concerned about benefits. What will happen when my wife retires?

happyfella

i have been on the turn2us benefit calculator and i am worried as it is telling me that once my wife retires we will not be entitled to what we receive now.

My wife will be 66 in two months and we are concerned about what we will receive. According to turn2us it will be very little

I am 51 years of age.

At the moment I receive full PIP, and I receive LCWRA component with universal credit and we receive £900 per month

when my wife retires she will receive full state pension of £179 and she receives private pension of £90 per month

But when we checked with turn2us, it said that we would only receive my PIP and my wife pension.

A friend of mine has said this is not correct. I would like to know if someone can tell me if turn2us is right or wrong

for the universal credit, we currently receive £509.91 standard allowance, £163.73 for carer as my looks after me

and for limited capability for work and work related activity £343.63

but they take off £141 as my wife works part time

can anyone please clarify what we will get once my wife retires. I have tried to get through to CAB but cannot get through to them.

calcotti

Your maximum UC amount will remain the same £1017.27. They will deduct the pension income in full. £778.26* for the State Pension and £90 for the private pension. Total pension income will be £868.26/month. If your wife has stopped working and there is no other income you would therefore still get UC of £149.01. You will have less money overall because of your wife stopping work.

If you don’t already claim it, you should apply for Council Tax Reduction from your local council when your wife reaches pension age.

(*based on £179.60/week)

poppy123456

Your wife's State pension and private pension will deducted in full from any UC entitlement. Those 2 added together would be £865 per month.

Your UC total monthly amount is £1017.27 - Pensions amount of £865. Leaves you with £157 per month UC. However, those UC figures will increase slightly because the April increase, which i haven't use here.

This is assuming your wife will not be continuing to work.

Edit to add, just looked at the increase amounts from April so your total UC amount will be £1048.81 - both pensions of £865. Total UC payable £183.81.

Therefore in total your monthly amount will be pension £865, UC £183.81 and your PIP.

happyfella

this is left me very scared and i am not sure how we are going to survive with a mortgage. so, i lose my lcwr from universal credit and we also lose the carers premium as my wife looks after me.

what happens if my wife stays in work for one day a week doing just five hours a week. this has now got me very scared

poppy123456

happyfella said:

this is left me very scared and i am not sure how we are going to survive with a mortgage. so, i lose my lcwr from universal credit and we also lose the carers premium as my wife looks after me.

You won't be any worse off because your wife will have her State Pension of £179 per week, which is £775 per month. She will also have her private pension of £90 per month.

You will still be entitled to the same elements of UC but it will be reduced because of your wife's pensions. As advised here.

poppy123456 said:

Therefore in total your monthly amount will be pension £865, UC £183.81 and your PIP.

If your wife continues to work then any earnings up to £573 per month will be ignored.

 

happyfella

poppy123456 said:

happyfella said:

this is left me very scared and i am not sure how we are going to survive with a mortgage. so, i lose my lcwr from universal credit and we also lose the carers premium as my wife looks after me.

You won't be any worse off because your wife will have her State Pension of £179 per week, which is £775 per month. She will also have her private pension of £90 per month.

You will still be entitled to the same elements of UC but it will be reduced because of your wife's pensions. As advised here.

poppy123456 said:

Therefore in total your monthly amount will be pension £865, UC £183.81 and your PIP.

If your wife continues to work then any earnings up to £573 per month will be ignored.

 

Hi, we will be a lot worse off as you are saying we will just get £183.81 per month UC

At the moment our income is my wife comes home with £640 as she went part time to look after me

I receive PIP but have a mobilty car

We then receive the carers element of UC as she looks after me which is 163.73

then i receive lcwr which is 343.63

and we receive 509 standard allowance

then after deductions they leave us with 860 per four weeks plus my wifes 640 every foru weeks plus my wife 90 per month private pension.

