Reducing working hours on Universal Credit

[joliejoleen]

I am a single, full time working parent; I claim UC to top up my earnings. I have two DC,one in primary school, one still in nursery. My ex has them one Saturday a month. No family around to help as they all live in another country.
I am exhausted. Absolutely exhausted. And feeling so low most of the time. My back aches every single evening, to the point that I sometimes find it hard to walk or bend down at the end of the day. I have been considering going part time at work, just for a little while, until ds2 is a bit older. If I did it, would I be sanctioned by DWP?
I love my job, I would love to continue working full time but I am afraid that if I do, I will have a nervous breakdown one of these days... I would love to have some advice from those of you who know how the UC system works. Thank you in advance.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-your-claimant-commitment-quick-guide/universal-credit-and-your-claimant-commitment

www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Your-dependent-childs-age-Universal-Credit

What age is your youngest

He is 3 years old.

Does it mean that I don't have to work more than 16hours?

Yes. Suggest you run figures through betteroffcalculator.co.uk to understand how much revised UC you'd get. Factor that in with revised earnings and childcare and see if doable.

Money advice service budget calculator very good for budgeting too.

Do you think you'd get part time hours?

Ah thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.
Yes, I think I will be able to reduce my hours, I have been speaking with my boss about it but wasn't sure how my UC would be affected...

You're welcome. Full time is hard even with partner supporting me with children day to day. I was previously a single parent full time working- I understand!

Hopefully the sums work out.

To be honest with you, I will probably be worse off. But it's that or I lose my mind...
Thank you for helping xx

As long as you can meet your expenses and live it'll be worth it.

Thank you

You do need to consider that at some point you'll be expected to look for more hours again for UC. Will your boss be happy to also increase your hours again when this happens?

That Entitledto link is out of date!!

If you have a child aged three or above you will be in the all work related activity group. This means they will expect you to work up to full time, with the caveat that they will allow you to tailor your working hours to fit in with school / nursery. So that might mean say 30 hours a week but you would need to agree this with your work coach.

If you go to part time without speaking to your work coach first to agree/confirm your claimant commitment, you may well be sanctioned.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/what-youll-need-to-do-on-universal-credit/claimant-commitment-what-group/

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-your-family-quick-guide/universal-credit-further-information-for-families#in-return-for-your-universal-credit

Government link ^ says same as previously advised. Section 7. Updated Feb 2019.

Ah ok, I stand corrected!
With a child of three whilst you are in the all work related activity group, the expectation is that you would only have to do 16 hours.
However, it seems this may be somewhat at the discretion of the job centre (since if you're in the all work related activity group, you're relying on them amending your claimant commitment) so I'd definitely want to check with them first before going down to part time.

It's not really down to work coach. It's clearly set out in the table in section 7.

Work coaches dont have time to create conditionalities which aren't without their remit.

@wellandtrulyoutnumbered
Thank you for finding out all this info ❤

And yes, my boss will increase my hours but I don't have to worry about it until my youngest is 13. Right now I will be going from 35 to 21. Again, not what I want to do. But my mental and physical health have taken a massive hit and I really need to recover.

I will be earning above the threshold anyway doing 21hours a week...and from what I have read today, this puts me in the no work-related requirement group...