LCWRA couples claim and working

glax567
glax567 Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
in Universal Credit (UC)
Hello! 

I claim LCWRA for my mental health, I live with my partner so we had to do a couples claim. He works full time so the work allowance obviously takes into account his earnings.

I wanted to try and work part time in the future (probably just from home) I know this is possible claiming LCWRA but how would this work in terms of the work allowance? I’m worried that working part time would leave us with even less money if the work allowance is already used up by my partners earnings.

I also claim PIP enhanced daily living and my partner gets carers allowance.

I looked around but couldn’t find anything about working part time on a couples claim with LCWRA. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you 

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    You only have the work allowance once per claim. This means that the more earnings both of you receive each month the less UC you will receive. 
    Also you need to be careful that that work you do doesn’t contradict the reasons why you have LCWRA, if it does then it could go against you when the next decision is made on a work capability assessment.
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,001 Championing
    edited March 2022
    In general, working part time will reduce your UC but will not make you worse off. Your UC will reduce by 55% of everything you earn. You gain financially by 45% of what you earn.

    The situation in which somebody could be worse off is if the extra earnings took them across the threshold for free prescriptions etc.
  • glax567
    glax567 Online Community Member Posts: 2 Listener
    poppy123456 said:
    You only have the work allowance once per claim. This means that the more earnings both of you receive each month the less UC you will receive. 
    Also you need to be careful that that work you do doesn’t contradict the reasons why you have LCWRA, if it does then it could go against you when the next decision is made on a work capability assessment.
    Yeah I understand that. I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t be worse off if I worked part time than I am whilst just on UC. 

    I think it’s really hard to know with mental health with contradictions. For example, there’s no way I could work full time and would only be able to do certain things part time (or for a few hours). I’m just hoping it won’t go against me as sitting around all day everyday doesn’t help my mental health either. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    If you work, whether there will be any entitlement to UC will totally depend on both of your circumstances and how much earnings you receive each month. Use a benefits calculator and put in different amounts will give you some idea of how much UC you will be entitled to.

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