Benefits confusion

[WonderWoop]

Hi there
I am helping a friend with a benefits claim but have never claimed myself. It's all a bit confusing so any help/advice welcomed...

She is a single parent and has UC and child benefit. She's not working

First issue:
She has a two year old and we are trying to understand childcare hours plus funding. We believe she is eligible for 2 year old funding (15 hours?) and have applied to the council, awaiting update from them.
Can she also claim childcare funding (85% funded, she pays the remaining 15%) in order to get more time at the nursery?
And if so can she apply for this even though she's not yet working? It would enable her to get a job if she had this in place. The 15 hours (in reality 11 as 15 is term-time) isn't sufficient

Second issue:
When she starts working how do we figure out how this impacts her benefits? Can she work say 20 hours a week at min wage and still claim?

Third issue/question:
She also wants to apply for housing benefit in order to get her own place. Practically speaking, how does this work? Does she secure a place and then apply, or apply and then look for a place?

Sorry a lot of questions there, all advice do gratefully received.

But it will only be paid if she in employed. You can't claim childcare element if not working. Free 15 hours etc are different amd organised through the council and the provider directly

Just to add she might be able to get help with a rental deposit and possibly the first months rent via a discretionary housing payment from her local council. This is completely separate from her UC claim and each council operates it slightly differently as it is discretionary. As others have said citizens advice should be able to advise/ help with this. Once she rents she will be liable for council tax. There are rebates for people on uc and low earners. Again she would need to apply from her local council for this and for the single person discount assuming she is the only adult in the property.

Thanks @MissMaple82
She is applying for jobs so it's still relevant as hopefully she will be employed soon

Thanks so much @Thistooshallpsss
I will speak to citizens advice with her, the council have been absolutely useless since she arrived in the Uk so have little faith in them

Just to add - as she is on UC, they have a fund called the flexible support fund which can help with upfront childcare costs so that she does not need to find the first months costs upfront. She should speak to her work coach regarding this as they may be able to help.

Thanks @Babyroobs
Someone else also mentioned that so we have added a journal entry asking her work coach about this.

A slightly separate question for everyone, sorry,
but looking at the cleaning agencies with her, most just act as an intermediary and in essence the cleaner is self employed. Is it a simple as declaring her self employed earnings, treated the same as employed and then benefits adjusted accordingly?

I think you can pay NI as you go too and I could help her with tax return if necessary when the time comes, she wouldn't earn enough to trigger a big bill.

She has also applied for a job in a local restaurant but the cleaning gives her more flexibility week by week.

Self employment is tricky on UC. It's not quite as simple as just reporting earnings. She will need to be assessed as being gainfully self employed and after a year will have a minimum income floor - which essentially means that she would have an amount she will be expected to earn ( dependent upon age of children etc), and she would be treated as earning that amount even if she didn't. She would be exempt from this minimum income floor for the first year of self employment.

She should be entitled to 2 year funding. Bare in mind the childcare payments thru UC are in arrears and must be working to claim. Maybe she could start the little one off at nursery on the basic hours and work round that to start with until she's in a position to up her hours. Esp if she's looking at being a self employed cleaner. When the little one is 3 they should be entitled to the full 30 hours as I believe you get it if you're in your first year of self employment anyway while you get your business off the ground.

Thanks for all of the wisdom!

Her 15 hours funding came through today which is great news.

If she decides to go the self employed route does she just declare earnings as if employed, and what evidence of earnings (if any) does she need to provide?

Once she does that can we go ahead and apply for the 85% funding towards extra childcare days?

I have also enquired about some of the grants or funds for upfront payment of childcare and/or rent and deposit when the time comes. May take a while to get a response on those but worth asking.

I explained upthread about Uc and self employment. It's not as simple as just declaring income, she will need have an interview with UC if becoming self employed. they will need to check she is gainfully self employed etc.

@Babyroobs ah thanks okay, I misunderstood that part. I thought it was straightforward for the first year or so before the assumptions on minimum income are applied. I will see if we can get an appointment at the job centre or similar to talk through

Claiming UC when self-employed is less straightforward than claiming when employed on PAYE, but it's not too bad. You're right in that the MIF won't be applied for the first year (they call it the start-up period) and they'll use her actual earnings instead. Then after that point, she'll only be expected to earn the equivalent of 16h/w at NMW until her child turns 5, then it increases to 25h/w.

She will need to report her self-employed earnings monthly via her online journal - more detail here www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/reporting-self-employed-earnings/

Good luck getting an appointment at the job centre! It's hard enough for claimants let alone their helpful friends. You could try the UC helpline.

Thanks a lot @AnotherEmma

The minimum floor is reasonable and she would hope to work at least 16h as the nursery have offered her 4 days (which is why we were looking into how to fund the extra hours). So not too worried about that

There is loads of cleaning work privately and gives her lots of flexibility

Just don't want another paperwork nightmare (which it has been since her arrival... sponsorship application, BRP, UC, NI number, doctor, school, nursery, bank, council childcare funding, free school meals... we are constantly tripping over things we didn't know we had to apply for ---- like the child benefit which I must do this week!)

But if we could manage it I think the self employed option allows her to start earning almost immediately and get her childcare funding application rolling... and saves her applying for jobs / interviews etc.

Good advice re: the UC line instead of attempting to go to the job centre. I will try that for advice on this in case there's anything else we need to know.

Another question if okay.

Her assessment period was 28 June - 27 July. She was paid on 3 August

So her current assessment period is 28 July to 27 August, with payment around 3rd September (is it 4th because fewer days in August?)

If she was to work in August, unlikely at this stage, but for the example... we submit her earnings via the journal between 20th August and 10th September roughly speaking if I've understood correctly.

If we submit before 27 August does it affect her Sept payment and after 27 August instead amends her Oct payment - or how does that work?

Thanks again

"You will not get your Universal Credit payment until you have reported your income and expenses. If you report late, your payment may be delayed."
www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-self-employment-quick-guide/how-to-report-your-earnings-from-self-employment

She should get paid on the 3rd of each month provided she reports her income/expenses before then. And yes any earnings in the assessment period will affect the next payment, so earnings up to 27th August will affect the September payment (but only if they are over the work allowance, which is higher while she's not claiming the housing element).

Perfect @AnotherEmma
Thank you once again

Citizens advice might

Worth mentioning here that "30 hours free childcare" is 30 hours during term time but some places let you spread it over the year and you will have to pay for extras like early starts/late pick ups food nappies wipes suncream etc