Do Universal Credit rules require work when you have young children?

[Chezza1990]

Does anyone know if there are any rules with having to have a job when you receive universal credit and have children? To put it into context I have 3 children aged 4 and under, my partner is self employed and im currently employed, however im struggling to maintain a healthy work life balance.

As a single person in work I only got UC when my wages were an absolute pittance - and not paying taxes. Uc is not a tax rebate on any level.

Or they pay a lot in rent or they have disabled kids. It's not simply about how much they earn.

My man works full time, a white collar job, my grandfathers worked full time in blue collar jobs. White collar used to mean earning way more it’s not our fault times have changed and now we need a little uc to help out, we’re just a normal family who have adapted to the times.

The times haven't changed in the way you claim. Many many families earn enough so that they don't claim benefits.

You said yourself that you want not to work, want to stay at home with your children and live off benefits. You have chosen to live off the state.

Don't then try to justify your choice by claiming it's all down to tax, or different times blah blah, because that just makes you look stupid. If you've chosen to live on benefits at least admit that you've made a lifestyle choice to do so, you haven't been forced into it by desperation.

And don't claim your benefits are akin to a tax rebate, that's a joke.

Clearly they have changed and I feel like I’m repeating myself here but if they haven’t changed explain why both my grandfathers working blue collar ordinary jobs could afford to be the sole bread winner and have numerous children is ok but my man working a white collar job that he had to go to university to get makes us scroungers because we receive a small amount of uc. Do you realise a family where the man had my mans job fifty years ago would be relatively wealthy?

@Choosos I get that but as far as I’m aware you aren’t proposing to leave a job just for the purpose of claiming benefits because you have realised you are at that borderline position of not being that much better off? This mindset comes to totally bite you on there’s once kids are primary school and beyond and being hassled by DwP etc and certainly at the point with no kids at home and a CV with sod all of note on it - or you split up and realise your bit of a top up isn’t quite the same as 2 moderately paid jobs or your situation changes and you can’t rent because they won’t take your benefits into account etc - people would be wise to think beyond the ‘instant’ tempting as it is if renting with small kids and low incomes

I don't agree. My grandpa was an electrical engineer in the 50s - and his wages were terrible. My mum was a teacher in the 70s and her wages were poor too.

I’m not sure that is what families did back in the day.
my own parents tag teamed (70s/80s). My dad did an office job all day whilst my mum has us, then (bless her heart she must have been knackered) as soon as he came home my mum went out and worked in a pub till midnight. I don’t actually wish that on parents, as my mum worked far too hard, but there needs to be some balance with not absolutely taking the piss out of our very generous ‘safety net’.

You can be as pissy as you like, but work life balance is a luxury and just quitting can impact your UC eligibility (so the government guidance says). I don’t object to paying taxes to support people who need a safety net but I’d quite like not to have to work either for my ‘work life balance’ and choosing not too because you are tired because you had too many kids is not reasonable behaviour.

Age 4 also has no relevance to UC, ages 3-12 are treated the same.

You are allowed to quit without issue if you have under three. Also if your partner earns enough in a joint claim.

Surely the majority of people in care homes have at least one child (as for older people, being child free was less usual)?
There are very few older people looked after FT by their children these days. So having children doesn't mean they'll look after you-I mean, I try to help my relatives, but as I work and am a mum, I just couldn't give 24/7 care, much as I might want to.

Generous? The reason some people get top ups is because they live well below the poverty line to start with.

Of course I don’t mind clarifying! I don’t believe that any family, two parents/one parent whichever, who is reliant on state handouts to help raise one child, should then go on to have another child and if they do, they certainly shouldn’t be able to claim for that. Where does personal responsibility come into play when they do?

When we planned for our family we used forethought. If one of us lost our job, can we easily sustain the lifestyle of more than one child? If one of us dies can we afford 3 children? If we separate can we both provide a good lifestyle for more than one child. The answer was no, so we stuck to one.

How is it responsible as a PP did above to actively know that you require state handouts for the one child you have, but think ‘fuck it’, I’m going to have another two? That’s absolute entitlement.

Welcome to being a working mother. Claiming benefits isn’t the option.

Work/life balance?
One time, when I was in full-time work, the phrase 'work/life balance' was used and someone in management said that our work is part of our life. It is, and it's nicer for us when we like the job which we have.
It's a phrase that's been thrown around for decades.

So you’re in your sixties probably three time my age and when you were young rent and house prices were a lot cheaper and you’re calling me lazy for receiving a small amount of uc?
Also my parents are in their sixties and know plenty of people their age who have always been lazy bastards and proud so you’re talking bs too. Maybe if you were in your 90s you’d be able to say that.

'And yes we are absolutely on this planet to work'.

When we lived in caves some people hunted for food and some turned animal skins into garments and made tools from big stones. There was a need to work, in some way, right from the start.

You seem to be under the impression that all women stayed at home in the olden days. They didn’t. I’m mid 60s and always worked , aside from maternity leave. My mother is in her 80s and worked outside the home too. My late grandmother worked whilst raising 5 children alone when my grandfather died. She did early morning cleaning before her children were even awake. We were working class and the clue is in the name!

Thanks for that.

Although I so agree to an extent, households on minimum wage often are in jobs that we all rely on. Shop workers, teaching assistants, librarians, labourers and many other vital roles.

These workers will always need a bit of a top up to have enough to live on as families. We need those workers. They deserve to have more than one child should they choose.

The wages they are paid is the problem, obviously raising minimum wages come with its own problems so Im not sure what the solution is, but I do believe that this is a problem society has to play a part in making right, and at the moment UC top ups are going some way to solve it.

These type of households are not usually the ones having loads of children, as they too face the childcare challenges higher income, working households do.

Haha you are joking aren't you! When I bought my first house the interest rate was 12%, it went up to 17%, and then there was a massive property crash and we had negative equity and sold our house 6 years later for £17k less than we paid for it. We had 2 children in a 2 bed house until we moved.

Your parents must move in different circles to me because I don't know anyone who is lazy, or is on benefits or has ever had benefits. My mother, who is almost 90 would say the same as me.

My parents move in a variety of different circles as do I, you don’t know anyone who has ever claimed benefits? Sounds like bullshit.

My parents are the same age as you and always talk about how much cheaper rent and house prices were back in the day so are you being obtuse ? Anyway as I said just a normal family here with my husband working full time in a white collar job (that would have made us well off once upon an time) and receiving a small amount of universal credit. Not scroungers. You clearly do not understand how any of this works anyway

Yes, there will always be a need to work. But - and I'll get piled on to for saying this but I don't care - it saddens me that the work of nurturing a family has been devalued to the point where a woman staying home to do so is vilifed for this. There's been a lot of talk on here about financially contributing to society, and it goes without saying that society will collapse without that. But the kids of today are a part of future society, and yet taking time to care for them and help them develop into functioning adults gets women (I mean in general, not just on this thread) called scroungers. It's not seen as contributing to society, but it is. Madness.

Some women couldn't and can't afford not to work - that's the reality

Absolutely. That was the case for my own mum. But if wages weren't so piss-poor, more women might have had the choice, over the years, to stay home and raise their families if they wanted to. I just think a lot of us are channeling our anger in the wrong direction as far as this is concerned.

Why do you keep saying people pay more tax now?
Basic income tax was 33% in 1975 and only came down to 30% in the late 80s. It's 20% now. Where are you getting your figures? You seem very sure of them.