Would I be entitled to universal credit

amyc1993
amyc1993 Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)

hi,

Myself and my child’s father (not married and never have been) bought a house together in 2022. His father lives abroad and is not a uk tax resident.

We have a joint account in which he pays in half of the mortgage and bills around £1500 (including his credit cards / loans). My mum pays in £1600 every month to cover my half of the mortgage, bills including gas electric council tax etc. it all comes out of this joint account.

Could I claim universal credit or would the money put in by my mother and child’s father be classed as income.

Comments

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 5,190 Championing

    Hi,

    As you live together, you will need to make a joint UC claim. That will take your partners earnings into account as well as your own. It sounds like your partner may earn too much even without your Mum's contributions.

  • amyc1993
    amyc1993 Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1048809#Comment_1048809

    thanks for the reply. We do not live together just have a mortgage together. He lives abroad

  • OverlyAnxious
    OverlyAnxious Online Community Member Posts: 5,190 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1048816#Comment_1048816

    My apologies. I misread it as your child's father's father lives abroad, not your child's father.

    This is an unusual situation and I'm not sure how the income would be viewed in this situation. Your Mum's payments should be seen as 'gifts' and disregarded as income, although they are obviously a large regular amount which I would expect UC to look into carefully. As you don't live with your child's father, then his income should not be counted as your own, even if you share a joint bank account. Again, I would not expect that to go through smoothly with UC though.

    Ultimately, I would recommend applying for UC as I believe you would be entitled to it, but would not expect it to be a smooth process in this case.

    Also, you don't mention whether you have any health conditions, or the age of your child. If you don't have any health conditions then you will be expected to look for work while claiming UC, unless your child is very young.

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