AIBU to be fucked off with this

[Bintymcbintface]

I am a single parent to 1 and work part time whilst trying to increase my contracted hours to earn more and not be struggling. I do receive tax credits and housing benefit but not the max amounts, part of trying to move to more FT hours is so I don't have to claim anything. Coming up to Christmas I did some overtime and my housing benefit got cut drastically working out I'm about £170 a month down, this is being rectified as I was able to show the increased earnings over December were a one off and not a reflection of my usual take home pay.

Anyways, my dsis works part time, lives with full time working boyfriend and in all their combined earnings are perhaps 4 times mine. She casually mentioned that they'd applied for UC "just to see and boost their money". The application was accepted and now they're getting 80% of their rent paid and more money on top.

I know it isn't their fault they were awarded it but I can't help but feel really fucking annoyed by this. I did a tiny bit of OT and ended up properly screwed, they earn way more than I do, applied for a benefit they didn't need to boost savings and are pretty much getting everything handed to them and have bought a new car and are booking holidays... How is this right or fair?

I can't apply for UC as the legacy payments would stop and I can't afford to be down for 5 weeks, besides I don't want to, I want to honestly earn my way and want to get off benefits.

YABU - fair play to them
YANBU - It isn't fair

skiornottoski
These people who did these got a shock during covid. The government paid self employed according to what they’d submitted as paying themselves previously
So those who had been paying themselves pittance
We’re caught short!!

Not quite true - self employed had to submit their tax return figures, it is based on the whole profit of a business, NOT how much was taken out as a wage. It was purely business profit, that’s profit before any wage is taken. So if your annual profit was £30,000 but you only took a wage of £5000, it was based on £30,000. As are tax credit/UC calculations. So what you pay yourself as a wage is irrelevant, the benefits are calculated on business profit.

@CheesePlantMurderer

I too feel for you. One of my closest friends chose to move from our town to London, hasn't been able to sustain the level of pay her new business was initially making so now gets over £1000 in UC. She lives in a very expensive borough by choice, pays herself a pittance from her company and works minimal hours a week. Very clever. And very annoying!

Her UC is based on her annual profit, NOT what she pays herself as a wage …

@Namechangehereandnow

skiornottoski These people who did these got a shock during covid. The government paid self employed according to what they’d submitted as paying themselves previously So those who had been paying themselves pittance We’re caught short!!

Not quite true - self employed had to submit their tax return figures, it is based on the whole profit of a business, NOT how much was taken out as a wage. It was purely business profit, that’s profit before any wage is taken. So if your annual profit was £30,000 but you only took a wage of £5000, it was based on £30,000. As are tax credit/UC calculations. So what you pay yourself as a wage is irrelevant, the benefits are calculated on business profit.

* Your self-employed profits must not be more than £50,000 per year and they must make up at least half of your total income*

Loads would have been fiddling their figures so that when the time came… smile wiped from face!

But it’s company profit, not the wage you pay yourself from your business.
So if your business makes a profit of 50,000 a year and you pay yourself £5000 wage, or your profit is £50,000 and you pay yourself £20,000 …. the outcome is the same. It’s based on 50,000.

I’m finding it very difficult to believe they are entitled to UC. When I started work full time, and I only earn £26k, the UC stopped completely. They must be bringing in more than or similar to me to afford what you describe? Have I misunderstood anything? There’s no way they can be eligible, see here: www.gov.uk/universal-credit/how-your-earnings-affect-your-payments

Therefore, she didn’t declare her boyfriend’s income and said she was single, or she didn’t declare hers. The answer to your question is: they are committing benefit fraud.

The advance can now be paid off over 24 months for some. If you are going to get an increased amount of UC you probably won't miss the repayment.

Another benefit to UC is that the risk for overpayment is very low as HMRC reports your wages in real time each month. With tax credits, it's calculated over the year.

Yes I have 5 children but the 2 child cap catches me. I only have one in nursery.

And child benefit was on top.

I did the calculations based on our current household income (which is around £80k household).

It's easy enough to do on the turn to us site. It asked my council tax which is v high as I'm in a high charging authority and my mortgage outstanding which is also quite high.

Given that we have secondary aged children in private school on our income I don't think we should be qualifying for anything!

Child benefit is £77.15 per week.

@bracebrace

Yes I have 5 children but the 2 child cap catches me. I only have one in nursery.

There is NO 2 child cap for child benefit

For UC - yes

Ah you have child care costs

That will be it

You’re entitled to £50 week 80% of your child care costs returned. Which is about right if you’re child is 3 and receiving 15 hours and you’re part time.

