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

Are you saying it's reasonable for someone earning a whopping £34,000pa to be claiming public money also. If that isn't enough they need a serious sit down to sort out their finances

You should not need benefits if you are on 34 grand a year. What they need is advice on how to budget

A friend earns £1800 pm, single Mum to one child and not eligible for UC so I can't see how this can be true?

In a lot of countries people get tax rebates for dependents which we don’t in this country. For some people at the top of the scale where they receive UC it’s going to be covered by their tax and NI contributions. Then as they keep working and the children get older their tax and NI will be able to cover other services.

If people were paid better, there wouldn’t be a need for such a system!

The outrage is always aimed at the same people, by the same narrow minded people. The benefit system fits a purpose, ensuring the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor! They don’t pay enough for people to save towards their own homes, but hike up the rent for renters ensuring private landlords are kept well in pocket.

If people looked to reason and not to judge, it really isn’t difficult to see what is going on! The government have created this situation for a reason; to make the rich more money. It really is THAT simple.

If someone is claiming UC with that wage, it means they are likely getting the housing element and/or childcare element.

How can someone budget when rents and childcare prices are so high?

My husband earns £47k a year and we receive £1k a month in UC.

I’ve just made a calculation. If I become a single parent with 1 child, I’ll be getting £1400pm from UC while working FT NHS band 3 job in London. It means I’ll be getting £3900pm take home.
It’s an equivalent of £62500 gross salary so around band 7 pay give or take.

Even with rent around 2400 it’s OK’ish, I guess? I didn’t check if I’ll still have to pay council tax or the council will pay for me.

I can’t believe actually, maybe I’ve screwed the online form?

If you can't live on £34,000 a year you are doing something wrong. No wonder the welfare Bill is completely through the roof

She must have children, and possibly disability involved too. I don’t anywhere near that and I’m not entitled to a UC top up or any other discounts or help.

Nice name! 😁

Oh my goodness, I just put my figures in to entitled.to and initially thought I’m due some UC. I had no idea. But my mortgage counts as savings as I can withdraw it. So…as soon as I’ve paid it off completely, it means I can claim. This seems quite strange as I won’t have any housing costs. I’m not sure that I would claim it, doesn’t seem right as I don’t need it.

I could earn 100k and my entitlement still wouldn't be 0!

Nope the uc taper is after after tax though so only take home 30 odd quid out of that 100.

You can claim with a mortgage, you just cannot get housijg costs.

Mortgage doesn’t count as savings.

Yeah, people renting in high-cost areas can receive Universal Credit despite having fairly high household incomes.

For example, I know someone in London whose husband earns £40k, she looks after the kids, and they still receive Universal Credit. It’s not particularly unusual in London.

Personally, I don’t agree with taxpayers effectively topping up household incomes in expensive areas, especially when living there is largely a lifestyle choice and they don’t have strong family ties to the area.

I think there should be more expectation that people look for work and consider moving somewhere more affordable.

It also subsidises businesses and means they don't have as strong an incentive to move to more affordable areas as they can get staff and the state pays.

I.e. I actually have light industry on my London street. Probably a lot of the minimum wage workers are on Universal Credit. The owner wouldn't save on wages elsewhere.

When social housing is 1400 a month and childcare can easily be 2k??

Moving is also expensive though so I don't think it's that simple either. Unless moving expenses were paid but if someone can't get a job in another area or it is lower paying, they still may end up getting a large amount of UC anyway.

Single people working full time on UC with no kids get very little help even if they rent but if they have DC and anyone in the family gets PIP or DLA UC is quite generous.

Unless it's a property she doesn't live in.

I would say the high earners and lowest earners lose the most at an effective 60% reduction in anything you earn.

As you were being with your rage bait?

are you sure? My understanding that as my mortgage is flexible offset - this means I can take out the overpayments and anything other than the interest at any point. So I have access to money which is over £16k. So that takes me over the limit. But once I have finished paying it, I will no longer have access to the money, and then I can as I won’t have savings. That’s my understanding but happy to be corrected.

Why ? 34k if as a example is a single parent is nothing after tax . People on 50k get UC depending on their circumstances.