to be worried about Universal Credit

[idiuntno57]

I am in the lucky position of not needing to claim this but I am so worried about its implementation.

Its coming in in the Autumn and is going to be an online only, monthly, postdated payment. It will be paid to one adult in the family unit.

All well and did if you are god at managing your money, internet literate and in a stable relationship. But in the real world....

How are the most vulnerable in society going to have a chance with this?

Already the council tax changes are coming in and as far as I understand people are confused and shell shocked by it. UC is much bigger and no one is prepared.

Average household debt excluding mortgage is £5-10 k depending on the source you use. This is not a new phenomenon and predates the credit crisis. This is not due to paying for a board band connection.

It will obviously put pressure on household finances if redundancy occurs. MN fills up thread after thread about 'something must be done', the govt should create more jobs (which govt has ever done that successfully?).

It will never make the smallest of differences.

Avoiding personal spending on non essential items when in work and not pretending things are affordable when they obviously arent, will improve a households ability to survive on benefits.

Hey but why talk about that when it would actually help people who are working now but will face redundancy as the recession continues?

Jake, as I explained upthread, mortgagee are difference than debt to buy something that will fall in value e.g. A car.

And I am talking about voluntary spending. E.g. Buying a new/newish car, not something basic.

You mentioned they think they can afford it. Well they obv can not or debt would not be needed. Yes society encourages that belief.

Govts because it props up the economy. Banks and others because it is a way of making money. I.e. Transferring money from low and middle earners to the wealthy.

threads like this show, many would rather continue with this than even consider change.

Fasterstronger - may I ask though...this wonderful mortgage that is so so so different and isn't debt at all...how does one pay it when the savings run out and still no job and no help with paying the mortgage? How would you pay yours when all the saving you had done ran out? I'm being hypothetical of course since somehow you have managed to cover every eventuality and falling from grace and ending up on benefits would never happen too you....

I'm very worried as I live very. very rurally. We have one car , DH takes that to work for his 'just above min wage' job.

He works about 37 hrs.

I'll be expected (once our youngest is 5) to attend interviews won't I?

I don't have any idea how I'll get to interviews, let alone a job! Thats is there were any round here!

Hey feminine...the government have not thought this through at all. But apparently, according to some on this thread, you can just wave your magic wand and up sticks and leave rural area.

Hopefully here's a suggestion that may (I hope) be a bit more useful than looking for that magic wand. Could you start up a small business? Think about what skills you have - and anything you can do is a skill (ironing and the likes included). I don't now much about UC or the rules for the self employed but maybe it could help?

Feminine, yes, you would to claim in work benefits.

Trust, I would just pay it off with cash I currently use in a different way. I have a special mortgage interest rate agreed with the bank because I understand risk and asked for it....

But why take interest in self help for the transition to uc, when you can bitterly and hopelessly probe a strangers finances !

Are you accusing me of not taking an interest in self - help? Have you read my posts? Seriously, get over yourself. We'd all love to be on your pedestal (hope that safety net is a good one) but people aren't, and if you look closely on this thread instead of being filled with your own self importance, you'll se lots of people coming up with ways to make money stretch (something I suspect you have done too to get yourself into such an amazing position, unless of course you were already pretty wealthy and mummy and daddy gave you a nice leg up in the beginning) Now please, you're just becoming a complete parody of what a human being should be.

I for one will have no way of paying a month's worth of bills from one week's IS & CTC. It just won't happen.

I might already be a week into my fortnightly IS payment, so will have paid bills out of it, and have none left.

So that leaves me £217 to cover my electric (£25 a week on a meter they won't take out, so 5 weeks worth is £125) - leaving me just £92. Then I have £50 has to pay. Leaves me £40. Then I have £20 Council Tax to pay. Leaves me £20.

And that £20 is meant to feed 5 people for 5 weeks, one on a GF diet through coeliac (nothing prescribed in my PCT any more), and one on a highly specialised diet that costs me £60 a week due to multiple life threatening allergies.

