To think she should look for work?

Agree they won't be affected by the benefits cap as husband is working.

They won't have been affected by the cap until now though.

I was just comparing no children to one or two. It was easier being poor without children, personally. If you had a heap of children before the two child limit then I guess you could do all right as there are economies of scale.

There is the benefit cap though so unless there are disabilities within the household they won’t get as much as it seems

@Kalevala It depends on the level of benefits though? The figures quoted by @Babyroobs are a massive amount more than NMW.

That is a lot of money tbf.

I've been on minimum wage as a single adult and as a single parent plus benefits. It was easier as a single adult, costs are so much higher for two. If you don't have people you know that you can trust around your child to share accommodation then you need to move from a room to a two bedroom rental for starters.

God, I remember living on £10 a week for years because I earned NMW of like, £800 per month and was just above the threshold for any help. It felt like it was just assumed that because I was single I didn’t matter, that I’d somehow manage and if not, well, too bad so sad.

And then you hear things like this and it just makes you feel like you’re living on another planet.

I’m not saying that kids shouldn’t be financially supported, it isn’t their fault they’re here and they need stuff. It’s just so, so far away from the world I was living in as a single person.

We did get a fair bit in tax credits for a few years when my kids were young 20 years ago but I was back at work when my dd was six months old working nights and weekends around my dh's regular hours. I'd look after the kids all day then go to work in an incredibly stressful job all night.

They won't contribute much if they're like their parents

Equivalent to a salary of £55-60k by my rough estimation. Depending on housing, could be much much more. The struggle will probably only really come as the kids grow up and move out.

Yes Uc child elements alone for six kids would be £1662.90 a month, then parents standard elements and rent elements on top with a few hundred deducted for earnings. Honestly it's an enormous amount they would be getting on top of wages. No wonder she doesn't want or need to work. People say benefits are low and they really are for single people but really not in cases like this.

If we assume all 6 are still in education, 5 born before 2017, they will be far more comfortable then many assume

If the kids were all born before 2017 they will be getting six child elements on tax credits and on Uc when they switch. That is a heck of a lot of money even before elements for rent ( if they rent) and parents are added in. Deductions for his earnings wouldn't be much on such a low wage. A couple now having a large family would not get any money for a third or more child unless a multiple birth so yes someone trying to have a large family now would be a lot worse off. But for this family that's not the case. Obviously as the kids leave education the amount will drop but six kids on a claim for years on end is a massive cost for society.

Except that currently she actually won't have to look for work as her husband earns enough for her to be in the light touch group. This may change in the future but for now I highly doubt she will be asked to look for work. Plus they'll be getting a lot of money from UC if most of those six kids were born before 2017 and they get a child element for each, so unlikely she will feel she needs to work because they are hard up.

Well without the people who staff that depressingly unambitious list those services wouldn't exist for people with their amazingly ambitious jobs to use.
But hey, nothing like people demanding and using those services and taking the piss out of the people providing them is there to validate and amuse themselves is there?

I have someone in my close family who willingly chose to have a very large family with known genetic conditions herself plus some conditions with a presumed genetic link - she admits to all that this means she will not have to work as the children get dla and she is their carer. She always wanted to be a sahm and knew this would mean she could be (she can’t work herself and was terrified to be forced into it so this is her ‘career choice’ ). She’s actually really lovely and does an amazing job with her dc but her blunt honesty about the whole situation does cause resentment with others

And that's the choices they made, and frankly how, or if, they manage is no one else's problem. We didn't want a hard life, so we had fewer children.

If this is a genuine post, it Sounds like she kept having children to avoid going out to work. Pretty irresponsible, taxpayers picking up the tab for life choices..

@WithACatLikeTread I think you're reaching a lot.....

Yeah I'd love to be eating low rate food, no holidays, watching every penny....the having to get a job, I probably won't like..

Rather than having a balanced life with two children (now adult), great holidays, good income and still managed to each work, with minimum childcare and equal home life balance in terms of housework etc.

Yeah, I'm really fucked off I couldn't have six and stay home instead

I think you protest too much.

Not so hard they stopped

At

1,3,3,4 or 5! So to my mind they're getting too much!

@Beezknees I'm not worried about working so much, I'm not envious but angry that my taxes are being used for this type of thing.

Benefits are a total necessity and absolutely needed, but not for this type of person and their tribe of kids.... they made a choice, why the hell am I paying for this!

I honestly don't know how people manage on that income. Even with top ups, it's got to be really hard.

No life doesn't work that way, we wanted four children, had two because we couldn't afford four.

My friend who is married to a GP, they could afford four, so she had four, when the youngest went to school she went back to work.

@Beezknees pointed out feeding six when low income will be a miserable low quality diet, but some parents don't care about that, they just want to have six kids, in this instance to avoid work it would seem