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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think the new benefits system is a pile of wank?

29 replies

martian1990 · 30/09/2018 11:22

DSIS has been left with £18 of her Universal credit this month. Assuming she can’t find work this month, it’s going to be difficult

Keep in mind the Job centre expect her to attend weekly meetings (sometimes two a week), attend interviews, drive to places to hand her CV advertising who wanted CVs delivering in person as well as feed herself, keep her phone topped up so she call can call up about jobs/appointments

You may be asking why. Because for every pound she earnt from a job she lost for taking a day off sick- 63p was taken from every pound. She earnt £375.

Because this rule was not at any time explained to her- she spent the majority of that wage sending out parents on a holiday for their wedding anniversary.

The job centre say that they can’t help. She has debt payments to make- or baliffs are likely to be on my parents door as she is already on a payment plan

Any help?

OP posts:

continuallychargingmyphone · 30/09/2018 11:24

I’m not sure I follow sorry op - was she working and subsequently lost the job?

Disabrie22 · 30/09/2018 11:28

I have a few questions:
One day sick should not equal the sack? What happened there.
Why if she had no money was she paying for your parents holiday?
Does she have kids?

Creeper8 · 30/09/2018 11:28

My sister was given £20 to live on for 3 weeks when she went on to jsa recently.

Beautifulblue · 30/09/2018 11:33

It's appalling, really. Problem is the government have done a very good job at making the tax payers see people on benefits as lazy, sponging scroungers who are taking money from their pockets. Makes sanctioning & being down right cruel much easier as people believe those on benefits deserve it - don't like it get a job. The people we should really be angry at are the big fat cats avoiding tax or politicians taking the absolute piss with expenses. Those people cost the tax payer far more but no one shows any interest because they're big successful corporations/people. Drives me bat shit crazy. I feel sorry for your sister - the job centre treat you like shit & want you to act grateful for it.

VimFuego101 · 30/09/2018 11:33

Presumably this is the first UC payment and she will know what she's getting for next month?

She could call step change for help with debts and a payment plan to ward off the bailiffs. The money saving expert forum will have good advice on what they are and are not allowed to do in terms of entering your house.

JLG19 · 30/09/2018 11:36

I don’t understand, she spent her benefits sending her parents on holiday? She can’t really complaint about not having any left over if that’s what she chose to spend it on.

Original poster

martian1990 · 30/09/2018 11:39

It wasn’t explained to her at any time her universal credit would be reduced. She was working 16 hours a week, and in the past your received your unemployment benefits till you passed that point- and then she would be eligible for working tax credits.

Because of this, she sent my parents on holiday with her wages assuming she would get her UC because it wasn’t explained to her she wouldn’t- keeping in mind she had been in the JC every week since starting work.

OP posts:

BlueBug45 · 30/09/2018 11:40

Your sister needs to learn how to budget. If you have debts you don't send family members on holidays as a present or buy extravagant presents. As a PP said she should contact step change and go on Moneysavingexpert forum to get help in getting rid of her debts.

Original poster

martian1990 · 30/09/2018 11:40

The main point is how can anyone run a car just to get to a job centre 12 miles there and back for a month, attend any interviews she needs to and look for work? Plus feed herself and pay her bills.

Fair enough if she was told- but she wasn’t

OP posts:

Glumglowworm · 30/09/2018 11:46

There are many huge problems with the benefit system.

However, it was ridiculously stupid to spend all her wages on someone else’s holiday, and nobody can be blamed for that except her.

It also makes perfect sense that she was entitled to less benefit money for a period she was working. Now that she has lost that job, the benefits should go back to what they were before. Although I am surprised that one day off sick is enough to get sacked, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s more to the story than that.

gamerchick · 30/09/2018 11:50

She's going to have to learn the lesson about spending priorities when it comes to UC. You can't trust it, you can't assume anything and you dont spend 100s of quid sending people on holiday. You can't blame not being told. These people don't wipe your backside, it's your business to find out.

wildewillow · 30/09/2018 11:54

She earnt £375. Plus had UC. It's hardly the fault of the benefits system that's she's spent the money on a holiday. Maybe instead of blaming the government you should look to be blaming your sister for spending her wages and leaving herself short!

The system has been set up that if you earn over your benefits amount it gets taken off the total payment. It's been like that for a long time (I was on JSA 10 years ago and it was the same then).

MrsReacher1 · 30/09/2018 12:02

Sorry - YABU.
She was stupid. You don't and shouldn't be able to pay for other people's holidays on money provided by other people - ie The State.

So she spent her benefits and somehow it's someone else's fault. Does she have access to the internet? She could have googled it. Did she really think that she could work and get full benefits?

It shouldn't need to "be explained" to her. She has the nouse to book a holiday and to be able to work the 16 hour rule, (knowing not to go above because it affects her benefits).

