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.

Internet is needed at high school. My DDs have daily online homework.

CHILD BENEFIT IS INCLUDED IN THE CAP.

This is the list from the letter I received today :

WHICH BENEFITS COUNT TOWARDS THE CAP?
• Bereavement Allowance
• Carer's Allowance
• Child Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Employment and Support Allowance (except where it is paid with the support component)
• Guardian's Allowance
• Housing Benefit whether paid direct to you or to your landlord (but not including Housing Benefit paid for Supported Exempt Accommodation # )
• Incapacity Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Maternity Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Widowed Parent's Allowance
• Widowed Mother's Allowance
• Widow's Pension, including the Age-Related component.

HOUSEHOLDS THAT AREN'T AFFECTED BY THE CAP

The cap won't apply to you if you, your partner, or any children you are responsible for, qualify for Working Tax Credit or have been awarded any of the following :

• Attendance Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment
• the support component of Employment and Support Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Benefits (and equivalent payments as part of a war disablement pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• War Widow's or War Widower's Pension.

Note that SEVERE DISABLEMENT ALLOWANCE AND CARER'S ALLOWANCE ARE COUNTED IN THE CAP.

And will people STFU about 'uniform grants'. In my County, Essex, there hasn't been 'Uniform Grants' since my DD started Reception 10.5 years ago. They haven't existed here for over a decade so stop bloody harping on about them!!!

And it is no small coincidence that we have some of the highest rent costs outside of London (and Childcare is at London prices as I live in a commuter town).

Local workers are on a pittance. A supermarket MANAGER's job was advertised recently. The wage? £22k. For a '60+ hour week'. Yeah, living the bloody high life.

My Ex is a sous chef. He is currently earning just under £17k for a 50 hour week. And he's got 22 years experience in the trade - people with no experience will only get NMW, about £12k for a FT week.

200 applicants for every NMW retail job here too. People with degrees are shelf stacking because there IS no other work.

Does the cap include everything? Like free school dinners ? Or is that separate?

IS is paid fortnightly in arrears. You get £71 a week, or £142 a fortnight. If the changeover happens on your week you don't get paid - your bills will all already have been paid for that past fortnight (in arrears, so you WOULD get a month behind) - then you have none of that money left.

Especially considering you are getting 'what the law states is the minimum amount someone in your situation needs to live off'.

"I read that nobody is actually meant to be worse of under Universal Credit than they were before."

Yes, but that was bollocks spin.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates 2.8 million will be worse off under UC.

"The government has admitted that 800,000 more households stand to lose out under its flagship welfare scheme than previously thought.

In a revised impact assessment of its universal credit scheme ... the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) says that 2.8 million households will get a lower entitlement to benefits. ...

The sums are large. About 800,000 households will see an average loss of £137 a month, while the 300,000 hardest hit families will lose as much as £300 a month. About 200,000 lone parents will also receive lower awards under the new scheme than the current system".

A report backed by The Children's Society, Citizens Advice and Disability Rights UK also estimates 500,000 disabled worse off under Universal Credit changes

The report said the impact of the cuts in support for disabled children could be "extremely severe" for families currently receiving the mid rate "care component" of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a payment made where a child can be severely disabled but does not need care overnight.

Of those families affected, one in 10 expressed fears that they could no longer afford their own home, while two thirds said they would have to cut back on food, and more than a half said it would lead them into debt.

In some of the most severe cases, some families said the changes to support for disabled children could result in their children having to be placed in full-time residential care.

The report said 83% of those eligible for the severe disability premium (SDP), which will be abolished under the changes, reported that a reduction in benefit levels would mean they would have to cut back on food and 80% said they would have to cut the amount they spent on heating.

And the Chartered Institute of Housing estimate that the poorest 400,000 families will be worse off.

Their report says that "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.

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."

If you volunteer whilst on benefits your benefits get stopped. Unless you are doing it through their work program so that A4E gets the benefits because they are in the Government's pocket.

Wise up and actually read around the subject you are discussing.

"I don't know when this £26,000 cap is coming in. And if it's connected to UC. And even if it includes Housing Benefit."

The cap most definitely does include HB.

Any families who are on £26,000 are most likely living in a part of the country with expensive rents.

FWIW it really annoys me when people say things like "why should people on benefits get to live in posh areas, I can't afford it, why should they?"

