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.

What I've read is that if,under the new system the calculation shows that you would receive less than the old system, the government will give you a top up payment so that you don't get any less, but this would stop if you then had any change in circumstances like a new job or a partner moving in our out.

What makes me furious is that tax credits etc..were 'sold' to us as a perfectly normal way to raise our families.

We need to raise min wage, or have one size fits all payment for all families.

enough to live on. If it is possible then individual homes can decide if they want to add to it.

nobody would starve.

nobody would be working out meal costs down to the last penny!

WRT DLA for children - if your child gets HRC at the moment they will get roughly the same disability element of tax credits under UC, but it is those who have a child on MRC who will receive significantly less of the disability element under UC than they currently do on this system.

"What I've read is that if,under the new system the calculation shows that you would receive less than the old system, the government will give you a top up payment so that you don't get any less, but this would stop if you then had any change in circumstances like a new job or a partner moving in our out."

I've read that too.

Sites like this say

"The Government intends to make sure that no one, whose situation has otherwise not changed, ends up worse off when transferred to Universal Credit. Additional payments will be given if necessary, so these claimants don't end up with less than they were getting in benefits before."

I hope it's true but I'm having trouble believing anything this government says, or understanding how it will work in practice.

Has anyone seen this actually in a policy document?

Frankly, I'm screwed. A Private 2-bed here costs £550-£600 PCM. My rent here is less than that. And I'd STILL have to pay a top up.

The bedroom tax is ADDITIONAL to the benefit cap, if you are under occupying. Which I'm not. So thankfully the bedroom tax doesn't apply to me. But that's a SEPARATE CUT to the benefit cap.

Why the government claim nobody will be worse off under UC? BECAUSE THE BENEFIT CAP MAKES THEM WORSE OFF BEFORE UC IS EVEN STARTED FOR MOST OF THE PEOPLE ON BENEFITS.

The dirty work of making people poorer than they are under current benefit system is done by the benefit cap - have you noticed that all the info states that "Claimants will not be worse off after transfer to UC than they were before transfer".

Yep, that's because making them worse off is happening right now, via the benefits cap.

I give up if people really think this is civilised. It won't be civilised when I'm resorting to shoplifting food and blankets for my DC's, will it.

Thanks for that lottie. DS gets HRC. Well he does until they inevitably move the goalposts at renewal time.

Just seen this on twitter.

Are stay at home mums discriminated against? Are you one and unhappy with benefits, or feel judged? Tell us.
[email protected]

I'm in tears here. DWP benefits cap helpline say they have no way of seeing the breakdown of what benefits they have included in my calculation that makes me over the cap.

They advised me to ring my local Housing Benefit office as they would have that info. They even gave me the number.

So I ring my local Housing Benefit office. Who say that THEY have no information on how it was decided that I am over the benefit cap, and to ring the benefit cap helpline.

So nobody can tell me HOW I'm over the benefit cap without being exempt.

I was getting DLA, which would have exempted me from the cap, but that has been stopped under a reconsideration which I am appealing.

Because my DLA is not in payment, my severe disablement top up on my IS stays 'active' but is not in payment until the DLA situation is resolved.

Now either they've counted the severe disablement top up in my income WHEN I'M NOT EVEN GETTING IT, or they're ignoring the fact that I have an appeal going through for DLA.

Because you can't get severe disablement top up on your IS unless you are in receipt of DLA.

I tried Shelter's Welfare advisors, as advised to on the back of the DWP letter. THEY don't know who decided I was over the cap and why if the Benefits Cap Advice line don't know.

So THEY advised me to ring the community legal team. Who I have just spoken to, but the trained advisors are busy and can't call me back until 5pm tomorrow.

So I'm still in the dark as to how they came to a figure that makes me over the cap without being exempt from it.

Currently in payment, that counts towards the cap :

£ 71 IS
£217 CTC
£60 ChB
£130 HB

= £478 by my reckoning.

Not OVER £500/wk.

Soooo, the only logical conclusion is that they are including the disability premiums on my IS that I'm not currently receiving and ARE ONLY PAID IF YOU GET DLA THAT EXEMPTS YOU FROM THE CAP.

Incompetent barstewards.

Well, to be honest it's pointless worrying about it when there is as yet nothing concrete for us to read. David Cameron doesn't even understand his own policies as he said disabled people are exempt from the bedroom tax when actually they aren't. I dread to think what will happen if they get in at 2015 tbh.

My severely disabled daughter recently had her DLA reviewed and gets HRC, but next time it's up for review, she'll be 16 so it'll be PIP by then. I had a letter explaining the PIP changes the other day.

