Quick benefits question

[notsure22]

Hi all. I have absolutely no idea about how benefits work so please forgive any stupid questions or assumptions! I’ll try to keep things brief.
I work part time (£16000 a year, in an expensive area (rent is £1200 for a two bed, which is £100 over the allowance for my area) with one school age DC. I think my marriage is ending.
I’ve had a look at EntitledTo and it seems to think I’d be entitled to £1404 (including CB) each month. Does this seem roughly right?! I know no one can say for sure, but I can’t talk to anyone about this for now and I’m clueless.
Obviously going forward I’d look at moving somewhere cheaper and increasing my earnings but I just want to know if I could be ok with some help in the short term.

If you're getting housing allowance as part of your universal credit claim (which I am guessing you will be) then £344 of your monthly income is ignored.

Then for every £1 you earn per month after that £344, your universal credit will be deducted by 55p.

You should get your housing allowance (which you said was 1100) + standard allowance (265 if you're under 25 or 334 if you're over 25) + 244 for your child.

So add that up as a total then deduct 55p off every £1 you earn per month after £344. (So deduct 55% of your monthly earnings after £344 off that total) that should give you a better estimate and see if it lines up with the calculation.

That kind of ballpark sounds plausible, given the rent level, and the fact that it includes child benefit.

I think with those calculations it's roughly between £1200-1300 a month you'd be entitled to but I think monthly pension contributions can be taken into account etc so £1400 could be correct too. Personally the entitledto calculator was spot on for me. So should be around that or not too far off

And child benefit for one child is almost £100 pcm

Its coming out just shy of £1400 pcm when I run it @notsure22 , allowing for that rent allowance, and child benefit but no pension contributions.

(If you are making, or start to make, pension contributions at that level of income, you’ll mostly get them back through lower tax and higher UC, so worth looking into if you’re not currently paying any).

Thanks so much all.
I’ve only got about £60 going in for pension contributions each month at the moment.

YW.

Have a play around with entitled-to calculator to see what effect different pension contribution amounts would make. It’s only sensible to optimise.

Also, be aware you can claim as a single adult (plus child) soon as you split, even before you move out, which might make things smoother with cash flow for rent etc.

Thank you.
Currently shitting myself. Would be a lot easier if DH was a terrible person.

It would just be a different kind of hard if he were terrible. I'm sure you’ve thought it through.

Good luck!