I'm autistic and currently unemployed, I am a PIP recipient so have to meet the Adequate Maintenance rather than the standard financial requirement. I'm looking to bring my American spouse over.
I thought I was all set, I receive £468 PIP every 4 weeks and £1144 Universal Credit per month. I converted these to weekly amounts so I could do the formula. So that's £117 PIP weekly and £264 Universal Credit weekly.
So using the formula A - B ≥ C
A would be my total weekly income of £381
B would be my housing costs of £160 weekly (I don't pay council tax)
£381 minus £160 = £221
£221 is greater than the standard income support rate for a couple over 18 (which I think is £121?)
This would mean I meet the Adequate Maintenance.
However recently I met with a lawyer to go over all this as it is very important I've got it correct. This lawyer told me Universal Credit CAN'T be used towards the Adequate Maintenance which came as a surprise to me as I've seen other people say you can use it, plus with the old benefits system you could use things like the housing benefit, so why would that change just because the system is Universal Credit now?
She admitted she didn't know much about benefits, and also tried to tell me that any savings under £16000 wouldn't count towards meeting the Adequate Maintenance, which as far as I know is nonsense and is in fact the case for the standard financial requirement NOT the Adequate Maintenance. So I have no idea if she is correct or not about the Universal Credit? I've done endless googling but am really struggling to get a solid answer. I see the government lists "income-related benefits" as something you can use to make up the amount, so I'm just checking with you guys that definitely includes Universal Credit? I'll definitely try to get a refund from this lawyer if she has given me false information, which I suppose she already has with the information about savings. I made it very clear to her I was talking about Adequate Maintenance and not the standard financial requirement.
Additionally I have a question about point C of the formula. Is the income support guidance still used despite it being the old benefits system and if so do I just look at the standard rate for a couple over 18 and disregard the disability premiums even though I am disabled? Also am I okay to not include council tax in the point B section due to being currently exempt from paying it? I know that we will need to pay it once my fiance (not married yet but will be when applying for spouse visa) moves here due to it being a public fund, but is it fine to work the formula out based on the circumstances before his move? Hopefully that makes sense, my brain is frazzled by now.
Thanks so much!
