How do I survive when the £80 stops...

[barryclarry]

Hi In February I had to make a UC claim as I had to leave my full time job due to my deteriorating mental health.
I have no kids and I live alone.
I have been providing fit notes to the job centre but still haven't had a medical.

During the 5 week wait I had to take out a advance.
They are taking £65 from my money a month to pay this off.
My payment next month will be £553
£330 is my rent
£60 is my gas /electric
£25 is my broadband
£40 other debts including my water rates
That is £455
I will have £98 to last the month for food and anything else.
(Sorry if my calculations are slightly out )

I'm panicking.
I don't know how I'm going to manage tbh
Is anyone else gonna struggle ?

I'm wondering the same.

With regards to broadband, I don't have it anymore. I have a SMARTY PAYG sim for £20 a month with unlimited data, calls and texts. It also streams our tv via fire tv stick and daughters phone and tablet etc.

I think it has been brilliant especially as often I wouldnt have money to pay broadband and they'd chuck a £15 non payment on top of bill.

Good luck, am just going to read rest of thread now for some tips!

[quote wildmountaintime]@MatildaIThink Whilst I do agree with most of what you are saying, especially the rent allowances, remember that personal element benefit levels (inc UC rates) were frozen for nearly a decade, whilst prices rose and rose. The way things are going now, with large increases in fuel and food prices, UC is very likely to very soon become absolutely impossible for some people to even survive the basics on.

Another thing which needs reform in UC is the criminally large amounts they are allowed to take off someone's personal allowance for their debts - 30% of the personal allowance!! that's down from 40% - what on earth are they thinking to deduct that much off the money supposed to be for people to survive!! I know you can phone up and ask for it to be reduced, but often there is no warning and even if you call to reduce it, other debts swoop in and it's back to 30% deducted the next month!![/quote]
@wildmountaintime
I think in many ways the system was designed from a very middle class perspective. Good with forms and bureaucracy, able to navigate the system and processes, a final pay cheque to seem then through to the first payment, probably a level of savings as a buffer as well (even if below the £6k threshold).

I also think it was only really designed to support people being out of work for 3-6 months, eg. lose job, be supported for a few months whilst finding a new one, I do not think the system was designed to sustain people over and significant period of time without work, even at the 16 hours a week level it does not work that well, at 30 hours a week on minimum wage you still get some UC and you are about £350 a month better off than just relying on UC, which for those who do not have to pay for childcare or can work around school hours etc. makes things a lot more manageable.

The really difficult one for any government would be the cost of UC. To retain the £20 pw uplift would require a rise of 1.2% on every income tax band (eg. base 20%>21.2%, higher 40%>41.2%, additional 45%>46.2%), raising VAT from 20% to 23% or a rise of 4-5% on corporation tax (on top of the 6% rise already announced) which would hammer pension funds and small business owners, and even if people were prepared to pay the extra (which the announcement of the NI rise proves they are not) then I am not sure they would be prepared for that rise to be used entirely for a UC increase, rather than say more into health and social care, or education.

This is why I think we need a whole national discussion about what kind of system we want in this country. Personally I would like something similar to Norway, or at least Germany, I know that will cost me and my husband more in tax, but the country will be better off because of it. The thing is in those countries everyone accept that they all have to contribute and you have far fewer people living on benefits.

I don't know whether this money-making idea will float your boat OP, but it's something I've been thinking about doing myself but I've been too busy with commissions to actually find the time...

So, on websites such as Etsy you can upload printables and templates that you have made yourself which people can then buy and download and print at home themselves. These could be literally anything that people might want to print on paper such as invoice templates, CV templates, hen party games, family organisers, planners, colouring pages for kids, literally anything. You obviously need to make sure they look professional and that the files are user friendly, but the thing is that because they are downloadable printables you don't actually have to make a product to put in the post, it is passive income. You upload it to whichever website you want to use for your little shop, people download what they pay for, hopefully they are happy, and you earn some money. Say 100 people buy a set of invoice templates that you are selling for £3.50, that's £350, and once you've uploaded the files the work is complete, other than of course monitoring your shop and making sure customers are happy. And you just keep adding new things to your shop when you can, every new printable you upload increases your chance of earning some money as there is more for shoppers to choose from. Obviously this would be a business, you would need to look into it properly, but it's worth thinking about. There are quite a few tips on google from people who already do this and make a living from it. Don't know if it helps but it would definitely be an idea worth exploring.

To retain the 'uplift' everyone would have to pay more tax? That's just nonsense straight from Boris's mouth. Benefit rates were frozen for nearly a decade for 'austerity', when they should have risen with basic inflation.