You are entitled to this. You have 5 children. An income of £80k

I can’t understand why would would not claim what is rightfully yours and certainly not overly “generous” considering the amount of benefit and the number of children involved

Come again

You have plural private school fees
5 children
Income pre tax of £80k

Wow - The fees must be peanuts!

In your own words

* Private school for example is easily paid for if you are a mid earner (£100k household) only have a couple of children *

!

I don't qualify for uc as I've got savings. I ran a calculator as though I don't have those savings. I've this year taken a much lower paid job as I want to work very part time.

You can run the calculator too if you don't believe me. 5 children, born post 2008, mortgage of £340k and council tax of £3,800 a year. £1.4K nursery fees.

But private day school is easily paid for if you plan for it - hence why all the good private schools are so oversubscribed. What do you want a picture of my daughter in her school uniform? Day school fees are around £16k a year where I am.

I thought troll hunting was banned?

I thought you said that you were entitled? To £50 a week. Your first post?

So you have £16k x 2 a year £32k
And £16800 nursery bill
Totalling almost £50k

And you have another two children (not at private presumably?

So you need a minimum of £48k after tax for 3 of your five children

And your income is just under £80k BEFORE tax.

Does not make sense!

I’m not sure you sound mean and bitter as such. Deeply jealous of their car and a holiday, yes, and quite resentful they can do that, and you really begrudge them it. I’m not sure it’s mean and bitter to be honest, just you’re letting your jealousy get the better of you

Just seen that ran without savings

I'm more annoyed I ended up screwed trying to earn my way when they applied knowing they didn't need the help, maybe is a little jealousy but it's hard when you're struggling and trying your best to better yourself and earnings and you see others who were already better off taking the piss with it all

Their income just be appalling if they are receiving 80% of rent and additional benefits
I highly doubt to “boost savings”
In any event - once they hit £6k, benefit is tapered substantially

@Skiornottoski

Their income just be appalling if they are receiving 80% of rent and additional benefits I highly doubt to “boost savings” In any event - once they hit £6k, benefit is tapered substantially

On Uc there is absolutely no way people can say they get 80% of their rent paid because Uc is made up of elements for rent, children, disability etc and then reduced by earnings. What I suspect they mean by this is that 80% of their rent is paid as a rent element . It doesn't actually mean 80% is paid because it's just a payment. If they said 80% of our rent gets paid directly to our landlord then yes that would indicate a very low income.

@bracebrace the amount your CT and mortgage is has zero baring on your UC except for the fact you’ll get a higher work allowance due to having a mortgage. The reason you are asked those questions is to see whether you’d be entitled to council tax support which is paid separately

Op go to universal credit essentials on Facebook and work out how to calculate what you would get.
I'm a full time worker, single parent, renter and I'm much better off on universal credit than I was on tax credits and housing benefit.
Housing benefit was such a pain in the arse to claim that I stopped claiming what I was entitled to because I was sick of sending them bank statements, invoices and payslips.
Apparently nobody at the council can work out average earnings from a year's worth of information.
With universal credit it's all calculated month to month on what you actually earn so no overpayments that can't be explained either.
I was scared of switching but wish I'd done it sooner, I'm better off and I like the transparency, I can work out to the penny what I'll get as soon as I get my last payslip of the assessment period.
To dispel some myths, nobody with a household income of 38k is getting free school meals unless kids are ks1.
I earn 18k single parent my child has never been eligible for FSM.
Household s earning 80k a month might be entitled to some UC depending on circumstances but entitlement is always calculated monthly or by assessment period which are monthly.
Not weekly as some have claimed so there is a whiff of bullshit on this thread as to be expected really.

@PanicPrevention

Op go to universal credit essentials on Facebook and work out how to calculate what you would get. I'm a full time worker, single parent, renter and I'm much better off on universal credit than I was on tax credits and housing benefit. Housing benefit was such a pain in the arse to claim that I stopped claiming what I was entitled to because I was sick of sending them bank statements, invoices and payslips. Apparently nobody at the council can work out average earnings from a year's worth of information. With universal credit it's all calculated month to month on what you actually earn so no overpayments that can't be explained either. I was scared of switching but wish I'd done it sooner, I'm better off and I like the transparency, I can work out to the penny what I'll get as soon as I get my last payslip of the assessment period. To dispel some myths, nobody with a household income of 38k is getting free school meals unless kids are ks1. I earn 18k single parent my child has never been eligible for FSM. Household s earning 80k a month might be entitled to some UC depending on circumstances but entitlement is always calculated monthly or by assessment period which are monthly. Not weekly as some have claimed so there is a whiff of bullshit on this thread as to be expected really.

I think if kids are entitled to fsm, and then earnings increase, then maybe that pupil premium continues to the end of that key stage? This could be why they get fsm still.