Universal credit for couples...

rjw273

It all seems like such a grey area.

The principle behind universal credit is great because my biggest complaint of the current system is that you don't know what your total income would be if you increased your employment income. In fact 2 years ago i received a large pay rise at work which meant my salary went up by about £1000. It turned out we lost about £1500 in tax credits. I have had oppurtunties to go for promotion but even though i would receive about an extra £5k a year, we would lose almost all that in Tax Credit reductions.

Before our first child was born my wife was a team manager in a good company and earning quite a bit more than me so she is more than capable of getting back into work but until now, there's been no point because we'd lose almost every extra penny she earned not to mention the family time we'd lose. At the moment she has a couple of minor health concerns.... not enough to be classed as disabled but it may make getting back to work slightly harder so thats why i'm asking about her requirement to work under UC.

Is it possible to speak to work coaches before committing to applying for UC?

rjw273

I have done several online calculations and worked out.......

£2270 = current total monthly income on Tax Credits
£2430 = total income if we switched to UC now
£2550 = total income on UC if my wife earned £100 per week

so even if we switched to UC and my wife didn't work, we'd be £150 better off per month. I am aware of the issues with UC such as the 5 weeks without being paid but £150 is a significant difference for us.

WillowCat

I'm not sure that speaking to work coaches would help. The Universal Credit rules are set out in legislation and are clear that (if you are not in the in work pilot scheme) you cannot be forced to jobsearch if your household earns over the administrative earnings threshold.

Any change to that would have to be by an act of parliament and the work coaches couldn't anticipate what or when that would happen any more than the rest of us can. It's probably true to say that in future there will be some changes - this is what the pilot scheme is trying to test - but for now you have the information needed to make that decision. My household will also be much better off on universal credit - the only reason I'm hesitating to make the jump at the moment is that my partner will get class 3 NI contributions rather than the class 1 he gets at the moment and that may be an issue for us. This wouldn't apply to your scenario though.

Ineededaname

Please ignore atlantis' scaremongering when he doesn't know what he's talking about. As you yourself have worked out - you should be better off on UC. The only people who may be worse off are those who receive certain premiums on ESA currently that have now been removed. As far as I'm aware - these are also removed for new ESA claims so it's not just a UC thing. Anyways..

have always found 'light touch' a bit contradictory. Government will encourage those earning below conditional earnings threshold to look for work or better paid work, but in the couple situation, where one person is earning about national minimum wage, the other part of the couple is treated as light touch, with work search being voluntary.

I should imagine that any Government trying to steer people off benefits will review this light touch treatment. The current light touch approach must be confusing. On the one hand people are told they should be looking to work and then there is this a voluntary work search requirement. This may be because politically there is a dilemma about parents working and not being around for their children, plus the issues for employers.

It's probably because UC was piloted with single people only by standard. The majority of these that move to light touch obviously want to work and are capable of doing so - they will already be trying to increase their earnings as much as there circumstances allow. I can't imagine jobcentre intervention made much if any difference with this group of people and even if it did the small top up they might get from UC would be a pittance. Just not worth DWP effort?


Who knows what will happen with couples. They are assessed as a household not individuals.. and socially I guess it's always been the case that one person could not work if the other was supporting the family. I guess it would be quite a political change to not allow this?

The principle behind universal credit is great because my biggest complaint of the current system is that you don't know what your total income would be if you increased your employment income.

Is it possible to speak to work coaches before committing to applying for UC?

It's quite simple on Universal Credit and you should be able to look it up. As you have children you should get a small amount of your earnings ignored completley, after which they take something like 65 pence off your award for each £1 you earn - and this would just continue until your entire award is gone.

You might be able to phone them and ask but as WillowCat said, it's quite clear how it stands at the moment.