Couthy - sorry to hear you have this worry. It sounds like a nightmare. How long until your DLA appeal? Have you applied for DLA for your dcs?

Oh god Couthy... im so sorry. If i were you i would be seriously considering talking to channel 4 news or the Guardian.

Couthy do you currently get any council tax benefit? And will you be having any reduction in your ct from 1/4/13?

Because that reduction in the bill will count towards the £500pw

Someone, somewhere has fucked up. How easy is it to sort out? Not very.

If I had a pay as you go cheapy phone, I'd be screwed as the closest phone box is a 3 mile plus bus ride away. All the numbers bar Shelter's were 0845 numbers from a mobile.

God only knows what my bill is going to be.

It can join the £250 gas bill I got today - DESPITE paying every effing week what the company TOLD ME TO PAY based on last year's usage. And that's with me having paid the two cold weather payments I got of £25 each off the bill previously, so it would have been £50 higher.

So I'll be stuffed onto a gas meter for that, WITH a debt set on it, because of how long and cold the winter has been.

I've no way of paying that.

I've also got no way of paying the £70 phone bill I got from phoning up DLA about this reconsideration thing on poxy 0845 numbers either.

And this bill is likely to equal or overtake that.

I give up.

I'm defeated.

I will have my only phone cut off soon, and then I'll have NO way of fixing these issues.

My money from my uncle for Internet runs out in July too. Perfect fucking timing as that's when I'm obviously going to have to start paying £50 a week out of my arsehole to live in a property that was too small for my needs 5 years ago.

Good trick if you can manage it!

I've got to pay £4 a week from 1st April for CT.

Jesus Couthy... and lottie, I don't even want to think about PIP

Yes to DC not understanding his own policies. I remember when the people spouting off about disability scroungers didn't even know the difference between DLA and ESA and which was an out-of-work benefit.

That's not even thinking about the fact that even WITH my bus pass, it costs me £4.70 a day to get the DC's to and from school by bus as it is too far for both me and DS2 to walk (physical issues but not bad enough for DLA as on a 'good day' we can walk 200m without pain. Bollocks can we, but that's their assessment.).

If they take my bus pass away, it becomes £7.50 a day.

And if I'm not getting DLA, then there's a very real chance that my bus pass will be rescinded.

I've just read this whole thread in one go and I am shocked by how bullet-proof some people feel. How can you be so confident? DH and I are currently happily married and claim no benefits and are comfortable. But I am pregnant with DC2 now. What if this baby is disabled and I need to care for it and so give up work? What if I get severe PND and need to give up? WHat if DH leaves me? I don't have 5 years' expenses in savings and I bet none of you do either

I just do NOT understand

Then that's what tips you over the limit.

Unless you recive a benefit that exempts you from the cap its your total benefit income that's used to calculate your income.

So take the 478 and add to it your ct amount minus the £4 you will be paying and that's your calculated income.

It doesn't say that CT is included in the cap on the letter though?

And my CTB would be £18.25-£4, so £14.25

478+14=492. So STILL not over the £500.

Y'see, sock, that was my first thought until I'd done the sums.

Literally the ONLY thing they can have done is added my severe disablement top up on my IS as though I'm receiving it, when I'm NOT, because my DLA isn't currently in payment!

And if the severe disablement top up on my IS WAS in payment...then I'd be in receipt of DLA and therefore exempt from the cap!!

'I've just read this whole thread in one go and I am shocked by how bullet-proof some people feel.'

Some people suffer from a profound lack of empathy. Some people believe it will never happen to them. Some people choose not to see what they don't want to. That's why there are people who support tory policies.

Couthy, if you use this website to put the phone number you want to call in it should come up with a normal, non free phone number so you don't get huge phone bills trying to sort this. www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

The amounts you receive from any benefit come through on the oh bugger I can't remember what its called but computer system that reports paid benefits in real time.

They cannot by law include sums that are not in payment and have to use those figures.

Unless a deduction is made from the figures for a benefit overpayment (under those circumstances they get to class that as benefit already paid untill its clawed back)

They have made a error along the way. And as to them fobbing you off HB asses and enforce the cap so its up to them to break down the calculations.

Email them and inc the actual figures and asking them to prove and explain figures.

Couthy I was going to suggest the Say No to 0870 website too.

It says the landline number for the DLA helpline (usually 0845 712 3456) is 01367 730222, for example.

I know it's a drop in the ocean compared to what you're facing, but worth knowing about and hopefully useful, especially when you have to wait 20 minutes to actually get through to someone.