Joint UC calculation

[Linkedin721]

Hi, hoping someone can help me work out my joint UC claim as DWP cannot advise me of my calculation until the end of June. It’s a joint claim, I can’t work out of the monthly award will be £99.65 or £469.80 due to the wording surrounding LCWRA work allowance. I work full time and my husband is signed off from work (self-employment) , no children and no housing element (live in mortgaged home). I earn £1697 net after tax, NI and pension. My husband has been signed off sick since February. He is expected to be assessed as LCWRA. When calculating UC I was confused if my husband’s £673 work allowance applies to my income. If so will the calculation be my wages (£1697) - work allowance (£673)=£1024 when wages taper x 0.55p = £563.20 total deduction from £1033 claim (couples allowance £617 + £416 for husband’s LCWRA) = £469.80 total UC award. If my husband’s work allowance cannot be applied to my income then the calculation would be £1697 x 0.55p = £933.35 deduction from total £1033 = £99.65 total award. Thanks in advance and apologies if this is obvious, UC is all new to me, however assuming his work allowance won’t apply and I’ll have 55p deducted from my full wage £1697.

joint claim £617.60
long term disability £416.19
carers £198.31
total £1232.10

£82 carers allowance (£354.90/month) is deducted £ for £

Total award: £877.20

Work 1.5/2 days a week earning £154 net a week = £667.33 per month.

£108 weekly enhanced daily living ADP (pip in England)

Your total income would be:

UC £877.20
Carer's allowance £354.90
Wages £667.33
ADP £ 468
Total £2367.43

With your current hours:
UC £668.90
Wages £1697
ADP £468
Total £2833.90

So by dropping your hours you'll lose £466.47 per month

Honestly, thanks so much for this. Dropping 3-3.5 days a week and only missing £100 wages weekly / £466 a month is ok. As I would only be getting £4 something an hour if I had to work the 100 hours a month I am dropping for £466.36. (7.4 hours a day x 3.5) x 52 / 12. We can live on £2300 as mortgage and council tax <£500 a month. I would rather drop my hours and lose the £466.

Bear in mind that all those figures are based on LCWRA. If he doesn't get that, it will be very different.

Ah understood. His HCP and GP are thankfully very supportive so I think getting paperwork and evidence would not be an issue if the DWP medics underestimated his condition and his case had to go appeal etc. His condition is currently under investigation so he will be seeing more HCP in future which should bolster his claim as loads of evidence to support he cannot sustain work and will be unlikely to be able to in the future. I don’t see his GP having any issues writing a supporting letter as well, they have all been extremely helpful and obliging so far.

Absolutely, it all hangs on this LCWRA which hasn’t even been mentioned yet as he still needs to confirm ID in person. I will wait to see what happens after the Id check complete. I wish they could give you a second chance to attempt online Id verification to save a trip to JC but never mind. Also, would you consider a passport that expired July 2023 as ‘recently expired’ or no? The wording is a bit ambiguous as ‘recently expired’ is not defined.

@Lougle would the £198 carer’s element not be considered for second calculation with my FT wage £1697 as no carer’s allowance? I would still be providing 35 hours of care hit earning over £155 weekly threshold. Still thought CE would apply as CA did not

If one that expired less than a year ago is too old then recently expired is meaningless. On the other hand if I rocked up with one issued in 1976 when I was 16 I don't think that would pass.

Even if he had no passport and no documentary evidence at all there's a thing called an ID interview where they stitich together bits of stuff you've got and what the State knows about you.

Thanks, he has other ID so should be ok. I was just unsure why they would leave it so vague as it would be something the claimants attending the ID check would need to know before their meeting. The JC have not been great so far. They were adamant that an hour long business gateway meeting was required as he was self employed prior to illness. I had to repeatedly explain it was not business advice needed but financial support and as my husband is not working so a SE meeting would not be appropriate. They finally conceded after advising it was mandatory. This would breach 2010 equality act if they barred him from accessing benefits just because he could not attend an hour long business gateway meeting to go through SE accounts.

@Linkedin721 the earnings limit is only a thing in Carers Allowance. For the Carer element you just need to provide 35 hours Care to a person in relation to somebody getting DLA/PIP/AA (or the Scottish equivalent) so you're already there.

Mentioning Scotland I sent posted the England/Wales page for Help to Claim. The Scottish version is here:

https://www.cas.org.uk/helptoclaim

There are a few differences between UC in Scotland and in E&W. The principles are much the same and almost certainly will not affect the advice you've had. I would though urge you to contact them on Tuesday and run your situation past somebody who is onto the detail of how it works up there.

Yes, sorry if I’m missing this then. Should the £108 CE not be part of the total UC amount?

£198 sorry, £45 extra a week

@Linkedin721 unfortunately ignorance of the Equality Act and the Public Sector Equality duty in DWP staff is massively deficient.

I heard of one where a man with severe agoraphobia, couldn't leave his house without distress so severe he passed out, told he had to attend JC+ in person with his bank card to evidence a change of account details.

If you get CE then it's added to your Max UC - the amount the law says you need to live on. However I don't think that will bump it up enough for you to get UC until either your hours/pay drop or LCfWRA is awarded.

So sad - hope that gent has some support. Thankfully I have worked in HSC so I am aware of the legislation and the need to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate protected characteristics. I left a note on my journal explaining how the SE 1hr meeting would be in breach of the 2010 and then they removed it from his ‘to do’ list.

I have requested a callback from CaS help to claim. Thanks for pointing me in their direction.

Ok, still unsure of award but a £815 advance payment available? Did not think my claim would be £800 a month, unsure how they calculated how much advanced payment I would qualify for it my award amount is yet to be calculated? What would happen if I took the advanced payment but then wasn’t awarded Uc ? Or does this mean we qualify for some money even before the lcwra?

Being offered an advance is no reflection of either your total award, or whether you will be entitled to UC. You would have to pay it back via a payment plan or all at once if you prefer if no award is made.

The Advance is based on what you might be eligible for before any adjustments for wages / income.

Couple rate £617.60

Carer Element £198.31

Total £815.91

He has to have the business gateway meeting as he was self-employed - it’s via the phone so should be fine. They have also posted out the uc50 form.

Thank you @DragonFly98 and @trickortrickier for explaining the advance payment 💐

If your in Scotland I would recommend applying for carers allowance if your earnings are low enough. It will be deducted from your Universal Credits each month but in Scotland we receive a carers supplement twice a year. This is paid in June and December each year and this year it’s around £290. This doesn’t get deducted from your UC. There certain dates you need to be on carers allowance to get the extra payment it’s a date in April to get the Junes payment and date in October to get the December one.

Op earns well over the £155 a week though if her monthly wage is £1697

Can anyone help with info, my pay of UC was due today upto 8pm however as it is a Saturday it should of already been in as it will not go in today due to being the weekend banking with Santander. My statement was available with my payment amount as usual, nothing it to do list, nothing in journal to state anything? I did also ring yesterday morning twice they gave me references numbers said payment had been sent on UC end however still no payment anyone ever known of this or what the issue may be..??

Sounds like a banking issue if they have confirmed it's been sent.

I rang Santander there stating nothing has been sent over so am stuck between both trying to find out where the payment is as I have not received it