To think this is a big problem with the universal credit system

[gingercatsparky]

After a talk with my friend I feel the universal credit system discourages people from working harder. My friend has recently split from her DH, she works 15 hours a week and has a dd in school. She was discussing what to do financially and said that her friend told her that if she works only one more hour a week she gets universal credit. So it's not worth her upping her hours even more although she would be perfectly capable of working full time. Surely, that is the wrong way round? More money for working part-time. She continues working few hours and doing coffees etc on her days off where others are forced to work full time?

@timesachangin

Once your child is 5 universal credit claimants need to look for at least 35 hours work a week. It's a myth that you can just choose to only work 16 hours. Your friend will have to attend monthly meetings with very work coach and evidence what she's doing to improve her hours/income.

That's not actually true, when your child is 5 you have to work a minumum of 16 hours. You aren't required to do 30 hours until they are 12.

@selflove thank you for explaining that. I don't think people realise all of the factors involved when claiming these benefits.

Same goes for savings, you can't have much and if you go over so much you have to live off said savings.
It traps you in a cycle and unless you get a huge pay rise you can't get out of it.

To support the OP. I too have a friend in a similar situation. I’d be lying if I wasn’t a bit jealous of her finances…but when she separated from her ex, she was able to buy a house outright from the sale of their home, so is mortgage free, works minimal hours (about 16, but changes weekly), as soon as she’s close to £6k in her account, she gets something big done in her house, but has put thousands into her 4 children’s accounts. Garden, new carpets throughout & a new kitchen this year alone. Next plan is a new car. She has said openly that she will not work any more hours as she’ll only be getting pennies for it. Her plan is to work very few hours next March so she’s entitled to pupil premium. She was given so many vouchers for days out, including lunch over the summer, she didn’t have to spend a penny all summer. No childcare, ex has children 50% of the time - he works full time/shifts.

I’m sure I’ll be slated that I’m being a bitch about a friend, but it’s really difficult when you’re not entitled to a penny and would have to save years for any of those jobs that she’s been able to get done this year. Jealous? Most definitely!

It’s a frustrating system and she’s playing the game really well, she openly says this. She’s my friend, but the respect has gone, but would I do the same in her shoes? Possibly.

This thread should be a reminder to posters to keep their financial business to themselves. You never know who of your so called friends are judging you. No one outside my front door knows anything about my monetary affairs.

@Magnolia101 yeah that's annoying. The problem is that the child maintenance system is so so shit, they aren't able to include maintenance payments when calculating UC.

If they fixed that, then they could not pay people like your friend because she is clearly supported by her kids dad.

Sadly maintenance is so unpredictable for some many that they can't include it it Uc calculations

You’re obviously just jealous, just let her live her life. She’s divorcing she’s sad just be a good

@Magnolia101

To support the OP. I too have a friend in a similar situation. I’d be lying if I wasn’t a bit jealous of her finances…but when she separated from her ex, she was able to buy a house outright from the sale of their home, so is mortgage free, works minimal hours (about 16, but changes weekly), as soon as she’s close to £6k in her account, she gets something big done in her house, but has put thousands into her 4 children’s accounts. Garden, new carpets throughout & a new kitchen this year alone. Next plan is a new car. She has said openly that she will not work any more hours as she’ll only be getting pennies for it. Her plan is to work very few hours next March so she’s entitled to pupil premium. She was given so many vouchers for days out, including lunch over the summer, she didn’t have to spend a penny all summer. No childcare, ex has children 50% of the time - he works full time/shifts.

I’m sure I’ll be slated that I’m being a bitch about a friend, but it’s really difficult when you’re not entitled to a penny and would have to save years for any of those jobs that she’s been able to get done this year. Jealous? Most definitely!

It’s a frustrating system and she’s playing the game really well, she openly says this. She’s my friend, but the respect has gone, but would I do the same in her shoes? Possibly.

I couldn't be friends with someone like that. I don't get this attitude that she's owed. How can she morally do this?

@Menmy3

You’re obviously just jealous, just let her live her life. She’s divorcing she’s sad just be a good

Tbh I am not jealous as DH are in a much better position financially although they have at least equal or more income than us you could say we have used the money better. We have both been lucky enough to be given inheritance too , my friend and I, but again you could say DH have been more responsible with our money. But how others choose to spend their money is not my business.

As a result I am lucky enough to pick and choose how much I earn as self employed and we live within our means on DH wage and have savings and pensions.

I do feel for her if her DH is in lots of debt, if he goes bankrupt or if she has unknown debt in her name. She doesn't seem too bothered by any of this though and doesn't take any of the suggestions friends make. I do hope she's ok in this respect though.

But wouldn’t you rather be a family? I’m sure she would have given all this up to be a happy family unit. You’re lucky in other ways x

@gingercatsparky

After a talk with my friend I feel the universal credit system discourages people from working harder. My friend has recently split from her DH, she works 15 hours a week and has a dd in school. She was discussing what to do financially and said that her friend told her that if she works only one more hour a week she gets universal credit. So it's not worth her upping her hours even more although she would be perfectly capable of working full time. Surely, that is the wrong way round? More money for working part-time. She continues working few hours and doing coffees etc on her days off where others are forced to work full time?

