Take home pay deductions

lynsey122

Hope you can help. 

It seems when I added my housing element for my assessment date 13th Feb to 14th march my deductions for my take home pay ( which by the way was exactly the same the month before) has massively increased. My income hasn’t changed as I am on SMP £745.52 pm which is the same each month. 

My Feb payment Earnings reported by your employer£745.52

Take-home pay

minus

‑ £62.99

The first £631.00 of your take-home pay doesn't affect your Universal Credit monthly amount. Every £1.00 you earn in take-home pay over this amount reduces your Universal Credit by 55 pence.

March payment Earnings reported by your employer

£745.52

Take-home pay

minus

‑ £201.59

The first £631.00 of your take-home pay doesn't affect your Universal Credit monthly amount. Every £1.00 you earn in take-home pay over this amount reduces your Universal Credit by 55 pence.

This is my march pay 

Earnings reported by your employer

£745.52

Take-home pay

minus

‑ £201.59

The first £631.00 of your take-home pay doesn't affect your Universal Credit monthly amount. Every £1.00 you earn in take-home pay over this amount reduces your Universal Credit by 55 pence.

poppy123456

When claiming for help with the rent your work allowance is less, it’s £379/month.

If no help with the rent then it’s £631/month. See link https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/work-allowance-universal-credit

If you weren’t claiming for help with the rent before you reported changes then this is why.

I can see what they’ve done here. They have still included the message for the higher work allowance. They should have changed that message for the lower work allowance. 

lynsey122

Would that include if the work allowance is SMP and a single parent with a child element 

poppy123456

SMP is not the work allowance, it’s treated as earnings. The work allowance is as I advised above. Please see link I posted for confirmation. 

When the deductions were less were you claiming for help with the rent? 

lynsey122

If they have included that sentence can they deduct what they have 

poppy123456

You can’t receive anymore than what you’re entitled to. You haven’t answered the question I asked you here. 

poppy123456 said:

When the deductions were less were you claiming for help with the rent? 

Without knowing the answer to that I can’t advise you. 

lynsey122

No I wasn’t just child element

lynsey122

Sorry 

poppy123456

Thanks. Then that will be why your deductions have now increased because your work allowance is less. 

The wording is just incorrect but that doesn’t mean the deductions are wrong, they are correct. 

If your housing element is more than £138.60/month (very likely) then you are still better off overall anyway. 

lynsey122

Sorry my rent is £511.85 of which I get £464.34 and minus £75 spare room. I was allocated a very small 3 bedroom as I was classed as homeless. So was what they gave me. Just really struggling with SMP and UC with child element. I missed out on the cost of living as they said I made the claim on the 10th December. My daughter was born 14th November but I was really I’ll after her birth. 

poppy123456

Are you claiming a disability benefit such as PIP, DLA or ADP? 

With the last cost of living payment the reason why you didn’t qualify was because during the qualifying period of 13th Nov to 12th Dec your UC entitlement was reduced to zero. I advised you with this in a previous thread https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/115006/cost-of-living-299-february-payment-help#latest

Are you also claiming Council Tax reduction? This isn’t part of UC and needs to be claimed from your local Authority. 

lynsey122

I have started claiming careers element which started mid February, I did claim from 10th November but the said will not back date. I did explain was due to having a baby and being I’ll afterwards so was unable to start helping my auntie out again until then . 

I am applying for council tax support

lynsey122

On a little bit of a separate note, with me getting SMP, it has disadvantaged myself, ( as I have read up on ALOT) would I have been better of leaving work altogether ( as I am not in a position to return after my
maternity leave ends due to being a single mum and no childcare available and the cost would be to greatly) and claiming the maternity allowance x 

poppy123456

lynsey122 said:

I have started claiming careers element which started mid February, I did claim from 10th November but the said will not back date. I did explain was due to having a baby and being I’ll afterwards so was unable to start helping my auntie out again until then . 

I am applying for council tax support

Carers element of UC? Are you sure? 

In a previous thread you said you went through the work capability assessment and were found to have LCWRA, is that correct? 

If so then you can’t be receiving carers element at the same time because the same person can’t receive both elements at the same time. The highest element would be paid, which would be the LCWRA element. 

Or do you mean carers allowance? 

Why do you think you have disadvantaged yourself by claiming SMP? You were entitled to it so yes, it was definitely worth you claiming it. If you hadn’t then your financial situation would be worse. 

lynsey122

I am actually speaking on behalf of my daughter, she claims careers for myself, I should have said that, in short she is 18 left work in September and start smp in October. She is a single parent and struggled finding a home. I helped her set up Uc in the September and she received zero payments September October and november. And December but claimed for child element on the 20th November but due to Uc not checking child benefit there messed on back and forth for appointments to take birth cert etc so missed her Dec assessment date of 14th November to 13 December and finally set this up on the 20th. 

letter  dated 20th December 

Dear Elise

We've decided you're entitled to Universal Credit of £397.20

from 14 November 2023 to 13 December 2023. This is because

your child has been verified and your Universal Credit

entitlement has been recalculated.

We’ve already paid your universal credit  of £0.00 from14 November to 13th December 2023

We owe you £397.20. This is the amount left after taking away

the Universal Credit we've already paid you.

We'll pay £397.20 into your bank account.

however this is where we get confused for cost of living we asked this to be looked at and there responses is confusing **
letter from Uc

You told us you have not received the £299 Cost of Living

Payment for Universal Credit, but think you should have done.

We have looked into your enquiry and can see you were not

entitled to a Universal Credit payment for an assessment period

ending on or between 13/11/2023 - 12/12/2023.

To receive the Cost of Living Payment, you must have been

entitled to Universal Credit during this qualifying period. Because

you were not entitled, you did not receive the payment.

If you want to know more about why you were not entitled to

Universal Credit, find the decision details in your journal. This

information includes how to ask for a mandatory reconsideration

or appeal for our decision about your entitlement to Universal

Credit.

This means you will not receive the £299 Cost of

Living Payment. If this decision changes in the future, and you

were entitled to a payment of Universal Credit between

13/11/2023 - 12/12/2023, you will automatically (***there was an award of a Uc payment as above from 14th November to 13 December but backdated )

get a payment. You do not need to call us.

For more information about the Cost of Living Payment, go online

this is what is very confident 

poppy123456

I remember advising you about the £299 cost of living payment back in February. You can see the thread here https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/115006/cost-of-living-299-february-payment-help#latest

As I advised in that thread there was no entitlement to that payment because the money that she was owed for the assessment period 14th Nov to 13th December was not within the qualifying period. 

What date was the baby born? 

It must be carers allowance that she’s claiming but this is just deducted in full from any UC entitlement. There’s no financial gain to claiming this and UC at the same time.

She can’t claim carers element because she receives the LCWRA element for herself.