She should - and you could help her - take some personal responsibility.

In the short term a foodbank would help if she can get a referral.

Feefeetrixabelle · 30/09/2018 12:05

Oh bless her. She needs to start to cut her cloth accordingly.

Can she sorn the car while unemployed to save money? The bus may be cheaper in the short term. Or sell it depending on how rural she is.

Maybe sell excess belongings if she has any. Visit a food bank.

You can’t rely on uc and she can’t afford extravagant gifts. You should all be kind to her as a family and tell her you don’t expect more than a card for birthdays and Christmas while she’s struggling.

It’s her responsibility to learn how benefits work, the office can’t go over every detail they simply don’t have time.

MadeForThis · 30/09/2018 12:05

She got wages AND benefits. Albeit a reduced amount. Why would she get full wages and full benefits.

The information is available online if she had looked.

If she has debts that means bailiffs will call after one missed payment then she definitely shouldn't be sending anyone else in holiday.

Babyroobs · 30/09/2018 12:06

It wasn't explained that wages would reduce her Uc payment ?? Did she think that she was just going to get all her wages and then the government would just give her another amount of money to live on as well ?? UC is a top up benefit for people on low wages or if you have no wages then nothing gets deducted form your UC and you get the full amount you are entitled too. if she has no wages in the next assessment period then she will get her full Uc entitlement with no reductions.
I do agree it's a punitive system and it has a lot of teething problems at the moment.

Babyroobs · 30/09/2018 12:09

There is plenty of information available and accessible form your journal regarding exactly how UC works - in fact when you ring to make an appointment for your ID interview , the call handlers/ advisers actually encourage and advise you to read up on it yourself and how it works. Every time I have rung ( for clients) to book that appointment , the adviser has advised to read up on it. they can't be explaining the complexities of the system to every applicant, this has never bene the case.

bluerinsesurrey · 30/09/2018 12:10

She should just get herself pregnant and get on tax credits.

Much easier than being hassled by the job centre for measly JSA..

Works for lots of mumsnetters.

Some of them have the brazen cheek to call JSA recipients scroungers too.

Babyroobs · 30/09/2018 12:12

Blue - even if someone did get pregnant to get off JSA or Uc ( unlikely), on UC you would now be made ( as a alone parent) to start looking for work when your child is 2 and be expected to be in work by the time the child is 3.

Babyroobs · 30/09/2018 12:14

Sorry I should have said preparing for work when your youngest child is 2 and looking for work when they turn 3.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 30/09/2018 12:21

Of all the many problems with UC, this isn't really one of them.

Ok maybe they could have explained better, but did she really not look up the terms and is there no paperwork at all where this is suggested.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 30/09/2018 12:24

She needs to cut her cloth
She needs to budget.

Erm How do you do that on £18 a month.
Not being goady. Genuine question.
Some people have never seen a poor day in their lives

Xenia · 30/09/2018 12:41

People are referring to the holiday. If you have spare money and zero in savings you don't buy parents a holiday and parents would mostly refuse such an offer too as they know perfectly well the person is better off keeping thatm oney for a rainy day.

It says it will be hard "assuming she cannto find work this month". It is getting a lot easier to find work. I have not seen for decades around here so many notices saying work is available. We have almost returned to the 1950s levels of fairly full employment I don't know which part of the country she lives in but I would start going round every bar in the area looking for evening work, then the shops, then cards through doors offering cleaning and the usual looking on line, employment agencies, asking friends and she might well have at least some kind of job by a week's time and problem solved.

Agustarella · 30/09/2018 12:43

A lot of people are surprised by the vindictiveness of the system when they first come into contact with it. Your sister won't make the same mistake twice, I'm sure.

She needs to get a copy of the CPAG's Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook pronto, and become very familiar with the parts that relate to her circumstances and her claim. Sure, the Job Centre Staff should tell claimants how the system works, but that would reduce valuable opportunities to punish people for breaking the rules they never knew existed.

www.onlinepublications.cpag.org.uk

(As an aside: it's not going to get any better in the UK and there are still five months of free movement left. It's a very unwise person who chooses to be poor in the UK rather than poor elsewhere. If your sister asked my advice I would tell her to think on this and plan accordingly.)

Ginkypig · 30/09/2018 12:43

Hang on are you saying she earned 375 this month but still expected to receive the full amount of uc?

Due to that she spent the wage she earns on a holiday for her parents expecting to live on the uc instead?

If so then she's been very silly and so are you being too if you are expecting people to agree with your opinion that they are in the wrong rather than your sister.

Benefits don't work like that and they never have the rule has always been that they amount gets reduced if you either work more than a certain amount of hours or earn over a certain amount, whichever comes first.

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