UC adding working partner.

megmeghere

I might have to move in with a partner who works 40 hrs and earns £2000. Does anyone ever went through this and if so (and hopefully as close to hours and wage as this too) how did it affect your benefits? 

I know LHA in my area is only £440. My current rent is £600, my landlord  recently highered it from £500 and I didn’t dispute, I just paid it in fear of being kicked out, but landlord is selling all his properties now anyway. 

I have been rejected from every house in 5 miles because the rent they’re asking is £1000 and I don’t get enough from my benefits and no proof I can pay the rest unless I have someone working in the house. I’m scared if I agree to adding someone on the tenancy, moving in and having UC take away the £440 I normally get due to their wage being what it is. And maybe even child benefit and LCWRA might be affected. 

poppy123456

Whether there's any entitlement to UC will totally depend on your joint circumstances. You can't compare yourself to someone else that earns that amount of money because everyone's maximum entitlement to UC maybe different to yours. 

Your child benefit won't be affected, as I advised on your other thread here  https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/114685/uc-lcrwa#latest

I can work out whether there would be any entitlement but I would need more information from you because it would be impossible do that on the limited information you've given. 

UC is based on net Income (after tax and NI deductions) each month and not gross (before deductions). Is that £2,000 before or after deductions? 

How many children do you have and were they born before April 2017 or after? Do they have any disabilities? If so are you claiming DLA or PIP for them and if so what award do they have?

Will you be claiming for help with any rent if you live with your partner? In your other thread you said that your current landlord is selling the home you live in so I'm assuming you will move into your partners home? 

Are you claiming a disability benefit yourself such as daily living PIP, DLA mid/high rate care or ADP daily living? 

If you can't answer those questions then you can use a benefits calculator here https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator
Or have a full benefits check for both of you from an advice agency near you. 

megmeghere

poppy123456 said:

Whether there's any entitlement to UC will totally depend on your joint circumstances. 

It would be a new property, they don’t live in their own place right now. They earn £1700 after tax I think. I did the entitled too and it said I would still get housing benefit, child benefit and the lwcra. My money a month using the site looked about the same give or take a few £’s but I don’t trust it. Even with all the details I can put in I just feel like it’s not right. A working person o know for a fact would affect my money because I know this government enough to know they’ll screw you over if they can and they do. 

Yes I have a child, he was born in 2014, no disabilities. I’ve never known what disability I have except it just says lwcra on my journal. I was assessed years ago when I got moved over to UC and never questioned anything about it because I was too scared. 

It says I get monthly 

Standard allowance £368.74 (You get a standard amount each month. You said you're single) 

Limited capability for work and work-related activity: £390 

Then housing which pays LHA and Child Benefit. 

I wouldn’t be able to cancel anything I get currently when moving in with someone. I know they would have to make a UC claim and have our account joined but I am absolutely terrified that when I do it’s going to go down so significantly that I’m just worse off with the rent being now £400 higher everywhere I look which is £200 more than I’m paying out of pocket already for my current rent and frankly I don’t really have it but if we have to live on nothing I’ll do it to keep my son in his hometown and school. 

Sorry if this all seems so daft, I have severe anxiety and most definitely on the spectrum just can’t get assessed because I can’t leave the house because I’m too scared so I’m just not able to process this all very well. 

Ive  joined property pool but there isn’t anything near me and what is near me is in extremely rough areas full of people who really don’t like people like me (different, timid, shy and so on). And ive lived in an area similar before and got essentially ran out and had to flee due to the harassment. Funnily enough to this house I’m in now. So looking through the council isn’t even an option as far as I can see. I know they could possibly have temp accommodations for me but I NEED to have a plan to move on my own if I can to keep these animals. They are my family. They’re not just pets. And I’m desperate to keep them with us. 

poppy123456

You said you're also claiming child benefit? You didn't mention any child element of UC in your figures above. How many children do you have and were they born before or after April 2017. How much housing element are you entitled to now? You can see all the figures on your statements in your journal. 

It's not daft at all, it's complicated and I don't mind advising you but I can't advise without all the information from you. It's just not possible. 

Please answer the questions above. 

megmeghere

Just 1 child. Born before April 2017. I am truly grateful for this I really am.

megmeghere

I would simply have to copy and paste what it says because I don’t know other than what is shows me.

 

Standard allowance

£368.74

You get a standard amount each month. You said you're single

Housing

£440.00

Need help understanding your housing?

we cannot pay more than the Local Housing Allowance rate

Children

£315.00

You get support for 1 child

Limited capability for work and work-related activity

£390.06

You said your health affects you at work or prevents you from working

That’s all it says sorry. I’ve never spoken to anyone on phone or person about any of this since I got it so never really fully understood what I have and what they mean disability wise. 

poppy123456

Thank you, that really helps. 

If you lived with your partner your UC would look like this. 

Standard allowance couples £578.82
Child element (born before 2017) £315
LCWRA element £390.06
Housing element £440 (You will still be entitled to 2 bedroom rate of LHA if living with your partner.) 

Total UC before deductions £1,723.88/month

You will have the work allowance on your claim, which means you or a partner can receive £379/month of earnings before the deductions of 55% apply. 

If your partners earnings of £2,000/month are after deductions then the calculations for earnings will be as follows..

£2,000 earnings minus work allowance £379 = £1,621 x 0.55 = £891.55 deductions. 

£1,723.88 - £891.55 = £832.33/month UC payable. (after deductions)

Are you claiming a disability benefit yourself such as PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or ADP daily living? If you are then your partner can claim carers element of UC if they look after you for at least 35 hours per week. This will increase your UC by a further £185.86/month.

