To think every SAHM, low hour PT worker and carer should read this?

[Peachy]

Well i am not but it matters to you so you must

here

Changes to system WRT worker hours

have a thread in chat and don;t want a debate, or at least won't participate iun one as petrified as we will now certianly lose our home and not up to taking flak. But if it affects you, you need to know.

Goes off to massively google.

Thank you for the information Hunty - I will pass it onto DP & he will act on it.

Me too. (re. sex chatline work) ten years ago. I care for my husband who has ischemic heart disease and limited lung function. He has always had poor health so i was always main breadwinner. I was doing full time nights at the chatline office while he did part time at Tesco. Then i did a fulltime shop job. The place went bust and then tesco retired him on ill health. In spring 2006 he had a heart attack and became disabled as a result. Then the fight was on to get him what he was entitled to. It took two and a half years. Then because we were recieving slightly more than the law said we needed to live on. which amounted to an extra £80 a month the rules then decided we had to pay out £250 pounds a month in rent and council tax. So we lost rather than gained. Previous to this we had to phone our local hospital to tell them that we could no longer attend DHs cardiac rehabilitation course because we couldnt afford to. After paying out an extra £250 pounds a month we were left with £40 pounds a week to live on after bills.
My lowest point came when i actually physically phoned an escort agency. Luckily the phone call was as far as it went.
DH has been taken to hospital with chest pains on several occasions and when we only had £40 pound a week that had to include food.
So i had to wave him off in the ambulance as i couldnt afford to go with him.
A. Hospital is ten miles away.
B. Late at night the buses stop running.
C. Couldnt afford a taxi back home on forty pounds a week.
D. Couldnt sit at the hospital all night once he was settled as (newsflash)
carers need sleep too.
Things are a bit better financially now (touch wood) but looking back i cant believe i actually phoned an escort agency looking for work.
I didnt go through with it. I just hung up the phone in the end. I was desolate. Our marriage is a sexless one. Carers make many sacrifices,not just financial ones.

I give up - the Social fund will be abolished in April 2013, they will start migrating existing cases over from September 2013. There will be funds available 'at the Local Authority's discretion' to help with the changeover. All I can find on Google is worries that this will cause a 'postcode lottery' over who gets helkp and how when they are changed over from Weekly Tax Credits / fortnightly IS/JSA to the new Universal Credit. To cover all my payments (CTC, IS, HB and CTB), I will need to save up approximately £2000 to cover the first month without payment. That's NOT going to happen - it just ISN'T there.

If they leave me without money to feed my dc for a whole month - I will have to put them into care just so that thhey are FED.

From what I have read, the new universal Credit does aim to change that - not only will the withdrawal of Universal credit be tapered - for every £1 that is earnt, 65p will be taken, 35p will be kept, rather than just stopping as soon as you get to a certain level. Also, they will be tapering the 'passported benefits' like optician costs, Free School Meals, and free prescriptions rather than stopping dead as soon as you go to work. That IS a good thing - it's just the rest of the things that surround the new Universal Credit and PIP (personal Independance Payments that will replace DLA) that are a whole bunch of WRONG.

HuntyCat, it's a really shocking suggestion, but maybe keep the DC off school for a week during the change over? Inform the school what and why (who knows, they might magically help).

It won't kill them any more than kids who go for term-time skiing holidays. And if it's that or not eating...

Thing is - it won't just be a week - I will be going from weekly payments of TC's to MONTHLY payments of UC - Therefore I will have to make one week's worth of CTC last four weeks. That just isn't possible - it would work out that I would have to make £200 last 4 weeks for 5 people - £50 a week, which is £10 a week per person for food, electric, gas, my bills etc - we will starve even if I don't take them to school!

I read somewhere that the change over won't just happen overnight. They'll start with new applications in 2013. Then there are stages of switching over existing claimants up until 2015. I'm sorry I can't remember where it was, if I find it again I'll post the link.

I don't know if it was in one of the bill documents: here

If you do end up being on the first batch of change overs, you have approximately 18 months. Put aside £2 or £3 a week to help give you a buffer.

