Universal credit issue

Singlemum2018

Hi I'm a single mum and I'm wondering if anyone knows the amount you can earn per month before your universal credit is stopped. I want to go back to work full time in August after having my baby and my childcare is 840 per month, on top of all my bill which are almost 900 per month after rent etc. I only pick up 1380 after tax so this will not cover everything.

I contacted uc and they advised they could not give me the answer (typical but I can see why) but it left me in a predicament because in order for me to see if I'll be able to claim uc once I go back full time with the childcare element included, I will have had to already pay 840 to the nursery, which I don't have and will have to put it on the credit card

Does anyone have any advice for me, I don't want to give up work but nursery is £47 a day.

huckster

Use a benefits calculator such as Entitledto or Turn2us.

You can enter all of your details into these calculators and it will tell you based on the your exact information, what any UC payment would be.

For one child, the maximum childcare per monthly assessment is currently approx £640. For details of childcare options, check the Government website Childcarechoices.

Job Centres have been asked by Government to consider helping claimants with upfront childcare using their flexible support fund. So if you claimed UC, you might be able to get help,

calcotti

The reason DWP cannot advise you is that there is no standard answer, it depends on your circumstances. If you use a benefits calculator, as suggested.by huckster, you can try putting in different earnings figures to see how these affect the answer.

If you are a single mother over 25 with one child your maximum monthly UC entitlement will be
Standard allowance £317.82 (£251.77 if under 25)
Child element £231.67 (if one child born after April 2017)
Housing element - this will be your rent or the Local Housing Allowance for a two bedroom property (assuming you rent privately)
Childcare costs - 85% of what you report as paid each month subject to a maximum of £646.35/month

The first £287 of your earnings will be ignored (the Work Allowance). After this 63% of your net earnings will be deducted from the maximum entitlement to arrive at the actual payment figure. So on net income of £1380 the deduction would be £688.59. Every additional £1 you earn will reduce your UC award by 63p.

Singlemum2018

Thanks you guys for your quick response.....I did the calculator but I will do it again, just wanted them to let me know from the horse mouth

huckster

Singlemum2018 wrote: »

Thanks you guys for your quick response.....I did the calculator but I will do it again, just wanted them to let me know from the horse mouth

The calculators have all the correct benefit rates so will be accurate, if you provide accurate information.

Reason UC does not provide any calculation, is that UC works on the basis of monthly assessment periods. Therefore until the first Assessment period end date has been reached, UC won't have all information. As examples, an employers could report via HMRC they had paid a claimant wages. Also there could be details of other benefits that affect the UC claim that are reported

tomtom256

calcotti wrote: »

The reason DWP cannot advise you is that there is no standard answer, it depends on your circumstances. If you use a benefits calculator, as suggested.by huckster, you can try putting in different earnings figures to see how these affect the answer.

If you are a single mother over 25 with one child your maximum monthly UC entitlement will be
Standard allowance £251.77
Child element £231.67
Housing element - this will be your rent or the Local Housing Allowance for a two bedroom property (assuming you rent privately)
Childcare costs - 85% of what you report as paid each month subject to a maximum of £646.35/month

The first £287 of your earnings will be ignored (the Work Allowance). After this 63% of your net earnings will be deducted from the maximum entitlement to arrive at the actual payment figure. So on net income of £1380 the deduction would be £688.59. Every additional £1 you earn will reduce your UC award by 63p.

The work allowance is still £198 with housing. The increase they mentioned hasn't been sorted yet as far as I am aware.

Gov.uk also still shows this amount for those with housing costs.

Looks like they need to update the systems as £287 should be the new amount from April 2019.

calcotti

tomtom256 wrote: »

The work allowance is still £198 with housing. The increase they mentioned hasn't been sorted yet as far as I am aware.

Gov.uk also still shows this amount for those with housing costs.

Looks like they need to update the systems as £287 should be the new amount from April 2019.

I was using the April figures on the assumption that they would be in use, as confirmed by the government last November, by the time OP’s circumstances change as she refers to going back to full time work next August. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-and-pension-rates-2019-to-2020/proposed-benefit-and-pension-rates-2019-to-2020#universal-credit

The new rates are applicable from 8th April (first Monday after 6th April). I expect information on gov.uk will be updated at the weekend. I don’t know how the change in rates is applied across UC assessment periods. I suspect they will only be applied in the first assessment period that starts after 8th April rather than having old and new rates apportioned within the assessment period but I can’t find any information to confirm this.

calcotti

This memo confirms new rates applicable from 8th April https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/788421/adm6-19.pdf

Profligate

If you are a single mother over 25 with one child your maximum monthly UC entitlement will be
Standard allowance £251.77
Child element £231.67

Not sure if I've quoted a previous poster correctly there, but wanted to clarify:

Someone under 25y would receive Standard Allowance of £251.77
The SA rate for people 25 years old or older is £317.82.
Child element for the first, or only, child is £277.08 (if born before April 2017) or £231.67 if born after that date or for a second child

calcotti

Profligate wrote: »

If you are a single mother over 25 with one child your maximum monthly UC entitlement will be
Standard allowance £251.77
Child element £231.67

Not sure if I've quoted a previous poster correctly there, but wanted to clarify:

Someone under 25y would receive Standard Allowance of £251.77
The SA rate for people 25 years old or older is £317.82.
Child element for the first, or only, child is £277.08 (if born before April 2017) or £231.67 if born after that date or for a second child

Quite right - I have mistakenly entered the wrong standard allowance. Thank you for spotting that - I have now corrected my post.
For the child element I inferred that as OP said she was looking at going back to work after having her baby that the date of birth would be after April 2017 - but it would have been sensible for me to make that clear.

Singlemum2018

Thanks all. I've done all the calculator on the gov.uk sites and they all state I should be entitled to some help. Will see if this applies when I actually go back in August