Help & advice needed regarding change of circumstances & Universal Credit

lelboy123

Hi,

I was hoping for some advice on my current situation. I've recently split up with my wife & moved in with my dad to his house with the mortgage paid off. My wife & I were claiming Universal Credits. I was claiming working tax as I'm self employed but don't earn too much at present & my wife was claiming child tax. My question is will I still be getting the same amount of money for my working tax side of things now we have split up & I'm in a different property which is owned (we were renting a flat when we were together)?. My earnings won't have changed at all, same job, same earnings but I'm concerned now we are split up my money may go down in some way.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

poppy123456

It's not possible for you to have been claiming Universal Credit and tax credits at the same time. Therefore, i'll assume you were both claiming Universal Credit as a couple.

You will need to report the changes onto your journal, the same for your wife and then your UC will revert to a single person claim. This means of course that your maximum UC entitlement will reduce. If your over 25 then you will be entitled to £324.84 per month UC, you will not be entitled to claim any help with the rent because you now live with your dad.

Any earnings you receive will reduce your UC by 63% and you will need to continue to report your earnings and expenses onto your journal each month.

The above is assuming you haven't been found to have limited capability for work related activity (LCWRA) because of a health condition.

lelboy123

poppy123456 said:

It's not possible for you to have been claiming Universal Credit and tax credits at the same time. Therefore, i'll assume you were both claiming Universal Credit as a couple.

You will need to report the changes onto your journal, the same for your wife and then your UC will revert to a single person claim. This means of course that your maximum UC entitlement will reduce. If your over 25 then you will be entitled to £324.84 per month UC, you will not be entitled to claim any help with the rent because you now live with your dad.

Any earnings you receive will reduce your UC by 63% and you will need to continue to report your earnings and expenses onto your journal each month.

The above is assuming you haven't been found to have limited capability for work related activity (LCWRA) because of a health condition.

Thanks for your quick reply. Yes sorry I mean I'm claiming for the self employment side of UC. When you say that any earnings will reduce my UC by 63% do you mean up to 63% can be taken off the £324.84? 

poppy123456

If you haven't been found to have either LCW or LCWRA because of a health condition then you will not have the work allowance. For example, if your earnings from self employed after expenses are £500 then you will need to multiply that by 0.63 to know how much UC you will receive. Earnings of £500 will reduce your UC by £315 so UC entitlement will be £9.84 per month. Earnings of more than £515 each assessment period there will be no UC entitlement.

lelboy123

poppy123456 said:

If you haven't been found to have either LCW or LCWRA because of a health condition then you will not have the work allowance. For example, if your earnings from self employed after expenses are £500 then you will need to multiply that by 0.63 to know how much UC you will receive. Earnings of £500 will reduce your UC by £315 so UC entitlement will be £9.84 per month. Earnings of more than £515 each assessment period there will be no UC entitlement.

Thanks. Yes I am not deemed LCW or LCWRA. At present I will be earning under £500 a month I know that. It will be around the £300 mark on average. I will be caring for my dad to some extent as he is not in the best of health so working full time won't be happening. I am an only child so it will be me solely looking after him. He is taking up a lot of my time so much so I am in the process of applying for Power of Attorney for him. I'm looking into getting him/us some help in the form of Attendance Allowance too.

So assuming I'm earning around the £300 mark for the next few months what sort of figure do you think I would be looking at getting? Sorry, this is all new to me. Our UC was in my wifes name & she dealt with it all.

poppy123456

The UC wasn't in your wifes name because it's a means tested benefit, it would have been in both of your names, so you will need to sign into your journal and report the changes.

With earnings of around £300 your UC entitlement will be £135.84 per month.

If your dad successfully claims Attendance Allowance you will be able to claim the Carers Element of UC in with your maximum entitlement, which will increase your UC by £163.73 per month. Total of £299.57 plus your earnings.

Do bear in mind that your exact UC entitlement will depend on earnings received during your assessment period. You will need to continue to report your earnings and expenses each month onto your journal.

lelboy123

poppy123456 said:

The UC wasn't in your wifes name because it's a means tested benefit, it would have been in both of your names, so you will need to sign into your journal and report the changes.

With earnings of around £300 your UC entitlement will be £135.84 per month.

If your dad successfully claims Attendance Allowance you will be able to claim the Carers Element of UC in with your maximum entitlement, which will increase your UC by £163.73 per month. Total of £299.57 plus your earnings.

Do bear in mind that your exact UC entitlement will depend on earnings received during your assessment period. You will need to continue to report your earnings and expenses each month onto your journal.

Ok thanks. Sorry I word things wrong a lot of the time. The UC of course is in both our names but was paid into my wifes bank account & then she sent my share over to me. Yes I have read up about the Carers Element. I assume my dad will qualify for Attendance Allowance - he has diabetes, unsteady on his feet (had a few falls over the last couple of years), not diagnosed but strong signs of Parkinsons (numerous people have commented to me thinking that). Yes I understand should I make more one month then the UC amount goes down & vice versa. But on average if my dad gets the Attendance Allowance & I'm able to claim for the Carers Element then roughly around the £300 mark each month is what I'm looking at?

poppy123456

Before claiming Attendance Allowance for your dad have you checked that he's not already claiming either PIP or DLA? If he does then there's no need to claim Attendance Allowance because they are all disability benefits and you can't claim then at the same time.

