Universal credit calculations

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Hey ladies - I am a bit worried!!

Every month Universal Credit are lowering and lowering our universal credit payments.

I noticed they have only been taking my husbands salary in to consideration when calculating the payment. Does anyone know if this is right?

I'm unsure, as the first month this happened, I noticed & called. They said ok they'd 'rejig' it, but nothing was changed, no refund asked for. From them on I presumed it was sorted &/ correct. But when I checked today I saw again they've only been using DH's wage, not mine.

If it turns it this is wrong, not only will they want paying back, but I'm sure we would not be entitled to any payments at all, in which case we would be better off financially if I just quit & stayed home with my son where we'd get a small amount from UC, I can do bank shifts as and when and DH can cover the remaining bills.

What's more my husband is about to start his new job in his company which will include a nice big pay rise.

This is obviously great, but with them already lowering the payment every month so far and my job security currently hanging in the balance anyway (long story...), needless to say I am extremely anxious and beginning to think we may need to rethink our situation.

Does anyone know if they are calculating this wrong? Anyone been in similar situations where they've ended up better off becoming a SAHM?

I would check that you don't owe them anything. You're a couple, therefore both your income will be taken in to consideration when calculating it.
If you do have to pay it back, you can make a suggestion of an affordable amount.
It generally works in household income, otherwise it wouldn't be fair.

They should take both your earnings into account. The a work allowance is deducted ( it will be £198 if you claim help with rent and £409 if you don't ). Then the remaining joint wages is x 0.63 and this amount is taken away from your full UC amount. if they have not been taking your wages into account you are going to have an overpayment to pay back.

The way UC works is that you should ( in theory) always be better off working. It is a benefit to encourage people to work.

I don't see how it encourages working when they don't always pay childcare or when they penalise you for receiving a wage weekly or fortnightly or 4 weekly. Also the rates paid are far lower.

How is that encouraging work when you factor in costs of lunch, childcare, commute and other work expenses?

They don't penalise you for being paid 4 weekly or weekly - you wil have received more wages in that assessment period so you get less that month and it will balance out in months where there are less paydays. people need to stop thinking of UC like tax credits where most people got the same monthly payment - it is a very different benefit which works in a different way and is based on real time variations .

Flirtygirl - putting childcare issues aside - for every pound you earn you keep an extra 37p in the pound. Take your own sandwiches to work - they cost pennies. Everyone has commuting costs. Universal credit pays up to 85% of childcare costs which is more generous than tax credits. Yes there are issues with it having to be paid upfront.

Also need to stop looking at UC as something that is a right... if household income increases then UC should go down and rightly so!

Me and my husband both work, but our childcare costs, commute, and every other 'normal' bill, means that we're actually worse off than a lot of people on benefits.

SPR - very true. I actually thought UC was going to make people look for more hours work ( the tax credits minimum hours were/ are very low). However on UC people can still work very minimal hours to get topped up as long as they meet a certain earnings threshold which is not particularly high so nothing has changed really.