Help please, can I claim universal credit?

Scouser1985

I've tried all the benefits calculators but I'm still confused 😕
My husband left his job to look after our little girl and be a stay at home dad leaving me as the main breadwinner. Unfortunately I've just been made redundant. Can I claim universal credit until I can find another job? If so then will my redundancy payment, due at the end of September affect the amount that I receive?
Sorry if its a stupid question but I've luckily managed to get this far in my life, I'm 35, without claiming any benefits but now I need to and am confused by the process. 

sammyjammy

You can claim New Style JSA, this is payable at £74 a week for 6 months and is not affected by any capital you may have (including your redundancy payment when it comes, you can claim this as soon as you are unemployed?  Are you currently still being paid notice?
Assuming you have savings of less than £16k and no other property other than that you live in if you are a homer you can claim UC alongside your husband, the redundancy pamynet will be classed as capital when you receive it, if its more than £16k that will I believe cause your UC to stop.  The JSA will be deducted £ for £ from any UC payment due but is paid fortnightly and not impacted by capital so it makes sense to claim both, also JSA gives class 1 credits of NI rather than Class 3 for UC.  UC will include any benefit for housing you maybe due.

Scouser1985

Thanks sammyjammy, yes I am currently still being paid notice until the 11th September. I didn't even realise that new style JSA even existed, I thought everything had been replaced by UC, so confusing! And thanks for the heads up about the NICs as well, just looked it up on the gov website. Yes, we have less than £16k in savings and my redundancy is less than £16k too so that should be OK. 

TheShape

Scouser1985 said:

Yes, we have less than £16k in savings and my redundancy is less than £16k too so that should be OK. 

How much will the savings and redundancy payment be once added together?

ElephantBoy57

Years ago, when I got made redundant, the redundancy money meant that I could not get benefits, so the redundancy payment was a waste of time.

Not sure about the rules now.

Spoonie_Turtle

ElephantBoy57 said:

Years ago, when I got made redundant, the redundancy money meant that I could not get benefits, so the redundancy payment was a waste of time.

Not sure about the rules now.

The replies already given are based on the current rules.

(For UC you are allowed to use savings to pay off debt, if that's at all relevant to the OP.)

Scouser1985

Redundancy and savings together add up to less than £16k (we've not got as much in the way of savings as I would like!)
We do have debts but not much in the way of savings to pay them off but thanks for the thought spoonie turtle. 

poppy12345

As you have a dependant child then you'll receive a work allowance of either £512 per month (if you don't claim for help with any rent) or £292 per month, if you claim for help with the rent. This means that you can earn that amount of money each assessment period before you start to receive the 63% deductions in your UC entitlement.

You should wait until after you've received your final pay before claiming UC otherwise your first payment could be reudced because of earnings. While redundancy pay itself isn't classed as earnings, final pay and holiday entitlement is.

Scouser1985

Thanks Poppy12345, that's all useful information