To ask you to help me work this out?

[Lulu2021]

My head is a mess as I'm going through some relationship difficulties with a young baby and I'm trying to make sense of my entitlement to financial help.

I've done a UC calculation a few times but it comes out with an amount that i think is an overestimate.

My details are;

• FT salary of £47,126, net monthly income £2,516 after deductions.
• 2 DC (ages 15 years and 6 months) - no childcare costs for eldest, costs of £700 pm for youngest when I go back to work from mat leave.
• child maintenance of £120 pm for the eldest child only.
• private rented property
• no other benefits claimed
• no significant savings

It's telling me I'd be entitled to in the region of £650 pm as a single parent. Does this sound right? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[quote MissPeregrine]@Lulu2021 you’ve been given quite a hard time on here from some posters.

I really hope you can sort this out and get the help and support you need [/quote]
Thank you

@loumoo

Babyroobs

They gave me the option of UC or the new ESA. Going down the ESA route but there was only a few pounds difference between the 2. Higher rate DLA + mobility but they said that's not taken into account when benefits are calculated.

No DLA isn't counted but because your child is disabled you would get extra elements on the Uc claim ( higher child disability element and carers element ) which will boost your total UC amount up. The total amount is then reduced by your husbands earnings. If you claim carers allowance seperately then that is also deducted from UC, but you still get the carers element.

[quote Musereader]@iusedtoliveinsanfrancisco

The benefit cap of 26k is the amount you can be paid in benefits if you are not working.

If you are working the cap does not apply and you can get more than the cap sometimes, also childcare does not fall under the cap. We have had fraudsters who claim to be earning the minimum amount required as the deduction for earnings is less than the amount removed for benefit cap[/quote]

So glad I asked this question despite the shitty comments I've had to field off. I've learned a lot about how benefits work. I had no clue before!

@drpaddington

OP I'm sorry you've been given a hard time. If you're entitled to UC, you're entitled to it. Some people are acting like you make the UC rules!

😂 i wish I did!

@Musereader

So just to clarify, there is no cap on UC entitlement if you are earning a wage? This only applies if you are out of work? I always assumed the meaning of "benefits cap" was cut off depending on salary...

Babyroobs

This makes so much sense, thanks for taking the time to explain!

@loumoo

Babyroobs

This makes so much sense, thanks for taking the time to explain!

No problem. I work quite closely with YLVC, so come across these scenarios quite often. Also have helped with a lot of DLA forms for children with cancer recently. Sounds like you've had good advice for your situation.

Slightly off topic but just in regard to getting my DD's father to make a financial contribution to her life - if I can manage to covertly get copies of his wage slips, will this help my cause after we split? Surely the CMS can't continue to insist he owes "nil rate" when shown evidence of between 2,500-3,000 per month in net earnings?

@Lulu2021

Yes no cap on how much you are getting as long as you are earning at least 16 hours per week minimum wage, which is currently £617 per month.

If you are earning this much the deduction for earnings is only 204, when someone is having 400 or 500 taken off for benefit cap otherwise. I did refund someone part of the cap when earnings were reported later.

Ideas:

1. Reduce hours completely to zero if you can’t afford childcare

1. Condense hours so possibly a 9 day fortnight or 5 days a week worked over 4

1. Get right onto the CMS on Monday

1. Are you or any of the kids entitled to anything like DLA or PIP. The CAB website would be good to help with this and you’ll be surprised by who gets it.

1. Ring every single creditor and tell them you can only afford a token payment. We did this with a joint loan that DH had with his ex and she refused to pay her share. DH insisted to the company that he could only afford £1 a month on a £1400 debt. Screw em! Just be firm. Have a sad face/voice and every time they say ‘but we need £200/100/50 etc’, just say no.

1. See if eldest can’t get free school meals

1. Get your single person council tax allowance.

1. If you’ve worked from home for even one day then you can claim money back from the government. Same if you have to wash uniform at home. Look on the .gov website for more details

Run out of ideas now, sorry.

@YouTubeAddict

Ideas:

1. Reduce hours completely to zero if you can’t afford childcare

1. Condense hours so possibly a 9 day fortnight or 5 days a week worked over 4

1. Get right onto the CMS on Monday

1. Are you or any of the kids entitled to anything like DLA or PIP. The CAB website would be good to help with this and you’ll be surprised by who gets it.

1. Ring every single creditor and tell them you can only afford a token payment. We did this with a joint loan that DH had with his ex and she refused to pay her share. DH insisted to the company that he could only afford £1 a month on a £1400 debt. Screw em! Just be firm. Have a sad face/voice and every time they say ‘but we need £200/100/50 etc’, just say no.

