Planning for Maternity Leave. Can I claim universal credit whilst receiving SMP?

mamadreams

I am the main breadwinner. My partner has ill health and only works 12 hours a week. He is in receipt of PIP standard mobility and ESA Support Group. Whilst I take maternity leave we will be approx £1200 down per month on income. My wages cover rent and all household bills. Will I be able to claim universal credit to boost our income whilst I am claiming SMP?
My husband would not be well enough to care for a new born and I plan to breast feed.
I have used various online benefits calculators but they all come up with different answers!
Advice appreciated!:j

tacpot12

Yes, you can claim UC whilst also receiving SMP.

If you have no children at present, the SMP you receive prior to the birth will be treated as earned income, so for each £1 of SMP you receive your UC payment will be reduced by 63p.

When your child is born (or if you have a child already), you should receive a work allowance which will mean that less (or possibly none) of your SMP will be treated as earned income, so your UC payment will increase for that reason, and you will receive the child element of UC as well.

huckster

If the ESA support group is income based, then when you apply to UC, as it will be a joint UC claim as a couple, your partner will also need to apply for UC and link the two UC claims. This will mean that the ESA claim will have to be closed and the ESA entitlement transfered over to UC.

If you pay rent, housing can be included in the UC claim as well.

Your post here indicates a lack of understanding about how UC works. There is a Government website 'understanding Universal Credit', which you might want to look at. Also sites such as Entitledto and Turn2us have useful information and benefit calculator, so you can work out the merits of claiming UC.

sportsarb

Is the ESA income related or contribution based?

calcotti

I would infer that if OP's income is going down by £1200/month as a result of going on SMP that partner's ESA must be contribution based since there would be little if any entitlement to income based ESA. Op - can you confirm is your partner getting £110.75/week?

Rubyroobs

Your husband's contributions based ESA ( I assume that's what it is) will reduce your joint Uc pound for pound. Pip continues to be paid separately and has no effect on UC except that as long as he is receiving the daily living component of PIP, you could also claim the carers element of Uc as long as you are caring for him for 35 hours a week. You can claim this irrespective of how much you earn.

sportsarb

calcotti wrote: »

I would infer that if OP's income is going down by £1200/month as a result of going on SMP that partner's ESA must be contribution based since there would be little if any entitlement to income based ESA. Op - can you confirm is your partner getting £110.75/week?

I thought the same and don’t want op closing a perfectly good ESA(C) claim.....if that’s what it is.

calcotti

OP, you can use a benefits calculator to get an idea of entitlement https://www.entitledto.co.uk

mamadreams

it's contribution based!

mamadreams

It's actually those websites that have caused me the most confusion as each one has given me a different calculation even though I am entering the same details!:rotfl:

huckster

Both benefit calculators will produce the same results, but they are configured slightly differently, which can be confusing, when entering details.

If you compared both calculators side by side, you should be able to spot what the difference is.

Perhaps if you provided details of both calculations here, we will tell you why there is a difference, if you cannot spot this.