If he's claiming either mid/high rate care DLA or daily living PIP then you will be able to claim Carer element now by reporting the changes onto your journal that you care for him for at least 35 hours per week.

lelboy123

He isn't claiming any benefits at all. He never has. Is PIP or DLA a better way to go then? I just want to get the most for him/us at present as I'm not able to work full time as I'm doing loads for him. Thanks for all your help by the way - you are helping me more than you know!

poppy123456

If he's over state pension age then he will need to claim Attendance Allowance. If under state pension age then it's PIP. You may also want to get some help with filling out the forms.

Links for both are here. https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance

https://www.gov.uk/pip

If he's over state pension age then i'm assuming he's claiming state pension? What about council tax reduction?

lelboy123

poppy123456 said:

If he's over state pension age then he will need to claim Attendance Allowance. If under state pension age then it's PIP. You may also want to get some help with filling out the forms.

Links for both are here. https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance

https://www.gov.uk/pip

If he's over state pension age then i'm assuming he's claiming state pension? What about council tax reduction?

Yes he is over state pension age (he's 72) & claiming state pension along with a pension from his job which he worked at for 40 years. No he isn't getting any council tax reduction. Is he able to claim for that then? 

poppy123456

I have no idea whether he would be entitled to council tax reduction he will need to claim that from his local council. When you move in with him, if he's claiming the single person discount he will lose that.

lelboy123

Thanks. I will look into it. As far as I know he gets no reduction at all on his council tax. You've helped no end today - I appreciate all the info & help you have given me.

poppy123456

No worries. Just so that you're aware the single person discount is totally different to council tax reduction.

lelboy123

Ok. It's never simple is it! Which is best & going by what I've told you do you think he would be able to get either? I will research this all myself properly over the weekend but you know all the answers so you can send me in the right direction much quicker it seems!

poppy123456

With council tax reduction i won't be able to advise you with because all Local Authorities have their own rules for this.

25% discount is for those that have no other adults living with them so he won't be entitled to that when you're living with him. If you put a claim in for Attendance Allowance for him and he's successfully awarded then you maybe entitled a 25% discount as a carer. There's some information in here for that. https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/financial-support/help-with-household-finances/council-tax-rate-relief

lelboy123

Brilliant. You're a star. I will come back to this over the weekend & look into it in depth. Starting point is going for Attendance Allowance by what you've said & what I've already read. Hopefully he can get that & then I can go for the council tax discount. How do you know so much about all this stuff out of interest? You've answered all my questions so well!

poppy123456

Thank you. Personal experience with some of my knowledge, research and learning from others who have more knowledge than i have.

For help filling out the Attendance Allowance form you may want to get some help with that. Start here, put your dads postcode in and choose the topic "welfare benefits." This will tell what advice agency is local to him. https://advicelocal.uk/

One other thing that comes to mind, has your dad ever had a needs assessment? If he hasn't then you can refer him to your local council for this. Someone with then come out to assess his needs (although due to Covid this may not be an actual face to face appointment). I know you said you're caring for him but speaking from personal experience i know this is extremely difficult, especially if you're the only person he has. It will take some pressure off you.  Start here for this. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/help-from-social-services-and-charities/getting-a-needs-assessment/

If you need more information or have any more questions please just ask and i'm sure someone will help you further.

calcotti

I suggest that if your dad applies for AA you tell UC at the time he applies for AA that you are caring for him and he has applied for AA. You will not be entitled to the carer element of UC until the AA is awarded but if you havetold the moment you care you will be able to get the carer element backdated to the date the AA, if awarded, starts from.

lelboy123

poppy123456 said:

Thank you. Personal experience with some of my knowledge, research and learning from others who have more knowledge than i have.

For help filling out the Attendance Allowance form you may want to get some help with that. Start here, put your dads postcode in and choose the topic "welfare benefits." This will tell what advice agency is local to him. https://advicelocal.uk/

One other thing that comes to mind, has your dad ever had a needs assessment? If he hasn't then you can refer him to your local council for this. Someone with then come out to assess his needs (although due to Covid this may not be an actual face to face appointment). I know you said you're caring for him but speaking from personal experience i know this is extremely difficult, especially if you're the only person he has. It will take some pressure off you.  Start here for this. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/help-from-social-services-and-charities/getting-a-needs-assessment/

If you need more information or have any more questions please just ask and i'm sure someone will help you further.

No he has never had a needs assessment. I have read a little about it. I think that's what I'm struggling with the most the fact I'm on my own dealing with him. He has had a few falls over the past couple of years & trying to get him off the ground is just so difficult. My mum was around then to help lift him with me but unfortunately she passed away last month hence why everything in my life has just imploded over the past 6 weeks or so. I just want to be able to get everything I can for him & for me to be honest to take the pressure off. Especially at the moment as I'm sorting out wills, probate & going for power of attorney for my dad so trying to find time to earn money through work is proving very tough.

lelboy123

calcotti said:

I suggest that if your dad applies for AA you tell UC at the time he applies for AA that you are caring for him and he has applied for AA. You will not be entitled to the carer element of UC until the AA is awarded but if you havetold the moment you care you will be able to get the carer element backdated to the date the AA, if awarded, starts from.

Thanks, yes that makes perfect sense. I will make sure to do so. Thanks for the advice.