Claiming Universal Credit, DB says I'm well off.

[Aphrael]

I've been claiming Universal Credit since September, it's currently at the "Assessment Rate" of £270 per month while I'm waiting for a Work Capability Assessment to determine I'm unfit to work. I've been cleaning PIP for a few years now and I have a Motability car. My payment after this deduction is £240 per month.

So overall I receive £510 and have to pay everything like electric, gas, phone/broadband, Council Taxx2, fuel for the car before I even consider shopping and I am struggling and having to rely on the local Food Bank, although I dislike some of the items they provide.

I sometimes have asked my parents/brother for money - for context my parents receive £2,200 per month and my brother & wife receive £1,750 per month.

While my brother has been willing to provide money and/or food last night he castigated me for being greedy, selfish and behaving in an unacceptable manner. Any advice also would be great.

AIBU - They don't have to support me and don't have to supply anything.
AINBI - Supporting me is a great thing to do as I am really struggling at the moment on the assessment rate.

I’m fascinated about how your parents get £2200 plus rent paid
can you expand further ?
are they on state pension plus pension credit plus highest rate of attendance allowance each - still not 2.2k
Or younger and both in WCA support group on either ESA or UC plus both higher mobility higher daily living
or some other combo I’m not aware of
if you live alone I’m sympathetic as the benefit system favours families, then couples - lone adults always lose out

overall I receive £510 and have to pay everything like electric, gas, phone/broadband, Council Taxx2, fuel for the car before I even consider shopping

I only receive £324 per month. I have no idea how they calculated this. It doesn't even leave me any money for food. So yes, in comparison I'd say you are well off. You presumably get C Tax support too.

I wonder if any of the posters on this thread who think the OP should be able to manage on £510 pcm would like to demonstrate how? And be sure to allow for the additional cost of gluten-free options, possible contribution to housing costs etc.

l work in welfare rights, but my job also involves coaching in financial capability/budgeting. Three years ago, I could invariably find a few ways of shaving a couple of pounds off here and a fiver off there to make people's money go further, but I'm increasingly finding, as Martin Lewis puts it "There's nothing left to cut back on".

@GreenFingersWouldBeHandy , the standard allowance for single over-25s is now £335 a month, so what you're getting is the standard allowance at last year's rate. It should go up a little in your next payment.

If you don't have any rent to pay, or children, that's all you're entitled to initially.(The extra the OP only gets is her PIP).

If you're not working because you're ill, that could change after a medical assessment, but that won't be for a few months. If you have rent, or children, make sure they know and provide evidence (tenancy agreement and bank statement showing child benefit number), so those can be added to your claim. (My DIL didn't get those elements for 3 months, because they never asked for evidence, so she didn't know she needed to provide it).

But you should apply to the council for help with your council tax now.

And it is utterly shit. That amount wouldn't cover my monthly standing orders. But this is what people voted for when they voted for austerity.

@LakieLady Thank you for your response. That makes sense.

Yes, I have a medical condition but am in the middle of a 'phased return to work'. I do not quality for PIP.

I'm trying to set up my own business but slipping further into debt each month. I don't understand how they can expect that to cover everything. If I'm working from home, I need broadband, phone, lighting etc. I haven't been able put my heating on at all this past winter. And I"m worried that the stress of it all will exacerbate my medical condition.

@LakieLady I also definitely did not vote for this lot!

I had to get my work laptop to do this on the software we use at work because I wasn't sure on a couple of points, but it goes like this @JaceLancs :

PIP (E/DLC, E/Mob) x 2 = £313.80 pw/£1,358 pcm

The UC calculation includes:

Standard allowance £525.72
LCWWRA £354.28
Carer element £168.81

Total UC £1,048.81

Plus PIP £1,358

Grand total £2, 406.81pcm

So perfectly possible.

Me neither and I would love to know how those who did justify the cuts that mean that someone who can't work for even a short period can totally fuck up someone's finances and, ultimately, their lives. People are forced to use the houising costs money to eat, and end up homeless as a result.

If you have a Tory MP, I'd make an appt to see them at their surgery and ask them how you're meant to manage while you recover sufficiently to get back to work F/T.

