Working on UC

[Moomamaa]

Hello
I'm a mum to a one year old
So I live in a council house, currently receiving full housing benefit and UC. I want to go back to work part time.

I'm very confused, how many hours can I work without it affecting my benefits? Am I better off working?

Generally speaking under UC you will always be better off in work, there are not 'sweet spots' and cliff edges like in legacy benefits.

While your child is so young there are no obligations to seek work though there may be some pressure as he gets older to keep up with stuff so you're ready later. Where there are obligations they're usually expressed as multiples of the National Living Wage rather than hours.

The best 'starter' answer is to use a calculator such as turn2us or entitled to and see how permutations of wages work out.

When you say housing benefit I assume you mean the rent element of UC?
As you have a child you will have a work allowance of £404 a month which means the first £404 of any earnings are disregarded before earnings reduce your total UC. So you could earn up to £404 a month without it affecting the current amount of Uc you get at all . Anything you earn above that would reduce your Uc by 55p for each pound earned. You could also claim help with childcare costs.