Universal Credit/pension for mixed age couples

calcotti

georgieo4 said:

I have just done 'before and after retirement; calculations on turn2us. On uc we would be slightly better off but both calculations for before and after retirement state there would be no universal credit as income exceeds entitlement. However, in both calculations it includes my husbands PIP, whereby I thought it was disregarded? It is disregarded now, so I am a bit confused. 

The benefits calculator will show the PIP to give you a complete picture of your income but it is not taken into account when calculating UC entitlement.

I don't understand why it is showing no entitlement to UC before retirement, that doesn't seem correct unless there is other income that you have not mentioned or you have missed something off. Nor do I understand how, if it shows no UC entitlement before pension age, you could be better off than existing.

Did the calculations include the three UC elements I included in my calculation above?

calcotti

georgieo4 said:

And to add, citizens advice said we would be entitled to a smaller amount, which works out to around £55 a week. 

I'm not clear what that refers to but I think you mean that if you claim UC now you would have an entitlement to UC equivalent to about £55/week. That sounds right to me and is, as you note, about £15 more than your husband currently gets as income based ESA. However that entitlement will end when he reaches pension age if he is going to get the full State Pension. Do you know what State Pension he will get?

It really isn't worth claiming UC for two months to get roughly an extra £200.

georgieo4

Thank you poppy12345 so there really is no point in making a uc claim. 

georgieo4

calcotti - sorry - I went through our income details with citizens advice and they said at the end we would be entitled to around £239 a month, which works out at  around £55 a week. I didn't leave anything out, they had all the figures.

georgieo4

That would be for uc after my husbands retirement.

calcotti

georgieo4 said:

calcotti - sorry - I went through our income details with citizens advice and they said at the end we would be entitled to around £239 a month, which works out at  around £55 a week. I didn't leave anything out, they had all the figures.

georgieo4 said:

That would be for uc after my husbands retirement.

Without seeing the figures I can't comment on how they have arrived at that.
£229/month is what I calculate your UC entitlement to be if you switch now (pre pension age).
If you have the calculation and want to share it I am happy to comment.
Once again - Do you know what State Pension your husband will get? If you don't want to post the figure that's fine. I am just trying to check that the calculations are being done knowing what pension figure to put in. Obviously in the example calculation I did I made an assumption about the pension amount.

georgieo4

Thanks calcotti - my husbands pension will be £184.31. We didn't know this until after the advice given by citizens advice.

Citizens advice told me on the phone the figure of £239 a month then sent the following advice info by email:

Breakdown for Universal Credit

Universal Credit £ 239.00                                                            Council Tax Support £ 11.02
Supplementary Welfare Award (Northern Ireland) £ 0.00            Net earnings £ 0.00
Rate Rebate Universal Credit (Northern Ireland) £ 0.00             New Style JSA or ESA £ 0.00
Child benefit £ 0.00                                                                     Other Income £ 778.27
PIP / DLA £ 531.05                                                                      Housing Benefit under Universal Credit £ 0.00
Carers Allowance £ 0.00 Carers Allowance Supplement (Scotland) £ 0.00 Scottish Child Payment £ 0.0



Take home income £ 1559.34 per month                 After costs £ 1548.32 per month

Budget Breakdown Home and contents £ 11.02        Council Tax £ 11.02      Total costs £ 11.02

poppy12345

I must admit, that's terrible advice you've been given by CAB and it's not given you the full breakdown for UC and doesn't mention the Carers allowance.

With a State pension of £184.31 you will have no entitlement to UC.

calcotti

Citizens Advice have taken the pension as £179.60/week but have, as poppy suggests, forgotten to take into account the Carer’s Allowance you are paid. CA is £292.93/month which is more than the £239 they had calculated as UC payable and the CA will therefore result in no UC being payable.
(It’s a very confusing print out including lines for Scotland and NI!)

Your husband’s pension will actually be higher than I had allowed for when I calculated nil UC entitlement so clearly I still believe that to be the case.

calcotti

The calculation now looks like this
UC standard allowance  £509.91
LCWRA element             £343.63
carer element                  £163.73
                                      -------------
maximum                       £1017.27

Unearned income
Carer's Allowance            £292.93
State Pension                  £798.67 (£184.31/week))
                                      -------------
                                       £1091.60

Unearned income exceeds maximum UC amount so no UC is payable.

As observed previously, although no UC is payable, you will have more money coming in than currently.