UC and the fruit salad analogy

Here’s another example, from Welsh social care charging rules.

“The components which make up a person’s Universal Credit payment should be treated in the same manner as the benefits it is replacing. Those are Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits and Housing Benefit. To do that local authorities will need to obtain a copy of the person’s Universal Credit payment statement which should provide a breakdown of their entitlement”

This would seem to mean that the following elements should be used to determine the basic entitlement, and the amount of income taken into account.  How this is done where a maximum amount of benefit is not payable is unclear.

Standard allowances for single people or couples
LCWRA (or is that WTC)
carer amount

ps. HB is not mentioned as either disregarded or taken into account. Tax credits are disregarded.

In England, they simply say, for care home residents, that all UC must be taken into account as income.

For people receiving care at home, it’s slightly more nuanced:

“49) The purpose of the minimum income guarantee is to promote independence and social inclusion and ensure that they have sufficient funds to meet basic needs such as purchasing food, utility costs or insurance. This must be after any housing costs such as rent and council tax net of any benefits provided to support these costs “

So HB or housing costs with UC are simply netted off and therefore effectively disregarded.

In Wales bits of benefits are taken into account and used as income:

The basic entitlement depends upon what benefit the person in need of care might be entitled to, dependent upon their age and circumstances.

It can be:
1. income support—the personal allowance and any premiums to which the person is entitled, but need not include the severe disability premium where it is paid, and where the person is a carer, includes any carer premium that they get,
2. employment and support allowance—the personal allowance and any premiums and components to which the person is entitled, but need not include the SDP where it is paid, and where the person is a carer includes any carer premium that they receive.
3. guarantee credit—the personal allowance and any additional amount to which the person is entitled, but need not include the additional amount added for severe disability where it is paid, and where the person is a carer, includes any additional amount applicable for carers that the person receives.

So for someone on UC you have to go back to work out the equivalents, but as TCs are ignored it gets a bit confusing because those ‘bits’ need to be disregarded,