Help with uc?

[waterstone6]

I’m really hoping someone can help.. my head is fried!

my boyfriend recently broke up with me and we have a 1, nearly 2 year old. He will be staying in the house as I will never be able to afford to run it on my own. I have moved in with family for the time being. Is someone able to help me get my head round uc entitlement as I’ve done one on entitled to and it just doesn’t seem correct..

earnings after tax, no pension contribution etc
£1794.64
child care costs £310 per week

the calculator gave me £1079.01 uc and then child benefit on top of that, does that seem right?

thanks in advance x

Call the help to claim advice line, it's run by Citizens Advice

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/help-to-claim/

A quick back of a fag packet calculation gets within 10p month of your £1079 figure.

Do you own half the house or was it rented?

I do technically own half the house on paper but the full deposit was his money and I’ve never paid a penny towards it

Do UC know this ? If there is equity in the house it is important as they give you a certain period of time where equity can be disregarded but then it would be counted as capital. as technically you own half a home that you don't live in.

Is your name on the deeds of the house? You are not allowed to have savings over 6K and claim (I think that's the figure) so if your house has equity in it that goes over that I don't think you can claim.

Unless your boyfriend buys you out of the house, is that th eplan?

16k is the limit.

There are a few reasons why capital, like jointly owned homes, can be disregarded for, at least, enough time to start to move things along.

As above, Help to Claim would be a good start point.

Capital can be disregarded in your jointly owned property for up to 6 months in that time he will be expected to a - buy you out or b - sell the property and give you your half of the equity if any after the sale. You cannot just sign the house away even if you haven't paid the money in this would be classed as deprivation of capital and your entitlement would also be reduced to 0. If He did not legally protect his deposit then its a 50 50 split. If the house is not sold after 6 months your uc entitlement stops.

Oh wow this is a minefield.. what I wanted to do was just take my name off and not cause much disruption to my little girls life but doesn’t sound like that’s an option? If we have to sell or he has to buy me out and there is equity left over wouldn’t be entitled to £0 anyway? Thanks for all your help everyone

No you can't just give assets away. They will view your situation that you own half an asset that you don't currently live in. As advised it can be disregarded for a while whilst sold or he buys you out of your share but you need to keep UC updated.

That, exactly.

Either it needs to be sold and the equity divided or he buys you out.

The disregards in Schedule 10 of the UC Regs paras 5 and 6 should give you enough breathing space to think about that and get wheels under whatever you plan to do.