Universal Credit for Multiple Birth ? Please help.

[worriedaboutmoney97]

Hi all. I'm a single mother to 3 children. The most recent 2 being product of a multiple birth, I updated my circumstances about three weeks after their birth as I was ill after their birth and they were in NICU. UC have finally changed my statement after me updating the circumstances and they've said I only get support for 2/3 children, which contradicts what I was told by a woman who works at the job centre, she said due to the multiple birth I would get support for all 3 children. So now I'm panicking thinking I won't get any support for one of my children, I'm spending £50 alone on formula for my twins a week, I don't know how I will cope if I don't get support for both of them, I'm due to go to university next September so my money will all change again.

My question is will I get support for all three children or an I going to struggle to make ends meet ? I am going to the job centre tomorrow but I need some help to calm down until them as I'm really panicking.

I've looked of the UC guide and I've attached what it says regarding multiple births however I'm full of a head cold and it's not making sense to me.

Please help me calm down a little bit.

From reading the attached text it looks to me like you should get UC for all three children. I would go back to them. Good luck!

Bloody hell. I haven't got a cold and I cannot make any sense of it either.

I went to the detailed guidance document here and looked at Annex B, where they've given some more examples. My initial reading is that you will be entitled to UC for all three children.

Annex B gives some examples which seem to highlight the idea is this:

• if you have another child, knowing you can't get UC for that child, that's your fault
• if you have a multiple pregnancy you couldn't reasonably have been expected to know this in advance so you're allowed to get UC for all but the child you were attempting to have

(Sorry, that sounds awful but this policy is bloody barmy).

So in your case, you had 1 child. Then you had a second pregnancy. You could reasonably expect that pregnancy to be covered by UC. Therefore you aren't penalised for the fact it turned out to be twins and not a singleton.

Where the first child of the multiple birth is either the first or second child in the household, we will pay a child amount for all the children born as part of the multiple birth.

So - the firstborn twin was the second child in the household, and thus all children born as part of the multiple birth are covered.

Fingers crossed you get a good result in the job centre tomorrow.

Thankyou so so much for the reassurance @birdbrained. the last thing I've needed is to be worrying about money and having them mess up my claim has just pushed my stress levels over the edge, I really struggled to make sense of what they were saying on the website. It's a bit clearer now, Thankyou @tribpot Praying to god that i can get for all three as seriously don't know how I will cope for the next year without it, I get healthy start vouchers + child benefit for all three so I couldn't see how universal credit would be any different, as I wasn't expecting the third child. I'm absolutely skint right now as they were born on the 29th of August so I've gone a whole month with no support for them and had to lend money of practically ever member of my family to keep going

You should get it for all 3. You are allowed to claim for two children so if your second pregnancy is a multiple birth you will get child element for three.

The second and third child element is less though £231 as opposed to £277 a month if first child born before April 2017. when you become a student your student loan will be taken off your Uc once a small amount each month is disregarded.

Definitely for all three children.

Sall
Why post such a twatish comment?

It's OK no need to answer. I just read a few of your comments on previous threads and it appears you are a twat to mothers on benefits all over MN.
Yay you.

You will get uc, but I would suggest looking at other formula brands, that's a crazy amount. If they are on special formula due to health reasons you should be able to get help with the cost.

the benefits system is extremely generous when it comes to giving out money to people who have more kids than they can afford, regardless of whether they've done it by accident or design.

It really, really isn't. Those who state this as fact should see what many other EU countries pay out in benefits to ensure blameless children aren't deprived of the basics. Hell, even the US is a hell of a lot more generous (once you've qualified) than I assumed having just read media nonsense.

Anyway, OP. I used to work in a jobcentre, also have a couple of friends on your situation. You are correct that you should receive payment for all your DC. It appears the system automatically applies the usual limits and relies on people noticing and complaining to correct it.

@sall74 Not that it's any of your business my first daughter was planned, and me and my then partner were able to cover any costs. My twins were actually due to a contraceptive failure. But as PP as suggested you seem to write out comments like this all the time so I won't worry too much about your comment or anything you might be trying to suggest.

@stucknoue They are just on hipp organic which is £9.50, they are feeding every 3 hours and you can't leave bottles out for more than 2 hours, they have 5 ounces but obviously don't always finish the six ounces, so I end up pouring it away a lot of the time but health visitor said as they were draining 4 ounce bottles I have to give them 5 ounces now. When my HS vouchers come through it will be easier, it's just waiting for them is proving difficult.

@Roomba Ah okay, so it just automatically applies the 2 child limit, that makes me feel better. I left a note in my journal highlighting the issue but I'm going to nip into the Jobcentre today to just get it straightened out in person.