To start a thread about the new uc and how it affects entitlement to tax credit.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Just as the title suggests.

How many people actually know how this will affect their personal circumstances?
Millions of workers will be affected and so many people will lose out.
This is not welfare cuts for the unemployed its anybody not working for 35 hours earning the minimum wage.

Happy regarding your comment on page 3....

i'm a self employed mum of one, i work 18 hours a week, i cannot afford to work anymore as i cannot afford the childcare, simple as that. i have another 2 years before my child starts school. you are right in saying that childcare is widely available, but i can't bloody afford it.

i'm genuinely self employed. some weeks i don't earn a penny, other weeks i earn about £50/£60. how can i "take responsibility" as you say? what choices do i have? enlighten me?? the only one i can think of is to pack my business up (only 6 months old) and go and get a job in a shop or something, if by some miracle one is available of course, for the 18 hours a week i currently work.

Just throwing this into the mix for the self-employed among us.

www.ion.icaew.com/TaxFaculty/25000

ICAEW is a big accountancy body, and from my v cursory look here it seems they're concerned about UC as well.
I doubt they're the only body, either.

IT'S the only body, should be!

At the moment I'm the second earner here, and I don't earn a lot. If for some reason I left DP, I'd be very vulnerable indeed, which is not a comfortable feeling.

I have an inkling that they're doing the usual scare story before bringing in a watered-down version of these Draconian rules that'll have everyone clutching their cloth caps in relief.

"Oi thank 'ee, sirrrr. Youm be verr' gud to us 'umble folks....."

Cunts.

Apologies didn't mean to imply LP have no qualifications.

The new uc is to be trialed in Tameside, Wigan, Warrington and another town I forget

FFS! Oh well, at least I can give you all the heads up as I live in one of these towns!

I am a single parent, one DD (8) and DC2 due in April. I work 16 hours a week at £7.50 per hour. My job is amazing, there will be a full time role available for me eventually, but with the economy the way it is the company are working at bare minimum staff levels. Also, childminding costs are such that unless I got some help, I wouldnt be able to work outside of school hours (currently work 10-2)

In the long run, I could be running my office and earning a really decent wage - I do not want to have to give that up just so in the short term I could earn a bit more for a LOT more hours/commute/hassle with childminders etc.

Reading through everything and the links, doing the calculator, I think I will be about the same as I am on tax credits. Unless I am missing somethign.

Am I right, from a LP stand point, that you will only be on condition if you are working 16 hours at the minimum wage? Anything above min wage, they will leave you alone?

Really is a bag of shite quite frankly. The Tories won't last another election, by which time Labour will be back in and if the UC has been pushed through I can't see it would be feasible for them to just wash their hands of it and start from scratch on a new system. What is Labour's view on this, other than thinking it is a bad idea - what are they proposing?

I do agree that we need to make savings, that much is obvious, but why hit the poorest people in society?

It isn't about entitlement or wanting more for less, it is about earning a wage in a really fucked up economy, doing the best you can.

Not everyone on benefits/tax credits has spent their life languishing at the expense of the tax payer. Some, like myself, have gone from earning a fantastic wage to hitting hard times and making the most of things based on what is on offer (work-wise).

"The Tories won't last another election"

I really hope you're right.

I live in hope, don't piss on my chips by suggesting otherwise ha

to those of you talking about national minimum wage as being £6.08 you may like to know that as of the 1st oct that has now increased to £6.19 if you are over 21.

and from what i can gather it will effect those on nmw and above untill you earn £7.22 so basicly anything under £7.22 an hour your hit by it but over your safe.

mino - not so sure about that, they are currently planning to cut welfare for everyone except pensioners - that means UC, which includes housing costs by another 10bn on top of the 16bn alreadt planned..

BrianCox.

Me too, we could be neighbours. I think my family will be applying straight away as well, as we have an unavoidable change in circumstances in August, as ds2 leaves education. So we won't stay under the tax credit system . My one consolation though we would have been losing this money anyway. Could have just done with a bit longer as we stand to lose alot if our accountant isn't right about the loophole she has found.

