Income support / benefits?

[doubleshift]

I know a you lad - 18 just finished college - he lives with his Mum who has lived them into her BFs house in the middle of nowhere in Devon so v.rural. He is completely dependent on the Mum to drive him anywhere. He’s got a zero hours contract and gets a couple of hours work at a local pub if he can get a lift.
He’s stuck - he can’t earn proper money without transport but hasn’t got money to learn to drive and parents don’t help.

can he claim any kind of support to help him start to set himself up as an adult?

‘Lad’. Is that because it sounds like he holds less responsibility for himself than an able bodied grown man?

You probably need experience though. I can't see someone vulnerable taking on a live in carer in their own home if they have no experience in it whatsoever.

I lived in the sticks with my parent and worked a few shifts a week at a pub when I left school. Identical situation. I saved £1,500, paid the deposit for a shared house in a larger town, then applied like hell so I had a job after a few weeks and it went from there.

The benefits trap is just that; a trap. He won’t better himself. He will sit around doing a few hours a week and being topped up, becoming lazy and accustomed to doing not very much.

Why do you think that? The Job Centre will pressure him to find more work. If you are able to work, you do not get paid and left alone.

All carers start out with no experience. They receive training. Plenty of agencies have recruited thousands of sponsorship staff from overseas who have had no experience at all and they have all found work.

Because I know many people in this situation and in 70-80% of cases they make no changes at all and just become accustomed to relying on the state and money magically appearing in their account.

Agree. The benefits trap is a horrible horrible trap. You will be consigned to working low paid jobs and can never have more than £16k. This country needs to wean itself off them.

But someone who needs a live in carer will have a say in this and will probably want someone with experience. Having a live in carer puts you in a vulnerable position if you are not 100% sure about them.
Anyway, this young man might not be suited to care work. Not everyone is, and that is ok.

This.
Ridiculous.
They can support him or he looks for a job.

Stop trying to think up reasons everyone needs to claim benefits. You seem to really object to any kind of ambition or incentive when it comes to work. Like you really want to put people off even trying.

If you have work search commitments then the amount you get in UC is a pittance, even less if you are 18.
It sounds like this lad is trying his best and OP is after advice on how he can get transport so he can do more shifts at his job. It is a shame his parents are not helping more. Maybe put the shame on them instead.

Note the word ‘entitled’ in the posts encouraging him to sponge.
Says it all.

If this lad claims benefits alongside his job (which is zero hour, and he lives in a rural location so not exactly loads of opportunities there), then he could save up for a small motorbike and be able to apply for more jobs further afield, get more money etc and get off benefits.

Nowhere have I done any of what you are accusing me of, and I am not sure why you trying to make this personal. Have you had a bad weekend or something? Did your comment add anything to help OP other than trying to make a dig at me?

UC is for people who are looking for work. They can't live off of air. The young man OP knows can apply and look for more work. That is literally what it is there for. At no point has anyone said he can just claim it forever. OP just wants to see what help there is out for him.

I think some people are missing the point here. He is desperate to work.
But having had his life turned upside down by his parents he finds himself in a rural farm cottage about 7 miles down lanes from the nearest town where he could get work. 10 miles or so to a station.
He hasn’t got the money for transport to get to a job.
no need to be such bitches on a post with a well-meaning intention of helping the boy get started in life. (Yes he’s a grown-up but even grownups struggle at times). @Uggbootsforeverglad I don’t know you in real life.
thanks to those who made suggestions which he can look into.
Honestly if you’ve never lived rurally you have no idea how hard it is if you’re used to having transport on your doorstep.
we don’t need to judge him for looking into all the options he can.

7 miles is easily cyclable! Get a bike?

Thanks at @XenoBitch.

I have said it before on here and I will repeat here. It is a bad idea asking for benefits advice on MN. A benefit thread asking for advice on here is like a full moon to a werewolf... brings out the monsters.

I would always recommend the benefits subs on Reddit. They have past and current DWP staff on there and any sort of judgemental or unhelpful comment is removed.

Good luck to him. I hope he gets something sorted soon.

Save up what?

Do you live rurally? Do you know what it’s like when there’s only one bus a day and if it doesn’t align with your shifts you can’t work? Because the nearest place of employment is hours of walking away if you can get a job at the closest employer?

It’s absolutely the states responsibility to ensure everyone is adequately serviced by public transport. And the state fails spectacularly at that outside of areas serviced by TfL, and so it’s not unreasonable that UC has to plug the gap.

It’s appalling, it shouldn’t be the case but given our public services have been underfunded and cut to below adequate, sometimes claiming UC is the only option.

And I strongly agree a fit and healthy 18 year old shouldn’t be claiming UC, but you’ve yet to provide an actual solution to the problem presented in the OP.

Oooh where can I get a free bike?

This sort of thread makes me despair for current and future generations.

I bought my first house at 18 (back in the early 80's ) ...didn't go to uni, had an entry level receptionist job, deposit of 500 quid.

What has gone so badly wrong that the default position for so many is benefits ?

The poor lad seems like he wants to work and better himself but there are no jobs, he's stuck somewhere rural where his prospects are worse than someone in a city.

Why would you get a bike for free? He’s working (a bit), he can save and buy one from Marketplace for less than £100.

Read my post above. I was in the exact same position.

He’s 7 miles from a town. That’s all. Why can’t he cycle? It’ll take him half an hour. Or is that some kind of human rights breach on here?

Perhaps he hasn't got enough cash for a decent bike and helmet and parents that won't sub him for it ?

He’s working part time. He doesn’t pay rent. He doesn’t pay bills. Why wouldn’t he have cash for a cheap second hand bike?! The excuses are getting embarrassing.