To ask, am I a scrounger for thinking I might be entitled to UC?

[UCNovice]

Have name changed as don’t want to be linked to my usual post, although have written vaguely about this before.

Also posting in AIBU for help, although have no doubt I may be flamed here for wanting to claim anything.

I applied for UC a month ago. Before that my income was limited, I receive spousal maintenance from my eXH plus child maintenance and PIP, financially things are tight but as I have any kind of income I figured UC was never an option so I never pursued it. Then my mum said she’d seen something by Martin Lewis and how you can claim UC, so I did so, not least so I could get my national insurance stamp paid.

I have a disability plus serious illness which means that I have been out of work for some time, so I was referred to a job coach to enable me to find work. To say she is useless is an understatement, but she referred me to Reed Consulting for their rapid employment programme, however I had an email from them saying that due to high demand they are no longer taking referrals in my area.

This morning I have signed in to check if i am eligible for anything, as stated somewhere on their site which I am now starting to lose track of. It tells me that for being single I am entitled to around £400 (didn’t note the exact figures,) and that for having one child I am entitled to around £200 a month, (again, somewhere in that range,) my calculable income is set at £1000 which is spousal maintenance, which is deducted, and thus I am entitled to £0. Added to which I have to provide proof of earnings from my last job, which was 18 years ago, and I am not able to provide.

CM and PIP are not counted, so technically my income is £12000 a year, and yet I am not entitled to UC?

I feel a bit like a scrounger now because they’re essentially saying that because I have an income of £12k a year I shouldn’t be claiming. That was never my intention and tbh I wish I just hadn’t started down the road, because it’s caused me nothing but stress.

Added to which, people have advised me to claim ESA, except ESA no longer exists, and I have been told I wouldn’t be eligible anyway despite the fact I have a visual impairment and a heart condition.

My thinking is to just withdraw the claim at this point because I feel embarrassed that I even thought i might be entitled to anything.

But how does anyone actually ever claim anything on UC? I read about people having part time jobs and being able to claim, or in the current age where unemployment is rife and one member of a couple losing their job etc. But seems it isn’t that simple after all and yet people are often encouraged on here to make a claim?

Was I in the wrong here?

I also wanted to say that the if you can work comfortably from a computer at home, you will find that the employment market has changed considerably since last year. So many jobs are being offered with remote working. Of course there's high competition, but at least they exist. There are also free short courses on Open University that could look good on your CV.

Absolutely don’t be embarrassed!
At the start of lockdown I was earning 45k per year and a single parent. I’ve worked my entire life.
Covid took away my job and now I’m claiming UC and work part time earning a pittance. Why shouldn’t I claim UC? I’ve paid a significant amount into the system for the last 20 years so I’m not embarrassed and neither should you be

The problem is that your income is unearned. Unearned income is deducted pound for pound. If you worked, you would get an allowance of £512. That means that your calculable income would be £488, and 63% of that would be deducted from your award, so £307.44 deduction.

£409.89 + £281.25 = £691.14
£691.14- £307.44= £383.70

So you would get an allowance of £383.70.

You haven't done anything wrong, you've just got the wrong type of income.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing what you are entitled to. As it happens the system has said you are entitled to nothing at this point in time.

However, I can see why, in your specific case you might come across as unreasonable. You have said even without UC currently you have a income of 18K per year, which for some is a full yearly salary,, which then has deductions of tax and NI. To even attempt to claim you should have more might feel a bit of a pisstake to them.

Personally, I don't care, everyone should get what their circumstances dictate they are entitled to. It doesn't affect me or my entitlements (in the every day sense that is). In the broader sense, it does affect me though the assigned level of tax contributions I pay, and the services they pay for. If I thought someone's entitlement was unreasonably (low/high) then I would align my votes to the party which aim to reform the system in a way that better fits my views.

Could you look at whether you qualify for Limited capability for work and work related activity? If you do, that would add £341.92 to your award.

It sounds mean but, honestly, you are better off without it mental health wise anyway! The whole process is degrading, stressful, demoralising and bloody well soul destroying when the work search stuff starts. You are treated like a piece of dirt.

It sounds mean but, honestly, you are better off without it mental health wise anyway! The whole process is degrading, stressful, demoralising and bloody well soul destroying when the work search stuff starts. You are treated like a piece of dirt. apologies, hit post too soon.

