Am I worse off than someone on on UC??

[Underduvet33]

AIBU here to be annoyed? I recently heard someone say that they get £1300 in Universal credit per month and work 12hrs a week earning approx 300 pounds per month- plus they get all their childcare free as on UC plus require less childcare as only work 12 hours a week

That leaves them with 1600 to spend on rent etc (do they get help with this too??)

I don’t get any benefits I have 2 children in nursery full time- so I can work full time. Even with one of my children receiving 30 hours free - after childcare costs are deducted from my take home salary I’m left with 1100 a month to pay rent bills etc. i am in a good job with a good profession but it seems I’m worse off than someone on benefits?

Have I got this all wrong? If I quit my job worked and worked a small part time job claiming benefits of get more money per month in my pocket and spend more time with my kids?

I really think I must have misunderstood because I don’t get the impression that people on benefits are living the high life?

What have I misunderstood??? Were the numbers I told incorrect??

@neverbeenskiing Your SIL is daft as she’d be better off long term building up her pension and having more chance of being promoted. Short term rather than long term thinking.

@LizziesTwin I completely agree. Not my circus, not my monkeys though.

Working is always better, short term some people have a few extra quid in their pockets but long term they can end up with fewer options, less likely to have a career to grow and less financial independence.
Work always pays!

@TibetanTerrah

I'll get flamed but I am definitely worse off than someone on UC. I'm single with no children and get no benefits and pay extortionate private rent for a tiny studio. In principle I could go out and have a one night stand, get pregnant and id be entitled to most of my rent covered for a much bigger flat. Fortunately I have no interest in being a parent so I won't be doing that

I must say it was worse when Labour were in power though. I knew two people who lived alone, no children, in expensive parts of London (Balham and Islington) who had their rent covered and only worked part time for "pocket money". Meanwhile I was working full time on just above minimum wage with a 3hr daily commute as I couldn't afford to live in London. i was very glad when the tories came in and both of those people were told they'd only get housing benefit to cover a houseshare, although my male friend suddenly found a girlfriend and got her pregnant in a matter of weeks

You are a SINGLE person. This alone gives you options which equivalent to money. Move to a cheaper area... and save.

Live in a house share. Work 2 jobs.

There's no way that as a single person I would be paying extortionate private rent.

@Piggyk2 I'm 34, if I can stretch to a place alone I'm not doing a houseshare. I DO work two jobs thanks. I've looked at 'cheaper areas' but whilst it would be bigger, it wouldn't be that much/any cheaper than what I'm paying now as my place is so small, plus the added cost of commuting further to my jobs.

None of what you've said is relevant to my post though, that if I happened to have a child, even one I only had 50% of the time, I could get the majority of my rent paid by UC for a place 4 times bigger than where I live now. It is what it is.

I think my favourite bit of benefit bashing was when my dc's father informed me he would no longer pay the mortgage because he found out how much UC I was receiving- to help care for our disabled dc. I was working part time at the time, and it made me realise I needed to scramble to get the mortgage in my name to protect my dc from their feckless, selfish father and keep a roof over their heads, because he certainly didn't give a fuck.

Luckily I managed to find full-time work from home and have subsequently been able to sort out financial independence since then but fucking hell. The cold-heartedness displayed in threads like this is nothing compared to fathers like him.

[quote TibetanTerrah]@Piggyk2 I'm 34, if I can stretch to a place alone I'm not doing a houseshare. I DO work two jobs thanks. I've looked at 'cheaper areas' but whilst it would be bigger, it wouldn't be that much/any cheaper than what I'm paying now as my place is so small, plus the added cost of commuting further to my jobs.

None of what you've said is relevant to my post though, that if I happened to have a child, even one I only had 50% of the time, I could get the majority of my rent paid by UC for a place 4 times bigger than where I live now. It is what it is.[/quote]
UC often sell the rent element but they give you less money to live off of compared to the old system!

