Can you claim uc if your partner works and earns a comfortable wage?

[Starlet9729]

Posting here for traffic. Myself and other half had a debate about this earlier and interested to know who is right more than anything 🤣

His mum isn’t very tech savvy and asking us to help her with things (over the phone, not in person) so she’s been talking about these things. She lives with her long term partner, he is employed but currently furloughed. He was earning around a decent wage before becoming furloughed so is still getting a decent amount at 80 percent.

She became unemployed a while ago and didn’t manage to find a job before lockdown.

She believes she can claim uc because she’s unemployed. I think she did apply but was rejected but she’s attempting it again.

I say she can’t. I’ve always been under the impression that if your partner is on a decent wage you can’t claim? By decent I mean around £700 take home a week. I’m not sure how good this is compared to the rest of the country but where we live it’s a very well paid job! They have no dependents, their mortgage is pretty much paid off. Remaining payments are next to nothing.

I could well be wrong here though so please forgive me.

My partner claims she can as she’s not working and is technically a job seeker.

I can’t find anything clear about this online.

If she’s applied and they’ve rejected it surely that means she’s not entitled.

I’m not saying she shouldn’t apply but I was always under the impression that if you have a partner earning enough to keep both of you then you aren’t eligible!

She might get contribution based benefits , depending if she was employed long enough in the qualifying period, but not uc based on household income.

Contribution based ESA for six months if shes paid enough NI recently but other than that nothing.

Thank you. They are a bit clueless to this as am I! She’s adamant she wants to apply for Uc as a job seeker. The whole system has changed so much. I don’t really understand it all!

In theory, if they were in a very high rent area, they could still be eligible, but I doubt if anywhere has an LHA that high.

She may be entitled to "new-style JSA" if she has enough national insurance contributions in the relevant tax years (2018/19 and 2017/18).

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/check-how-much-universal-credit-youll-get/

Citizens Advice has clear guidance on UC that might help.

Thanks all. I admit to not knowing much about it all and can’t really give her advice as I know bugger all. Maybe she could try and ring someone? But it’s probably incredibly hard to get through during these times!

When my boyfriend moves in with me properly, my universal credit will go down to only a couple of hundred I think instead of 400, and he is on minimum wage, so I can’t imagine she would get very much with him earning so high!

It depends what his income is and if they live together.

You could run the details through a website called turn 2 us or entitled to.

Unlikely universal credit is roughly speaking given to a maximum of (for two people) the amount both would earn if both working full time at minimum wage. Extra for higher cost housing and children, on his wage they would be above that. It's worth a try though.

I doubt she is eligible for any benefits. I have been in this position myself, because DH is a high earner, I couldn't get a penny. I think people should be considered separately, my DH is famously stingy and I literally had no money and no confidence for two years. Luckily we've passed that phase.

The UC application will ask if she has a partner and if that partner earns a wage. It will then ask the partner to enter their details. They will then be told she's not entitled - if she claims and states she doesn't have a partner that would be fraudulent - so as long as she completes the form correctly it will tell her anyway.

She would only be entitled to ESA Conts if she was sick but going from your original post she’s not so no she wouldn’t be entitled to ESA and it depends on what her partner is earning but, and again just going by op I doubt she will be entitled to UC either I’m afraid.

I think people should be considered separately, my DH is famously stingy and I literally had no money and no confidence for two years.

So the state should enable a financially abusive twat?