AIBU about people moaning about UC!

[Lemoncurdkid]

NC for this and sure I’ll get the backlash. I’m also aware there have been other threads. I’m hoping that people will help me see the other POV.

I’m not a stranger to claiming benefits but have never claimed UC.

I seem to see so many articles on how UC have ruined my life. This article annoyed me...

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/money/8014429/universal-credit-campaign-poverty-nicola-mclean-mum/amp/

This lady was claiming over £1600 a month in UC. That’s how much I earn monthly on a full time wage and I earn £26k a year. I don’t pay a pension either otherwise it would be £100 less.

I’m comparing my life to others on UC and there doesn’t seem to be reason to complain. Maybe that’s my issue, not to compare!

Along with UC there are many other benefits you can claim for which most don’t speak about. For example, free childcare, free travel, free dentist etc.
I know a lot of people who work 16 hours or who are unemployed, they may struggle but they are not in debt and they seem to live a much happier life than mine. Once again I’m comparing, but I’m struggling, living off credit cards after our bills are paid.

I guess my complaint isn’t that they are entitled to UC, but why complain about it? Shouldn’t we be grateful that we have this option in the UK. Rather than declaring poverty. A person on UC (depending on their circumstances) can actually ‘earn’ more money than a person working full time?

Part of the issue is the wait between claiming and getting the money. It's at least five weeks.

When starting a job with a child in nursery you have to pay the fees at least twice before getting any money back because nursery is charged in advance and payments are in arrears.

In theory getting the money in one payment like a salary is a good idea because it helps with buying in bulk but that doesn't work for vulnerable people.

There is also a problem with people who get paid every 28 days meaning they get paid twice in one month affecting their UC payment.

It's very difficult to get a query resolved the first time you ring them. It's just luck if you get through on the phone to someone who is experienced and understands the problem.

UC pays less than tax credits. Families are on average a couple of hundred worse off per month.

YABVU. You have no idea. I am absolutely dreading the change over. Life will be worse.

Hope you've got a hard hat on op.

The wait time is ridiculous. Withholding money from the most vulnerable in society is fucked up. Many do not have a safety net. It's fucked up that so many have to even rely on benefits. The system is broken.
I am a working single parent. No safety net. I am very very worried.

YABVU!.
People are starving on UC. They are instantly expected to budget on a months income and there is no guidance on how to.

Also it isn't earning. It's recieving. Also people who typically receive that much are usually disabled. Do you begrudged disabled people an income.

Things don't cost lost because we are disabled. Cost of living for disabled people is higher.

OP can you understand how a credit card is a privilege to many? Think of someone with bad credit, they can't borrow money. Certainly not from a reputable source.

I think the complaining comes from the sense of entitlement that so many have when it comes to benefits. They want their choices funding and believe it's their right to do so. The days of benefits being a safety net are long gone, the reality is they fund many people's choices now.

Uc is a utter disgrace and should be banned. Its been a shock to the system claiming that and I only work pt and certainly do not get more than someone on a full time wage.

People are starving on UC. They are instantly expected to budget on a months income and there is no guidance on how to.
They are adults, and it's common sense. I have little sympathy when this is the excuse. You have X amount, need to pay Y for rent/bills/travel which leaves Z to live on divided by the number of weeks.

However, the 5 week wait is a long time when going from weekly payments and I agree this is causing problems. I've gone from weekly to monthly pay and even though I had paid bills - because I budgeted- it was a stretch. There are food banks and lots of help available, as many on UC live in social housing (not a judgement) most if not all all RPs will have decimated people to help with UC and budgeting.

The pay dates are pretty unfair too if UC is stoped because 2 pays are in the same period and there needs to be some allowance built in for that.

Totally ready for the backlash.
100% agree with the wait time, it is disgusting.

After the family have received the benefits why does the complaining continue?

I’m genuinely curious as to why the girl in the article was receiving more money on UC than I earn a month.

I sat down with a friend a while ago who was on UC. My income was higher but after adding her benefits together she actually had more disposable income than I did.

I still struggle to budget on a monthly wage. That issue isn’t exclusive to someone on UC.

I wish my credit card was a privilege. When the credit card is maxed, you are now in further debt but with no way of paying it back and then being unable to provide.

