where will our universal credit stand with carers element added?

fitzykev

hi can anyone please help me my mother has just been diagnosed with lung cancer she would have looked after my father who recieves attendance allowance now she is unable to look after him. my wife and i have a universal credit claim although we didnt get a payment due to my earnings. i need to stop work to look after my mother and father at lease 8 hours per day. my wife is full time in university.  we have one five year old son. are total entitlment  is £905.52 per month that includeds for my son. it says the first £673 take home pay does not affect our universal credit. i have been told i have to request the carers element be added into the universal credit. but no one at universal credit can tell me if this will reduce the entitlemnt in any way or increase it. i have spoke to two people in the department. i also spoke to make the call who give advice on benifits but they cant seem to tell me. baring in mind that there wil be no working income coming into the home can anyone please tell me where we will stand.  this has cause so much stress at a time when i need to support my family and parents.

huckster

For the UC Carers Element to apply, you'll  need to care for someone who is on receipt of a disability benefit for 35 hours or more per week. And report change on your UC claim under caring for someone.

UC Carers Element is currently £198.31 per assessment period

Has your Mum applied for PIP if she is below state pension age or Attendance Allowance if of state pension age ?

If you give up paid work without being awarded the Carers Element first, you could be referred for a sanction decision about giving up paid work. Of course they will take into consideration your circumstances,  but they will ask whether you had considered other actions e.g. asking your employers to work part time, have some flexibility with work hours. 

Advice is to ensure your Mum is in receipt of PIP or AA whichever is relevant to her age. Once your Mum has a live claim, then yes report change on your UC claim. Once you are noted as carer your claim will be in a no work related requirements category and therefore there would be no issue about giving up paid work. 

Are UC making a deduction from the claim related to your wife's student maintenance finance? UC will take into account student maintenance finance that is available, even if the student has not taken the finance.  

fitzykev

huckster said:

For the UC Carers Element to apply, you'll  need to care for someone who is on receipt of a disability benefit for 35 hours or more per week. And report change on your UC claim under caring for someone.

UC Carers Element is currently £198.31 per assessment period

Has your Mum applied for PIP if she is below state pension age or Attendance Allowance if of state pension age ?

If you give up paid work without being awarded the Carers Element first, you could be referred for a sanction decision about giving up paid work. Of course they will take into consideration your circumstances,  but they will ask whether you had considered other actions e.g. asking your employers to work part time, have some flexibility with work hours. 

Advice is to ensure your Mum is in receipt of PIP or AA whichever is relevant to her age. Once your Mum has a live claim, then yes report change on your UC claim. Once you are noted as carer your claim will be in a no work related requirements category and therefore there would be no issue about giving up paid work. 

my father is receipt of attendance allowance already so i could apply for the carers element to look after him as it was my mum who looked after him and she simply cant now. She was not getting carers allowance to look after him. yes my mum has an application for attendance allowance in the process.  you you say £198.31 per assesment peroid if we are not earning anything will that be added ontop of are £905.52 or would it be added in with possible deductions?

huckster

Yes you can report caring for Dad to get the Carers Element. 

Yes the £198.31 would be added to current amounts e.g. Couple Allowance, Children and Carers Allowance. Then less any deductions that apply.

I am a bit concerned that UC don't appear to be taking into account student maintenance finance for your wife?  If this is a full time University course, have UC asked your wife for details of the course and maintenance finance?  

If UC have made a mistake not making a deduction for student finance, this is likely to be picked up at some point, causing an overpayment debt of UC to be calculated and reduced amount of UC payable.

fitzykev

huckster said:

Yes you can report caring for Dad to get the Carers Element. 

Yes the £198.31 would be added to current amounts e.g. Couple Allowance, Children and Carers Allowance. Then less any deductions that apply.

I am a bit concerned that UC don't appear to be taking into account student maintenance finance for your wife?  If this is a full time University course, have UC asked your wife for details of the course and maintenance finance?  

huckster said:

Yes you can report caring for Dad to get the Carers Element. 