We're not just talking about posh areas, we're talking about most of London. The bit of London I grew up in has long been a deprived area, yet rents there will easily take a family over the cap.

It's social engineering on a grand scale as it amounts to a mass removal of the poor from London and much of the South East (as well as other city centres in the UK).

Camden Council for example recently announced that welfare cuts were forcing them to shift of 2,816 adults and children to areas up to 200 miles away with lower housing rents.

"Camden council said that it would shortly be contacting 761 households, comprising 2,816 adults and children, because the coalition's benefit cap ? which limits total welfare payments to £500 a week for families ? will mean that they will be unable to afford their current accommodation or any other home in the south-east.

The Labour-controlled council warns that the majority of these families have three children and, once the cap is imposed this summer, will need to find on average an additional £90 a week for rent to remain in their homes ? which means "sadly the only long-term solution for some households will be to move".

The local authority says it has been forced to look as far afield as Bradford, Birmingham and Leicester and warns that 900 schoolchildren ? more than one child for each class as an average across the borough's schools ? face having their education disrupted by the move."

This breaking up of communities is criminal IMO

Who does it benefit to rip families from their roots and dump them in poorer areas with fewer prospects? It makes all of society poorer IMO.

How are people meant to rely on the "Big Society" if they're moved away from their informal network of support of friends and family? Unless perhaps the "Big Society" idea was all spin, oh wait ...

I got informed TODAY that the cap will apply to me from some point between 15 July and the end of September this year. That's long before I even get to WORRY about UC that I will be homeless, with 4 DC's, 3 of whom have dxd disabilities, as well as being disabled myself.

But of course, that's long enough to save up enough money to last a whole month, isn't it?

When you consider that today is the last day of my 'month' and I get my child benefit and IS tomorrow, and I've had to raid my DS3's piggy bank for the £1.50 bus fare to get my DS's home from school.

I feel for you Couthy, I really do, we are going to be £217 a month short. We can sell my car in the short term but its not worth enough to last longer than the shortfall for a few months.

Yes child benefit is included in the cap but its NOT part of universal credit

What is happening and going to happen to families makes me SO angry.

And Couthy having crunched the numbers at 4p a meal. Christ this is bloody Victorian.
Britain in 2013.

Its fucking shameful. As for childrens education being disrupted. The Gov. wont care. Because if they dont get their GCSES or A levels etc it gives the Gov and parasites like A4 E and Reed more fodder for workfare.

Nope, my DLA has been stopped under a 'reconsideration' just 5 weeks after they awarded it to me, I am appealing but that can take at least 11 weeks, in the meantime no protection from the cap.

Then even if I win the appeal, they can do another reconsideration just 4 weeks later.

BASTARDS.

Couthy And the lack of compassion in society really makes me

I'm NOT under occupying. I'm waiting for a larger house - I'm classed as 'severely overcrowded'. It's fuck all to do with the 'bedroom tax' and everything to do with the fact that my severe disablement allowance in top of my IS (that is stopped until my DLA appeal is sorted...) IS counted towards the cap. Because though they aren't currently paying it, if my DLA appeal is successful, I will get the backpay.

Which won't fucking help me if I'm already homeless or starved to death will it.

As yet none of my DC's get DLA despite their disabilities. I HAVE applied for DS3, but have only just sent the firm back & it's a first application so I have no clue if it will be successful or not.

Disability element of tax credits is also going to be much reduced under U.C. I have seen reports saying it could be as little as £30.

I live in a town in Essex. I have lived here for 15 years. I also lived in rural villages in the surrounding areas since 1993, with only a year break. I moved out of London to Essex with family when I was just 3 years old. I grew up here, my entire network of support to help me with my own care and my DC's needs is HERE. I would not manage without that help. FC for 3 DC's with SN? From £6000-£9000 A WEEK depending on severity.

Please can someone post a link to mnet universal credit calculator please? Im on my phone and I cant find it.

I live in Essex too. Its bloody expensive and in my town the jobs are either NMW or workfare.

i'm wondering if it would be possible to set up a MN food scheme similar to the xmas present thing that gets done at Xmas (is it called secret santa?) where those who can send a food parcel put their name in and those who need one put their name in and get matched up? would that work/ be any use?

couthy I am amazed that you are not let off the hook!

I seriously can't believe the mess you are having to sort out.

Yours is a situation where you should be given help, and really not expected to work.at.all.

I'm sorry.