to think most part-time workers don't know what's about to hit them?! (Universal Credit)

[aufaniae]

Do you work part-time and get Working Tax Credit or Housing Benefit?

Did you know that once you're on Universal Credit, you'll be expected to attend the Job Centre to prove that you're looking for better paid work / more hours, in much the same way as unemployed people must prove they're looking for work.

If the Job Centre find an interview for you, you will have to attend (with 48 hours notice) even if it clashes with your paid work.

If you are offered a job with more hours, or better pay than your current one, you will be obliged to take it, even if you have good reason for not wanting to e.g. it's only a temporary post (whereas your current one is permanent) / has no training & worse prospects than your current job / makes picking your children up from school impossible / requires you to travel much further / has nothing to do with the career you're following.

If you don't attend the interview and/or take the job, your UC will be sanctioned, you will lose the UC for months or even years (depending on if it's your first infraction).

You will be forced to continue "upgrading" your job until you earn the equivalent of minimum wage for 35 hours a week.

I suspect there are lots of people (e.g. parents who work part time so they can pick their kids up from school) who will be affected by this, but don't realise it yet.

More info here

starting to get worried now, what happens if you want to be a sahm (I have a 10 month old), my partner works we only receive child benifet and child tax credit, will my child tax credit be stopped if I'm not looking for work?

Hi foxy, as far as I am aware it starts being piloted in some areas in April and the rest will be rolled out nationally from October, however we will all apparently be notified when its our turn to change over.

I can relate to the cutting hours to meet the needs of your child because I had to do the same and then a year ago had to resign ....things are settling down enough now that I am tentatively making my way back.. Carers Allowance has been a lifesaver for me but once I earn over £100 a week it will be lost and that's fine as I won't need it then.

Hi lisa, you won't be affected by the benefit cap if anyone in the family is getting DLA. The Govt has said nobody will be worse off under UC so reckon things will remain unchanged for you....it will just be called something else.

LoveGSD, tax credits wont cease if you dont look for work. Whe it changes to UC is when things change, you can either choose not to claim and be a SAHM if your partners income allows or if you need claim state assistance then you will have to comply with the new rules and yes will eventually have to work if you wish to claim.

Aufaniae, there are already sanctions attached to certain benefits. If a claimant does not comply and is sanctioned, then thats a decision the claimant makes themselves. Lone parents only have to work school hours, its not that much to ask is it that somebody works (not even full time in this instance) to provide towards the children they chose to bring onto the world.

If people dont like the rules for claiming state assistance under UC then nobody will force them to claim. They have a good amount of time to look for other jobs/get work/increase their hourse before the changes come into play in many areas.

thanks, I was made redundant on maternity leave so planned on taking a few years off with DS as I went back to work when my other DC's were 6 months. By the time it's all sorted I'll probably be bored and will be looking for work again.

JakeBullet "The Govt has said nobody will be worse off under UC"

The government may have said that, but it's not true.

"Hundreds of thousands of low-income working families will be worse off, and in many instances cannot improve their condition by increasing the hours they work, under the government's flagship universal credit scheme, a report has said.

The Chartered Institute of Housing said ... that 400,000 of the country's poorest families ? among them those in poverty and on the minimum wage ? will have less income in 2015 than they did in 2010, despite ministerial assurances that no one would lose out under its plans. The CIH calculations show that "the government's aim for households to be better off in work than out of work under universal credit is not the case for all families."

...

The report says households that earn £247 or less a week will see a fall in real income in 2015, and lone parents with up to three children will always be worse off if universal credit remains in its current form.

Grainia Long, CIH chief executive, said: "This is a critical time ? 400,000 of the lowest earning working households in the UK could see a real drop in income under universal credit. Changes to address this need to be made now. ...

According to Sam Lister, head of policy at the institute: " All those on minimum wage and officially in poverty lose out. Also all lone parents ? it does not matter what they earn: lone parents across the piece lose out under the current form of universal credit. We want the government to rethink the measures."

From this article

happy I take it from your user name you have one child? Yes you can work ft as a lone parent of one and still have some time for them I'm sure but try four lots of homework, after school activities which normally all start before work ends and the upkeep of a large family home. Not to mention cooking and shopping for five people plus washing etc.
I am now re married thus can share the load giving the children the parenting they need as well as working. My dc get to attend their activities get support with education, one of us can always attend their school parents evenings and productions.
Why should the children of lone parent miss out on things like that? You cannot compare them with two parent families.
Not scaremongering at all. I have worked with troubled children for most of my adult life. Children need adequate parental input in order to thrive not a knackered over stretched parent with very little time for them.
My other point is school holidays. Myself and my dh can use our leave to be with the children so that they can enjoy their school holidays rather than be shoved into play schemes. A lone parent will have half that amount if holidays to use up so the children will often be in holiday care. That is until they are teens and don't want to go so then are left to their own devices for long periods, and that is never a good thing.

My husband works full time and considerable overtime. I am SAHM but would be happy to go back to wot if necessary. How will this affect us. Any job I get would need to cover the full time childcare of a two year old and after school and possible before school care of a five year old. Where I live that is a minimum of £400 a week. We currently get tax credits and housing and council tax benefits. Any job I go back to has to cover the additional childcare costs and any benefits we lose as a result
Of our increased earning so any job I take needs to enable us to earn around £500 a week just to keep us in food water electric etc etc. All the hidden problems of this system arise as well, if I am forced to take work I am eligible or any job with a travelling time of up to 90 minutes, so even
longer on childcare. So my children might only see their parents at weekends???

