Universal credit help?

[Raja2A]

Hi, my niece came to live with us at the beginning of September, we have had a positive SGO assessment but our hearing at court has been postponed (complicated but there are other nieces/nephews who are still moving around the system ) so we are technically ‘kinship carers’ until December. we previously received universal credit support (my husband works full time and me part time around our own two children) I am receiving an allowance for my niece as I have had to leave my job. What I am trying to work out is whether I can claim universal credit/child benefit for my niece too? Even with the financial support from the local authority it’s still a massive drop compared to my wages and we are struggling quite a bit financially. Any advice would be great?

[Robin D]

Not an area of any real expertise, but I believe fostering allowance does not come into the UC calculation, any more than you can claim for the extra mouth to feed. It's certainly worth asking.

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Hi, my niece came to live with us at the beginning of September, we have had a positive SGO assessment but our hearing at court has been postponed (complicated but there are other nieces/nephews who are still moving around the system ) so we are technically ‘kinship carers’ until December. we previously received universal credit support (my husband works full time and me part time around our own two children) I am receiving an allowance for my niece as I have had to leave my job. What I am trying to work out is whether I can claim universal credit/child benefit for my niece too? Even with the financial support from the local authority it’s still a massive drop compared to my wages and we are struggling quite a bit financially. Any advice would be great?

Dear Raja2A

Thank you for posting again on the kinship discussion forum.

Congratulations on having a positive special guardianship order (SGO) assessment. Your niece is now living with you and you are finding it difficult financially.

You call yourselves kinship carers. You are in fact kinship foster carers and should be receiving the same level of fostering allowance a non-related foster carer would receive. I suggest you check your local authority’s website to see how they pay their foster carers. If you are receiving a lesser amount, then you should raise a complaint about that.

Fostering allowance is a disregarded benefit when applying for universal credit. I You cannot apply for child benefit when receiving fostering allowance for a looked after child.
I am including a link to our website relating to welfare benefits for kinship carers which I hope you will find helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie

[Raja2A]

So my understanding is that I can claim universal credit for her under a special guardian order but not kinship care? Is this correct?

[Robin D]

My understanding is that foster allowance, residence order allowance, child arrangements order
allowance, special guardianship allowance or Section 17 Child in Need payment are disregarded when assessing the amount of Universal Credit someone will receive. I can see no difference tn the treatment of the different payment types, but frankly it is not an area I have ever been involved with. I believe Citizens Advice to be the organisation best placed to advise on the peculiarities of Universal Credit. The helpline is 0800 144 8 444 Mon-Fri 8am to 6pm.

Suzie may revert tomorrow with a better understanding.

Best wishes .... Robin

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

So my understanding is that I can claim universal credit for her under a special guardian order but not kinship care? Is this correct?

Dear Raja2A

Thank you for your further post.

Please see my earlier response where I explained that fostering allowance is a disregarded benefit when applying for universal credit. So, a kinship foster carer can apply for universal credit, if eligible.

However, kinship foster carers (and unrelated foster carers too) cannot apply for child benefit when receiving fostering allowance for a looked after child.

A special guardian can apply for universal credit if eligible; Income received from children’s services by way of a fostering allowance, residence order allowance, child arrangements order allowance, special guardianship allowance or Section 17 Child in Need payment is disregarded when assessing the amount of universal credit you will receive. This means it is not taken into account and will not affect the amount you get.

Special guardians can also apply for child benefit which kinship foster carers cannot.

Your support needs as a prospective special guardian should have been assessed during your assessment. I would suggest that you ask the social worker to make sure they are aware of your support needs and that you ask them to clarify how these will be met.

The advice sheet I linked to last time is the best summary we have for kinship carers in relation to welfare benefits. Please do make sure you have considered the information in our advice sheet 2 e) practical and financial support for special guardians, prior to the SGO being made.

As RobinD has already suggested you could contact Citizens’ Advice if you have specific queries regarding universal credit.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Suzie