowance and taper of income.

OP said in April that her partner hadn't stopped working at all during the crisis - deductions will almost certainly be due to his earnings.

Yet the op said here her husband hasn't been working, I really dont like it when people are dishonest. Makes it difficult to believe the next person with a similar problem.

@Evasmummy2019, if your husband has been working, then what deductions have been taken out of the UC?

So as I posted before UC is 724.42 If both under 25. 847.87 if over 25
As you aren’t receiving housing costs you can earn up to £512 per month without it affecting your UC.

So OP also received Wages of which £512 work allowance Was disregard and the remaining was reduced by 63% so £218 was taken as a deduction. She also kept 37% of those wages.

So you also got £512 work allowance and remaining £128 of earnings not deduced. So £640.

Basically OP is now is £1269 Plus child benefit enough for a family to live on because that’s what the income was for the monthly assessment period.

@Evasmummy2019 child benefit is £84.20 plus you’ll likely receive some council tax reduction.

Wages for the period would have been about £ 858 of which £512 completely disregarded due to higher work allowance as no housing costs in payment.

Of the remaining £346 the taper is then applied.
346 divide 100 x 63 = 217.68. That is the amount taken off the standard allowances.

£847.47 less £217.68 = £629.49.

The household in total received £629.49 plus those wages of £858 plus 4 weekly child benefit £84.20

Not quite the financial situation OP portrayed.

Next month it’ll be worse yes as if no work will only be the £847.47 plus CHB

OP, there's plenty in here that can be debated such as should DP be doing more with DD and should he have ever gone self employed at a time when you were trying for a child and into a profession where he's reliant on someone else to drive him but none of that is going to change the here and now.

As it makes most sense for you to care for DD and to get yourself better, then it's up to him to work. Given what you've said about people not having decorators into home in your area, you can't expect things to change any time soon, so he needs find something else.

I'm sorry that sounds tough, but if you want to change your current situation then it seems like the best option.

Partner has had no work through this whole dilemma. So I don't know where that has come from. There are no deductions they have got the amount wrong we think. We have appealed it. Wow people are horrible. Calling me a liar

@Evasmummy2019 so what is showing? Do you have a child element and a couples element?

Did you previously receive tax credits? I can't remember now.

I saw on the BBC news today that one couple were immediately worse off when they started a UC application even though they didn't finish it because it instantly removed their tax credits allowance.

UC does not have the finesse required for your situation. So unfortunately in order to have more income then one of you will have to work. I agree with a PPs assessment that it should be your partner. I can't see any other solution.

@Evasmummy2019

So I don't know where that has come from.

It comes from your reply to another poster in April, who was concerned about her husband working during the pandemic. This was posted from your username:

The best thing you can do is keep everything clean, avoid social interaction and be positive and strong for your gorgeous new boy. My husband has been working from day one. He has not picked anything up touch wood. We have a 17 week old baby and I know how hard all this is.

OP I think soon people will want decorators back in their homes. Could he do some commercial decorating in the meantime, care homes, hospitals etc? School caretaker? Or supermarket work? A life on benefits isnt fun, as you are finding. I hope he finds work soon, if he learns to drive that should open lots of opportunities too.

Just seen PP, if he was working in April then why would you expect big benefits in May? ??

Sorry I'm a bit confused, I thought the standard amount was only £594.04 a month for a Joint claim, one or both 25 or over.

The one child element £235.83 so plus £594.04 is £829.87

Yes I got the child rate wrong. Sorry.

Is one of you ineligible? Because you would have only single person plus child which is 409+235=644 which is closer to what you say you got? People are confused because you somehow got less than the minimum you should have and are saying you must have earned something to have less but if you have an ineligble partner plus £15 deducted for advances then it's more understandable

Could you take a three month mortgage payment holiday OP? Hopefully your DH will be back to work by the time it runs out.

It does sound like they have done something wrong. good luck with the appeal, I hope they get it sorted quickly.

Wow people are horrible. Calling me a liar

I think if you just cleared up the driving discrepancy, that would help people understand.

The OP already said that her OH doesn't drive, but splits the cost of his colleague's van insurance as he drives him to jobs.

Okay, found it. What she actually eventually said was;

with the van insurance he car shares with a pal who worked on the same siye so shared van for tools, transport and keeping his kit in there.

TBH if you make a suspicious looking mistake so early in a thread, it’s best to request deletion and start again with some details.

Everyone knows why these threads attract suspicion. It isn’t OP’s fault that people have been dodgy in the past.

@ArriettyJones, people were calling her dishonest for saying on this thread that her husband wasn't working at all, yet alluding to the opposite on a different thread. If the op wants help with how much UC they're entitled to, they need to be honest about if her husband is working or not. The amount she's getting makes no sense for a couple with a small child.

*As a full amount with no one working, as an add on to my pp.

Oh, so more contradictions?

I give up.