Resigning from my job

MartynC232902

My partner has recently given birth to our daughter, who has been diagnosed with down syndrome. Our son also has a severe disability too. If I resigned from my full time job to help care for the children, would this be a 'good enough reason' to not get a sanction from Universal Credit

tacpot12

Does your son get DLA? Have you applied for DLA for your daughter yet?

How much time you do expect to have to spend looking after you daughter and how much time is your partner already spending looking after your son? 

My guess is that all of these factors will feed into a decision as to whether or not to sanction you. You might want to have a read of the information at this link: Working Families | Benefits if you take parental leave or resign to care for a disabled child. - Working Families

It seems like there is some hope, but you will need to explain when you need to look after your children, any requests you made to your employer to change working hours, or any changes your employer made to your working pattern.

If you both meet the criteria to claim Carers Allowace, you can claim it for both children; your partner would claim for looking afer one child, and you would claim for the other. Note that you can still earn £132/week (after deductions) while claiming Carers Allowance, so your work coach still might have some work search requirements for you, and they might sanction you if your employer offered working arrangement that meant you would be earning less than £132/week. 

This page is useful if you are considering claiming Carers Allowance, which can be backdated from the point that the relevant child was awarded DLA: Carer's Allowance - Citizens Advice

Spoonie_Turtle

Carers Allowance is not necessary, you can claim the carer element of UC with no earnings restrictions - though you do have to be caring for someone who gets DLA (or PIP, but irrelevant for your children at this age). 
[Although you can claim CA as well as UC, but it would be deducted in full from UC so overall no financial advantage and it would restrict any potential working again.]

If your son gets DLA you could be his carer and have no work-related requirements.  No work-related requirements means no sanctions.

Your partner could be lead carer (parent) for your daughter so she would have no work-related requirements yet, and hopefully by the time came for having some work-related requirements your daughter would have DLA.  Then your partner could claim the carer element for her, but that's down the line.

I infer you are already claiming UC, but it would be useful to have that clarified?

MartynC232902

We are currently not living together. We was planning to move in together when I could find a job nearer to them, as I currently live in a different county (not to far away though). But since the birth of our daughter, I want to move in as soon as I can. As for my current job, I don't drive so it wouldn't be financially viable for me to cut my hours. 

I'm not to sure if she has applied for DLA for our daughter yet but she does get DLA for our son.
I am signed on with universal credit but as I'm in full time employment, I rarely get any payments. My partner has already said she would link my UC account with hers to make ot a joint claim 

poppy12345

You won't be able to claim DLA for the baby yet if they are a new born. A child must have had the conditions for at least 3 months. Once they reach this age you can claim but it may not be that easy, you will need to prove she has more care and attention needs than a baby the same age who doesn't have a disability. This may not be easy with a baby. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/disability-living-allowance/before-you-claim-dla/check-if-you-can-get-dla/

I'd advise you to speak to an advice agency near you for some expert advice.