AIBU to understand our benefit system at times?

[JacketSpud55]

Dh has started a new job on more than double what he was earning previously, which is great and I am very proud of him. He use to earn roughly £24,000 per year and we would get £1367 a month universal credit plus £200 every 4 weeks child benefit, so a grand total of £3152 a month (including wages.) Fast forward to now £57,500 a year with a take home pay of £3360 and we are still entitled to £248 universal credit. Which seems crazy to me especially when they claim back a large chunk of the child benefit back through an adjusted tax code at the end of the year. Why not raise the child benefit limit to £65,000-70,000 and let us keep the £200 child benefit in my case and scrap off the £248 universal credit, it would be much simpler.

Before anyone asks I have contacted DWP through my journal and we are definitely still entitled to the £248 UC, I contacted them as I was 100% sure they must of made a mistake.

However my DD, who gets her UC constantly adjusted and it can change month by month, so don't spend it until you get it.

Without the disability elements you might not be entitled to as much and others who don't get UC might rely on their NI being paid via CB. So any higher wouldn't disadvantaged even more people.

I can't understand how you're entitled to that? Dh earns £27,000 a year and we aren't entitled to anything.

Why are you still claiming it as you clearly don't need it?

Maximum universal credit - standard allowance currently £20 per week higher due to Covid £596.58 is one is 25 or older

If all three children get elements oldest £282.50
2nd & subsequent child o£237.08

Additional amount for disabled child or qualifying young person
Lower rate £128.89Higher rate£402.41
element

Others possible - Career element, capability for work if OP ill
Then the deduction listed by OP based on actual wages in that month

How much is your rent?

@WeBurnedSoBrightWeBurnedOut good question. This was our first month after the pay increase so was expecting the allowance to be £0 and the claim closed and the I was going to make a claim for carers allowance as I would still be entitled to that and I would still get my national insurance stamp.

Rent is £533 for a 3 bed house, with a social landlord.

YANBU, OP, I'm a welfare rights officer and there are things about the benefit system that completely flummox me and seem totally irrational.

My current favourite is non-dependant deductions. When a family on UC have a child who reaches 18 (or 19, if in full-time education), they no longer get UC for them. The child, if not in work, will get £257 a month. This £257 is "the amount the law says you need to live on".

But the parents will have £75-something a month deducted from their UC, because this child is now a non-dependant and should be contributing to costs. If they pay the parents £75 a month, they'll have less money than the law says they need to live on. If they don't pay, the parents will have less than the law says they need to live on.

If the non-dependant child is a high-flyer and walks into a £30k a year job on leaving college, guess how much is deducted from the parents UC then?

Exactly the same £75-something a month.

Under housing benefit, the non-dependant deduction varies according to income, which is much fairer imo.

I don't understand how you're getting that. I've never been on UC, but did used to get tax credits and I thought UC was less generous. When DH's wage went up (to about £40,000) we stopped being entitled to anything and had to pay back an overpayment and that was with a child who's entitled to higher rate DLA. How is it that you're over the cutoff for child benefit but can still get UC? That's seems bonkers.

When DH was on £20,000 and we had 2 kids, we barely got anything (about £20 a month) although that was with TC. I'm sure they just pull these figures out of a hat.

Either your rent is massive or there's some mistake. We were entitled to about £200 ish UC when my self employed business took a dive early on in lockdown, based on a combined income of about 2000 take home I think. Our rent is very very low though.

Ah just read that your rent is not huge. I'm bewildered then.

@JacketSpud55

That is the first month since he started the new job, it is a full month and live from the tax office. Maybe it will change next month, I just don’t see why you pay back one benefit to receive another one.

You don't. You can stop claiming Child Benefit if you are no longer entitled. Otherwise you'll have to pay the part you aren't entitled to back. The reason for this was in order to retain child benefit as a universal entitlement - this makes it easy to claim and helps the poorest parents the most. If they introduced a complex system like UC with means testing, it would be harder for poor families to navigate. Child Benefit is also most usually paid to Mothers.

I would really chase this as this doesn't sound right. I'm all for claiming what you are entitled to in this country but seems unrealistic to earn that much and get Uc too. Has it been double checked? Dp earns 30 grand a year before tax, I'm currently off work, we have two children both with sen. We get DLa for dc but no very little means tested benefits. We are still on tax credits but get very little now (£20 a week). I've done a uC calculator and we'd be entitled to barely anything on UC so it's very confusing!

