AIBU to be surprised someone on £34,000 receives Universal Credit?

How is your income 750 a month?

Going by the reactions at the beginning of the thread - this woman was seen to be a "deserving" recipient of UC

If she had been someone who didnt work but was a carer of disabled DC she would have been judged differently, Going by numerous past threads on MN.

God forbid she may have been disabled too. Stealing tax payers money for nails and holidays like Mary down the roads cousins friends neighbour.

And if she had been just out if work - well she should get a 100k job immediately as everyone can get high up the career ladder. There is no reason why some people aren't as smart as the high flyers that post on MN. They did it while simultaneously breastfeeding quintuplets and living in a shed so they didnt have to steal anybodies hard paid for taxes.

Maybe we need to go back to the old system where benefits were classed by what they were for.
Income support
Working tax credits
Job Seekers

Then the Great British Public could know who and where to direct their spite and rage. Might save some time and make things a bit less confusing. Then "we" can all decide who is deserving and who are the scumbags

Who knows

I can say that and you are wrong to say I shouldn’t have stated they wouldn’t be entitled. Perhaps you missed it but I did say ‘unless they have another element’. Unless there is another element, which not everyone has, someone earning £34k with 1 DC would not be eligible for UC. If they had eligible housing costs they would have another element. Therefore my post wouldn’t be relevant to them. I was merely pointing out the pp is wrong that everyone on £34k with 1 DC is eligible for UC. They aren’t.

The poster that said they weren’t eligible despite earning £34k and having 1 DC has quoted my post and said “exactly”, so they quite clearly don’t have any other elements and my post applies to them.

Surely as a person of normal intelligence you realised that if this person earns the same as you and you don’t get benefits, her circumstances must be different?

Yes

The system is designed to always be better off working - she would have lost 55p in the pound for that £1.00 - so £55 taken away from benefits - but £45 better off. Perhaps the 3 days extra AL was a more attractive option to her?

@Katemax82clearly your DH earns a lot but disabled dc makes a big difference.

its not benefits that are out of control, it’s the things they’re having to cover like ever rising housing costs, fuel costs, childcare costs, food…

Nope that doesn't surprise me unfortunately.

Indeed; but you still shouldn't have stated "wouldn't be entitled to" based on what you set out.

This makes the immediate assumption that they are a mortgage payer/home owner though? As there is no housing element on your calculation? It is housing costs that generally trigger a UC entitlement in these circumstances. So you can't say "wouldn't be entitled to"

No one would believe my family get UC on what my husband earns but it's simple. You get an award made up of many elements. Then they take off (in my case) carers allowance and 55% of your income after the first 427. If your award is high you can get it if you earn ok. We have 2 disabled kids on our award, 3 kids in total, and high rent so still get it

It's nice that you think you're entitled to make that decision. However, until you're promoted to Secretary of State for the DWP, It's not up to you, is it?
Incidentally, its called Universal Credit.

But that's really hard and there are cliff edge drop offs. My sister worked in a factory and they wanted to raise her wage, she's be on about £100 a month more after tax etc but would lose almost all her benefits, making her £200 a month worse off overall. So she declined the pay rise and got 3 days extra annual leave instead. If the system was fairer, she'd have gained the extra earnings, lost less in benefits and been better off overall, but that isn't how it works.

Do you have a mortgage, own your home outright, or rent?

Umm - progression and pride? Not having to rely on benefits? I work within benefits - the majority of people working try to earn more to get off them.

Yet many are up in arms when the minimum wage rises - the rise reduces UC payouts

But only (accordingly to Google) 8 million people out of a workforce of 34 million get universal credit so I'm not sure that's why wages are suppressed, as the majority are working for the same low wages without top ups.

But what is the point of taking that promotion, with extra work and responsibility presumably, when you can just get a universal credit top up.
It feels like those on the middle to high incomes are penalised the most in this country.

But it's UC that have caused wages to stagnate. Employers can pay minimum wage and the worker gets topped up to the same level as a senior teacher via UC.

If the employer pays more, UC payments are reduced and the worker is no better off, so the employer would be stupid to pay more.

The employer is happy and the worker is happy. The people being taxed crazy amounts to pay for it aren't happy, but they're the class enemies of Labour, so 🤷.

I was just pointing out that wages and costs rise over the years

And as I said there is something called wage stagnation, read about it & be less clueless!

@Boomer55 Except I never said all pensioners were clueless.

Responding to my post about a house that was 40k in the 80s & is now 1.8m with “but wages were different then” is utterly clueless…

No need to snipe. 🙄. I was just pointing out that wages and costs rise over the years..

I might be one of the ‘privileged’ boomers, but, for what it’s worth, I rent a social housing flat - pay £1000 per month, and get no help with that or anything else.

Not all pensioners are clueless, living in £1 million homes and living off of the fat of the land.

Its funny how nobody had an issue when people where on working tax credit but now its been moved over to universal credit its a problem