UC URGENT

[puta91]

Hi guys, very new to this UC business.

Basically, I gave up my job in March due to the pandemic so no childcare as schools were closed. And I am currently 5 months pregnant, and also I was in my final year of university and had a lot of work to complete, also I have two children.

Me and my partner have been discussing moving in together, we've been together nearly 3 years and are expecting our first baby together, he works 37 hours a week, I'm currently not employed anymore.

I was just wondering if anyone had similar circumstances to me, and if so, what did your UC claim consist off. I've done calculations (I know these aren't accurate) these calculations don't have a breakdown.

The only way to get a full breakdown is to make a claim (feel like I've been tricked into signing my life away) so I've made a joint claim, me and my partner have completed our bits, so until we wait for a decision I thought I'd pop in here and ask for advice, and to see how people manage on this. I currently recieve child tax credits, I used to get working tax credits.

This is only temp, once I have my baby my aim is to get in to full-time work and use my degree.

Everyone's Uc will be different. It depends on your age and your partners age and the ages of your children, how much rent you pay and if private renting then the local housing allowance for the number of bedrooms you are entitled to. You will get no extra child element for a third child but that is the same regardless of whether you claim tax credits or Universal credit. Your partners wages will reduce the amount of Uc you receive.

Couples standard element if one of you is over 25 is £594.04 ( but is only temporarily this much due to covoid and will go down next April), £281.25 for eldest child assuming they were born before April 2017 and £235.83 for second child, and then rent element will depend on your rent and Local housing allowance. To work out what is deducted from the total of all these elements you take your partners net wages ( after tax, NI, pension deductions), take away £292 ( assuming you rent) and multiply by 0.63. This amount is the deductions for earnings from the total.

Thanks guys, so we're both over 25. My partners income before tax is £1700, after tax and NI £1400. My house isn't private, my eldest daughter was born in 2010, second, 2016. I knew a third child wouldn't be entitled to anything. It's quite confusing as the calculators say different amounts to what people say they actually get. I'm just worrying, as I'm scared we're not going to struggle, I never wanted to come out of work, I've asked my employer if I could come back and she said yes but haven't heard anything, I have a feeling she doesn't want me back as I'll be on mat leave in a few months.

Also do I need to inform child tax that I've made a claim, as this UC claim is a joint claim, so I feel like I need to let them know my partner is moving in as on the UC claim I have mentioned in a note that he is moving in, but on the claim I've put he's moved in with me on this date as that's the only way we can get a joint claim.

How much is your rent, I assume it's council or Housing association?

£370.00 a month, I don't receive housing benefit I usually pay my rent as I was a student so was never eligible for housing benefit, I used my student loans to pay my bills. Its council association also.

I calculate you'd get about £783 Uc per month. This assumes your partner is paid monthly, once per month and that your student loan is all finished.

It will go down by about £83 a month next April though if they scrap the coronavirus increase.

Ahhh okay, his wage is the same each month. And I wasn't aware of a coronavirus increase tbf. Also does anyone know what that payment will consist of, I've had no breakdown of what that amount is, thanks again for your advice x

Also, last student loan was April 2020, I will not be in receipt of anymore as my degree is finished.

As I said above - standard couples element, 2 x childrens elements and rent element and then the whole award is reduced by wages after £292 is disregarded ( work allowance). For each pound earned above £292, your total Uc reduces by 63p.

Ok so if the student loan was meant to last until the end of term ( so maybe the end of June ? ), I'm not sure if there will be some deduction on this first month's UC as part of your loan would have fallen in this first UC assessment period.

The loan I recieved in April is actually going on this months bills, after that I have nothing. Also, I've heard there is a 5 week wait until a decision is made, I would have to dip into my saving to keep up with the bills as we are going to struggle on one wage for everything at the moment.

You will need to declare your student finance too

The student loan is designed to last until the end of term so if you declared it on the Uc application I 'm guessing some will be taken off - they divide the loan between the number of months it's meant to cover. You've been very lucky being on tax credits for pretty much all of your degree as student loan isn't counted at all for tax credits wheras it's deducted pretty much pound for pound from UC. If you can't mange then you should be able to take the advance payment that they offer to tide you over and will also have your partners wages?

Yes probably better to use savings than take the Uc advance as that then has to be paid back over 12 months.

Tax credits is the best system I think, they didn't care that I was a student they didn't even see my loans as an income, as with the gov system they stated my loans were an income, which in my opinion is ridiculous as I have to pay those loans back. This is why I haven't claimed income support or housing benefit because I was a student and wasn't entitled to it, so I've used my loans to pay my bills. Also on the claim it asked if I was a student, which technically I'm not anymore so I answered no, they didn't mention anything about student loans, but if it comes to that I'll explain my situation as I have recently completed my degree and I don't receive or am eligible for any more loans, thanks again for your help.

You can put a note in your journal explaining when you last received your student finance. It will most likely need to be taken in to account. It’ll be better for you to declare it now, rather than it be found out down the line and you end up having to pay money back