Am I eligible for universal credit

james_williamson_6544

Wife working as a volunteer for a charity - no income
Husband in full-time employment - a small portion of income still in 40% band after pension contributions.
Wife and Husband age - mid 30s
Children - 2 kids, same gender (both under age 8 years)
Existing (household) savings in bank - under £10,000
Wife existing S&S ISA - under £10,000
Wife existing General investment account - under £5,000
Wife SIPP - under £9,000
Child Benefit claim - Yes at 36.25/week
House - small house on mortgage (14% of husband gross annual income goes in mortgage repayments)

Under above circumstances, can the wife claim universal credit or can the family claim some other benefits?

calcotti

The SIPP is ignored. 
Universal Credit is a joint claim based on joint finances.
If the total joint savings including general savings,  ISA and investment account is over £16,000 you are excluded from UC.

Alice_Holt

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

NedS

As @calcotti said, you BOTH must claim Universal Credit as a joint claim - your wife cannot claim alone.

You have detailed your wife's savings which are already close to the £16,000 limit which would prevent you from claiming but you haven't specifically detailed your own savings. How much savings do you have? That £16,000 limit is the total amount available to you and your wife (jointly) including balances of all bank accounts, savings, ISAs, GIAs, cash etc - everything other than pensions (SIPPS) which are disregarded in full. Any other investments - property, land etc? You may, jointly, be over the threshold of £16,000 which will prevent you from claiming so no point pursuing further.

Given you are paying HRT, and therefore have a salary over £50,000, I very much doubt you will be eligible to claim UC due to your earnings, but as suggested by @Alice_Holt, put all of your details (you, your wife and children) into one of the benefit calculators and find out.

james_williamson_6544

Existing (household) savings in bank - under £10,000
Wife existing S&S ISA - under £10,000
Wife existing General investment account - under £5,000
Wife SIPP - under £9,000

The existing savings belong to both husband and wife.
S&S ISA, GIA, SIPP is held just by wife and not by husband.

If not eligible for UC, is there any other benefit that can be claimed or any other support that is available?

Job-seeker allowance, maybe? - Wife has never been in paid employment, so only NI history is from claiming child benefit.

calcotti

james_williamson_6544 said:
Job-seeker allowance, maybe? - Wife has never been in paid employment, so only NI history is from claiming child benefit.

JSA is only payable for six months and relies on previous Class 1 NI contributions in the previous two tax years. Child Benefit only gives Class 3 NI credits (if child below age 12) and does not qualify for JSA.

There are no benefits if capital exceeds £16,000.
If capital is below £16,000 use the benefits calculator as suggested earlier but it appears unlikely that there will be any entitlement.