Yes the £198.31 would be added to current amounts e.g. Couple Allowance, Children and Carers Allowance. Then less any deductions that apply.

I am a bit concerned that UC don't appear to be taking into account student maintenance finance for your wife?  If this is a full time University course, have UC asked your wife for details of the course and maintenance finance?  

less any deductions that apply. what could they be if we are not earning?

huckster

Student maintenance finance, advance repayments, benefit overpayment deductions. For a normal University degree, normally deduction of around £700 per monthly assessment period (approximate, depends on maintenance available and how many months course is over for the current academic year)is applied. For a masters degree  the deduction amount would be less.

I notice you are not confirming whether UC is taking into account student maintenance finance or not.  As soon as your employment earnings are not being reported, UC/Job Centre are very likely to pick up on any error in regard to student finance. 

fitzykev

huckster said:

Student maintenance finance, advance repayments, benefit overpayment deductions. For a normal University degree, normally deduction of around £700 (approximate, depends on maintenance available and how many months course is over for the current academic year)is applied. For a masters degree  the deduction amount would be less.

I notice you are not confirming whether UC is taking into account student maintenance finance or not.  As soon as your employment earnings are not being reported, UC/Job Centre are very likely to pick up on any error in regard to student finance. 

i was going to get back to the student part next i just want to know what way we stand if we are not earning any money from employment first. so not taking university into account yet. we wont be earning if i go on carers element. i wanted to see where we would stand. carers element is a payment on top of uni credit and would not cause any deductions to the uni credit is that right?

huckster

No that is not correct.
If you had carers element added, your UC statement would be revised
Standard allowance couple £617.60
Children (1 child) £287.92
Carers Element £198.31
Total before deductions £1103.83

Then typically student maintenance deduction for normal degree approximately £700 to £800 per assessment period would be deducted for.

So the student finance deduction is critical to working out whether UC would provide enough to help you with supporting your household.

fitzykev

huckster said:

No that is not correct.
If you had carers element added, your UC statement would be revised
Standard allowance couple £617.60
Children (1 child) £287.92
Carers Element £198.31
Total before deductions £1103.83

Then typically student maintenance deduction for normal degree approximately £700 to £800 per assessment period would be deducted for.

So the student finance deduction is critical to working out whether UC would provide enough to help you with supporting your household.

Yes but i want to know where we stand without talking about the university part been talked about. So for talk sake lets say myself and mu wife dont work how much would we get? After i know that then i will explain the university side of it. Please disregard the university side for now and tell me where we would stand. I am very worried. 

poppy12345

fitzykev said:

huckster said:

No that is not correct.
If you had carers element added, your UC statement would be revised
Standard allowance couple £617.60
Children (1 child) £287.92
Carers Element £198.31
Total before deductions £1103.83

Then typically student maintenance deduction for normal degree approximately £700 to £800 per assessment period would be deducted for.

So the student finance deduction is critical to working out whether UC would provide enough to help you with supporting your household.

Yes but i want to know where we stand without talking about the university part been talked about. So for talk sake lets say myself and mu wife dont work how much would we get? After i know that then i will explain the university side of it. Please disregard the university side for now and tell me where we would stand. I am very worried. 

Huckster already answered your question using the old rates before the April increase.

Standard allowance couple £617.60
Children (1 child) £287.92
Carers Element £198.31
Total before deductions £1103.83

The new rates will be as follows.. 
Standard allowance couple £628.10 
Child £292.81
Carers element £201.68 
Total £1,122.59

huckster

Once your earnings information stops being received by UC, this will lead to the Job Centre booking in mandatory appointments for your wife to attend at the Job Centre. I suspect your earnings had been keeping your wife's claim in a category, where the Job Centre were not booking in appointments. 

At this is when the University issue will become a main focus of attention for UC.