Advice on universal credit

[Dailydingo]

I need to make sure I'm financially secure when/if I leave. I earn 30k a year gross, this equates to 1950 take home pcm. The online calculator for UC says I will get 800 ish a month. How can that be correct? I would be single with 2 kids under 16, one is SEN and I get dla for him.

I'm not sure if you're questioning because you don't think it's enough, or because you think it's too much?

FWIW I was on £34k when I left my husband last year and got a whopping £36 a month UC.

Have you also included your child benefit and DLA into the equation. Also you should get child support from your stbx. Although as many have experienced dont bank on it. I'm still chasing mine nearly 4 years later. You will make it work.

I'm questioning how I would get anything at all. My current wage is part-time hours. I would go full time if I left and hopefully on promotion which would take me to 42k gross a year.

Universal credit takes housing costs into account so that may be why the calculator says that. You could phone gingerbread they are very helpful and have offered to do a calculation over the phone for me before.

A significant part of how much UC someone gets is the housing element. This won't help if you are paying a mortgage (you have to wait 9 months for support with mortgage interest); if you are renting then it depends where you are, what you are renting and from whom.

I would still be named on the mortgage, but will have moved out and taken the kids with me and not paying for the mortgage at all. I will then be privately renting at around 1500 a month.

Do you both own the house?

Some of the online calculators can be way out. The best way to work out any entertainment is to work out all of the elements and deduct your work allowance. This will give you an accurate figure.

www.gov.uk/universal-credit/what-youll-get

@motheroreily - yes i will still jointly own the house but i cannot afford to stay there just me and the kids but stbexh could afford it on his own. I'm thinking that we get the house valued at the point I move out and stop paying the mortgage. We get a mesher order. Once the house is sold - ideally when the youngest is 18 - then I get my share of the house at the value of the point I stopped paying for it. I think that's fair. I don't want want to do anyone out of money. In the meantime, I will be in a 3 bed private rented house just outside of London @ 1500ish a month

Thanks for clarifying. I just asked because I was in a similar position and was told even though I didn't live in the house the equity counted as savings and I wasn't entitled to universal credit. I think if the house is for sale the equity is disregarded for a period. I'm not sure if a mersher order effects this. So that could be something to check.

[quote Dailydingo]@motheroreily - yes i will still jointly own the house but i cannot afford to stay there just me and the kids but stbexh could afford it on his own. I'm thinking that we get the house valued at the point I move out and stop paying the mortgage. We get a mesher order. Once the house is sold - ideally when the youngest is 18 - then I get my share of the house at the value of the point I stopped paying for it. I think that's fair. I don't want want to do anyone out of money. In the meantime, I will be in a 3 bed private rented house just outside of London @ 1500ish a month[/quote]
The whole point of a Mescher order is that you get a % of the sale price when it's sold. Whoever keeps the house benefit from the other owner's investment and equity in the house.

So either you should get your equity now, or your ex should pay you rent in proportion to how much equity is yours.

Please get advice on this and don't short change yourself.

Will still being on the mortgage affect affordability calculations for renting? My ex couldn't get anywhere even though he wasn't paying the mortgage as legally it was still a financial liability so was added to his outgoings. He could in practice have afforded rent but no one would entertain the idea.

There is no basis for your ex to get a mesher order if you rent with your children.

Do you have or did you declare the equity in the home? This is what might be driving the high entitlement