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

[GingaNinja84]

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

@GingaNinja84 thanks I went to the CaB and they told me I couldn't apply for anything. I can't afford full time childcare and my work have denied my request to reduce my hours. It's so hard

@Pippinsqueak Hmmm...sounds a bit off on part of the CAB. From my experience that's wrong advice.

I went to the job centre and they were really helpful, if anything I didn't even need to state my reasons for going part time. Just applied for UC online, went for my meeting to prove my identity and that was it. I have no work commitments as my LO is under 3, and I just upload proof of my childcare costs as and when I pay them.

It's a shame work has denied you permission to go part time. Perhaps look in to the legalities of that? I honestly can't be sure, but I remember talking to my auntie about how lovely my work were about me going part time, and she made a quick snide comment like "well yes, that's not kindness, that's the law!' worth looking in to.

I don't know why some people are so incandescent that SOME people find UC a better/ easier system...

I think it depends on how you manage your money - I guess those who cannot manage - and rely on food banks always manage to buy a packet of cigarettes and the latest phone contract - from what I've seen anyway

The claims about adult literacy made up-thread made no sense to me either. This is from the NHS web site someone linked to:_

An initial audit of content on the NHS website found the average reading age for the content is almost 16. Almost eight in 10 UK adults are not at this level.

Again, this makes no sense. Surely by definition a reading age of 16 is what 16-year-olds are capable of reading. Unless reading ability actually declines after 16, the majority of adults cannot be worse at reading than the average 16-year-old. (I suppose another possibility is that 16-year-olds today are better educated than their predecessors, but I'd need proof of that.)

I have googled a definition of "reading age", in case it has some bizarre definition that was at odds with what I assumed, but what came up was what I expected.

a child's reading ability expressed with reference to an average age at which a comparable ability is found.

@sikofrain From what I can gather, those who don't find it easy or better are those who are most in need of a system that works - which for them was the old one. I can (now) understand the upset and frustration with it.

Unfortunately, a system doesn't seem to exist - or ever have excisted - whereby it works for all parties. According to a website which compares old benefits to UC, I would not have been entitled to anything on the old system as I had a job. With no affordable childcare available, I probably would have been forced to give up my job entirely to care for my LO. The new system means I can stay in work.

"The claims about adult literacy made up-thread made no sense to me either. This is from the NHS web site someone linked to:_

An initial audit of content on the NHS website found the average reading age for the content is almost 16. Almost eight in 10 UK adults are not at this level."

Yes, it made no sense. They dont quote where they got the quote that "8 in 10 adults are not at this level" from, which leads me to believe they just made this up. How would they or anyone else know this? Plus which adults are they talking about....they should have said "xxxxxorganisationxx quotes that ......8 in 10 Adults in the uk are not at this level".
I too think reading levels would stop at 16? So they are basically referring to adult level?

Work don't have to offer flexible working. If the role is full time and they need it to stay full time, they can refuse. They do have to consider it though.

"I would not have been entitled to anything on the old system as I had a job"

You would have got a top up with child family tax credits. I worked full time, but childcare costs were expensive, so I got money on top. This is going back about 20 years. I could have reduced my hours if I'd wanted to, and I would have got more tax credit. Wrong really, as I was perfectly fine working full time and tax payers shouldn't have to pay for people who chose to work less hours.

I wouldn't have minded dropping one day a week when I went back after maternity leave 4 months ago but as I wouldn't qualify for any support, I just had to find childcare "affordable" or not.

The original concept of universal credit was the result of considerable and detailed research and the report produced was thoughtful and clearly focussed on the needs of recipients. The execution has been the problem. This is partly because it was used by George Osborne as an opportunity to cut welfare spending, when universal credit was never intended to be used for that purpose. It is also because the process, particularly for people transferring onto it, has been very poorly administered. For example, it has not taken into account that these people are in receipt of payments because they have no fallback. If the government had implemented it as it was originally intended I do not believe that any of these problems would have occurred.

Can the people who've experienced the horror stories please share?

What would our like to hear about?

The times I've fed my 6 year old and had her ask where my tea was and me tell her I'll have mine later... Knowing full well there was no food for me later.
Or do you want to know about how I'm currently sat with no heating as I can't justify the cost of keeping just myself warm?

Or would you like to hear about my daily diet that is leading me down the road of malnutrition?

Or would you like a detailed breakdown of living life on £947 a month to cover every bill?

Or shall I give you some examples of the uselessness and no help that UC give? Eg: insisting I work search for 35 hours a week and force me to apply for jobs I know I can't actually do. Or how they expect you to pay first month's childcare up front then reclaim back 85%.. which is almost impossible.

Or shall I go back to first claiming UC when I got £0 for 6 weeks to cover food, rent, electric, gas, council tax?

pushchairprincess

Its people like you that push the myth that all people on benefits are scroungers and claim because it their own fault.
Have you not read this thread and understood the stories of the vulnerable that have no choice?

I wont waste my time trying to change your very ignorant pov.

" insisting I work search for 35 hoursa week"...genuinely curious, is there a reason you cant work for 35 hours a week Monkey?

Tabby I think Monkey means she has to spend 34 hours per week looking for work. Not look for work that would be 35 hours per week.
At least that's what I've been lead to believe by friends.

She may mean that she is obliged to prove that she has spent 35 hours searching for work.

