Universal credit

stevescarratt

Hi I am a disabled pensioner on state pension my wife has recently been made redundant once her notice etc runs out I assume she can claim unemployment benefits and I was wondering whether we could claim universal credit but! My son still lives with us and is in full time employment would this affect any claim?

Rubyroobs

If you are a mixed age couple, so if your wife is under state pension age then yes you would claim Universal credit assuming you don't have savings/ assets over 16k.
However, depending on the amount of your state pension, and any private pensions you may have you may not qualify for any UC. It would depend on things like whether you have rent to pay, any savings over 6k etc. Depending what disability benefits you claim, you may be awarded the LCWRA element of UC and your wife may be eligible to claim the carers element if you receive the daily living component of PIP or AA and cares for you for 35 hours a week and no one else claims carers allowance for you..
If you are not eligible for UC, then your wife could look at claiming new style JSA assuming she has paid NI contributions over the past few years or carers allowance if she cares for you for 35 hours a week.
You would really need a full benefit check to see what would work out best for you.

Spoonie_Turtle

Your son's income will not affect your UC claim.

stevescarratt

Ty both it sure gets complicated but we have struggled to save over the years and with her redundancy our combined savings will come to 50k , so I assume that we will not receive any help beyond the 6 months jsa , more fool us 

Spoonie_Turtle

stevescarratt said:

Ty both it sure gets complicated but we have struggled to save over the years and with her redundancy our combined savings will come to 50k , so I assume that we will not receive any help beyond the 6 months jsa , more fool us 

To be fair even if you didn't have substantial savings your pension would have reduced any UC by the full amount of your pension, leaving possibly not an awful lot left.  For some context, the standard couple allowance of UC is currently £525.75, more than wiped out if your State Pension is the full amount.

By my calculations, if you receive the full State Pension and don't rent, the potential maximum left even without savings would have been c.£56.88/week, less than JSA is worth and less even than Carer's Allowance - which your wife could claim indefinitely if she provides enough care, if she doesn't find work by the time JSA runs out.

stevescarratt

Thanks for that our only question is as she has been given 12 weeks notice can she postpone claiming jsa until the 12 week period is up as can use the notice pay for those 12 weeks? Or does she lose jsa if she postpones it?

Rubyroobs

Spoonie_Turtle said:

stevescarratt said:

Ty both it sure gets complicated but we have struggled to save over the years and with her redundancy our combined savings will come to 50k , so I assume that we will not receive any help beyond the 6 months jsa , more fool us 

To be fair even if you didn't have substantial savings your pension would have reduced any UC by the full amount of your pension, leaving possibly not an awful lot left.  For some context, the standard couple allowance of UC is currently £525.75, more than wiped out if your State Pension is the full amount.

By my calculations, if you receive the full State Pension and don't rent, the potential maximum left even without savings would have been c.£56.88/week, less than JSA is worth and less even than Carer's Allowance - which your wife could claim indefinitely if she provides enough care, if she doesn't find work by the time JSA runs out.

I guess he may qualify for the LCWRA  ( after a 3 month waiting period )element if on Attendance Allowance or enhanced rate PIP? Plus carers element added to a UC claim would have made it higher if savings did not rule them out of claiming.

Spoonie_Turtle

Rubyroobs said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

stevescarratt said:

Ty both it sure gets complicated but we have struggled to save over the years and with her redundancy our combined savings will come to 50k , so I assume that we will not receive any help beyond the 6 months jsa , more fool us 

To be fair even if you didn't have substantial savings your pension would have reduced any UC by the full amount of your pension, leaving possibly not an awful lot left.  For some context, the standard couple allowance of UC is currently £525.75, more than wiped out if your State Pension is the full amount.

By my calculations, if you receive the full State Pension and don't rent, the potential maximum left even without savings would have been c.£56.88/week, less than JSA is worth and less even than Carer's Allowance - which your wife could claim indefinitely if she provides enough care, if she doesn't find work by the time JSA runs out.

I guess he may qualify for the LCWRA  ( after a 3 month waiting period )element if on Attendance Allowance or enhanced rate PIP? Plus carers element added to a UC claim would have made it higher if savings did not rule them out of claiming.

I included both those elements in my calculation, for the maximum potential

[Of course if they rent it would be different, but no guarantee the housing element would cover their rent anyway.]  

Spoonie_Turtle

Rubyroobs said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

stevescarratt said:

Ty both it sure gets complicated but we have struggled to save over the years and with her redundancy our combined savings will come to 50k , so I assume that we will not receive any help beyond the 6 months jsa , more fool us 

To be fair even if you didn't have substantial savings your pension would have reduced any UC by the full amount of your pension, leaving possibly not an awful lot left.  For some context, the standard couple allowance of UC is currently £525.75, more than wiped out if your State Pension is the full amount.

By my calculations, if you receive the full State Pension and don't rent, the potential maximum left even without savings would have been c.£56.88/week, less than JSA is worth and less even than Carer's Allowance - which your wife could claim indefinitely if she provides enough care, if she doesn't find work by the time JSA runs out.

I guess he may qualify for the LCWRA  ( after a 3 month waiting period )element if on Attendance Allowance or enhanced rate PIP? Plus carers element added to a UC claim would have made it higher if savings did not rule them out of claiming.

I included both those elements in my calculation, for the maximum potential

[Of course if they rent it would be different, but no guarantee the housing element would cover their rent anyway.] 

sammyjammy

stevescarratt said:

Thanks for that our only question is as she has been given 12 weeks notice can she postpone claiming jsa until the 12 week period is up as can use the notice pay for those 12 weeks? Or does she lose jsa if she postpones it?

No problem to delay it and claim when the notice pay runs out.

stevescarratt

Right finally getting this I think as my 64.5 year old wife has been made redundant she can claim jsa for 6 months after that because I am on full state pension £185 a week we will not be able to claim uc although I am disabled but I only receive mobility allowance as do not need a carer atm and we will have approximately 50k in savings with her redundancy! Also am a home owner with no mortgage just need to work out if she has enough ni credits for her pension. But crossed fingers she’s hoping for another job