UC should be good in theory. But there are 2 issues - the wait/processing times; and an occasional policy design that is built around the understanding of a middle class person. The childcare thing is a good example. Policy says UC needs to look like work - monthly payments in arears. If you get a job and need childcare to attend, you have to pay up front and rebalance when your wage comes in. Fine and dandy (ish) if you can pay up front. If you can't.......oh!
UC also pays a percentage of childcare costs. In theory, you can't be worse off by working when on UC because (unlike Jobseekers) it doesn't suddenly cut off at 16hrs of work. But, childcare costs could rack up bigger bills than the wage covers.

The initial wait time thing (and sanctions) is way overblown though. You get different elements - a standard allowance then plus housing element / child element / childcare element / etc. You can have your standard allowance in advance for your first payment, and it is recouped over a series of payment so you never go a full month with nothing.
If your child/childcare/housing is delayed in processing, your first payment may not go out automatically, but your standard allowance can still be paid. Understandably, not all landlords are impressed with the delay with the rent though.
As for sanction, only your standard allowance gets sanctioned, everything else still pays out. There is a list of sensible reasons as to why you didn't fulfil your commitment in any month, and it's only violations beyond this that incur sanction.

@codenamedutchess - it's common sense that many of those on UC are the most vunerable and least able to cope - idiotic to make sweeping assumptions - Victorian ideas of 'deserving'' poor. People don't choose to have learning disabilities or crap edication or shit parents.

The issue here is that if you're working you should be better off than if you're out of work. But it's just not the case anymore. People on low income struggle hugely, regardless of whether their money comes from benefits or wages. It breeds resentment for sure but I've been on both sides and definitely prefer not to rely on benefits as they tend to be unreliable and surprisingly often you end up with no money due to administrative mistakes or delays etc.

@broken11girl I did say it depends on the circumstance. I’m assuming having children bumps up the payments.

@HappyPunky but the same could happen if you start a new job. Sometimes it can be 6 weeks or more before you get your first wage depending when you start and when the payroll cut off is. Plus 4 weekly pay isn't that unusual in the job world either.
I honestly don't get from the article what the lady in question is complaining about. Ok, she lives in London, but if I'm reading it right she's getting £1600 pm UC plus £12k pa from her pt job whilst living at her mum's??

Try living on UC and see how you cope, my son has had no payment since November and wont get paid until the 15th of this month,
He arranged to have his rent paid direct to the HA flat he lives in, but because f delays to UC he wa in arrears, so any payment he got was swallowed up by his rent arrears
I have been keeping him in food and buying Electricity and gas so he can be warm,
Think yourself lucky you dont need UC and stop whinging
My son and others feel suicidal at times some have lost their homes
My god some people think anyone on benefits is better off than them, very rarely it happens

Free travel?

1. Stop reading the Sun
2. Stop reading the Daily Mail.
3. Have a better grasp on reality.
4. Profit.

They are adults, and it's common sense.
Some of them are adults with a disability or a mental health issue, and all of them have had no experience budgeting their current benefits over the same length of time, nor will they typically have had 5-6 weeks wait before being paid benefits before.

Some of them will get used to budgeting in this way but some of them will not be able to cope but they are being left to sink or swim (mainly sink).

@broken11girl reread the article it says she was receiving £1640 on UC

The 5 week wait for money seems to be one of the major issues, however, after a long period of unemployment, DH got a job so benefit money stopped immediately and he had to wait almost 5 weeks for his first pay as well as paying out to get to work every day. It was a struggle but we managed.
The 2 pay packets in one benefit period I don't really understand - if uc stops then, during that month the claimant has earned more than their total entitlement. The next month they will effectively earn nothing so will receive full entitlement. This has just happened to a family member and they weren't worse off, the money just came from different sources.

I'm a single mum to a young primary school age child. I managed to get a nice part time job in a school during school hours last year. I would have had significantly more money each month if I didn't bother to work. I still have to go in to the job centre every month for a meeting because of a £3 earning difference to what the computer says I need for light touch. There is nothing great about the way the system works. Those of us doing the best we can with our situations DO struggle. But I'm also very grateful it's there at all.

The issue though is the system that allowed claiming benefits to be a lifestyle choice for a small minority. Now they are rightly trying to make changes, but it seems that the hardest hit are sadly the genuine claimants.

I feel very sorry for people who are going through tough times through no fault of their own.