Exactly HOW is £20 meant to feed 5 people for 5 weeks?

And yes, it IS paid 4-weekly in arrears.

It works out to 57p a day in total. 11p per person per day. Or around 4p per person per meal.

Exactly HOW are you going to feed ANYONE on 4p a fucking meal?!

Trust I entered the debate when the topic was debt. I come from a v wc household so bog off with your mummy and daddy shit. I am not rereading your posters to find any positives thanks, as you are choosing to ignore mine.

Now can we agree to stop discussing my finances?... You will only be disapponted!

I am convinced that the introduction of UC will create some serious problems, this is not to say I think I know how to fix the situation. Whether UC becomes a cause of further insecurity or is just a symptom of the difficult times we're in a lot of us will be affected by the knock-on consequences so I am probably, on a personal level, inclined to take your approach Faster, embrace the feeling of financial insecurity and try to plan for the worst.

I have more security than many but nowhere near your wealth.

Apologies if I haven't properly understood where you are coming from. Isn't the government is trying to promote consumer confidence and business confidence the Bank of England keeping interest rates so low to promote borrowing? If a lot of people in work avoid buying non-essentials and those on benefits can't afford to and everyone avoids credit (by the way hasn't overall household debt stabilised?) surely there will be profound effects for the economy.

On a very individual level if the only job you can find to get off benefits is selling non-essential items will being successful in your job be part of the solution or part of the problem?

Is faster Xenia in disguise?

trust thanks good idea.:)

As you can imagine, as this is such a rural area there are quite a few ladies already providing these type of services. There is NO after school or breakfast club.

Am I expected to just find work within school hrs?

Today is an example of how difficult things could get , its not even a work situation.

As usual DH has taken the car to work, I need to get to the optician for DS , the first bus for that leaves at 10:20. I have to wait 2 hrs in that town to return to the village. The trip is aprox 45 mins.

My DD can't go to pre-school as I won't get back in time to collect her.

So bearing that in mind, I wonder if anyone would like to employ me for 2hrs a day?

How many hrs do I need to make up? :)

But feminine your transport problems are yours to solve they are not a reason for you to live off the taxpayer rather than work.

Why would you live somewhere so isolated if you have no transport? Surely how we move about to go to work/school etc are things we consider when planning where we live? I'm guessing that's part of the forward planning thinking faster refers to.

Oh, let me think Annabel, maybe, just maybe it has something to do with rural property being cheaper, both to purchase and to rent.
Apart from which, she's here asking for ideas, she's not stating that she wishes or chooses to 'live off the taxpayer'.

Well yes, they are cheaper because people can't access jobs easily without transport. Choices.

Yes, it's a sad society when you choose to work but have nowhere to live, or choose somewhere to live but there is no work available. But hey, let's all get on our bikes and do a Tebbit, because the jobs are there aren't they. We could all abandon the countryside and leave it for those that can afford it, go and live in the cities working NMW jobs. The ghettos would be fabulous, wouldn't they.

drive your DP/H to work? then use the car yourself?

could he use a moped and leave the car for you?

I was going to suggest that faster .
It's funny how some people like to moan but never offer solutions and others offer ways round problems. It;s no coincidence, I find, that those who are able to find solutions are not people who find themselves in a sticky spot in the first place.

Can you work from home or for yourself or after your DH comes home? A 37 hour week should allow you time to find a job in the evenings.

yes. its gone very quiet

Is it too far for him to cycle? Bus? Car share with a colleague?

We could all abandon the countryside and leave it for those that can afford it, go and live in the cities working NMW jobs.

Don't be silly. You should all stay in the countryside and expect the taxpayer to fund that choice, of course.

could he working longer hours? 37 hours per week is not a lot for the sole breadwinner.

second job?
gardening
painting and decorating
maintenance
cleaning

I know a couple of chaps locally who set themselves up as handymen and they are so busy. No job too small and they charge by the hour a very reasonable rate. They fixed a friend's loo flush for a fiver!
IF you already have transport a magnetic car sign from vistaprint is only a few quid.