Universal Credit - Lifestyle Break?

Daniel3160

I currently work for Tesco and have taken the 1 year career break (what is now called the lifestyle break) in order to help my partner look after our new child.

I rang up Universal Credit and stated that even though I am still employed, I am not working and receive no pay from Tesco. They said that was fine and that I don't need to change anything on the online forms.

Can anyone confirm this? Me and my partner have been receiving the full UC for 4 months now and it keeps asking me to make sure I report any changes in my circumstances. Once the lifestyle break is over, I will be returning back to work and will update the forms then with whatever my new pay will be, but up until then, there is no option to say that I earn £0.

calcotti

You do not need to report earnings. When Tesco pay you they tell HMRC and HMRC tell UC.

I'm not sure however that UC will recognise the idea of a Lifestyle break and at some stage it would seem likely that they will ask you about your drop in income and you could be sanctioned for voluntarily reducing your earnings.

Icequeen1

calcotti said:

You do not need to report earnings. When Tesco pay you they tell HMRC and HMRC tell UC.

I'm not sure however that UC will recognise the idea of a Lifestyle break and at some stage it would seem likely that they will ask you about your drop in income and you could be sanctioned for voluntarily reducing your earnings.

I think calcotti is right. How are you planning to support yourself through the period of the break? Are you expecting an increase in your UC? Is your partner staying at home as well? 

If there are no restrictions on you working, then i suspect they will require you to worksearch as anyone else would who is claiming UC. 

poppy12345

There's also the benefit cap that may also apply to you in 9 months time, so you need to think about that too. https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/how-earnings-affect-when-benefit-cap-starts

Rubyroobs

Is your partner going back to work early ? If not then why does it need two of you to look after one baby? I can't see this being allowed to be honest unless your partner has health problems ? On UC one person can choose to be the main carer.

[Deleted User]

I suspect this may come back to bite you.

TheShape

If the OP decides that they will be unavailable to work and will not be looking for work for a year they could potentially face a number of sanctions:

- A high-level sanction for voluntarily losing pay.

- A medium-level sanction for failing to comply with a work availability requirement.  This could be tested and applied multiple times if a claimant states that they are not available for work.

- A medium-level sanction for failing to comply with a work search requirement.  This could be tested and applied multiple times if a claimant fails to search for work if required to.

Which if any of the above apply will depend on the claimant's circumstances.

Daniel3160

I completely forgot I posted this. Here's a few answers to the questions.

Supporting myself and my partner is done through UC. Even if there was none, I have enough savings to support us during this time as well.

I wouldn't be able to look for a job, because I am still employed with Tesco. Once the lifestyle break is over, I merely resume my job, or a job with equivalent hours.

My partner starts Uni in September, so at the worst I will become the main caregiver of my child from September onwards. 

I haven't received anything stating that there is an issue yet, so I guess I will just leave this thread for anyone in the future who wishes to get some information.

poppy12345

Daniel3160 said:

My partner starts Uni in September, so at the worst I will become the main caregiver of my child from September onwards. 

If there's a student maintenance loan available to them, regardless of whether they take that loan or not then it will affect the amount of UC you're entitled to.

peteuk

Daniel3160 said:

Supporting myself and my partner is done through UC. Even if there was none, I have enough savings to support us during this time as well.

My partner starts Uni in September, so at the worst I will become the main caregiver of my child from September onwards. 

I assume that your savings is lees than £16K as you qualify for UC however how would this then support you through your year.?

What happens to baby when wife starts Uni? Doesn’t this just put you in debt?

As others have suggested your running a risk…