To think Universal Credit is rubbish?

[JustBoppinAlong]

As a single mum that works 30 hours a week I have help in the way of Universal Credit. Since joining it over 8 months ago I have had nothing but trouble with it.
They calculate my payments incorrectly. They lose my childcare invoices. They refuse to pay me for certain dates if my evidence doesn't turn up in the post on time.

And they advertise themselves as making working easier for people. It was so much easier when it was housing benefit and child tax credits. At least then I knew where I stood.

It seems the more hours I work the worse I end up financially. How does that make sense?

I know I will probably get slaughtered for even moaning when I am being helped by the government but it just seems silly that I am worse off the more I work.
I have friends on tax credits who have 16 hour contracts but are now taking lots of overtime in preperation for Christmas. And they still get paid the exact same tax credits even when their wage increases. Yet for every £1 I earn I lose 75p if my allowance. Meh indeed.

[chasegirl]

Yes it is. Rolled out too fast. The systems can't cope they always seem to be not working and you are worse off than on tax credits :-(

[Pisssssedofff]

I cannot get my head around why you are on it st all .... I'd bloody move house to avoid it, seriously

[megletthesecond]

UC has been a balls up all along. I'm scared stiff I'll end up on it.

However I'm sure your friends on TC's will end up having their tax credits adjusted accordingly or if they don't HMRC will check and make them pay the overpayments back. My TC's are calculated after my P60 is generated. If I worked overtime they'd know.

[Butlerbabyno2]

When the tax credits renew next year all your friends who have been doing overtime and not updating the benefits department will see on their award that they have been overpaid and their benefits will be cut until the overpayment has been repaid. 'The more hours I work the...' Well yes if you are working more, you are earning more - so the less benefits you should receive as your wage will be higher, seems a case of wanting the best of both worlds there I'm afraid.

[DangerousBeanz]

It seems ridiculous to me that someone working 30 hrs a week should need benefits at all. This clearly demonstrates ethat employers aren't paying enough and are expecting tax payers to subsidise their businesses.
Rather than making life difficult for people like the OP the government should be looking at this.

[CurtainsforRonnie]

Why are only some people on U.C & some still on T.C? Is it to do with age of children?

[MyGiddyUncle]

Financially you're not 'worse off' the more you work though, if you lose 75p out of every £1 in UC. You're still better off, just getting less in UC as you earn more which is how it should be.

I have no idea about the actual system but it does sound shit.

[gleam]

Can you scan your invoices into your phone/computer before you send them? Then if they lose them, you can quickly send them a copy.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Can't you upload them online? Posting bits of paper in this day and age seems a bit archaic. I thought the big thing about UC was that it was all online.

[Theoretician]

I am shocked at the way child care costs have to be claimed. There's no way a manual process via post is ever going to be reliable, even if the recipient does everything perfectly. Apparently everything will go digital eventually, but my impression from what I read at the link below is that if you are in an area that isn't digital, you have no choice in how you claim.

www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/help-towards-costs-childcare/universal-credit/how-do-i-claim-childcare-element-universal

[JustBoppinAlong]

I either have to send it in the post or get it scanned at the job centre. Yet they won't allow you to just pop in for that. You have to phone up and make an evidence appointment. This means ringing at least a week in advance and hoping they have an appointment free between me finishing work and the job centre closing.

I would love to be able to work full time and not need government help but sadly then most of my earnings go on childcare so I end up no better off.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Sorry, I assumed that if you had access to the internet that meant you could use the camera in whatever device you use to take a picture of the receipt to email in. Actual scanners seem to be more or less obsolete unless you have lots of documents that you need very tidy copies of.

[expatinscotland]

It's a shambles. Cost a bomb, too. Doesn't save any money or make things any easier. It's another way to punish the working poor.

[Pisssssedofff]

Well you would be better off even if it all goes in childcare, you wouldn't have to deal with this shower of shit for a start. That's how I looked at it

[pointythings]

Uncle it is actually perfectly possible to be worse off financially even if you get to keep 25 p out of every £1 you earn, because you will be spending more on commuting to and from work. Going to work carries costs, so it is perfectly plausible that in terms of money available to spend after costs, OP would have less even if she works more hours.

Which is what makes the benefits system in the UK so completely bloody ridiculous.

[JustBoppinAlong]

I do have Internet access. I also have an understanding boss with scanning facilities. I emailed them a copy of my wage slip last month as they had messed up my calculation. The advisor gave me an email address to send it to. When I called them back days later I was told they don't give out email addresses and therefore do not accept anything scanned and emailed it.
Half the time advisors give me very conflicting advice which can at times cause me to then miss out on payments. As by the time it gets sorted I'm out of the time scale. It causes stress every single month.

[yesterdaysunshine]

In fairness, people complained constantly about TCs too.

I suppose any system that's so large will be flawed in some ways.

[JustBoppinAlong]

And in terms of it working better if I spend it all on childcare. I can only do thst by then claiming childcare help. It's the difference I then pay that eats up all my income. Plus the stress of them then calculating the childcare payment correctly.

[JustBoppinAlong]

I agree that most things in terms of benefits are flawed. I think I just knew where I stood with TCs.

In an ideal world working full time as a single parent would cover all my bills and leave me with a little to save. But that's never going to happen.

[OddBoots]

It does seem like part of the thinking is to make it such a pain to claim that it makes people desperate to get off it but not everyone is in a position to be able to get off it. The same applies to other benefits.

[Pisssssedofff]

JustBoppinAlong. Does your ex pay child support ? Honestly that was the turning point for me, I couldn't have saved and bought a house without it.

[OnTheEdgeOfItAll]

The original tax credit system was efficient. You could calculate everything easily, over payments were rare ( and easy to sort out and see what had happened). The current tax credit system is so much of a bollocks, that nobody appears to understand it. Calculations are bizarre. Even if you grossly over estimate your income, they still manage to screw it up and over pay.
I know people who have sat down and compared their circumstances and all receive random amounts of TC that don't make any sense when compared to one another. It's a farce.

[JustBoppinAlong]

No I don't get child maintenance. Never have and never will. He manages to fiddle the system but not being on the books and getting paid in cash. I gave up on that one a long time ago.

[Pisssssedofff]

Could he have the kids more to let you work without childcare costs ?

[JustBoppinAlong]

No he would use that against me. Long back story lol. I try to get overtime when the kids are not home.