It's inhumane to expect people to struggle to survive on such a low amount when fuel and food is rising so much. It's inhumane. Even for 3-6 months, which may not even be realistic. Disabled people can be on this rate for a year or more whilst waiting for assessments and appeals. It's inhumane.

Also whilst all the suggestions of undeclared cash in hand work are well meant - and yes people do what they need to do to survive - it is fraud and you'd get in trouble if caught. People shouldn't be forced to commit fraud and rely on charity just to survive. The normalisation of this is worrying - do we want to go back to Victorian times?!

Also look on too good to go and olio apps and community supermarkets.

Check for warm home type grants. I missed out on one last winter because I didn't know about it, it's help with energy bills. It would have helped lots last year, this year I don't qualify.

Just a few suggestions to help you with your food -
Go shopping at about 4pm , when shops mark down a lot of things.
Supermarkets still have basic/value ranges, but they've been rebranded. Just as an example, Tesco sell things like - 1kg porridge oats @75p, frozen mixed veg @69p and things like chicken thighs and white fish quite cheaply. You don't have to eat 'stodge' or crappy junk food if you don't want to.
Have a look on you tube for frugal recipes. There's some lovely recipes from all round the world.
Some food banks don't need a refferal, and you can use them as often as you need. Churches are a good source.

@loopylauren
To retain the 'uplift' everyone would have to pay more tax? That's just nonsense straight from Boris's mouth. Benefit rates were frozen for nearly a decade for 'austerity', when they should have risen with basic inflation.
It is not "nonsense", it has not even come out of Johnson's mouth as far as I know. The cost to retail the uplift would be around £6-7 billion per year based on current projections of the number of claimants (so far it has cost £9.5 billion), those tax rises are the kind of rises that would be required to generate that kind of revenue.
It's inhumane to expect people to struggle to survive on such a low amount when fuel and food is rising so much. It's inhumane. Even for 3-6 months, which may not even be realistic. Disabled people can be on this rate for a year or more whilst waiting for assessments and appeals. It's inhumane.
You can keep using the "It's inhumane" again and again, but that does not suddenly mean that the uplift would not have a cost, nor remove the issue of funding. To make the uplift permanent means it needs to be properly funded, that funding has to come from somewhere and it will have to be paid for by taxpayers. I absolutely think that benefits should be at a level where people can survive, but the issue we have is that very few people seem to be willing to pay the additional taxes required to fund that. Are you willing to pay more tax to fund making the £20pw UC uplift permanent?

I don't agree that an increase in benefits HAS to mean an increase in tax. I mean, that is obviously what they'd do but it isn't the only way.

Scrap HS2? That's instant billions right there

Or stop politicians giving contracts to their mates at non competitive rates

MPs ludicrous expenses?

Subsidised lunches?

There's money leaking out all over the place and they have us believing the only way the poor can be supported is if taxes rise so we all turn on each other and say oh no. We don't want that

I feel for you, I work full time and I am terrified of what the future holds financially.
My kids re grown up and I rent, Im on low wage and am really worried when i see headlines like the gas and electric are going up.
I dont really know what to suggest, is there a food bank near you?
I used to buy the odd thing for the food bank and now I am seriously thinking i am going to have to use the food bank myself.
Its utterly terrifying. At least you can get housing benifit? My biggest fear is losing my home.

It's a bit of a last resort as grant makers are often overwhelmed with demand, but there might be some grants you could apply for? Like www.smallwoodtrust.org.uk for example?

If you’re so unwell that you can’t work I’m sure you could apply for PIP? There’s no harm in trying.

@theseoldbone

I don't agree that an increase in benefits HAS to mean an increase in tax. I mean, that is obviously what they'd do but it isn't the only way.

Scrap HS2? That's instant billions right there

Scrapping HS2 would cost roughly the same as finishing it now due to the way the contracts have been written and contracted.

Increases in benifits will benifit all of society, as poor people spend their money in the local economy and it benifits society not to have kids growing up in extream poverty.
When my kids were very young I was on benifits, one is a midwife now and one works in the house of commons having gone to Oxford.
My mum had a social worker who told her she was a drain on society, my sister (one of her kids) nursed the very same woman years later in hospital and comforted her as she died.
Society is all of us and we all contribute to it.

barryclarry have a look at prolific academic. It is a website where you get paid for doing research studies online. I can make up to £15 per day on some days which would be a massive boost to your income.

@MatildaIThink
Perhaps we could tax companies like Starbucks and Amazon to fund things like this? Increasing inheritance tax? Increases tax on dividends?

