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moving in with partner, i am on lcwra, he receives standard allowance

me and my partner are both 20 and currently staying in ymca supported housing. hopefully i will be able to receive a gold band due to my mental health and we will be able to move out together into a council house, however we are very confused as to how this will affect our benefits.
i receive standard allowance plus lcwra bonus - 680 altogether
he receives standard allowance - 340
we would claim housing element also but unsure of the amount we would receive. my partner is also looking for work and planning to work as much as full time eventually. he has been told by his ymca support worker that he is not eligible for jsa for some reason.
would we have to start new UC applications to merge our benefits? would i have to be assessed again? if so would there be a period of time where we aren't in receipt of any money?
how much would be taken if my partner were to start working?
thanks
i receive standard allowance plus lcwra bonus - 680 altogether
he receives standard allowance - 340
we would claim housing element also but unsure of the amount we would receive. my partner is also looking for work and planning to work as much as full time eventually. he has been told by his ymca support worker that he is not eligible for jsa for some reason.
would we have to start new UC applications to merge our benefits? would i have to be assessed again? if so would there be a period of time where we aren't in receipt of any money?
how much would be taken if my partner were to start working?
thanks
Replies
When you join claims on UC you would do this via your current logins (via Homepage - Report a Change - Living with a partner), your individual logins will remain the same but you'll then see you are both on the claim together. When it's time to make this change one of you would 'request a joining code' and the other would select that they have a joining code and be prompted to enter it. Joining claims won't trigger a reassessment for LCWRA, this should transfer to your joint claim with you.
With regards to amounts, your claim would look like this:
£488.59 - Joint standard allowance, under 25
£341.20 - LCWRA
£??? - Housing
Be aware that these amounts are set to change in April 2021.
With housing, if you are placed in a council house together, your full rent would be covered and added to the amounts above (minus any deduction for spare rooms or rent-free weeks). If you rent privately instead, you'd be entitled to the Local Housing Allowance rate for a 1 bedroom in the area you live. This amount varies across the country but you can calculate yours here: https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk
Once your partner starts work, because you receive LCWRA he will have a work allowance. If you're renting this will be £292 a month. This is the amount he can earn before any deductions are made to your joint UC. After this amount they lower UC by 63p for everyone £1 he earns.
As an example, if he earned £500 a month, you'd have £131.04 deducted from your total UC, but still have his full wages of £500.
Sorry that's a lot of information all at once. If you need any of it explained in more detail please let me know.
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If you were awarded Daily Living PIP then your partner would be able to say that they care for you and your joint UC would go up with the addition of a carer element (currently £162.92/month).
If you are thinking of doing this your partner should post inform UC that they are caring for you and that you are applying for PIP. If they do this they should be able to get the carer element backdated should your PIP claim be successful.
(The reason JSA and ESA cannot be claimed is because they are based on previous NI contributions, In any case JSA or ESA would be deducted from UC.)
As @calcotti mentioned, PIP is ignored as income, so wouldn't impact your UC at all, it would just be additional money to help you.
If you were able to claim ESA and JSA then these would both be counted as income and deducted from you UC.
Scope
If you have a few minutes to spare, we'd appreciate your feedback on our online community.
is the requirements for getting PIP the same as UC LWRA or is it harder to get? my friend thought it might be harder to get than UC. if i was disallowed from getting PIP would it effect my other benefits? thanks so much !
LCWRA and PIP are different, I don’t think saying one is harder than the other is helpful.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/
Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
Scope
If you have a few minutes to spare, we'd appreciate your feedback on our online community.