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?

Of course posting at 9am on a weekday morning means you'll get a lot of YABVU by definition.
As those who actually work full time and don't claim UC are less likely to respond and aren't at home on MN.

Just sayin'

You NC so that you can go back to your normal name afterwards with this thread not associated with it.

DS works 80+ hours a week (at under 23 min wage, but lives free at home and eats at work in the hotel) and was seriously peeved when one of his colleagues quit because he (single man) would receive more on benefits than from working full-time.

People who work full time should be better off than those not working in HIS opinion.

This is about minimum wage not be adequate not about benefit levels being too high. It's about all of us as tax payers subsiding Big companies by topping up wages !

I think op if you were to compare your £1600 per month from a salary to UC

You would have to have worked for free for your employer for the first 6 weeks.

Depending on your pay day every other month you could end up with no money that month and be working for free.

If you miss a day because you are sick, your burying your mother, your child is in hospital, you could end up with no money for that month.

It is not as simple as comparing a guaranteed £1600 salary with holiday pay and able to take sickness days each month
to a haphazard payment of £1600 with so many strings attached and hoops to jump through and even the calendar set against you

So yes VU

Also I’m not bashing benefits. I think we all just need to stop moaning and be grateful it’s there.

FWIW I am not on benefits and have only ever claimed unemployment in the 70s

@veggiepigsinpastryblankets that is totally untrue. You are thinking about different benefits. You DO NOT need to pay into your NI to claim universal credits.
Ps. I can’t afford a car

People who work full time should be better off than those not working in HIS opinion.

Punch up to those above you who keep this system functioning the way it is, instead of kicking down at those that have no say and cant change or influence a damn thing, this envy and hate you show now is why disabled people are the receiving end of an increasing amount of disability hate crame because YOUR BOSS wont pay you a decent wage and that YOUR LANDLORD wants to be greedy and furnish his own lifestyle off your back, be angry but point it in the right direction ffs

I think you need to stop pretending there is a sliding scale of benefits that just keeps going up. More people than ever rely on food banks, more children than ever are being taken into care.

People are allowed to talk about the difficulties they face without being policed.

OP you are saying you can’t afford food, and that you would be better off on benefits, but you went back to work for your own sanity. Isn’t that’s a bit selfish? If you would genuinely be better off giving up work, being a SAHM for a few years and being able to afford to FEED YOUR CHILDREN why wouldn’t you do that?

I’ve been on benefits but never better off than when I was working.

UC is awful. Food bank usage is at an all time high. Poverty is a real issue.

@userschmooser children are not taken into care solely because their parents are not receiving the correct funding, or not receiving enough benefits.

@littlepond that discussion is for another thread. An ongoing argument in our household.

I used to be on the old system so not sure if it works the same. But my weekly amounts in benefits totalled more than my wage.

There are two very good reason why I refuse to give up work. I’d be outing myself too much if I revealed why.

Yes it is selfish of me but my children get a better me when I’m at work. Being home for almost 3 years straight sent me insane, mostly because I lost contact with the outside world.

The gao in payments on transition is disgusting.

As if it would have cost the country a significant amount to essentially give claimants a double month. That would have been the humane way to introduce it.

children are not taken into care solely because their parents are not receiving the correct funding, or not receiving enough benefits.

Yes they are.

''The ADCS president, Alison Michalska, said long delays for universal credit payments, alongside welfare policies such as the two-child limit and housing benefit cuts, were causing difficulties for poorer families struggling to pay for food and rent.''

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/11/austerity-policy-blamed-record-numbers-children-taken-into-care

I've now been told that the reason it is taking so long to process my claim is because I am doing a degree and would be eligible for a maintenance loan, which I have not applied for because I don't want to be in more debt
Sorry for this post is the reason why people like OP get annoyed with those who see benefits as a sense of entitlement.

You chose to have children before getting a uni education. You were lucky to get IS which meant you didn't have to go to work to support yourself and your children. You've now decided to get an education. Fine, but it's no glory. You are doing the same than thousands of 18yo do every year and opt to do this before having a family. THEY have to take on a loan and get into debts. What makes you think that you should be treated differently because you chose to have children first? You'll get a lot of additional help being a single parent yet dômehow you think you should also have your education pay for.

This attitude is outrageous really. Good on you to get a degree, just like good on those who do so aglfter finishing college, but your status of single mum doesn't make you more special. Thank God the system is indeed expecting you to get the pans that are there to help you get an education.

I was on a 45k job, became unwell through various circumstances, and am now on benefits. Have a degree, a masters, so fairly educated. Have two teen sons.