I've asked the useless lump of lobby fodder that is my MP and she just gave a load of nonsensical waffle. I swear she has less brain than the average cabbage.

The treatment of the ill, the unemployed and the vulnerable in this country is reducing people to near Dickensian levels of poverty.

Are you all on benefits?

@Aphrael genuine q, with the shift to wfh is there anything you could do to improve your situation?

it’s a very small amount to survive on but your rent is covered, yes? After council tax and gas/electric there should be approx 300+ left? It’s manageable if you’re single with no dependents and budget hard

@Aphrael, why do you say you pay Council Tax? Do you not claim Council Tax Reduction (called Council Tax Support by some councils)?

The whole point of PIP is that it's supposed to help with the extra costs of having a disability, so in a way that shouldn't even be counted. With the cost of living rising so much, it's unsurprising that you're struggling on the basic amount of UC that you get.

Your brother sounds very unkind and frankly hypothetical to say those things to you when he himself is claiming benefits and getting much more.

YWBU to ask your brother for financial support. But if your parents are happy to help you out and can afford it then YANBU to ask them.

i hope your WCA result comes back soon and you get LCWRA, the payment will be backdated.

hypothetical hypocritical

YABU still expecting them
To hand you money. That money is for their disability.

Personally I don’t think there should ever be an expectation of family members supporting you financially. There is a degree of entitlement that comes across in your posts. We’ve had a similar issue with a family member who will ask to borrow money and never pays it back, ask us to pick up shopping and never offers to pay us. On the outside, in comparison it may look like we are fairly well off but we live within our means and all these bits here and there add up and is money we can’t afford to loose. It’s the sense of entitlement and expectation that we do this that has caused bad feeling and the clear assessment that we can afford it and therefore should do it, with no thanks etc when the reality is that paying out for things for them means we need to go without to make things balance. I think any entitled behaviour will automatically result in bad feeling.

However I do hope things become easier for you and you get your benefits all sorted.

I mean there's no doubt you're struggling but I don't think you should rely on your brother and parents to help as they probably haven't got much either. They aren't exactly high earners either from what you explain. We are a one income family, Dp earns 2000 a month and we are always skint despite getting some help from tax credits and DLA for my oldest. We wouldn't have any spare to help out relatives on a regular basis. Do you get help with you rent?

What was in it @Nothappyatwork ?

How much is your rent op? Do you live alone? Do you live with someone but claim to live alone?

I mean if your parents and brother were mega earners, but 2 grand and £1750 isn't a lot right now, especially for a couple to live on or if they don't get any help with anything. Or are they in benefits too?? Regardless they probably don't have much spare to help you. I can appreciate things are tough on you but you can't rely or expect on others.

Regardless of the source or amount of their income, they have no 'duty' to support you at all. And often times one's income (even benefits) may seem generous to an 'outsider', but in actuality is just enough to live on without squeezing blood out of their last pence. Their finances are none of your business.

Even if they were millionaires, they'd still have no duty to support you, although I wouldn't think very highly of them if they had money to burn and didn't offer to help in some way. But I think there are also cases where monetary help hasn't been used in the way it should be used (rent, food, etc), but rather spent on things that were not true necessities. Or the person uses their own money in frivolous ways then asks for handouts. That would leave a bad taste in my mouth, even if I were 'Bill Gates rich'. Not saying OP is doing either BTW.

BUT, I will say that IF someone chooses to give or lend money to another it needs to be done with good grace and no nasty comments. If one cannot be kind in giving, it's best they just keep their money in their pocket.

It still sounds as if you feel entitled to help from your brother and parents. You’re not. They live on very little by the sound of it. How can you reduce your expenses?

All of the money being discussed by OP is benefits payments.

If you are lucky enough to be fully ‘able bodied’ and in good mental health then no you can’t compare apples with pears.

Think, for example, of the families running medical equipment to give their disabled children a basic quality of life who now have to switch that equipment off due to the cost of energy.

Yes these peoples conditions may deteriorate in cold homes with no food.

Ah yes, complaining that a family of people with long term disabilities is better off than you!

This whole thread is unbearable and shows how little moral compass so many in the U.K. have now.