And another one: a client with multiple health issues gets UC & PIP. He has a small amount of savings, around £2k.

Before he was ill, he worked and to ensure that he had a decent income in retirement, he paid into a private pension.

Years later, it transpired that his pension was one of those that had been missold. Someone helped him get the compensation, which was £14-15k. This took him over the savings limit (£16k) so his UC stopped.

He mistakenly thought that as it was compensation, it wouldn't count as savings - it was basically reimbursing him for money he had lost because some grifter sold him a shonky pension plan. He wanted to invest it in a pension of some sort (yes, I know that amount really wouldn't be worth investing), but because of his anxiety hadn't got round to deciding on a company to go with before the DWP twigged he had the money.

He now can't put the money in a pension, because it will be treated as deprivation of capital and he'll be treated as though he still has it and still won't get UC (these rules are designed to stop people "giving" money away to others so their savings are below the cut-off point).

So in effect, he hasn't been compensated at all, because he'll have to spend the compo on living costs. He'll derive no benefit from having it at all.

So unfair.

@Kab129 do you claim carers allowance separately? My carers allowance is in with my UC and after another phone call to UC I think that is why we still have an award. If I close the UC claim I could claim carers allowance separately. I have now checked three times, twice on the journal and once over the phone and they say the award is correct, I assume it is because my carers allowance is paid through UC not separately.

But still think it is crazy to remove child benefit and payout universal credit.

You will still keep some of the child benefit on that wage if you continue to claim. They look at income after tax, so if your dh pays into a pension or makes charity contributions his taxable pay will be lower and you might only need to pay some of it back.

Sorry just noticed you do rent.

@JacketSpud55

But still think it is crazy to remove child benefit and payout universal credit.

But you aren't comparing like with like - they are different benefits with different purposes - you might as well argue pensioners shouldn't pay income tax and they should have their state pension cut by the equivalent amount - but it's actually more efficient to tax them.

I think for this tax year we will just under the £50,000 child benefit limit as the tax year is April-April and dh started his new job 1st June.

Whilst you remember, if you haven't already make note of the calls, who you spoke to if possible a d what was said. Keep your proof that you did contact and query it. Could be very useful should they come back and demand it back.

Go idea @cottonheadedninymuggins I will do that, I think I will screenshot the two journal messages as well if a copy of them isn’t in my email as proof.

How strange I could have understood if your rent was £1000-2000 pcm, but that doesn’t make much sense, as others have said, keep note, just incase 👍🏻 If not just enjoy it, don’t hate the player hate the game unfortunately

I'd put your numbers through Facebook groups like "universal credit survival" because that really doesn't sound right and advisers often get things wrong or give incorrect advice and there's very knowledgeable people in those groups. I'd also screenshot your journal because I've seen people lose the history.

If it turns out to be correct I'll say that from the people I know, it's very unusual for people to be in a situation where they don't need the universal credit payments and it's not the experience of many on that system. It's a struggle and a countdown to the day the money goes in the bank for many. You could always close your claim if you don't need the money.

And then theres the stress of mistakes, a common one seems to be employer reporting earnings early and people get £0 that month cos it's made two payments fall into one period, the next month their earnings are lower but the award higher but if you're living hand to mouth and get £0 it can fuck your whole budgeting up.

It's really not that generous for most people and if yours is genuinely correct you'll probably have circumstances that are unique. I'm just saying this because there's a lot of people on here and in life who think majority of people on UC are rolling in it and have fancy TVs and phones and sit on their arses smoking and drinking all day (you didn't say this, I'm not having a dig at you) yeah there's people who take the piss but for many, UC is a worry and a struggle and I'm genuinely happy that's not the case for you and you won't be stressing as much over income.

[quote JacketSpud55]@Kab129 do you claim carers allowance separately? My carers allowance is in with my UC and after another phone call to UC I think that is why we still have an award. If I close the UC claim I could claim carers allowance separately. I have now checked three times, twice on the journal and once over the phone and they say the award is correct, I assume it is because my carers allowance is paid through UC not separately.[/quote]
Carers allowance isn't paid in UC (at all, totally separate), think you'll mean the carers element. You can get both.