1. See if eldest can’t get free school meals

1. Get your single person council tax allowance.

1. If you’ve worked from home for even one day then you can claim money back from the government. Same if you have to wash uniform at home. Look on the .gov website for more details

Run out of ideas now, sorry.

Free school meals on an income of 47K ?? !

Surely the CMS can't continue to insist he owes "nil rate" when shown evidence of between 2,500-3,000 per month in net earnings

if you took the wage slips now and copied them and then put into the CMS in a months time - he might not be earning the same amount - theoretically

Im not saying don't take them or do take them, but realistically Im not sure how much help they would be

its a shame the CMS doesn't have the same information that HMRC does RT information

No chance of Free School Meals on 47k but packed lunches are much cheaper than school
Dinners

Good luck OP. I've just checked using your details on Turn2Us and it says you're able to claim about 5-600 per month. This is mainly for childcare.

For anyone else frothing at the mouth in envy, this would also be payable for a two parent household earning £47k. So if you have high childcare costs it's worth checking.

@Lulu2021

Slightly off topic but just in regard to getting my DD's father to make a financial contribution to her life - if I can manage to covertly get copies of his wage slips, will this help my cause after we split? Surely the CMS can't continue to insist he owes "nil rate" when shown evidence of between 2,500-3,000 per month in net earnings?

Is he an employee or self employed? I'm assuming the latter if he's fiddling his income for his oldest. Self employed people can fiddle things with CMS more easily

Just chiming in to offer support as well, OP. A good welfare system should support people temporarily until they're back on their feet.

I had to claim income support for a few years while my daughter was very young. It kept me in the workforce and now I pay more in taxes than I ever claimed.

You pay hundreds in tax every month. It's absolutely ok to claim some of that back when times are toughest.

@BananaPB

I explained further back. He has a self employed business as well as being a salaried employee. His business hasn't taken any money for years but the CMS still have the details of it for some reason. So on paper he appears to be earning nothing. But they surely must know about his salaried job?! How can they not? It's so confusing but I assure you, I've seen the letter - they are telling him (and his exW) that he owes nil.

@CaffeineAndCrochet

Just chiming in to offer support as well, OP. A good welfare system should support people temporarily until they're back on their feet.

I had to claim income support for a few years while my daughter was very young. It kept me in the workforce and now I pay more in taxes than I ever claimed.

You pay hundreds in tax every month. It's absolutely ok to claim some of that back when times are toughest.

Thank you so much.

[quote Lulu2021]@BananaPB

I explained further back. He has a self employed business as well as being a salaried employee. His business hasn't taken any money for years but the CMS still have the details of it for some reason. So on paper he appears to be earning nothing. But they surely must know about his salaried job?! How can they not? It's so confusing but I assure you, I've seen the letter - they are telling him (and his exW) that he owes nil. [/quote]
I missed that.
They might assess him based on his salaried income then. But be warned that the amount payable goes to both of his children so you'll get half of what he's liable for. There are online calculators for Child Maintenance if you can find out how much he gets as an employee

I cannot see that being right given your salary I think you will find it will probably be a lot less.

@BananaPB

He claims to have contacted the CMS to correct them and inform them of his job and earnings, yet they continue to calculate nil rate. So he makes up an amount and pays that to his exW. I can only assume she has never challenged it because she won't know what he earns, so she won't know if it's enough or not, I assume. I have no idea whether he really did have this conversation with CMS, of course. It could be bullshit along with other stuff he's told me over the years.

@Bettyboopawoop

I cannot see that being right given your salary I think you will find it will probably be a lot less.

Thanks. A pp has calculated it for me to be closer to £290.

Please put in a clam for child benefit.

You don't mention it and when other people have asked if you get it, I can't see an answer from you. I'm assuming not.

You're entitled to the full rate of £152 per month (paid 4 weekly).

@QuestionableDanceMoves

Can everyone stop piling in saying OP earns too much, shouldn’t claim etc it isn’t helpful- she asked a question, she doesn’t need criticism. If you feel the system is wrong then take it up with your MP If she lived in my area she’d be entitled to around £588 per month UC Have you had any luck getting your lha rate *@Lulu2021*?

I've just done the calculator with the information to OP has put here. It came up as no not entitled to anything. I also did the calculator on my wage which is half the OPs wage, and still not entitled.

@Peanutsandchilli

Please put in a clam for child benefit.

You don't mention it and when other people have asked if you get it, I can't see an answer from you. I'm assuming not.

You're entitled to the full rate of £152 per month (paid 4 weekly).

Sorry I seem to have missed this off my op! Yes I get child benefit for both dc