That means that once she's applied for all the realistic openings, she's got to waste her time and employers' time, applying for jobs she hasn't got a chance in hell of doing, or no money at all.

Employers complain about this a lot.

TabbyMumz

None at all.
That's why I've applied for 300+ full time positions in the last few months.

My point was the work searching hours.
It takes maybe half hour to go through a few pages of indeed. Another couple hours to fill in applications for the jobs you can apply for.
35 hours work searching is pointless, tedious and soul destroying because to fill your quota you apply for jobs knowing you can't do them, knowing you'll get a nice 'go away' email, knowing you're wasting the time of an HR worker etc etc. Does that makes sense?

Oh and if I don't do the full 35hours of wasting other people's time, I could get sanctioned.
In UC, if you get sanctioned, it isn't food money you lose, or money you'd spend in fags and mobiles (btw I don't smoke or have a decent mobile, my old mobile costs £5a month and I need it to fil in my.online journal) but if you get sanctioned in UC you lose a chunk of total allowance. So you can't pay rent or council tax, risking homelessness or prosecution. Sanctions can be for up to 3 years.

Benefits adviser here. If you’re already in work, paid monthly & are using UC to top up income, the system seems to work well. It helps if you have a good work coach - not all of them know what they’re doing & some are completely lacking in empathy. If you have a fluctuating household income (overtime, zero hours contract), have low or no income, no savings, are ill, disabled, already in debt, cannot read or are not computer literate, it can be a disaster. There is no flexibility in the system, so eg, if you are paid 4 weekly, paid twice within your assessment period, your UC will be reduced or the the claim closed. Any bonuses (eg the Greggs one) paid are taken into account as income for that month so will affect your UC. There is no severe disability premium within UC so immediately those that were eligible for it under legacy benefits would be worse off under UC. The 5 week waiting period is a disaster for those already in challenging circumstances. Many new claimants will need an advance loan to cover rent and food/bills, so when UC is paid, it is reduced by the advance loan repayment. This means many claimants will be always be playing catch up & will never have enough £ - because there were 5 weeks when they received absolutely nothing. Many of my clients are very ill, and to even attend the first interview at JCP can be very difficult for them. I could go on. The principle of UC was good, but it’s execution is having appalling consequences. I’ve been working in this sector for 10 years now. I barely needed to refer a client to a food bank in 2010 but it’s sadly commonplace now. In nearly all cases it’s because a client is waiting for UC or has had a problem with payments.

@MonkeyToesOfDoom thanks for your breakdown...honestly sounds awful.

On a slightly different note (and a personal one so please don't feel obliged to answer....), can I ask what it is you feel is preventing you from getting hired?

I know what you mean re applying for jobs you know you won't get. I've been on the other side helping my boss wade through 200+ applications for an admin role, around 2/3 of which aren't suitable at all and are clearly just applying for their work diary. It just made me wonder what is stopping all these very qualified people getting jobs in the sectors they have 20+ years experience in (I'm talking a man who was a forklift driver for 25 years, applying for an admin role).

Also...as you have a child have you looked at Healthy Start vouchers? I was thrown info about them left right and centre for them when I was pregnant, but I'm not eligible. Sorry if that sounds patronising worth a look though.

Healthy Start vouchers are restricted to pregnant women or children under four, so Monkey can't apply for them.

Why exactly did they stop the severe disability premium ?
Did the usual non severe disability premium increase at all ?

At a guess @ginger I'm going to guess that the sheer number of people applying for the same job is one of the problems faced.

I don't know if you're genuinely naïve or have just been fortunate enough to work in a stable industry and have a fairly straightforward life but things are not cut and dry.

moneyQuerying they take carers allowance off the disabled persons claim too. So when my ds switches to universal credit and we come off tax credits (( my partner works but I'm my son's full time carer )) we're going to be around £100 a week worse off.

Bearing in mind that when disabled children become adults they have to pay towards their own care costs (( basically so my DS can socialise without constantly being with me or his dad )) likely to be around £120 a week as he needs 2/1 care. I don't know what the fuck we're going to do. Because he needs 2/1 it pushes the costs of everything up.

We plan and visit a lot of places with ds, hotel rooms and meals for 3 etc push the costs up. At the moment we use our sons pip and tax credits to pay, his dad's wages cover household bills and food but that's it. When he switches all of this will probably have to stop or be reduced a lot. So more time spent at home or on aimless walks which are a bit crap when you can't stretch to a hot chocolate at the end.

What I have seen a lot of is families taking on all care needs entirely so they have enough money to manage and that isn't good for anyone. Even families that receive community healthcare funding which used to be the holy grail are now funding large chunks of money towards care costs.

can I ask what it is you feel is preventing you from getting hired?

I dont have evidence but I think:
Inflexibility - being sole carer of a child of 6 means I can't work nights weekends early mornings etc.
Age - over 40
Location - small town, near other small towns, not many big employers and those there are seem to follow ...
Nepotism - big employers near me hire members of families already employed. Not unusual to find many generations of one family employed in similar roles.
Lack of qualification - though I can prove my track record with experience i don't have a piece of paper.
Long out of work - left work to care for daughter when ex worked. ex the left me single and stuck.
Cost of child care - minimum near me is £545 per month to cover collection. As I have £0 after bills I can't find £545 to pay upfront.
No family - no one to pick up, look after, babysit etc.

They are the biggest main ones I think.