AIBU to claim UC with a 'high' income

But hence the gaming and insistence on disability diagnoses. Of course nobody on here would do that, but clearly many in the country do, looking at the beyond affordable social welfare costs. PS i have a child who has a disability. Child benefit was great and appreciated. That alone helped a lot. I dont pay rent, but did pay a mortgage for many years. But I worry about my older friends who rent into and beyond retirement. They will also need support - state pension + lower paid work ( so little to no private pension) will mean support from the state. I genuinely do not understand how we as a country are going to afford to do this.

Having plugged in the numbers, we'd be better off if I dropped a day at work.

We do have savings just over £16k but these would pay off the remaining mortgage which it seems is an acceptable use.

I find it mind boggling.

I'm not going to do it but it's insane. I could be mortgage free, work less and still have the same at the end of the month. The system is goosed

The tax payers paid out….

Imagine a world where we hadn't destroyed social housing, hadn't left the EU and had used the austerity years (where borrowing costs were virtually nil) to properly invest in public services.

We wouldn't have a perfect society but bloody hell, it would be better than what we have now.

We've had fourteen years of cutting welfare spending and public services and where has it left us? Poorer than before and, funnily enough, welfare costs are just as high!

Reform blame foreigners, Tories blame scroungers, Labour blame Tories, Greens blame billionaires, but it's really just us. We see the consequences of all these mistakes and demand they're made over and over again.

In that case, put £2 into a pension.

It may list CA and UC separately but CA is deducted £for£. CA should still be claimed though for the better NI credits.

And yes I know how carers allowance works. If you earn just £1 over the cut off you lose the entire amount, making you worse off for working.

After reading this I have reached peak-benefit and I am done with peoples noses in the trough when they should be working or living within their means or just having one or two DC like the prudent rest of us.

Of course, go ahead and claim what you are entitled to.

Since you and others are getting money for free, you can pick up the slack for donations to the food banks, toy donations and for the homeless from now.

The calculator listed amounts for UC and carers allowance separately. I used the calculator linked to on the gov.uk site

In the financial year 2023/2024 the government paid out £31.8 billion.
Don’t know what the spilt in between private rent and council rent though.
It is expected to rise to £35 billion by 2028.

I’ve just tried doing the calculation with our income of £50k and we are entitled to nothing.

Carer’s allowance is deducted £ for £ from UC.

It isn’t that you can’t claim carer’s allowance when working. It is that you earn over the threshold. Some receiving CA still work. So long as their earnings after certain deductions are under the threshold.

Isn’t that in September 2026?

I really hope it’s not reliable because it’s plain depressing! It wasn’t just UC that meant it was higher though. There was also carers allowance, that I can’t claim now because I work.

This is why you aren’t eligible. You need to have dependants and be renting.

I find the whole system perplexing. I applied recently but qualified for zero because I have a small work pension (£300pm) and a small part time job that pays £400pm. I have an injury that makes working more hours really hard but have been declined for help there. It seems if you either don't have children or they are over 18 you get zilch. The most I could get is less than £80 pm and that is only if I give up my job. 🤷‍♀️

Their earnings. If they are not eligible for UC, their earnings will be higher than the UC they would receive if not working because of the work allowance and earnings taper. As I said, the online calculations you did were wrong.

I didn’t say it was the case for all, but it is for many.

As I said, something went wrong with your online calculator calculations. They aren’t always reliable. If comparing like for like circumstances, because of the work allowance and earnings taper, a claimant would not receive more UC when not working than they would in UC and earnings if they were working.

Anyone else wonder about all this universal credit paid to landlords through rent? It must be a HUGE amount. Lots of private equity and banks are becoming mega landlords, so we're effectively transferring huge amounts of taxpayer cash to billionaires. I'm actually more concerned about my tax going offshore to billionaires, than to disabled or hungry kids...

That’s the same for those working with disabled children though. Where are they getting this extra money from?

You can if you want. I wouldn't if you don't need it. DWP can be quite intrusive. You'd have to be happy to give them access to your bank accounts for example, if they request it.

This isn’t the case for all though.

I’ve had to call in sick to work when my child has been up all night or take unpaid carers leave. My partner works from home in a flexible job, purposely chosen to manage the needs of the children, so someone is available if my daughter can’t go into school.

It’s not easy but if there are 2 parents to share the load and the child has appropriate support in place it is possible. Of course it’s not possible for some. But should we be really be paying benefits that mean it’s better for people to be at home than earning a £34k salary because that seems insane to me. Again remember that’s on top of the DLA and PIP. I was £400 a month better off leaving work.

Of course don’t leave these families in poverty but for those that struggle to hold down jobs around their children’s needs it’s pretty galling to realise it’s all for nothing and I shouldn’t bother.

We are a high income household and claim DLA (which isn’t means tested) I have been told we are greedy on MN for this previously, but we are only taking what we are legally entitled to. I’m not rich enough or too proud to turn down money!

Exactly….and how much would it cost to put a child/young adult into residential care? A lot more than what it does to pay the family UC so they can care for their child/adult.

I have asked social services several times to put my dd into residential care (she is now an adult so not as a child) so I can work and not be so tired all the time. My own health has suffered due to lack of sleep and stress. Every time I have asked they have begged me to keep her here with me, have promised more support and asked what they can do for me to continue caring for her. Because the costs of her getting 24 hour care elsewhere would be extortionate.

Wealthy pensioners aren't getting winter fuel allowance. No payment if you earn over £35k.

For many, DLA/PIP alone does not cover the cost of disability related expenses. According to Scope’s latest disability price tag research, disabled households need an extra £1,095 each month on average to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households.