Why won’t I get UC on maternity leave?

[MiaRosexo]

Hey ladies,

Just wondering if anyone could help me with understanding universal credit whilst on maternity leave please and how people qualify? I know that sounds silly but I don’t know if I’m missing something.

I am the highest earner in my household and we will be trying for a baby soon - we are already putting money into a pot as we want to be financially prepared as possible. My partner earns £31k a year and I will only receive SMP. It doesn’t even cover my half of the bills, we own our own house too.

I’ve done the online calculators and we will be entitled to nothing - I’m hoping we will be fine if we can save enough so this is more a question of curiosity really, how little do partners have to earn to be able to claim UC? I’m sure I’ve seen on here and other forums that some partners earn really good wages yet they’ve still qualified for SMP? To me my partner’s wage is quite average, am I missing something here? I think I wrongly presumed we would also be entitled!

thank you :)

You own your home so you almost certainly have financial resources in excess of the limits.

You own your own property so aren’t entitled to any housing benefit. Is this your first child? If so you’re not entitled to any child element until they’re born. That’s what usually makes people entitled on higher salaries.

The likelihood is that those that qualify are paying rent, so can get a housing element in the uc award, and /or already paying childcare.

Do you have savings?

When i say own, I do mean we have a high mortgage, we definitely don’t own outright!

Owning your own home makes no difference you just won't get any payment for rent. OP I believe it's because you don't have much work allowance i.e. the amount you or your partner can earn before losing UC. You get extra work allowance if you already have kids, have a disability, are a carer etc. Your SMP counts as earnings too.

I did but we’ve recently bought a house as first time buyers so it all went on that, I have about £1k left

What is the parental leave at your partners work like? Maybe it would be better for him to take the majority of it, and you go back to work sooner?

This.

You won't get UC because your DP has an average job and you're getting SMP. Where people are getting UC on those kinds of salaries it's because there's another element that you wouldn't be entitled to, whether that's rent, disability, childcare etc.

Could you take a mortgage holiday while you're on SMP? Could you take shared parental leave if you're the higher earner?

This is interesting, thanks! Probably naive of me to not consider others are more entitled to disabilities, childcare etc… I thought people were talking solely about being entitled due to their partners wage but I must be wrong :) yes we’d definitely consider shared parental leave

Could you hold off trying for another X amount of time to save for your maternity leave?

I would start skimming off anything you don’t need now before you start TTC.

You are allowed to have a mortgage and claim UC but you both earn too much to claim. We have a mortgage with two kids and get UC but we only earn roughly £25k per year. If we earn more than £2,500 a month we don't get any UC.

This makes sense and clears up what I was originally asking I guess, so thank you! X

Yeah it is a bit of a myth that you can't claim because you have a mortgage. A bit stupid really. As if we are all wealthy. You don't get help with the mortgage (landlord mortgage fine though) but you can earn more before they deduct it.

Why would you think you’re entitled? You have to save up like most people.

Go back to work early like most people do. I only had 6 months mat leave and the last month we did get UC because my Hs earnings were so low.

I will be saving up, I was more just curious as I’d heard a lot of “my partner earns a good amount and we still qualify” so I was just wondering if I was missing something

DD and her partner got UC. Mainly because of their high rent and childcare costs. Young families that seemed to be the most significant factors.

You have a household income of at least £63k, own a house, have £1k month disposable income, and still want benefits?

Come on…!

The housing allowance thing makes quite a big difference.

UC sees rent as an essential cost that it’ll give you an allowance for, but generally doesn’t treat mortgage payments in the same way.

Funding it wise - start ‘paying for nursery’ 10 months out of 12 a year. That’ll build up savings and give a good idea of future budget adjustment.

SMP barely covered half of our bills too, which is why we saved up for ages before ttc. SMP is shit.

I’m sure I’ve seen on here and other forums that some partners earn really good wages yet they’ve still qualified for SMP?

But you say that you will qualify for SMP as well?!

Jumping in here as I am considering what options I have should I leave my partner and taken on our household on my own…

is that £2500 your take home monthly pay out of interest? I am on that border and it’s good to know there is support out there. Sorry for jumping in! The system does favour those without a mortgage it seems but then there are arguments about it being unfair to have help paying off a mortgage vs monthly renting..

This was a typo, I was meant to say qualified for UC

Universal credit rates are really low. A couple receive either £489 or £617 a month depending if they are over or under 25. Wages reduce that amount by 55p for each pound you earn.

The amounts go up when you have a baby and you might be eligible for help with childcare costs.