Parental Leave & Universal Credit

ModestMouse

Hi

I hope someone can provide some advice as I have looked online but not been able to get much information.

I am a single parent and work full time, because I do not have a high salary I am claiming Universal Credit which is paid monthly.  I would love to work less (maybe 4 days a week) but I have a mortgage and I worry that when it comes time to find a new product that I will struggle as I earn so little.  My youngest is only 3 years old and it would be nice to spend more time with her while she is very young.  

So my other option is to look at taking unpaid Parental Leave from work so that I can spend some quality time with my kids, maybe over the school holidays this summer and further ahead in the future.  I just need to know whether I would receive extra Universal Credit for the period that I am taking unpaid leave?  I can't seem to find anywhere online that will allow me to look this up, all the benefit calculators do not have this option.

Can anyone advise or point me in the right direction so that I can get a fairly accurate idea of what the implications on my Universal Credit would be?

Thanks in advance

huckster

Because parental leave is not really an issue. Many people have periods where they work less hours or have unpaid leave.

Yes if you have less employment earnings deduction in a monthly assessment period you will receive a higher UC payment. If your earnings drop below equivalent of 15 hours per week minimum wage, you would be invited to attend job centre appointments. And the appointments will be mandatory. And you might want to show them employers letter or email just confirming you have taken an unpaid parental leave break from x date to y date.

Spoonie_Turtle

Would there be the possibility of a sanction if OP willingly dropped their income?

poppy12345

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Would there be the possibility of a sanction if OP willingly dropped their income?

That's my thoughts too. Also would it be possible to live without your earnings? Having a mortgage means you won't be able to claim for help with this, so you would be responsible for paying that. At the moment you have the work allowance which means £573/month of your earnings are ignored before the 55% deductions apply. Of course you won't have that when you don't have any earnings.

huckster

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Would there be the possibility of a sanction if OP willingly dropped their income?

They are still employed.  So no I could not see any Decision Maker deciding that a parent taking parental leave for say 6 weeks during the summer should be sanctioned.  

What about those employed in term time only jobs or seasonal jobs, where they only get paid for the months they worked ?

Because the earnings would drop below required threshold for the relevant months, Job Centre appointments would be triggered and I expect the local Job Centre Work Coach would be asking about searching for work. The OP in this situation would be advised to confirm that they were still employed and when they would be returning to the Job. The Work Coach would no doubt discuss why the claimant was taking unpaid leave and as they have a very young child, the Work Coach should understand the situation. I could not see many referring to a Decision Maker due to taking unpaid leave in this situation, but it is possible.

Spoonie_Turtle

huckster said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Would there be the possibility of a sanction if OP willingly dropped their income?

They are still employed.  So no I could not see any Decision Maker deciding that a parent taking parental leave for say 6 weeks during the summer should be sanctioned.  

What about those employed in term time only jobs or seasonal jobs, where they only get paid for the months they worked ?

Because the earnings would drop below required threshold for the relevant months, Job Centre appointments would be triggered and I expect the local Job Centre Work Coach would be asking about searching for work. The OP in this situation would be advised to confirm that they were still employed and when they would be returning to the Job. The Work Coach would no doubt discuss why the claimant was taking unpaid leave and as they have a very young child, the Work Coach should understand the situation. I could not see many referring to a Decision Maker due to taking unpaid leave in this situation, but it is possible.

The difference there would presumably be that's set by the employer rather than the employee choosing. 

But good to know a sanction would be very unlikely - nice to hear of some reasonableness in the system

ModestMouse

Thank you for your responses. I hadnt even considered being sanctioned but it raises a good point. My understanding is that everyone with childen is entitled to take unpaid parental leave so there must be a process. If i wanted to reduce my hours from full time to part time then i would receive more Universal Credit per month to kind of top me up, so i was hoping it would be similar to that. Just to clarify i would probably be looking at only taking a 2 week block, so for one of the months in the summer I would essentially be getting  50% of my normal salary.

 Has anyone ever gone down this route before? 

calcotti

If you reduced your working hours you could be sanctioned so that doesn’t help your argument re parental leave.

However if you are only talking about a couple of weeks by the time UC have picked on that and tales to you about it you’ll back to normal work anyway so I can’t see it being a problem.

huckster

Agree with calcotti.

Many people's earnings levels vary all of the time, so receive different UC payments every month.

For the primary carers of 3 &4 year old children, UC only expects work hours to be up to 16 hours per week. 

Taking short period of parental leave would not be an issue.

NedS

Spoonie_Turtle said:

huckster said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Would there be the possibility of a sanction if OP willingly dropped their income?

They are still employed.  So no I could not see any Decision Maker deciding that a parent taking parental leave for say 6 weeks during the summer should be sanctioned.  

What about those employed in term time only jobs or seasonal jobs, where they only get paid for the months they worked ?

Because the earnings would drop below required threshold for the relevant months, Job Centre appointments would be triggered and I expect the local Job Centre Work Coach would be asking about searching for work. The OP in this situation would be advised to confirm that they were still employed and when they would be returning to the Job. The Work Coach would no doubt discuss why the claimant was taking unpaid leave and as they have a very young child, the Work Coach should understand the situation. I could not see many referring to a Decision Maker due to taking unpaid leave in this situation, but it is possible.

The difference there would presumably be that's set by the employer rather than the employee choosing. 

But good to know a sanction would be very unlikely - nice to hear of some reasonableness in the system

All Leaving Voluntarily / Loss of Earnings decisions consider if the claimant has acted reasonably in their circumstances - that is a fundamental underpinning of all decision making.

The question for the decision maker in this instances is whether it was reasonable for the claimant to voluntarily give up work and put themselves in a position where they are more dependent upon tax payers support in order to spend more time with their children.

The DM may also take into consideration that although their entitlement to UC may have increased due to lower earnings, they may also be claiming less in childcare costs due to a reduction in working hours so overall burden on the tax payer may have actually reduced, mitigating that argument somewhat.

The other key fact here is underlying conditionality - the OP has a child aged 3 so conditionality hours are expected to be 16h/week. As long as the OP continues to work a minimum of 16h/week, a sanction cannot be imposed for loss of earnings.