ESA LCWRA Confused MIF

etcher

I was awarded LCWRA UC and both myself and wife are self employed. Thankfully my wife is fit and healthy. We only started with UC during covid and LCWRA since i fell ill.
We are affected by the minimum income floor which confuses us.
As my wife earns some money which does not take us to the minimum income floor we never seem to gain any UC.
What happens if we do earn more and achieve the minimum income level. Will we get any UC or still get nothing. It all seems very confusing in that if you do earn you get nothing and if you dont its the same.
Any explanation in simple english that an idiot can understand would be appreciated.

poppy123456

As you've been found to have LCWRA then the minimum income floor does not apply to you because you can't be found to be not gainfully self employed.

If you're gainfully self employed (like your wife) and your earnings are less than your minimum income floor then they will use that as your earnings (even though you don't actually receive that amount of earnings). If your earnings are more than your minimum income floor then they will use your actual earnings to calculate your UC entitlement.

Either way, whether there's any entitlement will depend on your maximum UC entitlement. You can use a benefits calculator and put in different figures to see what it comes out with. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator

Are you claiming a disability benefit yourself such as either PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or ADP daily living? If you are then your wife can claim carers element of UC for looking after you, assuming she looks after you for at least 35 hours per week. When claiming this she will have to work requirements so can't be found gainfully self employed.