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

As Lakielady says, who I believe has way more than even my 15 years experience in welfare benefits, the UC helpline, poorly named, is not the best place to ask. That's the reason there are so many advice services. God help me I've just had to leave the sector. You are better off using a trusted online benefits calculator or just make a claim for UC online. I am very interested to know what reason you were given for non entitlement. From what you've said your savings are less than £16k? I'm assuming also you have no other income from property/annuities similar?

With Labour in power, soon people on 50k will get UC. They will find a cut-off point that maximises their share of the vote and just tax those over the threshold more to finance it.

Child maintenance is not deducted from UC, so it wouldn't matter if the father did contribute.

How?

And many a tax payer is also having to claim UC.

Again @catspam79 if you are not entitled it is due to a valid reason.

They haven’t plucked out your application and all agreed “well even though she’s entitled to UC, let’s just say no purely to spite her”

"Because....?" Get a hold there.

They used my net pay from payslip

Public sector salaries are no longer dissimilar to private sector now anyway and their tax payer funded pension massively over compensates. A private sector firm can only increase wages if they are fiscally viable. If you want wages to rise even more in the public sector they need to be run efficiently and without dead wood. Currently, the Public Sector has an entire forest of the stuff.

A single person can easily live on 34k if housings costs are very low but for most people they aren't low.

Well she will take home around 2 and a bit thousand. Her rent could be 1000 or so. Less than half her earnings will be deducted so this makes sense if she has some kids.

34k would be a struggle to live on as a single person but doable. Definitely not doable with children.

And they would never give a decision over the phone!

I hate to say it, but if it was the UC "helpline", they have quite a track record of giving incorrect advice.

They once told a client of mine that they wouldn't get an uplift in UC when their child was awarded DLA. They were actually entitled to around £500 a month more (disabled child element at higher rate plus carer's element). Their arrears payment was over £3k, but we had to fight to get it.

Say it louder!!

Well she obviously is entitled to UC. Lots of working people are. The unreasonable thing here is that the State has to top up earnings thus subsidising low salaries. You’ll find many public sector workers on UC. Why are they not just paid better.

Why is anybody on £34k getting UC, that’s outrageous!

£2333 a month and then CB and any maintenance. There is no need for UC. Yet the working disabled are being targeted with attacks on PIP.Why?

What is the point of anybody in the £44-£55k taking on extra stress for? I’d rather earn £34k and have UC with less stress. No wonder we are struggling so much as a country!

i mean it worked out better for me to temporarily cut my hours for a little while so I could take care of picking my child up and dropping her off and then now she’s in reception. Dropping my hours meant I wasn’t claiming the 85% back anymore. Child
is now in school and can attend breakfast club and after school and have requested to increase my hours at the current place so it all works out. I might add. Once all bills rent council tax I’m left with about £300 UC which covers car insurance and petrol so it doesn’t go very far lol

I did, as an addition to a list already provided by a PP. I didn't set out to provide a full analysis, this being a chat forum and not an economics seminar, but here are some others, in no particular order and with some muddling of genus and species: 1. inflation 2. demand for housing outstripping supply 3. public housing sold off to private individuals 4. low levels of home-building 5. home-building targets not met by successive governments 6. home-building targets set too low to meet demand 7. population increase 8. increase in single-person households 9. sustained periods of low interest rates so borrowing cheap 10. increasingly restrictive planning regulations 11. changes in building regulations discouraging home-building 12. financial deregulation 13. incursion into the property market of foreign HNW individuals driving up prices at the top end of the market.

Typo

Not me! I don’t believe them. I always think… well there is clearly more to this!

The biggest lesson I learned in 25 years of doing welfare rights work is that people chat a load of shit about benefits, and other people often believe them.

Yep.

Do you have a mortgage or do you rent?

I've just left the WB advice sector, this being one of the reasons. So many just don't understand the system and they certainly don't see the cases of desperation especially for LT sick and disabled. I've moved into a different area of charitable work, even though I loved my prevuous job in many ways.

🤷‍♀️ they’ll be a reason. They won’t be saying no just to spite you