Universal Credit

Top_Girl

Top_Girl wrote: »

I have been playing about with a UC calculator and it looks like I might end up financially better off when this comes in.

Has anyone else found this?

Heh, turns out I will actually be around £30 a month worse off...

It could be worse I suppose - also I will have stopped paying for my first degree by then so it should just about even itself out. I will be on a proper MSE debtbusting mission starting in the new year so hopefully we will be prepared.

zagfles

carebear13 wrote: »

-first let me apologise for the atrocious spelling, i was on my phone.
i have, but i still dont get it. i cant see what we are going to get properly, and i really dont want to post our income on here for anybody to give us some advice. will take another look. thanks.

The way it's laid out is a bit confusing - it gives the elements separately and then adds your earnings, to compare your total income in and out of work.

So if you look at the right hand column, and add the elements except earnings and "impact of savings", that's your monthly UC award.

I'm not sure they've got the "impact of savings" right, so if you have savings over £6k I'd take the result with a pinch of salt.

MissMoneypenny

How does the calculator work if they haven't worked out the benefit rates yet? Or have they?

They were talking about 2 rates for the childen part of UC. The higher rate of benefit for the first child and the lower rate of benefit for all the other children.

zagfles

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

How does the calculator work if they haven't worked out the benefit rates yet? Or have they?

They were talking about 2 rates for the childen part of UC. The higher rate of benefit for the first child and the lower rate of benefit for all the other children.

Nothing is certain yet, but then nor is anything certain in tax and benefits anyway until a few months before the start of the tax year.

But they've said that the elements will be based on the curent JSA/IS/ESA/HB/CTC amounts - see the white paper. So someone out of work will get basically the same as now. And there are figures for the disregards and taper in briefing note 14.

The higher first child rate will reflect the family element of CTC.

Maureen43

I am a single mum working 20 hours a week, term time only, and get full tax credits. I have no savings.

The calculator tells me that I will get zero UC!

I wonder if this is because my monthly income (as I have entered it on the calculator) is actually based on 38 weeks a year, spread out over a full year. This monthly amount divided by my weekly hours probably gives a really low hourly wage.

So I don't think the calculator will work for those who work in schools.

I hope that is the case anyway! I am looking for full time work but I can't afford to get no UC at all!

zagfles

Maureen43 wrote: »

I am a single mum working 20 hours a week, term time only, and get full tax credits. I have no savings.

The calculator tells me that I will get zero UC!

I wonder if this is because my monthly income (as I have entered it on the calculator) is actually based on 38 weeks a year, spread out over a full year. This monthly amount divided by my weekly hours probably gives a really low hourly wage.

So I don't think the calculator will work for those who work in schools.

I hope that is the case anyway! I am looking for full time work but I can't afford to get no UC at all!

Have you entered your monthly income as annual income/12? Note that if you select monthly it wants a figure per month rather than per hour if you use weekly. What do you mean by you get "full" tax credits - that would imply your annual income is below £6420, you'd definitely get a lot of UC on that income.

NPowerUser

Nice to see couples on low incomes without children finally getting something other than help with Council Tax or Rent.

My understanding from the UC calculator is that a single earner couple on around 20 hours a week will be entitled to over £300 a month on UC minus less help with Council Tax and Rent?

Either way, a welcome to low earning childless couples

princessdon

zagfles wrote: »

Have you entered your monthly income as annual income/12? Note that if you select monthly it wants a figure per month rather than per hour if you use weekly. What do you mean by you get "full" tax credits - that would imply your annual income is below £6420, you'd definitely get a lot of UC on that income.

Your contract has your equated hours on it surely. Eg 3 days a week is normally a 0.48 post (or 18 hours pwe week equated).

That is your hours per week, then you add your monthly wage.

Sorry Zagfles I copied the wrong post. ))Small Screens((

shymanuk

so what will happen for self employed people ?if they only work 30 hours a week but dont clear great money? and the amount can vary with weekly bookings

banner188

the fact is that, under UC, low paid working couples with one child or less will still be significantly worse off than any non working couples with 3 or more kids and the non working family can use the money to have as good a standard of living as the working couple, as happens now. That is regardless of the 26k cap.