Over 18 and UC

peteuk

Just looked at a UC calculator for a friends son who is 18 and works 20 hours a week at £7.50 a week.  Up until a few weeks ago he was working 35 hrs a week, but has had his hours cut.  

The calculator says he’s entitled to £12.50 a week (£54.61 a month) but what else does he benefit from is the question.   At present he’s only paid NI for a few weeks and very little (if any) Tax. 

His boss is a little awkward, so would there need to be any input from them to the claim?

Thanks in advance. 

poppy12345

A single person under the age of 25 will be entitled to £292.11/month UC before any deductions. Assuming he’s living at home with parents because he won’t be able to claim for any help with the rent. 

If there’s no entitlement to housing element I’m not sure how you got that figure of £54.61/month but it’s not correct. Any earnings they receive will reduce their UC by 55%. This means working 20 hours per week there will be no entitlement to UC because it will be reduced to zero by their earnings. 

Spoonie_Turtle

peteuk said:

Just looked at a UC calculator for a friends son who is 18 and works 20 hours a week at £7.50 a week.  Up until a few weeks ago he was working 35 hrs a week, but has had his hours cut.  

The calculator says he’s entitled to £12.50 a week (£54.61 a month) but what else does he benefit from is the question.   At present he’s only paid NI for a few weeks and very little (if any) Tax. 

His boss is a little awkward, so would there need to be any input from them to the claim?

Thanks in advance. 

None, as long as earnings are correctly reported through PAYE.  The input sometimes needed from employers is when they've reported wages on the wrong date or filled in data fields incorrectly.

Currently any other benefit would be Cost of Living Payments, and access to social tariffs or discounts that individual businesses set.  He won't be entitled to help with health costs as he earns above the threshold for that.

UC will also give him NI credits, although at 18yo that's possibly not a significant consideration - but still good to get his record off to a good start.