Universal Credit with self employment while studying part time

sarah198705

Hi all,
I was wondering if someone could clear up a lot of things. Its such a big mess. A couple of months my partner did some overtime (and had a slight pay increase) that we could no longer claim housing allowance and we would have to put in a claim for Universal credit. It was a couple of hundred and hearing all the horror stories, with claiming UC, we decided to struggle and just keep tax credits.
A little bit of background information, I am in my last year of studying a part time Mathematics degree. I am self employed and tutor 3 children a week (I charge £9 per hour and have £27 extra a week). I have 3 school aged children. I don't drive (can't afford lesson atm). My partner works 39 hours a week. He has just changed jobs and is due to starting his new job tomorrow. His First payment from this new job is 28th October. We just had our final payslip from work and its £5.83. We didn't realise, that they have deducted his annual leave holidays, he took off in the summer.
So freaking out a little bit with his final wage pushed us into claiming the universal credit and hopefully see if we could get the advanced payment which would help pay our bills. Rather than getting in debt even further.
However, reading the declaration for Universal credits have gotten me so upset. Am I expected to be looking for work of 35 hrs a week and give up my course for the job. Please, don't judge me but there is no way I can work 35 hrs and still get a good enough grade in my exams in June. They could suggest I up the tutoring hours and that won't help much as I use up a lot of time with preparing for lessons too. Sometimes (I have a GCSE student), I can spend a full day preparing work for a hour. I really want to do a PGCE next year. I want to teach Mathematics. I just feel that I am going to be forced into accepting any job and then I won't get the grades to get on to the course.

huckster

Hours you are expected to work would depend on age of your youngest child. How old are they ? I think the 35 hours per week applies when youngest child reaches 13.

Also how much are your partners expected monthly net earnings ? If they are in excess of about £2200, you might not be expected to work, as your combined income would be enough.

How long have you been registered as self employed ?

You need to work through the information about your claim, as it may not be as bad as you are fearing.

Read through this link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-your-family-quick-guide/universal-credit-further-information-for-families

calcotti

You should also probably look at this https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-and-students

If you become a full-time PGCE student you will be expected to make use of available student loans and these will be treated as income when working out any UC entitlement.

sheramber

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Claimant-commitment-Universal-Credit

The expectation is that when in work people in this group will earn at least the equivalent of 35 hours at National Minimum/Living Wage. This is known as the 'individual earnings threshold'. So if you earn the minimum wage then you will be expected to work for at least 35 hours a week. But note that if you earn above minimum wage you could be lifted above your earnings threshold but work less than 35 hours - the threshold is measured in terms of earnings not hours.

If you have a child aged under 13, you should talk to your personal adviser about what activities are realistic for you. You can ask for reasonable adjustments including to your expected number of work hours, for example, limiting the hours you are available to work so you can drop off and pick your child up from childcare or school. The expectation is that 25 hours should be appropriate if you have children of compulsory school age and 16 hours should be appropriate if you have children below compulsory school age, though this can vary depending upon your caring responsibilities. If you have an older child adjustments may still be approved.

sarah198705

My partners yearly income is 18k. He will have around 1300 a month. Youngest child is 6 and oldest is 11. I have been self employed since October last year.
I won't have a problem with classing the PGCE as income next year. My worry is getting through this last year and ensuring I get the grade to get on the program.

calcotti

sarah198705 wrote: »

We just had our final payslip from work and its £5.83. We didn't realise, that they have deducted his annual leave holidays, he took off in the summer.

Has he checked that the calculation is right. Your partner will be entitled to holiday for the portion of the year he was employed. He should check his holiday entitlement and when the holiday year runs from (some companies operate calendar years, others tax years). The company are entitled to claw back any holiday he had previously been paid over and above what he had accrued but shouldn't be taking all holiday back.

I haven't phrased that very well but i hope you get my meaning!

huckster

So with a child aged 6, you would be expected to earn the equivalent of 25 hours per week at national minimum wage.

Your self employment would not be considered gainfull, based on what you have advised. You just don't earn enough for it to provide an income to live off.

So your net earnings would be taken into consideration, with no minimum income floor applied. But you would have to search for work, sufficient to boost your income to at least an administrative earnings threshold equivalent to about 16 hours per week at national minimum wage. So a part-time job of an appropriate amount of hours should be enough.

For your current degree, do you receive any student finance or could have received student finance. If you correctly declared you were studying, then you will be asked for details.