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Original poster

Only £36 per month better off with potential new job. No incentive to move off UC

108 replies

BonnyEm · 22/06/2021 21:45

I went for a job interview today. It went well. Hopefully I'll know next week if I've been successful or not.
My hours at my current job are 5 per week. Potential new job 16 per week. We currently receive universal credit.
I sat with dh earlier this evening to work out our finances and taking on the new job would only benefit us by £36 a month.
I would still take the job if offered and try to progress up the ladder or to work more hours if offered.
However, I was disheartened that the increase would be so little. You can see how benefits trap people. There's little point to working more hours than I am now, in my case financially.

OP posts:

Armadollo · 22/06/2021 22:09

Yes, put the extra into your pension. It's free money! Keep doing that every time you get raise.

You're only ever marginally better off, if you're better off at all, getting raises while you're on UC. So just keep your overall income the same and pay the extra into your pension.

Long term you will of course benefit from getting closer to the point where you don't need top ups because one day the UC will stop and then you're potentially fucked because there's no way you're going to suddenly jump from a minimum wage five hours a week job to a full time £28k one. So you have to move up gradually. When you do, as you've noticed, your income stays the same. So it might as well stay the same but with extra in pension for the future, as you slowly work towards your goal of not needing UC any more.

Armadollo · 22/06/2021 22:12

Benefits are a safety net

To an extent, some are. In work benefits aren't a safety net though. They're a subsidy for low paying employers. And they are designed to be long term.

UhtredRagnarson · 22/06/2021 22:13

@DesdemonaDryEyes

5 hours a week can hardly be classed as a job?

of course it’s a job!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Benefits

SleepingStandingUp · 22/06/2021 22:14

@DesdemonaDryEyes

5 hours a week can hardly be classed as a job?

If she's doing something that's pays her, it's a job.

job
noun

a paid position of regular employment.

Hth

MrsFin · 22/06/2021 22:15

£36 is £36!

Why would you prefer to live off other peoples money (aka benefits) than earn your own?

SleepingStandingUp · 22/06/2021 22:17

@MrsFin

£36 is £36!

Why would you prefer to live off other peoples money (aka benefits) than earn your own?

Op has clearly said she's taking the job if she gets it therefore she clearly wouldn't prefer to live on benefits.

Armadollo · 22/06/2021 22:18

Presumably to piss people like you off @MrsFin. They're all after your cash, those plebs.

UhtredRagnarson · 22/06/2021 22:23

@MrsFin

£36 is £36!

Why would you prefer to live off other peoples money (aka benefits) than earn your own?

She is earning her own. Unfortunately those 44 hours a month only earn her the grand total of 82p each. Would you be happy to work for 82p per hour?

NotQuiteUsual · 22/06/2021 22:26

It is so frustrating. I had to leave a job because of it. We'd only have been £25 a month better off, but I didn't mind that as the job was interesting and the kids loved being in childcare. But the only setting with space was a bit of a drive and the fuel cost was way more than £25. There were a few other issues too and I ended up being forced to leave work till I could find closer childcare. I can totally see how people wouldn't want to bother once you factor in the cost and stress of the commute and childcare.

lilmishap · 22/06/2021 22:28

I agree wholeheartedly there is a massive wage issue in this country that is being ignored because it's easier to get indignant about 'Benefit Scroungers' than it is to get indignant about employers paying people a decent wage.
As for "You should work for your self respect" have a word with yourself, no fucker works for self respect we ALL work for money.

Getting to work looking ok and well fed costs money, childcare costs money and if you're working you shouldn't be feeling like a benefit scrounger and having to tell your kids "we can't afford a take away once a week and you don't see me half as much as you used to and when you do I'm always stressed but that's because Mummy's working to improve our lives", but a lot of us are in that exact position.

lilmishap · 22/06/2021 22:32

@MrsFin unless you have your own currency you are spending others people money. Your wages is paid to you by other people, your profit is paid by other people. What a shitty comment.
Not as shitty as the "do it for self respect" comment.

Both were shitty

Hopdathelf · 22/06/2021 22:32

Look at the bigger picture. Your ‘employer’ doesn’t pay into an additional private pension with UC. You won’t get any opportunities for promotion with UC. I’m pretty sure a hard day’s ‘earning’ UC doesn’t so much for your self respect.

OneOfThemNights · 22/06/2021 22:35

I see what you're saying. Many years ago I was a single sahm as working around pre school was impossible as had no help and my hours wasn't worth the childcare. Ie had to pay a whole pm session 1 till 5. Yet finished at 2. (worked 15 min away)

As soon as ds started school I returned to my job. After travel and wrap around care and holiday clubs. I was worse off by 80 a month.. That was after I had WTC top up

I stuck to it as I then slowly changed my hours. And as ds got older it was easier.

