Claiming universal credit whilst self employed

[KatyOliver82Participant]

Hi everyone,

Im searching for some help from single parents who are in a similar position to me & can offer a little advice.

I am in the process of separating from my husband & have just applied for universal credits to help financially. I am self employed & run my own events catering business alongside being a pretty much full-time stay at home mother.

From what I understand I will need to submit an income in/income out sheet for universal credit each month & then for every £100 earnt £63 will be deducted from the credits.

I can understand this in theory but struggling to figure out how it works in practice regarding budgeting & setting an amount the father of my children will need to contribute each month.

Some months I can have a good income but I tend to squirrel this away to help cover the less that good months but if my credits are reduced rather than saving I’ll be spending everything I have earnt. And so what happens in the months I don’t earn as much? Is it best to base my ex-partners payments on the amount I’d get from universal credits were I to have a month I don’t earn anything in?

Can anyone help?

Thank you x

 

[PeterDParticipant]

Hi K

Im a single parent with three kids. Their mother walked out on us🤬🤬🤬🤬

I work full time and receive uc inform of tax credits. Hmrc submit my wages to uc and they calculate my uc. So if I get less money from my employer let’s say I have a couple of days of unpaid my uc will be higher.

Have you used the child maintenance calculator on line?

Or you could call cms and they will calculate it for you.

P

[SOLOMUMMYParticipant]

The maintenance payments should be static and based on your ex’s income. So 12% for one child etc.

UC is calculated differently to how you stated:

You get an allowance allocated for being a line parent and a child allowance.

You can then earn 500 and something. Over this amount 64p is taken off per pound you earn.

The difficulty with UC is that it assumes that you earn a minimum of the equivalent of hours you need to work at at least minimum wage. So if you have a low month you could find more deductions than the reality.

Hence for many UC and self employment is a nightmare as trying to budget is difficult. I suppose working  from the premise of losing the equivalent of minimum wage is the way to go.

Do you generally make a profit?

[GingerbreadJustineModerator]

Hi Katyoliver82

At Gingerbread we have a single person helpline with advisers that will be able to explore the options.  Here is the link.  Hope this helps, Justine

https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/what-we-do/contact-us/helpline/

[RamblinjonParticipant]

Hi Katy,

As Solomummy said the maintenance payments from your ex are a completely different matter and are based on his income and how much time he has the child/children. If you go to information on the gingerbread website you’ll find a section on child maintenance that should help.

As concerning UC the DWP will probably apply the minimum income floor but that is dependent on whether the business is bring built or if it is classed as being gainfully self employed, your child’s/children’s ages are also a major factor. As these issues are very individual to you then it would be very difficult for a forum member to give accurate advise, in fact we are advised not to give specific advice as we do not know your full circumstances which is why the moderator Justine has pointed you in the direction of the helpline where you can speak to a trained advisor who can give you the most accurate and up-to-date advise.

Mark

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