Does adding 1 kid increase UC "housing" by £100 & reduce "earnings deduction" by £200?

Spoonie_Turtle

It may be possible if they're talking about the end result of entitlement to UC after earnings deductions, rather than the actual maximum award.

Yamor

Spoonie_Turtle said:

It may be possible if they're talking about the end result of entitlement to UC after earnings deductions, rather than the actual maximum award.

In this case the OP said that they're getting £315 more than before, which implies they were already entitled to UC beforehand.

As such, even the end result would have to be more than £315, except if the situation is like my last post.

Spoonie_Turtle

Yamor said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

It may be possible if they're talking about the end result of entitlement to UC after earnings deductions, rather than the actual maximum award.

In this case the OP said that they're getting £315 more than before, which implies they were already entitled to UC beforehand.

As such, even the end result would have to be more than £315, except if the situation is like my last post.

I thought that but looking back, I'm not sure whether they are.

"My ex says she entered her details in one of the calculators advertised on DWP website and finds that the difference between registering 1 child vs 0 child is only £315 (the child element)."

Unless OP's ex sends them screenshots that they can then share with us, are we likely to get to the bottom of this?  Might be easier if OP's ex could come and post for herself.

ColonelCabbage

Yamor said:

It would only be possible if both of the following are true:

1. At least one of the claimants has LCW
2. they are either not renting, or renting in the social sector

I'm almost sure neither has LCW and they're definitely renting in the private not social sector.

Can I now reasonably assume that my ex must in fact be getting more than £315 (probably several hundreds of pounds) by having our child in her UC claim? 

poppy12345

Genuine question, are you asking because you're making sure she's claiming everything she's entitled to and want to help her. Or because you want to know how much benefits she's receiving?

ColonelCabbage

poppy12345 said:

Genuine question, are you asking because you're making sure she's claiming everything she's entitled to and want to help her. Or because you want to know how much benefits she's receiving?

I'm currently asking my ex to split child-related benefits and I want to know how these benefits are calculated in order to make sure the right amount is split between us.

I might have posted this in the "Discussion" forum but someone had the brillant idea to take out that forum. On Reddit for some reason pretty much all my posts are automatically deleted. So I don't know where else to post such question except on this forum.

Spoonie_Turtle

Unfortunately without all the facts then you can't know for certain.  What would tell you is a copy of their UC statement, so perhaps if you are going through some form of mediator or third party then it would be good if they could ask her for that.

Did they claim UC before having your daughter on the claim?  Because if not, I wonder if having her on the claim is what entitles them to any UC as earnings would be too high otherwise - in which case £315 could very well be all they get, after deductions for earnings.

Or, if their rent element is paid directly to the landlord then they may be thinking (or giving you a technically-correct-deceptive-in-spirit answer) that they don't 'get' the extra because it's not paid to them.

The only way you can know for sure is to see their UC statement.

ColonelCabbage

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Unfortunately without all the facts then you can't know for certain.  What would tell you is a copy of their UC statement, so perhaps if you are going through some form of mediator or third party then it would be good if they could ask her for that.

Did they claim UC before having your daughter on the claim?  Because if not, I wonder if having her on the claim is what entitles them to any UC as earnings would be too high otherwise - in which case £315 could very well be all they get, after deductions for earnings.

Or, if their rent element is paid directly to the landlord then they may be thinking (or giving you a technically-correct-deceptive-in-spirit answer) that they don't 'get' the extra because it's not paid to them.

The only way you can know for sure is to see their UC statement.

Ah yes I forgot about that possibility (that household income is so high that they only get the £315 child element and nothing else). You've been very helpful, thank you.

ColonelCabbage

@Spoonie_Turtle sorry to come back on this but I now know my ex reportedly receives "almost £700" UC which I assume includes the £315 child element.

Based on this do you think it's still possible that adding vs. removing the child from the claim makes no difference besides that £315 child element?

Spoonie_Turtle

ColonelCabbage said:

@Spoonie_Turtle sorry to come back on this but I now know my ex reportedly receives "almost £700" UC which I assume includes the £315 child element.

Based on this do you think it's still possible that adding vs. removing the child from the claim makes no difference besides that £315 child element?

Sorry, I don't know - I'm out of brain on this one.