This is a sidetrack, Baking, but I put a fair amount of effort into fighting the unfounded, but popular, assumption that the poor don't want to earn a decent living.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation tried very hard to find the three-generation jobless families beloved of Coalition rhetoric. They said:

"We undertook concerted, intensive fieldwork in very deprived neighbourhoods of Glasgow and Middlesbrough but we were unable to locate any families with three generations who had never worked. If such families exist, they can only account for a minuscule fraction of workless people. Recent surveys suggest that less than one per cent of workless households might have two generations who have never worked. Families with three such generations will therefore be even fewer.

"Next, we undertook lengthy, life history interviews with 20 families with long-term worklessness across two generations. Even locating these families was very challenging. So, what did we find?

" ? There was no evidence of a ?culture of worklessness?. Families remained committed to the value of work and would have preferred to be in jobs rather than have ?the miserable existence? of a life on benefits.
" ? Workless parents were unanimous in not wanting their children to end up in the same situation as themselves and actively tried to help them find jobs."

As you say you know such families personally, you are very unfortunate because they're vanishingly rare. The Rowntree Foundation would probably appreciate a referral from you, as they're keen to study the causes of long-term unemployment and social exclusion.

i don't know if anyone else has said this, havent read full thread, sorry.

but does anyone else think this is going to lead to lots of people just saying, fuck it, and doing cash in hand work and not declaring it? ie, say, couples whose DP works and they don't, but not being able to fully live on DPs salary for example.

i do.

lisad, if you are below the capital limit you will qualify for universal credit, if not you will have transitional arangement put in place. currently you can earn £100 a week and still claim Carers Allowance but I have yet to see the figure for allowed earnings when Universal Credit comes in it will probably be similar.

When Universal Credit is introduced if you are a new Carer and above the capital limit you cannot claim Universal Credit. The state will pay you just Carers Allowance £58 a week for what is often for some more than 100 hours work a week.

Anyone above the capital limit in future will not be able to claim Universal Credit which is means tested. Child tax credit was based on income so all new claimants who would have qualified on income will now be subject to the capital rules and if above the limit will not receive this support from the state.

Existing claimants of child tax credit who say have a deposit for a house in their bank account will be affected by the capital rules for Universal Credit

If you are a new Carer (even single parents which is quite common where there is severe disability) for a disabled child or want to care for your elderly mother and have capital you will have to find work to pay your mortgage council tax etc and support your children, or if this is not possible accept the slide into poverty and spend all your capital until the state steps in. I think there is going to be a greater demand for residential schools, specialist daycare, nursing homes.

I have through this thread with my initial opinion being changed until your post LovesGSD

I have no problem with the state supporting those in genuine need, but why should the state fund your life style choice?

I'm just wondering how the job centre is going to cope with the rush of people signing on every 2 weeks

"there are already sanctions attached to certain benefits." E

Actually, one of the main changes with the new system is in the severity of the sanctions.

As an example, sanctions for UC claimants on the equivalent of JSA include the following:

• Refusing a job offer: 100 per cent reduction in standard allowance of UC for three months

• Refusing second job offer within a year of the first offence: 100 per cent reduction in standard allowance of UC for six months

• Refusing third job offer within a year of the second offence: 100 per cent reduction in standard allowance of UC for three years

Unlike at present, sanctions will not run concurrently. This means that if a claimant receives the first two sanctions above within say three weeks, they will effectively be sanctioned for nine months.

(UC will be made up of a basic amount called the standard allowance, along with
additional elements for housing, disability, caring and children.)

From this document by Crisis

Imposing such sanctions may mean severe consequences such as homelessness for families in reality.

"I think there is going to be a greater demand for residential schools, specialist daycare, nursing homes."

Yes this is very likely, and it will cost the tax payer much more money overall.

I think you are right. And I think a lot more small companies might be prepared to offer that cash in hand work to part time staff members. We simply can't afford to live on one persons salary without help. I would definitely consider cash in hand work if it meant being able to make the money up without sacrificing time with my children.

but those of us who had dc prior to these benefits being available had to sacrifice time with them in order to pay the bills.

Support for those in need definitely but not to fund a lifestyle choice; we can not afford it and this is from someone who detests the current government with a passion

i would too antipag, deffo. fuck em i say.

atm we mainly rely on DH's (not huge) salary and get a little bit in TCs. i also have a small business but not really making anything at the mo. plus its a nightmare sorting childcare as my dcs are only little

but i would have no qualms in signing off tax credits / universal credits or whatever the Fook its going to be called when they start telling me to go to job interviews etc. and then just doing cash in hand until the dcs are all at ft school then and only then will i consider working for someone else

it might sound entitled or whatever, why should i give anything back when all they do is take take take. i seriously fucking hate them.

Cricketballs I accept what you are saying but as i have stated previously childcare costs alone for my two DS would be £400 and with number three on the way they are only going to increase. To make the kind of salary necessary to cover those I would have to work in London and this would leave home as the children get up and arrive home after their bedtime. This is already the case for my DH. It is low income families like us that will suffer. And before anyone says anything about having a third child on a low income, it was not a planned pregnancy, I have a coil fitted which failed after a prolapse, a fact which I was not aware of.

I don't mind helping people in genuine need either. But I don't see why the working woman has to fund women who have chosen to stay at home with their children. Yes they can stay at home if they can afford to. If they can't then why don't they get a job like everyone else has to that can't afford to stay at home.

I should also say when we had our first two children we were in a very different financial situation and were not reliant on ANY additional benefits.

but Antipag, if that's what it takes then you have to do it; we did and yes it was tough and there were times when I forgot what dh looked like but if we hadn't have done it we wouldn't have been able to eat.

Anyone else wishing May 2015 would hurry the fuck up?

I'm absolutely shitting it really worried about UC. I claim ESA for disability and I'm genuinely quite scared despite reading this. Why? Just fucking WHY?