However by the calculations you have shown me

that when my wife retires as she will not longer have a wage. she will receive £865 pension every four weeks

we will receive £183.83 every four weeks and will not receive lcwr or carer element. so forgeting PIP, that means we will lose around £547 per month

poppy123456

Your maximum UC entitlement will remain the same but both of your wife's pension will reduce it £1 for £1 but she will still have both of her pensions. As far as your total amount of benefits are concerned you won't be any worse off.

Yes of course if she doesn't have any earnings then this will reduce the amount of money you have each month, which is understandable.

calcotti

happyfella said:

this is left me very scared and i am not sure how we are going to survive with a mortgage. so, i lose my lcwr from universal credit and we also lose the carers premium as my wife looks after me.

You don't 'lose' them. They are still included in your UC calculation. The way UC works is that they calculate a maximum entitlement and then make deductions for other income received.

the difference is that pension income is deducted ted in full whereas for earned income there is only a partial deduction.

When people stop work they usually have less income - no way round that.

As advised earlier, apply for Council Tax Reduction, that will likely help pay your Council tax bill.

poppy123456

calcotti said:

Your maximum UC amount will remain the same £1017.27. They will deduct the pension income in full. £778.26* for the State Pension and £90 for the private pension. Total pension income will be £868.26/month. If your wife has stopped working and there is no other income you would therefore still get UC of £149.01. You will have less money overall because of your wife stopping work.

If you don’t already claim it, you should apply for Council Tax Reduction from your local council when your wife reaches pension age.

(*based on £179.60/week)

After all that, i've literally only just realised your comment here calcotti. You must have posted this while i was typing.

happyman

So in total they will lose more than 500 per month which is a lot. 

poppy123456

happyman said:

So in total they will lose more than 500 per month which is a lot. 

If the wife stops working then yes, which is totally understandable.

happyfella

sorry for the late reply, i had to go to hospital to have my kidneys checked which i have to do next week.

This is worrying me and we are now even considering selling our house. I have only just received lcwr so that means that i also lose that.

My wife was going to stay on one day a week, but because she has COPD and arthritis in her hand, her doctor has advised her against it.

Can someone please break it all down to what we would receive and let me know if my wife did five hours a week if we would be better off.

This has come as a big shock to us

poppy123456

happyfella said:

 I have only just received lcwr so that means that i also lose that.

This is not correct because you will still be entitled to the LCWRA element in your UC calculation but because of your wife's State Pension and private pension it will be deducted from your UC. It doesn't mean you're no longer entitled to it. If you didn't have the LCWRA element then your UC would be reduced to zero.

If your wife continues to work 5 hours per week then based on NMW @£9.50 per week from April then this will be about £200 per month extra.

happyfella said:

My wife was going to stay on one day a week, but because she has COPD and arthritis in her hand, her doctor has advised her against it.

If her health conditions affect her daily life then she could also start a claim for PIP before she reaches state pension age. If this isn't done before she reaches state pension age then it would be Attendance Allowance she would need to claim.

calcotti

happyfella said:
Can someone please break it all down to what we would receive and let me know if my wife did five hours a week if we would be better off.

Seecalcotti said:

Your maximum UC amount will remain the same £1017.27. They will deduct the pension income in full. £778.26* for the State Pension and £90 for the private pension. Total pension income will be £868.26/month. If your wife has stopped working and there is no other income you would therefore still get UC of £149.01. You will have less money overall because of your wife stopping work.

If you don’t already claim it, you should apply for Council Tax Reduction from your local council when your wife reaches pension age.

(*based on £179.60/week)

Your maximum amount is unchanged £1017.27.
At the moment they deduct £90 for your wife's pension and £45 due to her earnings (this is calculated as 55% of what she earns above £557/month). You receive about £888 of UC plus her earnings of £640 = £1,528/month.
In future they will deduct £90 for the private pension and £778.28 for the State Pension. The remaining UC will be about £149 plus her State Pension = £927/month.

You are roughly £600/month worse off. However you can claim council tax Reduction which I would expect to pay all of your Council tax bill which will offset some of that loss.

If your wife does any work there will be no deduction from the UC if she earns less than £557/month (but it might affect the Council Tax Reduction).

happyfella

poppy123456 said:

happyfella said:

 I have only just received lcwr so that means that i also lose that.