Please also be aware that UC is based on earnings received each month. If your partners earnings increase then UC will decrease, if they decrease then UC will increase. If they are paid every 4 weeks from their employer there will be 1 month a year where they will receive 2 lots of earnings from their employer so for that month your UC could decrease to zero. The following month it will increase because they won't receive any earnings that month. 

If you move house then you can check the LHA rates here for each area. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/

Child benefit will continue as normal. If you're claiming council tax reduction then you will need to report the changes to them and it will be recalculated based on your partners earnings. You will also lose the 25% single person discount. 

I hope this helps, it's a lot to take in so please take your time to read through it and show it to your partner. 

megmeghere

This does help thank you. I think I’m still terrified but less so. At this point I just have to risk it and make the joint account and hope for the best. The only downfall is if it goes wrong once I’ve moved into the new house and go on emergency I won’t be priority anymore but I have to do what I can to keep this family together 

poppy123456

You're welcome. Please do not claim as a couple until you're actually living together. You didn't answer my question here. 

poppy123456 said:

Are you claiming a disability benefit yourself such as PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or ADP daily living? 

One other thing to add, if your partner has savings/capital of more than £16,000 then you will both be excluded from claiming UC if you live together. If they have savings/capital of more than £6,000 then every £250 or part thereof over that amount there's a £4.35/month deduction in your UC. 

megmeghere

I won’t be thank you! 

I’m claiming disability I assume as when I got switched over to universal credit I had to go for an assessment but that’s what the lcrwa is isn’t it? Im not on PIP nor ADP so I’d have to say it must be DLA? It all changed when I went on UC all the names were different and no one to talk to about it properly. I just got told I passed the disability assessment by letter and got awarded with the money I shown above where it just says lwcra amount. 

And no, there’s no savings between either of us. 

poppy123456

The LCWRA element isn't a disability benefit, it's part of UC because your health condition means you're unable to work or attend appointments. 

Disability benefits are not part of UC so if you were claiming DLA then you would be receiving that as a separate payment into your bank so I'm assuming you're not claiming it. This means your partner will not be able to claim carers element for looking after you. 

Assuming you're not living in Scotland you can look at claiming PIP. It's not awarded based on any diagnosis. Whether there's any entitlement will depend on how your health conditions affect you.vhttps://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/#:~:text=Personal%20Independence%20Payment%20(PIP)%20is,don%27t%20affect%20your%20eligibility 

 https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

megmeghere

Applying for PIP scares me if I’m honest. I’m scared that if I get rejected it’ll affect the lcwra. I hear so many horrible stories about the interviews and I can’t do that. I can’t explain how socially nervous I am, I break down and just cry during any interviews but to the state of pure panic on the floor due to past trauma. I can’t even get there on my own but they don’t allow people to accompany you. And they trick you with every question. 

poppy123456

PIP and LCWRA are completely different and claiming one doesn’t automatically entitle you to the other. 

The same as if you did start a claim for PIP if refused it will have no affect on your LCWRA. 

It’s perfectly normal to only read the bad stories because if someone’s had a decision they are happy with, they have no questions to ask so we don’t hear their story. The majority of people claim PIP successfully without problems. 

megmeghere

Omg thank you I had honestly no idea!? I know it sounds daft but when they said I didn’t have to look for work after the assessment I just assumed that’s was all I could get help wise with my disability. I thought that was it. I struggled but I dealt with it. Definitely going to make a claim, won’t hurt to try so might as well! And I never really thought of adding anyone as my carer who cares for me as when my mother was alive I put myself as hers and they deducted it from her benefits and gave it to me instead. It was very distressing 

honeyhoney

Don't worry, as poppy wrote, PIP has nothing to do with LCWRA, I also have LCWRA granted and I submitted an application to PIP, unfortunately I was rejected and now I am at the MR stage, but it had no impact on LCWRA

poppy123456

megmeghere said:

Omg thank you I had honestly no idea!? I know it sounds daft but when they said I didn’t have to look for work after the assessment I just assumed that’s was all I could get help wise with my disability. I thought that was it. I struggled but I dealt with it. Definitely going to make a claim, won’t hurt to try so might as well! And I never really thought of adding anyone as my carer who cares for me as when my mother was alive I put myself as hers and they deducted it from her benefits and gave it to me instead. It was very distressing 

Aww you're very welcome, glad I could help you! Your partner will not be entitled to carers element when you're only claiming LCWRA as this isn't a qualifying benefit. This link gives information how to claim. how-to-claim

When you receive the forms please make sure you give as much relevant information as possible about how your conditions affect you. It will also be very helpful if you could give a couple or real world examples of exactly what happened the last time you attempted each descriptor that applies to you. Remember, it's not awarded based on any diagnosis. 

If you have any additional evidence to send you can send that with the form when you return it. If you receive the paper based form then you can ring PIP to ask for extra time to return it and they will give you a couple of extra weeks. 

If you have any questions along your way please do ask and I'm sure someone will help you. We have a PIP section also that you may find some information from others helpful. 

megmeghere

Last question if you wouldn’t mind sorry, should I wait for my situation is possibly sorted before starting the PIP. I’m worried if I put a partner on the application only to not need up being in the same home and having to remove them it’ll affect things? Or does that not affect us as much?

poppy123456

A PIP claim will be for you and nothing to do with your partner. You can apply for PIP anytime you want to. The process for this could be at least 6 months from applying to having a decision. 

PIP is about the help you need, regardless of whether you receive that help or not.