Universal Credit :-(

[LovelyBath77]

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/01/universal-credit-hits-families-with-children-hardest-study-finds?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-2

There was lots of coverage about the proposed tax credits cuts- remember the tearful mum on the news etc? But this seems to be just going ahead...

Some lone parents (like myself) stick to part time work due to struggles with mental and physical health. Mine isn't great so working part time keeps me employed but means I don't have time off sick and can manage my health properly.

Lovely - UC is so complicated with all the different conditionality groups etc. I don't think many people understand it really and what it will mean for them. The No HB issue certainly seems to have been kept quiet.

Everyone needs to calm down - if your currently get tax credits your protected by transitional protection - you cannot be penalised for the transfer. Google it

MrsSkeffington, not everyone is so short-sighted as to:

a) only be concerned about themselves personally, and not even care about their own children as they grow up

b) imagine that their circumstances will never change even a little bit - at which point transitional protection tends to disappear.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry anyone, just making people aware as so little coverage of it. yes i think there is some transitional protection however it is from that stage which worries me.

Don't be unpleasant - it has to be a significant change for you to be affected - e.g. Another baby, moving house etc.
Also I am hoping future generations will not require tax credits to live. I think transitional protection should alleviate a lot of people's fears

Transitional protection only protects the amount. So if you are currently claiming tc or other benefits you will still receive the same amount under UC.
This doesn't protect the time people will wait.
Just in the same the ones that's are called 'migrants' (not talking migrants form other countries. It's the term used at the moment for people going form tc or whatever to UC) have the gap in payment.

The transition protection still give your 19 year old on £5.05 a hour housing benefit as a top up.

Oops bit silly me. All 19 year olds should be in uni racking up massive debts.

From what I've seen, UC is vastly more complicated than existing benefits, and has a huge bureaucratic burden for employers too.

It's an extremely fragile system which can be thrown out of kilter by even a tiny delay or error in an employer reporting data to the DWP.

It's "simpler" in the same way that pouring the lego, beans, cat nibbles and teabags into the same bucket is a "simpler" way of storing them. One bucket: giant mess inside.

Still doesn't give

There is no reassuring some people. It's coming nothing can be done but at least people claiming can still have the same amount and people who aren't entitled to uc due to new rules, e.g. People with a second property will still be able to get assistance

Another things is, they seem to be transferring people over to UC when they have a change in circumstances, so then they would have to start afresh anyway.

I'm not sure why you're calling me unpleasant for pointing out that it's short-sighted to imagine transitional protection means no one has to worry.

You've just listed some very common things that will cause transitional protection to disappear: for example, moving house. People in rented accommodation may be moving house more than once a year - not through choice. It's also very, very common to have to move when circumstances change for the worse - which also tends to coincide with the periods of one's life when one needs more support (illness, leaving a relationship, losing job, etc).

Transitional protection is a PR device to stop sad face headlines of eg poor people who got X amount last week and Y amount less this week.

There was a small amount on the news about the loss of HB for under 25s because it was in one of Osborne's budgets but if you don't watch the news channel or follow politics you could easily have missed it.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry anyone

Fair enough but some people need the wake up call for want of a better description. My Employment Co-ordinator (agency not JCP) sent out over three hundred invitations to people being hit by the benefits cap to attend sessions on how to help yourself through it etc but not one single person turned up and only nine went to individual appointments. Some people bury their heads in the sand or think it won't affect them then they get a fright when it's too late. I saw this with the work programme as well

This makes me scared to leave my partner and get back in the system for tax credits. ANd I say that as a professional on 30 hours a week.

"Some people bury their heads in the sand or think it won't affect them then they get a fright when it's too late"

I can completely believe that.

Yep Babyroobs Young people coming out of care will be fine

speye.wordpress.com/2017/03/05/many-hostels-to-close-next-month-due-to-idiotic-tory-benefit-policy/

My town was one of the first to get changed over to universal credits, I went from £250 per week to £135 per month.

It's awful,

I'm expecting to see a(nother) sharp rise in homelessness as the housing benefit cut kicks in.

I'm also expecting to see scapegoating of immigrants "for taking all the houses," by some (not all) of the same people who support the removal of housing benefit.

Universal Credit will also affect age gap pensioner couples. They will class the couple as being of working age basing it on the younger person. Until the younger person reaches pension age As i am 23 years younger than DH that means that FOR THE PURPOSES OF UNIVERSAL CREDIT he will be classed as being of working age until he is 89/90 because he is married to me.

If it addresses the hours people have to work then that's good as the current system is a shambles and encourages little or no work.

Torn on the HB for under 25's, if they want to leave home then it comes with responsibilities. Most are in uni digs or still at home anyway I'd imagine. Maybe it should have been linked to contributions so if they had worked since they were 18 and got made redundant a few years later there was a short amount of help.

How come its ok for 18 to 21s to fight and possibly die for their country but not be eligible to recieve HB due to age.

Wow, it really is rainbows and unicorns in some people's worlds!

I was on a training course last week and the subject of UC and the housing element came up . Some of the group were aghast that a 35 year old is expected to just rent a room in a shared house if reliant on UC. One of the group then pointed out that her single graduate daughter on a salary of £30k living in London has to do the same because she can't afford to rent on her own.

if they want to leave home then it comes with responsibilities

In many cases it's not a choice. In 1999 when my mother died and I couldn't afford to carry on the mortgage I ended up in a council flat on HB, aged 22. If that was to have happened today instead then presumably I'd be homeless