Are other full-time working families finding there is nothing left?

Ive got a good amount of savings. Im not going to stop getting it. Ive got 3 kids to raise. Get no help from the dad.

Yes I know and understand why people are on UC. But if they have their own money, they should be using that first instead of the states.

The NHS is on it's knees, people are dying in corridors but we can't give anymore more money to help that, it's more important we give it to Shirley down the road as she's a low earner and needs her wage topped up even though she has 15k in the bank! But we have to let her keep that 15k in the bank rather than saving the person in hospital just in case her washing machine or car breaks down, ah poor Shirley.

I'm not benefit bashing people here, I understand most people on benefits do not have a penny in savings and if they need benefits, they need benefits. My point is we should not be giving it to people who can clearly pay their own bills with the money they have in the bank. The threshold is way too high and that money should be spent saving lives, not allowing people to have a "buffer" in case they have a little life emergency. That is my point.

I read that ‘winning’ as - not destitute as would be the case if we didn’t have a social safety net. In that sense, not working and having a similar standard of living to someone on £30-40k plus is ‘winning’.

Imagine the worry of having to pay all your bills and housing costs alongside the worry of refundancy. Makes benefits and social housing seem like luxury living. Guaranteed monthly income and low to no housing costs.

I was a teen in the 80s and clearly remember negative equity. The difference was that in the 80s you could lose your house and stand a chance of getting social housing instead or rent. Now mortgages are cheaper than renting. So masses of people losing their houses is going to be an absolute crisis.

LOL at the idea that someone on benefits might not worry about putting food on the table.

I don’t want people on benefits to suffer, everyone who can work should be working and there should be work that pays well enough that benefits are only there for those who cannot work and are therefore more generous. I don’t think this is a particularly right wing viewpoint, I consider myself socialist. It isn’t good for people to only work 15 hours or not at all because they lose more than they can earn.

If you are working full time and stressed and tired and feel like you have nothing to show for it then it’s all a big pile of wank. It particularly sticks in the craw when people say you cannot possibly complain about the state of 2026 Britain because at least you’re not starving in a freezing hovel. No one should be starving in a freezing hovel and I don’t think that is where the bar should be set for a good life in the UK. There should be enough to go round and really we need some large scale study to understand where the money is actually going because I’m doubly pissed off that not only do I pay a shitload of tax, the people it’s supposedly going to don’t get enough to pay bills and eat.

My response was to a pp claiming that people on benefits ARE winning.

'I think the only groups winning here at the moment are the super wealthy or benefit people who don’t work'

I think we’re all, regardless of circumstances, finding life hard at the moment. But it’s nothing new - we’ve had plenty of of Boom and Bust before in the UK.

It’ll pass. 👍

My knowledge comes from my job. I am often helping/ working with families who qualify for UC. So I see the thresholds etc

Nobody is winning in current system - that’s the point!

I agree. Every week the food bill increases, all luxuries being stripped out.

No more eating out, looking at the price per 1kg or 100g to do comparisons with a fine tooth comb, which adds on 20mins to each shopping trip.

Scouring for free activities and buy one get one free entry.

Clothes until they are near see through before replacing 😬

Driving so sparingly because of fuel lately it's almost a military planning operation to tie in 5 journeys into one, using route planners to check if anything in the next month needed is on route. No buses anymore as service pulled so car only option.

These are very small things which are all adding up to a dull life.

I look back to 2012 London Olympics, not long out of university and the buzz in the UK. Now I think blimey life is so dull and getting excited by supermarket extra fruity hot cross buns being on offer is infinitely depressing.

Full time working household. One wage stagnated for years and nmw almost in touching distance. Other wage better due to having to travel an hour to a good paying job..

I always think it could be worse, looking around the world of course. But this isn't the UK I thought back in 2012 I would be living in. I wonder what the 20 year anniversary from that optimistic youth haze will be. 2032 will be here before we know it!

In general I support the idea of a welfare state that provides a baseline standard of living for everyone. In reality our current system is now 70 and in some parts almost 80 years past what it was originally designed for. Demographically, philosophically, infrastructurally the post war welfare state is not fit for purpose. We need visionary government with a realistic plan for how we move forward as a nation, because currently the tax income does not cover the spends on benefits alone and that isn’t a sustainable model.

As I have already said, I have never suggested that I expect anything else.

But I am absolutely not 'winning'.

What do you mean, my figures?

Someone working, getting a UC top up, is earning a low wage, despite working full time. The UC top up isnt massive. The point im making is, if you earn so little as to get a UC top up, you are not better off than someone working full time not qualifying for a UC top up.

Those talking about free school meals, free prescriptions, free dentists etc, to get those yoir household income needs to be UNDER £935 A Month.

To qualify for a UC top up when working, the working threshold is over £998 now, so if you are working to get any UC money you need to bring home over this amount first. £1400 for couples. Therefore anyone working does not qualify for free school meals and prescriptions any more.

The only people who get these are those classed as not well enough to work at all, and their household income is under £935 a month. Which im sure youll agree is pretty low and they by rights should be entitled to that help!

Yes but you would expect that benefits = bare minimum. That’s as it should be. You would also expect people on top 10% earners nationally to be able to afford a standard above bare minimum. The concern is that if they can’t the system collapses as the good will that extends to people who need benefits is eroded and incentive to work isn’t there.

"Give them some of your money"
So patronising.
Just like people who say "i dont have children so why should my taxes go to schools" 🙄

If someone has £15,999 in the bank account they will be loosing quite a substantial amount off their UC award which isnt a lot in the first place. They will still be working (unless they are too ill to work).

Why not drop down to a much lower paid job and claim UC then?! If its so cushty!
Then youll be getting "your money" back!

and they would then have no income to invest or pay taxes on.

There are 55 billionaires in the UK. If you took every single penny off them it wouldn't cover the benefits bill for the year.

Fantastic 😁

I've always lived as near as possible to where I worked.
If I lived somewhere there was no work I would move.
I always want/need to work - its all our duty to be self sufficient, work, pay taxes, some of which will be used to support the unemployed/sick/disabled in society etc - those who are vulnerable.

If there are no jobs around you, why don't you move? Its not sustainable to say "there's no work/transport where I live so I won't work". This wouldnt even be an option for me. Personal responsibilty seems to have left the building.

How is 16k up to a year of a buffer?!
16k would only cover most families on here's expenses for up to 6 months by the sounds of it.

People dont try to be on UC, its usually down to something awful happening like a sudden redundancy, death, relationship breakup or serious accident.

Anyone could be one day or week or month away from any of those things.

Its easy to be judgey when you are on the other side of the fence. But no one plans to be on UC believe me. Its not like the old tax credits system!

Except that isn't what happened.

It started when someone decided to bring up benefits when it wasn't even necessary. People are clearly going to respond to that.

I haven’t seen anyone list their address or a photo of their children either, I agree…very telling,

Because it's a rural district with pisspoor public transport and very limited employment opportunities, unless you live close to the centre of one of the towns or can drive, afford to run a car and pay for parking or get free parking at work.

Even where I live, on the edge of the biggest town, our buses only start at 9.05 am and stop before 6pm.