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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

....to think people are over exaggerating how bad Universal Credit really is?

347 replies

GingaNinja84 · 03/02/2020 21:14

Hear me out!

I've recently come off maternity leave and have just signed up to UC to supplement my wages for the next few months, while I ease my way up to full time hours. I'm not entitled to a lot, but what I do get will be enough to live on and pay my bills until March when I go full time again.

All very easy. Apply online, meeting at job centre, first payment next week. Smashing.

Can the people who've experienced the horror stories please share? I'm intrigued as to how and why it's badly affected some people, and how much worse off people are on UC now, than they were on old style benefits. All I've ever heard from everyone I know is that UC is terrible and I shouldn't go on it (just go back full time straight away instead....)....without backing it up with any real stories or details.

I'm hoping this doesn't turn into a benefits bashing thread. I'm just really interested in how other people use the new system, and it's benefits and drawbacks Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
GingaNinja84 · 03/02/2020 22:05

@mindproject I'm sorry...just making head and tail of your post. Are you trying to say I shouldn't be claiming?

OP posts:
Neverender · 03/02/2020 22:09

No you weren't trying to hear other about people's experiences. You were saying it's great.

Bully. For. You.

Neverender · 03/02/2020 22:10

And I didn't say you were a twat...

Original poster
GingaNinja84 · 03/02/2020 22:10

@Neverender also none of those articles state that the average reading age of the UK is 9? Where did you get that info? Because that's truly baffling.

OP posts:
GabsAlot · 03/02/2020 22:12

Maybe after a while the problems will show youre just at the start op-others have had theirs stop or waiting times have been long

BonnesVacances · 03/02/2020 22:12

DD went on UC at 17. She has ME and hasn't been in education since she was 14. The DWP website and everywhere else said she was entitled to UC (the old ESA element) because she was ill and wasn't in education or work.

I applied for her online and the 5 weeks started. She had to go into the job centre to prove her ID and I had to take her in a wheelchair which was extremely exhausting for her and made her ill. I had to get a sick note for her which the GP wouldn't issue without an appointment, despite 3 years of clinical letters re ME. The day before her GP appointment the DWP cancelled her claim as they said she wasn't old enough.

I phoned the DWP who said they'd cancelled the claim because we hadn't provided a sick note. They said I had to restart the claim.

I started a new claim. The 5 weeks started again. I had to take her into the job centre again to prove her ID. The next day the DWP closed her claim again, this time because she wasn't old enough.

I contacted my MP who received a reply from the DWP that DD was definitely entitled at 17 and she should apply again.

I started a new claim. The 5 weeks started again. This time I didn't have time to take her into the job centre again to prove her ID, because the DWP closed her claim straightaway because "it had been closed twice and she clearly wasn't entitled to UC".

I contacted my MP again who wrote to Amber Rudd to find out what was going on. Eventually, the original claim was re-opened and her UC was backdated to that date. And we received £100 as an apology for their ineptitude.

Meanwhile her child benefit had stopped at the end of secondary school as she wasn't in education.

The only thing that kept me going was that the system was designed to frustrate and only rewards the persistent. How the fuck a chronically ill 17 year old was ever supposed to succeed is anyone's guess. Hmm

Theholidayarmadillo4 · 03/02/2020 22:15

Why aren't you going to work full time?

Whatisthisfuckery · 03/02/2020 22:16

I’m on long term disability. I have to come off ESA soon because of the small divorce settlement I’m due. I had to go after the money otherwise I wouldn’t get housing benefit. When my money runs out in about a year I’ll have to apply for UC.I’ll be at least £300 worse off each month, leaving me just about enough to cover my essential outgoings, mean while rent and bills and food prices are rising. If and inevitable when I have to move house again I won’t have enough annual income to put me over the threshold for renting without a guarantor, and I don’t have a guarantor.

Sobeyondthehills · 03/02/2020 22:18

UC is a great system on paper, but the way it has been implimented has been horrific, you are lucky in the fact you are applying now, when lessons have already been learnt, from so many other people who have been left desperate, with no money, food, electric, gas and rent arrears

Nanna50 · 03/02/2020 22:20

So if you are getting paid next week you must have claimed last month and either lived off savings or have an advance (Which would be repaid) as any income in the last month would be deducted from your UC.

Many people don’t have anything to live off for those 5 weeks.

As a mother returning from maternity leave UC is far less generous than Tax Credits as the latter used to ignore all maternity allowance and the majority of maternity pay (also ignored savings).

Many mothers returning to work now miss out on top ups, child care costs and top ups due to UC counting current income. Tax Credits made returning to work easier for low paid mothers.

As a top up to earnings UC is easy where you are paid monthly. Self employed people have perpetual problems as do those paid weekly or four weekly.

So for the minority UC can be easy, however for the vast majority believe me there is no exaggerating how bad it is. The government are constantly delaying it because it is a mess.

