Could I claim universal credit?

[dreamerkr]

I have no idea how this works as will be obvious haha. I live with my husband who is self employed and he came from abroad on spouse visa. He doesn’t have indefinite leave just yet, he will do after a year. I’m a British citizen so I’m guessing that I will be able to claim UC but not my husband? I’m unemployed and taking care of my 2 month old DC at home, I just finished studying a few months back. I know lots of other factors come into this too, but the main question is would I be able to claim UC? I’m aware that I have to link my info with my husbands, but surely I will be able to get it as I’m a British citizen? So sorry if I don’t make any sense. Oh and DH is paid around £2500 a month if that’s taken into account.

We aren’t eligible because we have savings, but if we didn’t have savings we would be eligible for UC with a higher income because of disabled DC.

Others with such incomes or higher are eligible because of a combination of disabled DC, high childcare costs, high housing element.

Yes I'm aware of that but really even with those elements included there must be very few families who are still going to qualify with an income of 50K ! You really would need to have multiple disabled children or multiple children in childcare which given 30hours free funding kicks in at aged 3 means it's unlikely.

It would be interesting to know how many families on over 50k get UC, it must be a small number. I guess reducing hours to directly care for young children or disabled dependents might work, or paying into a pension. I think the child benefit rules are stupid but surely someone on 50k shouldn’t be getting subsidised rent

Yes exactly. Numbers are likely to be very low. It's not your average family on over 50k that would be eligible especially since the 2 child rule for being eligible for the child element was brought in. Maybe some large families where all the kids were born pre 2017 rule change and they have 4/5 kids and still get child elements for all of them and renting a huge house and eligible for a 4 bed rate may still qualify.

That’s not really true. For example, a couple over 25, with 2 DC, one of whom is severely disabled with a household net income of £3.5k would still be eligible without any childcare costs and no rent element.

Standard allowance £525.72
First child £290
2nd child £244.58
Severely disabled DC element £414.88
Carer element £168.81
Total = £1643.99

Earnings minus work allowance
£3500 - £573 = £2927

Earnings x 0.55 = deduction
£2927 x 0.55 = £1609.85

Total allowed - earnings deductions = total UC for month
£1643.99 - £1609.85 = £34.14

Add in a housing element, childcare element, another DC or another disabled DC element and it would be more. 2 DC including one disabled DC is hardly uncommon. There are more families than you think who are eligible with an income of £50k and higher.

Yes you're correct. I'm probably thinking take home pay on 50k is more than it is. It just seems ridiculous to still be eligible on a salary of 50k, but I guess those people are being taxed highly. The whole system just seems wrong to me, the difference between what working people get due to the work allowances and taper rates and the pittance that those not working get ( often through no fault of their own ). I'd like to see a fairer system.

Yes, there's a taper, but an open claim can still give the claimant additional entitlements and assistance which non-claimants can't access.

Which assistance and entitlements are those? Not dental or prescriptions, because those cancel out a lot earlier than the taper. Not sure about the extra cost of living extra payments though, although those are not normal and should perhaps also be on a taper...maybe they are?

The additional CoL payment isn't on a taper - if you claim UC, you get the full £650 (£90p for next year).

UC claimants on higher wages can access Help to Save, which gives a 50% top up to savings.

UC claimants with young children can claim the cold weather payments too.

AFAIK Cold weather payments are only given to families with young children where there is an unemployed or disabled parent. It's only given to working families who also have a disabled child, which I think I can forgive, even at the upper end.

But a tapered approach to everything, including child benefit, would seem more fair. Otherwise we're back in this benefit trap system where it pays to work fewer hours. Although it's fairer than it was before UC.

I've noticed a lot of working people complaint about the COLs, but government has to draw the line somewhere, it makes sense to give to the poorest people and people on benefits tend to be at the bottom of the rung....plus they have easy access to everyone's bank details to make payments....will working people miss out,,,yes but if they had low earning they would be getting UC anyway (unless they too proud to claim in which case they not gonna accept handouts). The other option is to pay everyone in the country...but again plenty of people earning 50k + getting money they don't necessarily want..waste of taxpayer money. There will always be some loophole or glitch that means someone will miss out, but the current system is the fairest way.

Yes, you might be right there. I guess if you are pennies over the limit and felt you needed the extras, you could always up your pension contributions.

From gov.uk

Universal Credit
You’ll usually get Cold Weather Payments if you get Universal Creditt_ and you’re not employed or self-employed. One of the following must also apply:
• you have a health condition or disabilityy_ and have limited capability for work (with or without work-related activity)
• you have a child under 5 living with you
You’ll also be eligible if you have a disabled child amount in your claim, whether you’re employed or not.

Sorry, posted too quickly £ yes, you were correct if you're working and on UC you don't get the cold weather payment even if you have young children.