This is not correct because you will still be entitled to the LCWRA element in your UC calculation but because of your wife's State Pension and private pension it will be deducted from your UC. It doesn't mean you're no longer entitled to it.

If your wife continues to work 5 hours per week then based on NMW @£9.50 per week from April then this will be about £200 per month extra.

Sorry I struggle with things like this, so let me just get this clear.

At the moment we receive every four weeks

lcwr 343.63 for me

£509.91 standard allowance

£163.73 for carer as my looks after me

£640 wife wages

£90 private pension for wife

- £141.99 take home pay

Total income

1605.28

So when my wife retires is this is what we will have

£90 private pension

£718 state pension

UC £149.01

Total 957.01

I have not included PIP as my PIP is up for renew next year, so i am just basing it without. But i receive full PIP but my mobility is used for a car

happyfella

calcotti said:

happyfella said:
Can someone please break it all down to what we would receive and let me know if my wife did five hours a week if we would be better off.

Seecalcotti said:

Your maximum UC amount will remain the same £1017.27. They will deduct the pension income in full. £778.26* for the State Pension and £90 for the private pension. Total pension income will be £868.26/month. If your wife has stopped working and there is no other income you would therefore still get UC of £149.01. You will have less money overall because of your wife stopping work.

If you don’t already claim it, you should apply for Council Tax Reduction from your local council when your wife reaches pension age.

(*based on £179.60/week)

Your maximum amount is unchanged £1017.27.
At the moment they deduct £90 for your wife's pension and £45 due to her earnings (this is calculated as 55% of what she earns above £557/month). You receive about £888 of UC plus her earnings of £640 = £1,528/month.
In future they will deduct £90 for the private pension and £778.28 for the State Pension. The remaining UC will be about £149 plus her State Pension = £927/month.

You are roughly £600/month worse off. However you can claim council tax Reduction which I would expect to pay all of your Council tax bill which will offset some of that loss.

If your wife does any work there will be no deduction from the UC if she earns less than £557/month (but it might affect the Council Tax Reduction).

I think we posted at the same time. If we forget about council tax reduction. If my wife worked five hours a week, do i get to keep lcwr and would she keep the carer element

poppy123456

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/491476#Comment_491476

Yes, as advised you will have the work allowance so any earnings up to £557 per month will be ignored.

happyfella

can this be clarrified please. I contacted a benefit advisor service and they have told me something that has shocked me.

They are saying because my wife is 66 soon, and i am much younger, that she cannot claim her state pension until i reach state pension. I am 99% they are wrong.

This is what they have said:

When you have one who is below state pension and one who is above, for the sake of benefits, they go on the younger person and you cannot claim your pension until your husband is also state pension age. You would have to do a change of circumstances on your journal and do a joint claim as a couple for Universal Credits.

-------------

I have already explained to them that the UC is a joint claim and we were actually entitled to it for a number of years but new nothing about it, so we only started claiming the year before last.

They have also said, because my wife is not going to carry on working because of her COPD, and arthritis that she should be looking at claiming attendance allowance when she retires.

Can someone clarify this because it seems to be wrong, especially the state pension part

poppy123456

Who ever you've spoken to are not correct at all. You are classed as a mixed aged couple and your wife's State pension and other pension will be deducted in full from your UC entitlement, as advised.

Your wife can start a claim for PIP before she reaches state pension age as i advised previously. If she leaves it till she reaches state pension age, then it will be Attendance allowance she will need to claim. AA doesn't have the mobility part, like PIP does.

happyfella

thank you for that. i thought they were wrong. i am confused about the attendance allowance. i have never heard of it. my wifes doctor told her to claim PIP and she said no. SHe explained to him that PIP is about what you can and cannot do and explained as he knew that she does everything for me due to my health problems, even though it causes her pain.

She will miss work and wanted to do one day a week at least after her pension age but due to her COPD etc that is no longer possible.

poppy123456

Attendance Allowance is a disability benefit for those that have reached state pension age and above.