I then met dh and we had our dd and we had same issue. Childcare fees was more than my wage. Then fuel and parking Although the money goes all in one account, weighing it up the over all household income after fees would have left in poverty.
As it was my MH in my job had taken a battering and I didn't return.

I struggle with mh now which I can't come to terms with let alone tell dh or a GP.

I look for work but atm not whole heartedly.

But I get ya. Its crap juggling all the hours and kids etc for so little.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 22/06/2021 22:36

It is poo, but I think Iliketeaagain summed it up very well.

You probably should treat it as a matter of pride that you're earning the money instead of getting the benefit, but in reality, I'd see it that you're protecting and insulating yourself from whatever nasty little schemes this or future governments might dream up for the poor.

Don't they actively push you into earning more wherever possible, though, however unsuitable/impossible/unfeasible the job/hours they're proposing, and make you constantly justify your position, rather than it just being a case of 'you can work fewer hours and get more UC or work more hours and get less from us, entirely your choice' ?

We're privileged enough to not have quite reached the UC stage - although it felt like it was close on a number of occasions - but I'll never forget watching 'I, Daniel Blake' with a couple of very close, very kindly, but very middle-class friends. They were sympathetic but were watching it with 'ooh, that isn't very nice, is it' faces whilst I was just opened mouth with shock.

selflove · 22/06/2021 22:38

Universal credit currently has the £20 a week "uplift", which is due to be reduced from September 2021. So everyone who receives UC will receive £80pm less from sept. So from
Sept, you'll be £116 better off a month, if it helps?!

TheChild · 22/06/2021 22:39

It is really disheartening isn't it? I recently increased my hours and the subsequent decrease in tax credits meant we are only slightly better off. BUT the way I think about it, it's better that I'n getting more money from my employer knowing that tax credits/universal credit can be reduced or removed at any time. I'm not relying so much on the government to get me by than relying on myself.

I can't wait for when I finally earn enough money that I won't qualify for tax credits, the stress of renewing and the dread everytime a letter arrives would make working more worth it.

chasegirl · 22/06/2021 22:41

Don't forget the rate of UC will be dropping back to pre covid rates in September so if you didn't take this job you would be worse off.

lilmishap · 22/06/2021 22:45

A lot of people mentioning pensions, there's quite a gulf in the amount of pension those on low income need to claim in relation to the lower middle classes, cause we conveniently die sooner.

The problem is wages for the poor are shit, not poor people are shit for noticing it.
"Why do the poorest in society not take proper care of their kids?"
MN "I dunno but they should be working as many hours as possible, for fuck all, cause then they get to live in crappy areas AND their kids get shoved into available childcare instead of decent childcare"

OP is not the problem here.

Original poster

BonnyEm · 22/06/2021 22:51

@selflove

Universal credit currently has the £20 a week "uplift", which is due to be reduced from September 2021. So everyone who receives UC will receive £80pm less from sept. So from Sept, you'll be £116 better off a month, if it helps?!

Sadly not. I was taking that into consideration. We'd still be claiming UC anyway. Plus, the new job wouldn't start until September.

OP posts:

MyDcAreMarvel · 22/06/2021 22:52

@selflove no she will still be £36 a month only better of because she will still be claiming UC.

Armadollo · 22/06/2021 22:54

Agree with you completely @lilmishap. OP didn't create this problem. She is merely noting that it exists.

Couchbettato · 22/06/2021 22:55

@lilmishap

I agree wholeheartedly there is a massive wage issue in this country that is being ignored because it's easier to get indignant about 'Benefit Scroungers' than it is to get indignant about employers paying people a decent wage. As for "You should work for your self respect" have a word with yourself, no fucker works for self respect we ALL work for money.

Couldn't put it better myself tbh.

YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators · 22/06/2021 23:00

Definitely take the job. 16 hours will still leave you lots of time in the week; perhaps you can enrol on a course to further your career options in your new role or a related field down the line? I'm doing this in the autumn, starting an Ma while going up from 3 to 4 days in my job, in the hope that it will bring rewards in a few years. Exciting times, and congratulations on your new job!

YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators · 22/06/2021 23:22

Lilmishap, I agree with you, but seriously, I don't get your take away comment? Who can afford a take away once a week if, like me, you have to watch what you're spending as a main breadwinner on a mediocre public sector salary, and I imagine a person in receipt of UC would too? It seems a bit disingenuous and not congruent with the rest of what you're saying, all of which is spot on. The cost of a take away for a family is a huge percentage of the weekly food shop budget for us.

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 22/06/2021 23:22

It is so shitty OP. A job has just come up that I really want to apply for, but a) it's maternity cover, so only lasts 12 months maximum, and b) we'd be £100 a month worse off if I took it because it would take us just over the limit for housing benefit etc., and we're not exactly flush as it is. Then when it finishes, I'd have to go through the UC process again, and I don't know if I can face doing that. I know that if I got the job, I'd be improving my long-term prospects, but it's just so disheartening.

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