Universal credit reductions

[Mildred01]

Hello everyone,

I‘m trying to plan ahead as a single mother and have been looking into universal credit as advised here on mumsnet.

My situation is living at home with parents, baby due in November and starting apprenticeship/ work the following September. I pay £500 in rent/bills and will continue to. My salary will be £20000 so roughly £1400 a month and according to the entitled to calculator I will be entitled to £811 monthly including child benefit.

What I would like to know is what are the deductions after the £811? I thought that was the full amount given but now I understand there are deductions with salary taken into account so am trying to work it out.
I’m sure many of you have much more knowledge than I do and a better mathematical brain, so please all advice welcome!

£811 sounds high with no rent element on the claim. You will not get a rent element when living with parents. Or is your calculation based on moving into your own place, or does it include childcare costs for when you go back to work?

Are you sure that's correct? It sounds really high for one adult and a baby with no rent.

UC is made up of elements which you are entitled to so for you it would be standard element for yourself and child element. If you are under 25 these would add up to £509.89.
Then they take your wages £1400 and take away the first £573 ( work allowance) then multiply by 0.55. This equals £454.85 deductions.
So £509.89 - £454.85 deductions leaves £55.04 Uc per month to be paid plus child benefit which for a first child is around £21.15 per week.
If you have childcare costs then it will be more as you'd get the childare element added into the UC elements.

And if you are over 25 it will be higher than the £55 a month.

You won’t get housing costs living with your parents regardless of you paying for bills/rent

But you do get a much higher work allowance ( the amount of wages that is disregarded from earnings before deductions take place ) so op you will benefit that way.

About the same take home as you. Single mother & 3 children. We get about £500 a month UC, including the rent element which you won't be eligible for.

But there is no point comparing your situation to op's even if your take home pay is the same because you have 3 kids on the claim wheras op has one so your Uc award before deductions will be much higher to start off with.

Thanks so much @Babyroobs thats really helpful. I knew there was a percentage multiplied with deductions but wasn’t sure of the exact figures. The childcare costs are included in the amount I mentioned so that would be what most of the uc contributes to.

Thanks everyone for your input, I am aware I won’t be getting any rent help. I didn’t expect any- I just mentioned my outgoings and my earnings to give an idea of why I wanted to claim uc in the first place. I might not be good at maths but I am able to answer the straightforward questions on the benefits calculator!!