The administration, the decision making, the DWP staff cuts, the mistakes, the lack of training, the punitive methods of payment all add up to a kafkaesque experience for most claimants.

zsazsajuju · 03/02/2020 22:20

@Neverender - why do you feel the need to be so offensive? The op has given her experience and asked for others. Maybe Consider having a Relative who works at CAB doesn’t make you an expert on everything!

karencantobe · 03/02/2020 22:21

I didn't know you now needed a mobile number. When I was claiming a year ago I did not have one because I was too skint to top up.

CrapTVAddict · 03/02/2020 22:22

Some people have no clue of how life is for some people at all or the struggles they face.
To post a don't know what everyone is moaning about U/C type post is goady and disrespectful to the people who have committed suicide because of universal credit

Lana1234 · 03/02/2020 22:24

I am genuinely happy it has worked for you. I wouldn't wish the problems that others have had on it onto people.
Have a look in the Facebook group 'universal credit survival' or go to a food bank to volunteer one time. Maybe cos I'm in Liverpool I know people aren't "exaggerating" and I'm really not sure what the point of this post is. You surely know what damage it has done to people, do you think people are lying? This is just tactless and insensitive to say the least. Obviously it isn't going to fail 100% of people on it but it's failed too many to not talk about.

Again, glad it's worked for you though.

Although not sure why your saying your just trying to "hear the bad side of it" when your thread title is literally accusing people of exaggerating their plight.

Nanna50 · 03/02/2020 22:24

@BonnesVacances unfortunately your experience is not an isolated one, vulnerable people often fall at the first hurdle Sad

OhCisOff · 03/02/2020 22:24

People I know who are working are better off, but my friend who has several mental health diagnoses has a very hard time, she had a ten week wait before she got a penny and the change that triggered her move was her dh walking out with his kids.

It seems to work for some but six weeks minimum with no money will be hard for many I'd imagine

MummytoCSJH · 03/02/2020 22:25

I'm far worse off under UC than the old system as a student. Just under £400pm worse off, which is very close to my rent. This is as a lone parent and previously only claiming housing benefit and child tax credits along with my student finance. Now, during summer I have to 'look for work' as if I were just unemployed, despite the fact that under the old system my student finance was taken into account for the entire year and that I didn't choose to claim jobseekers etc. during the summer, but I'm now being told I HAVE to claim that element to be entitled to housing or child elements...

swishthecat · 03/02/2020 22:28

There’s a 5 week delay before the first payment, so it sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Which is odd, since you claim to be claiming it.

This struck me too. On the news reports about UC today it was said that take up is not as high as it should be and that this could be down to people being too scared to apply. Funny that this thread with its positive UC stories has popped up on the same day. Maybe I'm being cynical.

PityParty4one · 03/02/2020 22:28

For people who work but are on a low income it can be better than the old legacy benefits which is why it suits you OP.

However should you get sick and be unable to work then you will soon see how UC targets the most vulnerable.
I work as a benefits advisor and see just what poverty this benefit has created.

Maybe look outside of your isn experience before you announce how good UC is.

It's good that it works for you but pretty soon they will be on your case making you look for more hours/better pay so that you stop claiming UC.

Roozy123 · 03/02/2020 22:29

They stop your benefits and then you have to wait 6 weeks... sometimes longer for any payment.. going all that time with 0 if you have not been able to save to cover food bills rent etc for them weeks!
I don't have to explain why this would be stressful or making some people worse off.

Nanna50 · 03/02/2020 22:31

Oh and @GingaNinja84 you haven’t actually been paid yet or had an entry in your journal 3 months later to say you have been overpaid because DWP made an error, and are now claiming it all back and you can’t appeal because the regs say that DWP can recover it all even when they had all of the financial information and still fucked it up.

crackofdoom · 03/02/2020 22:33

It's going to be very difficult for the small time self employed- like me, for example. As a parent of 5-12 year olds, I will be expected to earn the equivalent of 24 hours minimum wage per week profit. If I don't, they would still cut my UC as if I was. However, if in any month I earn more than the minimum, they will also take money off my UC to reflect that amount. Can you see how difficult this will be for all self employed people who might earn loads one month and very little the next, and who previously would balance it all out over a year?

I suppose I'm lucky- I'm currently experiencing a dry period the like of which I haven't had in years, and I'm thanking my lucky stars I'm still on tax credits, otherwise it would be off to the food bank for me.

InglouriousBasterd · 03/02/2020 22:35

contentdesign.london/reading/specifying-a-reading-age-for-web-content/

Can’t remember how to make it clicky, sorry. For whoever asked about the UK average reading age - I heard this too the other day and was shocked.

InglouriousBasterd · 03/02/2020 22:36

Oh it works Smile

Nixen · 03/02/2020 22:36

Another one who doesn’t understand why you’re claiming anything.. can’t you just go back to work after maternity leave like the rest of us do? Benefits shouldn’t be a choice, they should be a lifeline to those who truly need them and have no other choice