Universal credit

[Aly116]

I am currently living with parents with my 4 month old and getting universal credit. I get £560 a month as I am currently on Maternity leave. I am looking to move out with my partner however I will receive a large decrease in universal credit (or may not get it at all) due to my partner being on £20,500 a year which is obviously not a lot or enough to pay rent and bills and everything else. Does anyone know how housing benefit works or can I claim anything for housing costs? And how much? Or am I just going to have to try go back to work part time to be able to afford to move out as I can’t cope living at my parents much longer.

On just his salary, as a household you’re likely to still be eligible for UC when you move out. You’d need to make a joint claim, and you’d possibly receive a contribution towards your housing costs (“the housing element” of UC - housing benefit isn’t really a separate thing these days). Can you visit entitledto.co.uk and have a play around with the benefits calculator? You can input various different scenarios, for example if you were working 16 hours a week, 8 hours, no hours; if you have childcare costs or not. It’s worth trying to map out a few possible options. You might be able to make it work for you as a household.

You have all my sympathy for being at the end of your tether having to stay with your parents whilst adapting to a young baby! Please feel free to ignore replies you might get here that tell you how grateful you should be to your poor parents for putting up with you 😉 Not everyone’s parents are helpful or patient, but lots of people genuinely seem ignorant about that. Good luck to you x

Agree with above.

Assume at least one of you and your partner are over 25 - your own amount now suggests you are.

On a joint claim with the baby and assuming you rent a 2 bed place privately you could add rent and get a Housing Costs element added. The amount for rent would be limited by Local Housing Allowance.

Based on LHA here, Northampton, you'd get UC of approx £520/month.

PP has suggested using EntitledTo to see how it works - good shout.