It is very relevant you just don't want to hear it. How can you be sure of what you would get from UC? It goes on you your salary.
I used to get £820 from my wage and 680 from UC which includes my rent. Its hardly the high life is it for TWO people???

I wouldn't envy people on UC because it's cones with part time work, lack 9f childcare quite often and a lot of other things your too ignorant to acknowledge.

There's no point attacking me @Piggyk2 - I never said UC was the high life. OP asked about being better off and I gave my perspective. Working two jobs to have the same disposable income - i.e. very little - as if I had a child and worked part time.

As I said, it is what it is. There's no envy from me.

I really feel uncomfortable reading these threads TBH.There seems a rather nasty undervibe to many posts ,suggesting that people on benefits (Of which many are ,due to circumstances beyond their control)should have the very bare minimum,while those of us able to be in work should be living the high life! Surely the whole point of a democratic society should be providing support for those on hard times? No one knows if they may be in such a position in the future !

I think it’s helpful to discuss these issues. They are really important to us single mums.

I worked in the city making low six figures when dds were young. I needed to pay for a nanny so I could do my job. Commuting costs and rent were huge. I paid loads in tax and had to pay back my child benefits. It was a really tough time because I was so busy and stressed and exhausted at the end of the week.
Shortly after that I lost my job and ended up on jsa and tax credits. I wasn’t actually that much worse off financially because my outgoings decreased so much. And I had way more time with dds and when they went to nursery some me time.

Not sure if I have a point beyond sharing my experience. I suppose just that we should drop stereotypes and look at facts. If we were to incentivize people to work more maybe more help with childcare or tax deductions for all childcare. That said, I don’t actually think we should encourage single mums to work full time - it’s incredibly difficult and not worth it imo. I suppose it has been helpful to my career that I didn’t give it up though and benefits me long term

My colleague gets a hefty payment from UC every month and is definitely better off than I am.

This is because I am lucky enough to have a mortgage.

if you rent and you earn less then about £30k you seem to be better off on UC.

@INeedNewShoes

*I’m a single parent with 2 in primary school and I work about 19h a week. I receive £1400 approx UC and £750 wage.*

I'm a single parent to one primary age DC. I earn around £1000 pcm and only get £200pcm tax credits.

Whenever I read threads on UC I wonder if I'd be better off on UC than tax credits...

Are you sure that's right? I earn exactly the same you and I'm on tax credits. You should be getting the maximum amount of child tax credits which is about £63pw, plus a small amount of working tax credits. I get £42pw WTC.

Yup it’s the longer term , career aspirations and pensions where your employer pays in . Getting out able to meet people and all that. Sure some people with kids do get a fair amount but it still comes at a cost in other ways. I always felt the worse place to be is single and on benefits pretty sure you get barely anything.

I totally support a benefit system but the truth is that when my children were both in childcare, I had far less disposable income than my best mate who worked a few hours a week and didn’t need childcare as much (both single parents). It was a long game though and by staying in work my financial outlook now is far better.

@TibetanTerrah

There's no point attacking me *@Piggyk2* - I never said UC was the high life. OP asked about being better off and I gave my perspective. Working two jobs to have the same disposable income - i.e. very little - as if I had a child and worked part time.

As I said, it is what it is. There's no envy from me.

Possibly, but then you don't have a child to support so there's probably a similar amount left at the end of the month either way. Kids aren't cheap.

It's always best long term to be in employment. I live in an area with a high proportion of uc claimants, many don't work at all and can't understand those who do. I often wonder what will happen when their children have grown and they lose most of their income.

I employed a woman who at 29 had never worked and had 4 children. She was getting around £1400 in UC but when she started working for me it didn't drop by that much, and she obviously had her wage. She has since distanced herself from a group of friends who were mocking her for working and losing some benefits.

@Aaaabbbcccc

If people are working 12 hrs a week why are they not working full time like the rest of us?

