Universal credit, how much should I get

If you only have one child, you'll only get the first amount. That's what I understand from this info anyway

@Katie so just the £311? So why does it say you can get extra for your children? my baby is born after 2017 so would that not mean I can get the £287?

Sorry, I misunderstood. You'll get the amount shown for the first child so if she's born after April 2017, you should be able to claim the extra. I'd phone and clarify though or do an eligibility test

Yes you'll get £287 for your child x

Also I'm sure you and your partner need a joint claim if you're living together, I have a joint claim with mine x

@Katie I was about to say this too. You're classed as living together, not single. I don't claim but my mate got sanctioned for this exact thing

You'll only get 287.92. You also need to declare you live with partner regardless of being married or living with parents.

@Katie I did that at first and even though I have no maternity pay and no income and he’s on minimum wage we weren’t eligible so would get no help. but then we were told by a nice lady there that because we aren’t married I could say I was single and that way I could get the £311 x

I don’t understand how anyone gets anything when they do it by a joint claim, because my partner is on basically min wage and it was apparently too high of an income for us to get any help even though we have a baby and I couldn’t work as was looking after her

This is incorrect information it does not matter if you are married and their customer support team are norotorious for giving uneducated advice. I got caught out with this regarding a repayment. You need to declare your partner, if it means you get nothing that's unfortunate but better than a sanction and then owing dwp as you'll never be eligible for help if circumstances change

Because you live with your parents you get less than if you were both living on your own

@Katie I thought this too! I did a joint claim originally but the lady at the job centre who was helping me said I need to do it on my own otherwise I wouldn’t get anything. It’s so confusing but I don’t want to get in trouble!

That's so odd as my partner is on min wage and we claim fine? How strange x

@Katie different circumstances and areas is likely why

@Jodie ah yeah that's true

@Jodie Okay thank you. I’ll have to call and clear things up, I just hope I don’t have to pay everything i’ve had, as I did exactly as I was told and trusted they knew what they were talking about :(

It depends. You could say it's a recent change and he's just started living with you. However they could then ask for evidence of that. But if you say its been like that from however long ago they will make you pay it back. Especially when you have no evidence of someone telling you that advice

You shouldn’t be classed as single as you aren’t married, you should get couples allowance as you live together whether this be at your parents or not. Marriage status does not count as to whether you are single or not for benefits as you can be married and not live in the same household and be assessed as a single person. So you should get couples and the child element. Did you inform UC you were pregnant and that you had the baby? As when you have given birth you are meant to inform them and then go to a meeting to present red book/discharge notes or birth certificate. So you should get £489.23 as a couple and then £287.92 for the baby, meaning £777.15 a month presuming you are both under 25 If one of you are over 25 you should get £617.60 as a couple and £287.92 for a child so £905.52 a month. You have to do a change of circumstances on your front page and add the details of your baby and then they will arrange an appointment for you. You can also add your partner on there.

Pretty sure by lying you’re committing fraud?

@Katie it will probably be because you don’t live with parents, if you live by yourself you get the £404 work element that isn’t regarded then 0.55p taken off for every pound earned but then you also get housing support which makes the entitlement higher x

@Charlotte thank you so much! So even though we live together but at my parents we should still be able to get the £489 as a couple? Originally we did a joint claim and my partner was on £25k so we weren’t eligible for anything. I told them I was pregnant and the due date but I haven’t been back in with her red book since she’s been born or informed them of her birth

I live at my in laws with my partner and we still get the couples element x

If you look on a site called ‘entitled to’ put in all your info including your partners wages etc it will tell you how much you could be entitled to. Just bear in mind because you live with family they will not pay towards any rent you have to pay there. Make sure you also put in your claim for child benefit if you haven’t already as that’s around £100 a month.

Yes, you should still get the couples element and the child element. You need to go on your UC online and do a change of circumstances as you are meant to add baby on as soon as they’ve been born. If you go change of circumstances, add child you can put them there. That’s why they haven’t called you in as you haven’t done that and that’s why you haven’t been paid for the baby. I think the reason you aren’t entitled to anything with your partner as a 25k a job makes a deduction of £986.30 off UC and that means it’s more than the £777.15 you would get a month off them. I hope that helps you understand more.

If you go onto the 'turn to us' website and put in all your details it will tell you what you are entitled to

Add your child, add him on as of today and leave it as that. At the end of the day you were told wrong information and you shouldn’t be punished for that.

@Charlotte okay thank you. but I am concerned that I do not have proof of this information I received. If I say he’s living with us from today will they ask for evidence of his previous address?

No, they don’t. They just ask if he has a UC code or if you need one as he will need to open his own UC online account with a code. You saying he needs one will generate one so he can open his UC online account that will coincide with yours.

You should always do a joint claim as you're living together. Everyone gets the child element of UC as it's just like child benefit.

@Rachel you just have to make sure you tell them the baby is here so they actually know so they can pay it which the OP didn’t do or realise she had to because she had informed them she was pregnant and the due date.

so If I say my partner has just moved in, even though he’s been living here for a year, they aren’t going to ask for evidence or ask for his previous address or anything? I am so scared about getting in trouble or having to repay everything

They might ask for evidence if he doesn't claim already but if he does claim, they'll see he's been living there all that time surely? I'm not sure how that works? I know they asked my mate for her partner's previous addresses

@Katie he doesn’t claim anything

he wasn’t eligible to get anything apparently

@Charlotte when you sign up for UC, you are supposed to tell them everything, even if the baby hasn't arrived yet. I signed up for UC when I was pregnant & put in my due date, so they started paying us from when my little boy was born

I think you do have to put previous addresses on the form, yes.

@Rachel I know, like I just said she did. She just didn’t add that the baby was born.

@Charlotte well you are supposed to when you fill the form out

@Rachel I really don’t think you’re getting it, she made a claim before her baby was born. She informed them she was pregnant and due date. She thought that the child would go automatically on after the due date, not realising she had to do a change of circs to add the child. I literally deal with this stuff day in and day out at work, I know how it works and what you are meant to do. She has literally done what you have said, she just didn’t realise to add the baby once born. She cannot add a human to her claim that wasn’t born at the time of her claim.

You will need to add him to your claim, especially if he’s working. It will be easy enough for them to find out. We don’t claim anything but I’ve worked with people who do and someone was found out through their partners NI number and work being linked to their address. It took a few years for it to happen but by the time it did they owed thousands. Even though it means you will be financially worse off just now there’s not really much you can do. They take benefit fraud seriously and the DWP is not something you want to get into trouble with. Especially because you are signing to say what you’re telling them is true x

@Charlotte Hey I am really sorry to keep annoying you with this but you have been the most helpful person! I just wanted to ask as you seem to know what you’re talking about, if I say now on the change of circumstances that we now live together since now, will they ask for his previous address or be able to find out he’s lived her for a year? I don’t want to do a joint claim because 1. we won’t get anything and 2. i am scared they’ll ask questions and find out he’s been here all along. It’s just so frustrating because I was completely honest in the meeting, told them he was living with me and my parents 😢

@Charlotte I just want to claim nothing and end it. I don’t want to keep claiming more and get myself in trouble but I really can’t afford to just pay it all back. can I just cancel it and just say i don’t want to claim anymore and that’s that, no questions? or will they ask why?