Work requirement - benefits.

[strugglingmomx]

Hi all,

Me and my DP are on a joint universal credit claim. He works and I don't as we've just had another baby and I also get carer's allowance for my disabled 6 year old child who is in receipt of DLA.

As I get carer's and have a severely disabled child, I've never had any kind of work searching requirements.

Now we've got a baby under 2, does that mean my DP also has no work requirements? As one of us gets carers and now we also have a baby too, so - two adults with two situations of no work search requirements.

Of course he'll still work but he was required to work full time before and would be easier for him to drop to part time. Am I right in thinking there's no work hour requirements for my DP now we have a baby and a disabled child?

Possibly, if you report your husband as being the main carer of the children. That might bring into question why you're not the main carer of your disabled child though. You could then potentially lose your carers allowance and be expected to be available for full-time work.

Yes if you put him down as the main carer for the other child but you'd drop a lot of money overall by him going part time as your UC would only rise by 55p for each pound less he earns.

You don’t have to work full time you just have to earn over the threshold for a couple the AET- administrative earning threshold is 1,189 per assessment period.
so as long this is the take home pay you won’t have work requirements.
I only work 30 hours a week and my partner doesn’t work he looks after our 2.5yr old. He has no work search requirements due to my earnings.

As of May the 15th it is rising to £1437.

For goodness sake - just because the benefits system might say you don’t need to work you bloody should. If you are going to have children be prepared to work to support them like everyone else.

I imagine having a disabled child makes that difficult.

You might have a fit of rage to read this but it suits us for me to not work too much and not pay for childcare and get a UC top up whilst my husband works. Everyone has different circumstances.

My disabled son is having unexpected surgery, all I want is for him to be able to work part time to be able to help more since we have a baby too. I don't even care if they take the regular full time wage off the UC award, I just don't want to be called in to meeting if he's only doing half his hours whilst my son (who, btw had his leg amputated) needs us. We're not just scrounging for the sake of it, the only reason we even get top up benefits is because I get disability elements for my son that heighten the award! Don't judge a situation you have no clue about.

Ps he'd only be working part time for a couple of months whilst my disabled son recovers!! Not that I have to explain myself to small minded people. Just be grateful your children have all of their limbs. :)

@WithACatLikeTread thank you! I don't work because I am a full time carer for my son, which is absolutely fine and I can do alongside our baby too. But it's just the fact that my son is having to have surgery on his stump (he had his leg amputated before) which is why I'd like my partner to be able to drop to part time hours for a couple of months.

I think this should be fine OP - ignore any negative comments and do what you need to for your family

It won't matter. If he is down as your the children's main carer then it should be fine if he works less for a couple of months, in fact he won't have work requirements if your youngest child is under 2. So you'd have your full UC just less deductions for earnings if your partner's earnings have dropped and obviously less earnings. It might also be worth exploring if you can get any childcare costs paid for whilst your partner is working, I think if one parent is a carer they will pay for childcare. I may be wrong on this but may be worth checking with your case manager if putting your younger child in childcare would help you whilst your eldest is undergoing surgery.

It's not the disabled child in question husband was working and OP was caring for the disabled child - all good
OP went on to have a second child and want the taxpayer to pay for the husband to give up work to look after DC2 and that is the issue.

Stop being so mean ! If you read op's post this is temporary whilst her son has surgery. He doesn't want to give up work, he works 30 hors regularly and just needs a bit of time off whilst their child has surgery ffs show some compassion !

@kitsuneghost you clearly haven't read what I'm saying. My partner isn't, and won't, be my baby's main carer. I will be. Which is fine.

I'm purely asking if UC will call us in for meetings / if we'll have sanctions if my partner dropped his hours for a couple of months so he can assist in helping my son after an upcoming UNEXPECTED SURGERY.

I don't even care if they deducted the full time wage as usual. He's not giving up work ffs. This isn't about getting more benefits, it's purely about my partner helping out when we didn't ever expect we'd have to go through all of this trauma all over again, especially not with a young baby.

Is your son receiving high care DLA? Although only 1 person can receive the caring element, more than 1 person can care for a severely disabled person. Your DH can report he's a carer for your son but doesn't receive caring element.

If your son doesn't receive DLA HRC, then ask for it to be reviewed.

Yes he gets high rate DLA (both care and mobility) so has the severely disabled child element + carers element added on to our UC. Thanks I'll have a look into this

Only one person can be considered a carer.

Only 1 person can receive caring element, more than 1 person can be considered as caring. I work for DWP and have families who I've supported to put this in place, it's not usual but it is in guidance and exists for these more complex situations.