I absolutely agree with you. Before I put in a claim I had happily accepted that I wouldn’t be eligible for anything, but then my mum called, said Martin lewis had said x and y and she’d gone on to some calculator and worked out I should be entitled to something, plus the job centre might be able to help me find work.., so I applied.

And it has been a degrading process ever since. The woman from the job centre didn’t even try to be helpful, she referred me to Reed but when I told her that they weren’t taking on more cases she simply said “thank you for letting me know,” and then “thank you for taking my call.” The exchange probably didn’t last much longer than about 60 seconds.

In terms of work I am constantly looking, not only at jobs but to see if I can find any self employment opportunities.

For the posters who have hit YABU (and I see it’s around half of them,) at no point did I want to feel entitled, it was purely because I had been told I should be that I put in the claim, and now I know.

SM and CM will end in two years, so if I don’t have a job then I will be up shit creek. But I’ll cross that bridge as and when.

Join the facebook group FUCA fighting universal credit atrocities.
Ask for help from an admin and they will take you through it step by step.
It is designed to be difficult to claim to put people off claiming it.

OP, the threshold at which your entitlement stops will go up if you get awarded limited capability for work-related activity. If you answered "yes" to the question about illness/disability, then they should send you a form UC50 soon, which will trigger the assessment process once they get the completed form back.

If you didn't answer "yes" to that question, you can download the form here assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/671814/uc50-interactive-final-0917.pdf and complete it electronically. The RNIB website has a useful factsheet that is very helpful on visual impairment and limited capability for work, as it isn't covered specifically in the questions.

It's best to get some help from CAB or similar with filling in the form.

They're doing the assessments by telephone atm, and appointments seem to be coming through fairly quickly.

You haven't mentioned any housing costs in your figures, OP, so I assume you're not liable to pay rent. Someone in your position would still qualify for some help if they paid rent of more than around £310 a month.

I'm afraid you're one of the many people who would be far better off under "legacy" benefits, OP. Not only would your spousal maintenance be ignored completely, but you'd be entitled to a premium of £67pw on top of your other benefits, because you get PIP and don't live with another adult.

OP, The way I understand the voting on this thread is that the posters are voting YABU with regards to the scrounger part.
So, yes, YABU to think of yourself as a scrounger, but YANBU to apply for UC.
That's how I understand it anyway.

Lougle is correct, please follow their advice.

Your problem is the SM is unearned income

Yeah I think the voting question is really unclear which is why it's just gone sort of 50:50 and nothing to take to heart.

Personally, I didn't vote until I saw you thought the q was "AIBU to claim UC", in which case my answer is YANBU and I clicked that. But the title suggests your q is "AIBU to feel like a scrounger", in which case my answer is YABU.

Don't be embarrassed. It's perfectly fine and also sensible to check if there is anything you can claim.

Added to which, people have advised me to claim ESA, except ESA no longer exists, and I have been told I wouldn’t be eligible anyway despite the fact I have a visual impairment and a heart condition.

ESA exists. They don't like people knowing this for some reason. You say you receive PIP, does this include any rate of daily living? If so, you can claim 'old style' ESA, as you are entitled to a 'severe disability premium' which does not exist on UC claims.

People who are entitled to a Severe Disability Premium cannot claim Universal Credit and can still make new claims for the benefits Universal Credit replaces. Use our calculator to check which benefits you might be able to claim because of your severe disability premium.

www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Severe-Disability-Premium/What-is-a-Severe-Disability-Premium

Its a well hidden secret, which is shit as it means people lose out, but twas ever thus..

It’s really worth seeing if you’d like qualify for the limited capability to work. Your job coach can advise you on this and would help financially and take the pressure off you.

I receive the limited capability due to my mental health and found the process really straight forward and the assessment wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

OP not really helpful in terms of UC but have you looked into employment in the civil service? I worked at the MOJ and a number of people in my building were PS or NLP.

Limited capability for work is a large chunk, however, severe disability premium especially if you are put in support group so get extra there too is more by a long shot. This is why they say ESA is a no go. ESA seems more 'stable' than UC too from what people tell me of UC..

OP, claim ESA. Seriously. Its better for most. Or try putting the UC/ESA through a benefit calculator and see which one you are better off under, generally speaking though, UC is a cut, sometimes a large one. But you absolutely CAN claim ESA IF you get daily living in PIP and live alone, which it sounds like.