Anyone continued to claim universal credit after SMP ended and not returned to work?

[Pinky333777]

I was made redundant when I began maternity leave (all planned and kosher) so I have no job to return to.
My partner and I currently claim UC as a low income family, and I receive my statutory maternity pay.
SMP is due to end next month and I was wondering if our universal credit payment might increase to reflect this?
Has anyone had any experience with this?
UC won't calculate a payment until the change is made, and I'd like to have some idea of how I'm going to balance the finances in advance!
I tried entitled.to but that shows we're entitled to only half the UC we're currently receiving, so that can't be right.

I'm also expecting baby number two, and would be interested to find out if I'd be eligible for maternity allowance or just universal credit or both.

TIA x

Yes it will increase. If you claim the rent element of UC then they disregard the first £198 of your husbands wages, if you have a mortgage or no rent to pay then it is £409 that is discounted . Then each £1 of wages reduces your UC award by 63pin the pound.
So you can work it out - Wages - ? x ).63 = amount deducted form your total UC. Your total Uc is all the elements added together and should show on your statement. When you have your second baby then you will get another child element of £230 ( ish ) pounds which will increase your total UC amount. Not sure about the MA but even if you were it would be deducted from UC pound for pound so you would be no better off anyway.

Sorry that should say Wages - ? ( £198 or £409) x 0.63= amount deducted from your total UC.

Thanks.
In the breakdown I see where they've deducted from my partners earnings, but under my earnings it says £0.
Could this mean they haven't been taking my SMP into account??
It was definitely declared in our interview. I'm worried now my SMP is going to stop and UC will say we owe them
It wouldn't surprise me. The whole thing seemed a shambles when we signed up. The job centre people didn't seem to fully know what was going on ;-(

your SMP should show somewhere . if it's not there then you need to ring them.

Yeah, I'll give them a call tomorrow.

I'm fuming
UC were told about my smp in our application. And again in our interview.
I called them this morning and was told it's all fine.
10 minutes later i get a message from them saying smp hasn't been factored in, can I send payslips so they can calculate over payments!
So my smp is going to stop AND our UC payment will decrease.
I literally can't afford to pay our bills.
I'm terrified 😢

It may be your employer didn’t report your SMP to the HMRC in time so the earnings feed didn’t come through to UC. Might be worth asking so then you can raise an RTI dispute so your employer has to report your SMP

I was a nanny so employed by a family. They did it all online using the hmrc app. I'm sure they reported it in time x

Gosh that's awful, so you have been overpaid UC. Hope you manage to find out where the mistake has been made and can negotiate low repayments.

What a mess!
The RTI from hmrc was showing as £0 so smp wasn't included. They're looking into why and arrange repaying over payments then.
I'm so annoyed. I declared my smp on my applcation.
Then again at our interview.
I called after our first payment o ensure it was all correct and told it was.
Even this morning when I rang they said yes it's all fine and the smp had been taken into account.
Ten minutes later I get a message in my on line journal to say oh no, it's not. Send payslips so we can calculate over payments!
So next month my smp stops and my universal credit goes down.
My anxiety has been through the roof. Not what I need at 7wks pregnant. We likely wouldn't have even planned another baby if we had realised.
What a cock up ☹

Maybe you can make a complaint. If you declared it on the initial application then they must have a record of that application. they have to accept some responsibility.

Thanks. We've done just that with the case manager today.
I'm grateful for any help we get and hope i don't sound otherwise for being annoyed, but we've based our lifestyle and life choices on what they said we'd get. It's only temporary. I was in full time work for 20 years before having my baby and will return again soon enough.
I was just looking forward to focussing on my family for a couple of years x

If there is no record from the rti feed then that means your employers haven’t reported it

Or the HMRC haven’t reported if the SMP isn’t coming from your employer

Thanks. I checked. My employer did report it.
Hmrc sent her the payments to send on to me.

Skint, on benefits and expecting child no. 2.

And we wonder why Britain is broken.

Very strange as the RTI feeds come from the HMRC 4 times a day. So sorry for continuing to ask but did your employer report it every month to coincide with when you are paid?

Middle of the night, on the internet and being judgemental.

And we wonder why Britain is broken.

UC are checking with HMRC thanks tissue.
I have no shame about claiming benefits for a short while so judge me all you like. I worked full time for twenty years before having children and will work another thirty or forty years after I've had this break claiming what is offered to help low income families like mine while I see my children through their toddler years x

If an overpayment is caused by an 'official error' then you should not have to repay it. If you declared your SMP then it was their fault for it not being calculated properly. But if they sent you info to check and agree and you did not notice that your income was zero then it might be your fault. I would advise you to appeal any overpayment if you informed of your SMP.

Phone calls are recorded. If you've logged who you spoke to and when then you can prove you called and checked it was ok.

Lazymum- The SMP would be calculated based on the RTI feed from the HMRC- same as earnings

Lazymum - The thing is with Uc it's all done on line and at face to face interview.

The case manager looked through everything and could see we'd declared SMP at least twice and acknowledges it's their error. We just need to see what head office says about it.