At the point of change over, you could also cancel all DDs that won't cause a problem. Gas, electric, water, TV, phone etc aren't going to be knocking on your door the day after you cancel. You'd get a letter from them first then you can contact them to reschedule the DDs to start again 3 weeks later.

For those who are carers or have disabilities themselves, this is from the bill documents:

19 Claimants subject to no work-related requirements

(1) The Secretary of State may not impose any work-related requirement
on a claimant falling within this section.

(2) A claimant falls within this section if?

(a) the claimant has limited capability for work and work-related activity,

(b) the claimant has regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a
severely disabled person,

(c) the claimant is the responsible carer for a child under the age of 1, or

(d) the claimant is of a prescribed description.

This has the same info but I don't think it's the same place I read it. bbc

The first batch will be nearly 2 years from now. And even then only for new claimants or those with significant changes. Though I think that 6 months is optimistic. There's bound to be teething problems with the new system.

*   From October 2013 to April 2014 about half a million new claimants will receive Universal Credit instead of Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
* At the same time, another half a million existing claimants and their families will be transferred to the new credit when their family circumstances change significantly, for instance if they get a job or have another child.
* From April 2014 a further 3.5 million claimants and their families will move to Universal Credit.
* And from the end of 2015 to the end of 2017 a further 3 million people will be moved over, focusing on Housing Benefit claimants

Ah, yes, TotemPole, but who is making the decision on who exactly is a carer or has a disability? ATOSsers. The same people who claim that having uncontrolled epilepsy, at least 50+ seizures a year, no longer makes me disabled. In fact, against the advice of my own Neurologist - I have been signed as fit for FT work. My Neuro will only sign my fit-to-work note as fit to work PT on light duties. ATOSsers do not see that an official fit-to-work note means anything, as I pass their physical test.

So while, in reality, I have '(a) the claimant has limited capability for work and work-related activity,' As far as ATOSsers are concerned, I do not. Which is funny, considering that up until 15 months ago, I was classed as not fit for FT work, and was on IB and DLA (HRC, LRM) until my renewal and testing by ATOSsers. And my disability hasn't suddenly vanished overnight, shockingly. It is still there, I still have seizures. In fact, I have had more than three absence seizures today.

And you are forgetting that the DWP's own rules state that if you are registered disabled, you cannot also claim to be a carer. Because carers with disabilities don't exist...

And where do you propose I GET this £2-£3 a week to 'put aside'? From the same place I am hoping will magically provide me with the money to buy the next size up of clothes for 9mo DS3 who has grown so quickly that he is needing 12-18 month clothes already, three months before I budgetted to buy them? Considering I am still in debt from the DWP making me make one week's Income Support last me two weeks, when I was changed over to fortnightly, AND my bus fares to get my dc to school cost me £50 a week that I DON'T HAVE except FROM my bill money - £2-£3 is more than I can find.

I have had to ask the primary school for special dispensation WRT all the non-uniform days that are coming up - the dc are meant to be taking in £1 each on Thursday to be 'allowed' to wear non-uniform for Children In Need, but I just don't HAVE the £2 needed to pay for it, and don't want the dc to get picked on for having to wear school uniform. I have to budget down to the last penny and then some. I owe my Ex-P money for when my budgetted electricity hasn't lasted the full week, and he has had to top the meter up for me - right now I owe him nearly £40 for it. I daren't put the heating on - it is costing me more than I can afford to put the gas on for Hot water - I am only putting it on every other day at the moment, and we are washing using a boiled kettle of water in the sink each on those days.

I am SKINT, there IS no way I can 'save up' to try to cover the DWP making me try to stretch one weeks money to cover 4 weeks worth of bills. And you can't cancel your Gas or Electric DD when you are on a key meter - if you don't PAY for the Gas and electric there and then - yo don't HAVE any. So no, those bills won't wait. And our water company expect you to pay 6 months in advance - and if you don't, they can AND WILL cut you off if all your dc are over 5yo!