It operates on a taper. If your children are school aged she would be expceted to be earning 25 x nmw per week or looking to earn this much. In reality nothing much is done to push people to work more hours so people don't bother. For each additional pound she earns she will keep 37p of her Uc. People with kids get a work allowance so if for example they had a mortgage they would get the first £513 of earnings would not reduce their UC at all. It really isn't a bad deal and is to encourage people to work. I suppose after you've reached that work allowance it's not quite so tempting so people perhaps keep their earnings low. many lone parents will be getting child maintenance on top which is not counted at all so they can manage without needing to work full time.

You are not her friend. I feel sorry for her that she is going through this and her "friend" is disparaging her and using the breakdown of her marriage to make a point about benefit recipients on the internet.

This is a nasty thread.

@Magnolia101

To support the OP. I too have a friend in a similar situation. I’d be lying if I wasn’t a bit jealous of her finances…but when she separated from her ex, she was able to buy a house outright from the sale of their home, so is mortgage free, works minimal hours (about 16, but changes weekly), as soon as she’s close to £6k in her account, she gets something big done in her house, but has put thousands into her 4 children’s accounts. Garden, new carpets throughout & a new kitchen this year alone. Next plan is a new car. She has said openly that she will not work any more hours as she’ll only be getting pennies for it. Her plan is to work very few hours next March so she’s entitled to pupil premium. She was given so many vouchers for days out, including lunch over the summer, she didn’t have to spend a penny all summer. No childcare, ex has children 50% of the time - he works full time/shifts.

I’m sure I’ll be slated that I’m being a bitch about a friend, but it’s really difficult when you’re not entitled to a penny and would have to save years for any of those jobs that she’s been able to get done this year. Jealous? Most definitely!

It’s a frustrating system and she’s playing the game really well, she openly says this. She’s my friend, but the respect has gone, but would I do the same in her shoes? Possibly.

Putting money into kids accounts, particularly large sums would be considered deprivation of capital to continue to claim benefits and she could be in serious trouble if she was investigated.

The friend I'd getting mixed up with tax credits. On universal credits you will always be better off the more you earn

Universal credit is pay up to 85% towards childcare !

I think it depends how much UC you get

If it’s just the £300 standard allowance, you’re better off working. But some people get £1.5k-£2.5 per month from UC if they have housing and child elements added. I can see why you wouldn’t bother working when you earn those figures from being unemployed

@gingercatsparky you're not jealous because you have an incredibly privileged lifestyle and a family around you. It's actually astounding with all you've just said you have (including even inheritance!) you can't just find it in yourself to support your friend.

@Iggly

The problem is shit wages not universal credit.

Companies need to pay higher wages then this wouldn’t happen.

She’s making a rational decision based on her circumstances. Walk a mile and all that.

This. Xo

Not just universal credit. I'm on carer's allowance and not allowed to earn more than £128 a week or I'll lose almost £300 a month. I'm trying to find a job that works around my husband's hours, but I either have to limit my hours or find something that pays enough for me to be better off, without the carer's allowance. It sucks.

@genericuserneeded

I think it depends how much UC you get

If it’s just the £300 standard allowance, you’re better off working. But some people get £1.5k-£2.5 per month from UC if they have housing and child elements added. I can see why you wouldn’t bother working when you earn those figures from being unemployed

Anyone getting that much must be in receipt of some kind of disability elements seeing as it's over the benefit cap otherwise. If housing wasn't so expensive then people could claim a lot less. Let's face it. Over half of my UC goes straight into my landlord. The vast majority of UC claimants aren't sitting around on piles of free cash.

Gingersparkycat. It's not that simplistic to up hours or take another part time job. My wife works for one of the big four. Recently they had to sign contract that allowed their 16hrs to be broken up however company sees fit, that could be a 6am to 10am then back for a 4pm to 6pm.we have been living off my redundancy since last year. I was waiting on smallish tax refund if we started uc before the refund uc would have been suspended for ten weeks suffice to say we haven't bothered claiming, no point.

[quote timesachangin]@gingercatsparky you're not jealous because you have an incredibly privileged lifestyle and a family around you. It's actually astounding with all you've just said you have (including even inheritance!) you can't just find it in yourself to support your friend. [/quote]
Ffs I do support my friend. She has lived a privileged life too. Not supporting her claiming UC whilst only working 15 hours does not make me unsupportive. Just because I don't blindly agree with some of her actions does make me not her friend. Can you only be friends with someone when you agree with all their actions and only be supportive if you agree with all their actions, otherwise you're unsupportive? Need to me.

*news to me.

What a lovely supportive passive aggressive public thread about your friend and exposing her life for scrutiny on why it’s unfair.

I realise people are coming down quite hard on you now OP but at the end of the day these kinds of threads simply do not help anyone. They just encourage people to speculate on whether certain people “deserve” their benefits, and that never ends well.

I'd be sitting down with her in front of "entitledto" helping her work out how to best support her current lifestyle while she gets back on her feet, taking as much of the financial burden off of herself as possible. I wouldn't be making suggestions about how she should be downsizing, moving her kids, working longer hours.