UC joint claim do you both have to work if you have children (over 3)

[DisneyPrincessMummy]

Hello,

I have a question about Universal Credit and I can't for the life of me find a clear answer, it's like they don't want to give the money away 😆
This is something I'm not doing as of yet so it's more hypothetical.
If I do a joint claim with my partner, And I am the main care giver for our children, if he works full time do I still need to look for work for 30hrs when our youngest is 3?
At the moment, we have a 5 year old and a 6 month old but I will return to my part time job in April, if we want a 3rd I am thinking of being a stay at home mum because its not fair to ask my mum to watch my 3 children whilst I do my part time job if my partner is at work, but I keep reading that even if my partner is full time working that I would also have to look for work as the main care giver.

I've got friends who say this isn't the case as they have been claiming for a while now but I can't see anything online that says for sure.

My partner does have a high income so the UC would just be to top us up if we needed the extra income if we were eligible but I didn't want to evene go through the process of UC if I was going to have to work anyway when the youngest got to 3 as I might as well stay in my part time job.

Thanks

My partner does have a high income so the UC would just be to top us up if we needed the extra income

If you 'needed the extra to top you up', then not having a third child and working yourself is surely the most sensible move?

How high is your partner's income?

Of course you do. Why should taxpayers pay for you to stay at home if you are capable of working. If your husband can support the family without top up benefits, you can do whatever you want

If you need UC to top up your income you cannot afford a third child. Its a luxury.

i am so utterly sick of it
be a SAHM but pay for it yourself
Why the fuck should my taxes pay for it
when I had my 3rd he went to nursery whilst I worked 3 days a week, because I chose to have him, why on earth should UC pay me for that choice

And why is the earnings threshold so low between two health people capable of work? I don't understand.

Don’t give up work unless you’re married. Don’t rely on your mum for free childcare. Don’t have a third child if you can’t afford the two you’ve already got.

I’m actually a centre left voter but yep posts like this really infuriate me- basically let’s see how little I can getaway with work wise and still claim and have more kids. Not relevant in this case but I am also anti maintenance not being counted if being paid consistently and regularly against UC claims - I have a person I know doing very little work wise , getting full UC including rent and doing very little with 2 over 9s but not being hassled because 1 child has slight health needs but not enough to stop her going on plenty of nights out and breaks and getting nearly£800 a month on top maintenance-she’s far better off than many single mums working flat out - no wonder people get resentful

If employers paid a decent wage then the state wouldn't have to top up earnings with Universal Credit.

I always thought that setting up the previous Tax Credits system was a green light for employers to keep wages low.

You read so many posts on here where couples both work full time and get no support however they can’t afford to have a 2nd child , sometimes a first so they make the decision to not expand their families due to finances only . I imagine posts like this do feel like a kick in the teeth to families getting no support as they earn too much and this is what is wrong with the benefits system .

And this is why removing the 2 child cap will only encourage more people to have more kids not just support the ones they’ve already got .

You can’t blame the poster tho , you’ve got to blame the system that allows this .

The original plan for tax credits was a brilliant idea.

What it ended up being has resulted in low wages and higher childcare costs because of how it was finally implemented.

So often the case.

I couldn’t have just chosen to give up work and claim, that is not reality. In fact we really couldn’t afford a third, my marriage was abusive, my eldest son was in the process of moving to a special school. It was horrendous but I had to make it work, and I had to pay for it.

having children and giving up work is not a right, it’s a choice. My mum never worked, my dad worked to pay for that choice, nobody else was expected to

After working through all 3 children, at times absolutely hating it, crying when I dropped at nursery, longing to pick them up from school….. posts like this make me so angry.

but i have to remember it did not harm my boys. They are successful, hard working, decent young men.

I also have a career, I worked part time when they were little and now I can really be ambitious again. I had the freedom to leave a horrendous marriage because I earned my own money. As I approach 55 I also realise that my pension savings are very healthy.

maybe rather than working out how to get the best free ride OP, think about what your future holds

Great post @bittertwisted
On the one hand I think a benefits calculator is a good reassurance when people have unforeseen changes in their lives - especially as it’s so difficult to speak to a human! Unfortunately, calling it “Entitled To” has made it possible for people like the OP to try to “tweak” things to their liking.
Thats why I love your post @bittertwisted - maybe if some people thought longer term, wanted to set a good example and just had more respect, then the benefit system would be the safety net it was always meant to be.

Yes we couldn’t afford a second , not that either regret that - I was back at work full time at 13 weeks , this was late 90s just before things changed- it really annoys me when people are playing the system

It is nothing to do with a decent wage- average wages in places like Sweden , Denmark and Netherlands are not dissimilar to UK, even at the lower end the minimum is very similar and they have much higher tax and a far lower personal tax free allowance - what is different is ‘cost of living’ Far more social housing of good quality at social rates, no council tax, no NI as such, child care at 1/4 of uk costs and on my lived experience my energy bills were half the UK.. The higher tax for all covers these things off . When we lived in Denmark there were very few in private rentals, they mainly went to ex pats ( as they can’t get social housing) there are far too many people in the UK and particularly in southern half of England paying huge private rents that take vast chunks of pay and even if getting UC often comes nowhere near covering the rent. There are an awful lot of people too opting to work part time because they have calculated that they are really not that much better off working full time because of the cost of childcare/housing . ( I can’t blame them , but it’s the system that enables it ) It’s things the country has done in the past that have now come home to roost, selling off social housing, not building enough social housing and going for the quick buck with student luxury blocks, privatising utilities, not putting rent caps in place relative to area , not raising basic rate tax and funding childcare costs right down years ago.- many many reasons - I think if it comes down to talking about wages, the big issue is ‘middle earners’ and particularly in private companies- a lot of these incomes have been stagnant for many years , however I know personally a lot of these companies too are struggling ( not all) and I know quite a few cases where the owners/directors earn less than some of their higher paid employees. It really isn’t as simple as employers need to pay more- all that does is push more companies into not being viable or technology that ‘gets rid of people’