All I will say is this:-

DO NOT JUDGE OTHERS, until you walk in their shoes. We all think we won’t be the ones claiming. Life can throw us curve balls. Anyone one of you on this post not claiming, could well be a person claiming this time next year. I didn’t ask for my accident to happen, someone else caused it, however I have to spend my life paying for it. I didn’t ask for my health to decline, but it has, both physically and mentally. Anyone of you could be in the same position (I hope to God you are not mind), anyone of you could be hit by an illness, a mental problem etc. So please don’t judge. Just be grateful that you are not in their position.

Thanks to the benefit cap, the quoted figure is approx the maximum a family can get in London, so I'm guessing she lives in London.

Most of that probably goes on rent. Even here in Sussex, you'd struggle to get a 2-bed place for less than £900 a month, £1,100 for a 3-bed. London rents are undoubtedly higher. Whether she's in a 2-bed or a 3-bed, that figure won't leave her much to live on after she's paid rent, bills and probably part of her council tax (unless she's lucky enough to live somewhere the council still gives 100% relief for people on means-tested benefits).

If she's not benefit capped, then either she or one of her children is getting PIP/DLA. While people on disability benefits can get a decent income, most of them would rather have good health and/or healthy kids. My friend (total benefit income £2,300 a month) would far rather not have a child with sensory impairment, ASD and MH issues, so she could go back to being a teacher and come off benefits altogether.
YABVVU.

YA also BVVU to believe anything you read in the arsewipe that is the Sun.

I have not applied for it because I would be eligible universal credit people have said they will still need to count this as an income. Which is ludicrous
No its not. Its like working for free and wanting to keep benefits. Both are money but one you may pay back. Of course they will favour that option

OP, if you can't afford to feed your family and can't afford your car why work??

Yes it's wrong that it works out like that, the government should be encouraging people to work. I work part time and my benefits are reduced to the point I am worse off but at the moment I can still afford to feed my kids and run a car. I don't have to work as I have a child with severe disabilities and another with mild disabilities, I don't have to sign on, I'm not being forced to work (as the government would have to supply child care and there is no child care for a disabled 12 year old who needs 1:1 care).

If you work to get out of the house, to stop yourself going mad then why not do voluntary work? Or why not do a course? Rather than tale a minimum wage job and not be able to feed your family?

I'm lucky that I found a part time job that's well paid, eventually I hope I will be better off (at the moment I'm not). As I said before, most of the money I get in benefits is what the dc's get in DLA, I get a small % of my rent paid by HB and a % of my council tax, I am a single parent so it's only my income.

£1640 is a lot more than having a min wage job.

The woman in the article has a child with a medical condition that requires regular hospital appointments. It would be fair to presume that this £1640 include some sort of disability element to help with the increased costs associated with raising a child who has disabilities such as curtailing working hours in order to take your child to appointments (which is what this woman is doing, she works part time as she needs to be available to provide additional care to her child over and above the care a typical child of that age would need).

Agree completely with the above PP. I’m a degree educated professional. I lost my job through ill health last summer.
I’m also a single parent in a mortgaged property.
Fortunately I now have a school based job which is 30hrs a week and is much more suitable for me.
Unfortunately I need to claim UC. Since I strarted work my pay checks have been messed up. My UC was stopped in dec as they said I earned too much (due to my employer’s cock up).
I can’t claom housing benefit so I am already struggling. My mum and dad have bought my food as my Xmas present. I can’t pay my mortgage, childcare, etc.
I’ve appealed and it’s been 3 weeks so far with no news.
This is the problem with UC. You can be ticking along ok and then suddenly you are £600 down for a month and no way to pay your essential bills. It’s stressful and it’s wrong.

Update the thread when you have had a few months on UC curdkid I look forward to your experience.

Agreeing with loubluee

Lemoncurdkid, the difference between you and your friend claiming benefits is you are investing in your future. I know how hard it is to live in the future, but that future will become your present sooner than you think. I became a single mum of 2 under the age of 4 working FT. At the time, I could have opted to go on benefits, get IS, interests on my mortgage paid whilst the value of my house more than doubled, and end up with little less disposable income that what I earned.

It wasn't me though so I worked hard, cried in exhaustion at times, felt bitter at others, but with the years, I saw my salary increase quite a lot through promotions whilst my outgoings when down. The day I didn't need to pay for any childcare any longer after 15 years, I felt I'd won the lottery. Then came the time my mortgage was paid. Nowadays, I have a very good lifestyle and can start counting the years towards very early retirement still getting a good income. Those who opted for better quality life on benefits have seen things go the other way. Their kids have or are about to finish their education and they are experience the horrendous prospect of no more tax credits, child benefit or child maintenance and having to look for FT minimum wage jobs.