There is no reason why the personal allowance should be lowered and no reason why basic rate tax should increase, not when 24 new billionaires were created in the UK during 2021.

Fariha31
I so much appreciate hearing this today.

I am fed up as a single parent when people say I don't work.

Work is bringing up kids. I've home schooled for ten months last year.

Health does not allow me at present to take on anything else.

I would get chasing them up for the medical, that’s an appalling wait!

I applied for UC and LCWRA in June after suspending my degree due to my own health and my DDs health, and I’m still waiting, but to be waiting since February is a fucking joke, especially when general UC is so low and you are ill.

It's not really 'retaining the uplift' though. If benefits had risen with basic inflation levels and not been frozen for nearly a decade, then the uplift level is about where it would be sitting anyway.

Yes, of course I'd be happy to pay more tax so human beings who find themselves out of work, disabled and waiting on appeals, women leaving relationships etc - have enough to survive on without relying on charity and going without basics. I've been on UC in recent years and I remember the hardship.

I was/am a single parent and was at home with mine for the first 10 years and then got a job and believe me, its a LOT less work going to work than being at home with the kids

I also had mental health problems and it took a long time to be ready for a job outside the home but I never gave up (did voluntary work).

You must do what is right for you and your kids and not let people lable you, as they are expressing their own ignorance or insecurity.

Stay strong and be there for you kids.

@theseoldbone

Or stop politicians giving contracts to their mates at non competitive rates

MPs ludicrous expenses?

Subsidised lunches?

There's money leaking out all over the place and they have us believing the only way the poor can be supported is if taxes rise so we all turn on each other and say oh no. We don't want that

Proper oversight of the awarding of contracts would be great, but I can't see it happening, what it actually costs taxpayers is very hard to quantify. The bigger issue is less contract awards to friends, it is contracts not on proper commercial terms, with penalty clauses etc. that would be in place in any private contract when the contractor failed to deliver.

MPs expenses cost around £28 million a year and much of that cost is entirely legitimate. Whilst some of it is not, or is excessive, the entire total if cancelled would enable a UC uplift of around 9p.

HoC subsidies cost around £4.4 million per year, however much of that cost is also entertaining diplomats, constituency visitors, interest groups etc. in the HoC estate.

In the UK the bottom two thirds of earners have the lowest effective rate of income taxation in the UK (the top third have the fifth highest), most European countries charge VAT on food (at a reduced rate, 5-12.5%), generally have more expensive energy etc. However they do have higher benefits for the disabled, temporally unemployed and pensioners. They are able to do this because everyone pays more tax. In the UK too many people seem to think that we can live in a low tax, high social provision society, those two positions are contradictory. We either have low taxes and low social provision, or high taxes and high social provision, no amount of tinkering around the edges will make a substantial difference. I would much rather that we had a tax system like Germany or Norway, but with that leading to an increased level of state provision and support, I know that means me and my husband paying more tax and I still support higher taxes, but too many people are not prepared to contribute, that is the problem. If you are not prepared for everyone's taxes to rise then you are part of the problem, not the solution.

And do apply for PIP, you’ll probably have to appeal if they reject your claim but that’s common and a lot of people win on appeal.

and yes, like other posters have said, there are many other ways that it could be funded that don't involve raising personal tax. 40% of UC claimants are in work as well.

[quote Reduceddutiesboredom]@MatildaIThink
Perhaps we could tax companies like Starbucks and Amazon to fund things like this? Increasing inheritance tax? Increases tax on dividends?

There is no reason why the personal allowance should be lowered and no reason why basic rate tax should increase, not when 24 new billionaires were created in the UK during 2021.[/quote]
Increasing tax on Starbucks would make sense, by reforming the tax system. Offshoring of profit should be taxed just as profit would be taxed, but it does unfortunately require international tax law changes, it is not something we can do on our own. Amazon is slightly different, they sell a lot, but actually make little (relatively) profit because nearly all of their operating profit is reinvested back into growing the business. Their tax per sales works out very low, but we tax profit, not sales and their tax on profit is the same as everyone else's. They also do not pay dividend, there is no money going to shareholders from the profits.

I do not agree with increasing inheritence tax, what my husband and I manage to accumulate, paying 45% tax on, we should be able to leave to our children when we die, rather than the government taking a chunk of it away purely because someone dies.

Dividend tax was raised at the same time as the NI increase. But you also have to factor in that whilst the top rate of dividend tax is going to be 38.1% vs 47% for PAYE income (45% Additional rate +2% NI), for dividends to have been issued the company will have already had to pay 19% Corporation tax (rising to 25% in 2023), which means on £100 profit from the business 53.575% will have been taken in tax.