I have been told by my local council that a change of address (ths necessitating a new LHA claim) will be enough of a 'significant change of circumstance' to mean that you will be transferred to UC there and then. I am waiting for a larger council house due to severe overcrowding - and have about a two year wait left...just as the first group of people with ''significant change of circumstances' will be transferred to UC. So, more than likely, I will be in the first group of people moved.

Huntycat i feel i have to say this Christ on a bike how on earth do you cope. you sound like an amazing mum. I hope i dont come across as patronizing by the way. Im just fucking shocked and amazed.

Huntycat please dont take this the wrong way but you are having to scrimp and scrape so they can take part in non uniform day for Children in Need. Bloody hell can anyone else see the irony in that!

I don't really know anything about ATOS, other than what I've read here. Up thread someone mentioned an appeal process.

If you are deemed 'fit for work' as far as the DWP(or whichever dept. oversees the UC), you'll be expected to apply for jobs and go for interviews. The jobs aren't there at the moment. You need to get job offers and turn them down to be subject to sanctions.

Your current situation sounds dire, you have a lot to deal with. But, even if these changes weren't about to happen, you can't stay in your current situation.

You should be able to cover basic bills, food, clothes, put the heating/water on when needed. I think one sticky point is the £50/week on travel. That's a lot to spend on travel for someone who isn't working. Will the move help with this?

And our water company expect you to pay 6 months in advance - and if you don't, they can AND WILL cut you off if all your dc are over 5yo!

They won't do that immediately.

People move house, change bank accounts, change jobs, income goes from weekly to monthly, and vice versa. They don't cut all these people off for missing a DD, or changing the date.

Why would you have to pay back you ex-p for electricity, surely he is providing for the children anyway?

Given you have a baby under one whilst on benefits you knew things were going to be tough with having other children as well as your medical condition so its hardly fair to blame the government when they change things. No benefit is ever guaranteed.

In England & Wales, the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991 (as amended) specifically prohibits the disconnection of water supply to domestic premises for non-payment of charges.

Huntycat- whereish are you? I have baby clothes left and I'm sure plenty of other people have too.

Haapymummy I agree with you the benefit system needs reform. Dp & I are paying about £70k in tax this year yet he has two doley scrounger relations who embody entitlement. Fiddles going on left right and centre.

But i think the system also fails people who cannot work due to genuine illness and disablity in the family. I can imagine if my situation and finances were screwed whatever i did, i might makes choices that look less responsible from the outside. Because actually it did not make my own situation significantly harder than it was already.

SOme of the changes will incentivise claimants to make better economic choices but I think some people will be unfairly adversely affected by the speed at which they are occuring.

A utilities company might not cut you off, but I expect they have ways of putting pressure on late paying customers that is within the law and increases the customers costs eg prepayment meter

Non payment of water rates here means charges of £70 being added onto original bill. After that, they take you to court. If at that point you are on benefits, you will be expected to list all of your income and outgoings.

A court will order a direct payment from your benefits to pay for water rates, which at that point includes the extra charges they have put on, and then the money is deducted from your benefit money at source.

So am I right in thinking that parents with children aged over 12 have to earn the equivalent of minimum wage x 35 hours (currently £212.80) before they will be able to claim universal credit. It is not actually about the hours but more about the income you can provide for yourself?

So in actual fact if you are a high earner you can work less hours? So the unskilled are being penalised and make to work harder?

Sounds likely. Typical tories, helping the well off and making the poorest with the least opportunities work harder.

well as far as I'm concerned they can piss right off

I work part time, my 10 yr old will be 12 by the time this kicks in and whilst I would leave him for a while after school there's no way I'm leaving him for ten hours during the day if I work 9-5, would need to be out the house 8-6

so all these 12 yr olds are to be left all day in the school holidays alone?????

yeah right, do they think we all have families nearby who help, what about those of us without the help, do we just leave the kids and hope for the best?

and huntycat, sorry, that sounds so so hard

and i earn nmw so 35 hours is what i would need to earn that

ridiculous, how many out there leave their 12 yr old all day alone with the house key in the school hols, and i dont mean with granny checking them, i mean alone

not many.i hope