I don't understand where the £7.22 comes from. All the reports I have seen state nmw which will be £6.19 and 35 hours worked per week. Why is there a difference.

Also can somebody tell me what the nmw per annum would be please? I have done a sum but not sure about hol pay, entitlement etc.

The Tories won't last another election?? I wouldn't bet on it. Quite frankly.

I can dream Vivienemary

I don't rate Labour either, which makes me even more glum about the whole sorry situation.

We are royally fucked.

Fucking hell, you have to be educated to above NVQ lvl 2 in our town to earn over £7.22 an hour.

I know someone who works FT (for the NHS no less) in Catering, has 19 years of experience, and his wage for a 37.5hr week is...£7.05 an hour. And that is seen as a GOOD wage in our town in the SE, for anyone not commuting to London for mega wages.

Does anyone know what the definition of a household will be under Universal Credit? I am a lone parent of a severely disabled son registered blind quadriplegic needs 24/7 care. When he is an adult living at home with me will we be deemed a household? If so he will not be eligible for income based benefits as I know I will not qualify for UC.

Hang on, let me get this straight. Someone takes a job now, for NMW on PT hours, and they get transferred to UC and are much worse off. Yet if they sit on IS for as long as it takes the DWP to get around to transferring them (which could be as far away as 2017), they could stay on IS and be better off?

And that is meant to incentivise people to get a job, when they know that they will have to claim UC and be worse off if they do, as it will be a change of circumstance?

I personally have already been advised not to put in a new claim for ESA, despite the fact that I should get it - because I will be transferred straight away to UC and be worse off.

Couthy.

Just wondering if it was a professional who told you this? UC hasn't come in yet, as far as I am aware the benefit office are still working on implementation. I also believe it is to be rolled out over several months/years in different areas. I think the only people who need to worry are those people in the NW towns to receive it first.

BrianCox.

Just a thought but thought i'd prepare you. I think/ pretty sure, your change of circumstance i.e birth in April will mean you will transfer to UC, I believe You and I will be one of the first transfers.

Couthy - I think the idea is that you are always better off in work, so I think the theory is that if you take a job, the UC plus the job will ensure that you are better off working than not working. Even now. I don't think the govt wants people hanging around on IS who want to work!

The benefit cap is relevant here - the govt basically want to make sure that people on benefits are not better off than people in work. There's a calculator on that link which will show you whether the benefit cap would apply to you (from April 2013).

So, the logic is that you are always better off working, and you won't get more on benefits than people who are working. Jobcentre have a "Better Off" calculator which is meant to show how you'll be better off in work than on benefits. In theory again.

But various of the charities have come up with scenarios of people who might lose out in the move to UC - and it all gets terribly complicated because people are complicated (hours working, what age you are, what other benefits you are entitled to, childcare costs, wage, household etc etc etc).

Jobcentre or CAB should be able to advise in individual situations. .

According to those calculations, we will be about six thousand pounds a year better off????

I'm totally ??!?!?!

I must admit I am surprised. Never expected that! Will try to restrain myself from mentally purchasing a short wheelbase EPIOC and new x10 and a headmouse...damn! No, don't worry, I know it would never truly happen.

As I understand it, it doesn't matter if you work part time as long as you earn more that the equivalent of whatever 35 hours at minimum wage. So someone working 18 hours at £15 an hour will be ok but someone working 30 hours at 7.50 won't be. It that right?

Does anyone know what the minimum wage is as an annual figure for a 35 hour week?

Is it set in stone yet? Do we have anywhere that we can find information that will us exactly how it will affect us all personally? I'm worrying, but i son't know exactly what for, i know i'm fucked, but how fucked??

whistlingwaves meet your mate, i'm in a V similar boat to you. Self employed earning a shit profit.

*that will tell us
*don't, not son't

zookeeper it is £212.80 pw