We don’t claim any benefits now but having been a single parent I think it is quite unfair to expect them to work full time or even necessarily at all. I did work full time as a single parent for a few years as part of career development. However that was my choice at a time which best suited my family and still was extremely stressful and if not for the help of a brilliant support network myself and my children wouldn’t have managed it. I have since worked part time which has been far better for the whole family. I had to go away for work for a few weeks once working full time and it was an absolute breeze without family responsibility’s

@Smallkeys

Yup it’s the longer term , career aspirations and pensions where your employer pays in . Getting out able to meet people and all that. Sure some people with kids do get a fair amount but it still comes at a cost in other ways. I always felt the worse place to be is single and on benefits pretty sure you get barely anything.

Yes, this is a worry for the future for me. I work 28 hours a week, I can't work any more than that as I have no more childcare available (my mum already dropped her working days to help me out with school runs and there's only spaces at wrap around club on one day a week which I use). So I'm only paying £50 a month into my pension right now! God knows if I'll ever be retiring. I have a mortgage fortunately so at least that's some security.

I just did the entitlement calculator for two unemployed parents with two kids over 5. £1600 a month with no council tax repayments. And I agree with you - that is a disgustingly high amount of money, and is more than I make after tax and council tax, for working full time!

@Autumn42 - I don’t think it’s “unfair” to expect single parents to work at least part time. I managed to work full time as a single mum in a really busy job. It’s certainly possible and not that difficult in a less demanding part time role

@DogsAndGin

I just did the entitlement calculator for two unemployed parents with two kids over 5. £1600 a month with no council tax repayments. And I agree with you - that is a disgustingly high amount of money, and is more than I make after tax and council tax, for working full time!

How much rent did you base that on? Sounds high but £1600 for 2 adults and 2 kids doesn't go very far at all. If rent is £600, then there's energy and water bills to pay, TV license, mobile phones, food, clothes.

Plus you can't just choose to have 2 adults not working, at least one of them would be having to job search while claiming.

@Ponoka7

My DD has two children and has never got that. She got around £1k a month. You don't get any other money towards your rent, that's it. Your example is very lucky to have her child care covered, a lot of nurseries give set hours, if you are talking about her 15 free hours. Every two year old gets that. You don't get free childcare on UC, people on low incomes get 30 hours for a 3/4 year old.

I think you have this the wrong way round. People on low incomes get 15hrs at 2. I don't qualify- looked it up. 3 year olds all get 30 hours if parents meet certain criteria. High income do not qualify but threshold way higher - 100k net.

Op.. I’m a single mum and work and claim UC. I earn approx £1200 a month and get my rent paid and about £90 UC.

I get about 16k a year I think I am on legacy benefits but the majority of that is to pay the rent (12k a year), I live in london.

my JSA is £54 a week, my kid is in school, other then that I get child benefit and child tax credits.

my council tax costs £104 a month (think its going up to £111)
I pay the gas and electric out of my money and the tv license and contents insurance, I am also not entitled to help with prescriptions costs etc because I have too much money, I do get a bus pass for half price travel on buses and trams (not tube tho).

Water, phone and internet is paid by the ex, he swaned off and left everything for me to sort out, they are all in his name only (he took me off them years ago without me knowing) and he pays them by direct debit so as far as I am concerned they count as child maintenance.

my child tax credits I think are £255 a month? I am not sure that sounds about right.

@ByHook0rByCrook

I think my favourite bit of benefit bashing was when my dc's father informed me he would no longer pay the mortgage because he found out how much UC I was receiving- to help care for our disabled dc. I was working part time at the time, and it made me realise I needed to scramble to get the mortgage in my name to protect my dc from their feckless, selfish father and keep a roof over their heads, because he certainly didn't give a fuck.

Luckily I managed to find full-time work from home and have subsequently been able to sort out financial independence since then but fucking hell. The cold-heartedness displayed in threads like this is nothing compared to fathers like him.

I hope you now go through cms to get that money for your children. What an arsehole your ex is.