To not understand how can you live on £60 a week?

[Frequency]

19 year old DD's social worker has arranged for her to have chaperone at her UC appointments which means she can now claim. She has severe anxiety and cannot leave the house without another person much less speak to a stranger.

I've just helped her fill out a form on Entitled To to check how much she would get.

£60 weekly.

How the fuck is she meant to survive on £60 a week?

Does this mean HMRC still expect me to fund her?

Obviously I will but if I refused what the feck is she supposed to do? how can she eat and clothe herself on £60 a week? What about contributing towards gas and electric? Paying for her mobile phone? Accessing social activities?

I just don't understand how this can be deemed enough to maintain any kind of standard of living?

They asked for my income so I assume they've taken this into account. They didn't ask if I was related to her so would a friend also be expected to feed and clothe her?

Maybe if she had spent less time texting on a screen and more time talking to real people in real life she would not be unable to as you say even talk to a stranger?

She was raped by a friend when she was 14. This triggered her difficulties.

Is she deserving enough of support yet?

If you kicked her out and made her homeless then she'd be entitled to more money.

No she wouldn't. She would get the same amount to live off as she does now plus the housing element which is all for rent not living expenses. She would be expected to pay all her bills plus food on £66.32 pw.

This would allow her to pay for her own phone, contribute a small amount towards the cost of keeping her and leave enough for her to maybe have a night out once a month and save for some clothes. I don't think that is too much expect. no sorry you've lost me there. A night out is like £40-£50?! There's no way a benefit should be covering that.

Also re: the GP, do you think she'd be up to doing one of those econsult forms? She could write it all down and then when she gets to the GPS/on the phone they'd know before hand she is likely to be extremely nervous

There are many, many people surviving on this amount with no other support at all. They have to cover ALL their own bills. There is no extra for clothes & socialising!

It does seem odd that she’s too anxious to leave the house even to see a GP with your support, but wants money to socialise.

a young person who’s parents couldn’t or wouldn’t support them would most likely need to force themselves to go to a GP for help and go through the painful process of claiming PIP.

most 19 year old are at least partly supported by their parents, not just those on UC.

Frequency

I am so sorry that your DD has been through such trauma.

There is financial support available for her but in order to access it she does need to engage with her GP.
She needs to do that anyway as it sounds like she needs MH/trauma support urgently.

The only extra she would get would be help with her rent costs, nothing else.

Anxiety doesn't work like that. What a vile post.

Sorry one more thing re:phone check she's on a cheap contract or if she can switch to a pay as you go, it will be easier to budget and if you have WiFi she won't need to pay for a data package.

I would assume that that £60 per week was supposed to cover only absolute essentials, on a short term basis. Unemployment type benefits are only ever intended to be a stop gap that you are on between jobs, so it's set at amount that probably only covers food and a cheap mobile phone sim card etc.

You must see how odd this sounds?

Your daughter's anxiety is so bad she hasn't even been to a GP but you think she needs money for socialising and buying clothes.

Why does she have a social worker out of interest?

I'm sorry to hear what's happened to her. It does sound a little odd to be wanting money for her to go on nights out when she currently can't even attend a GP appt.

A night out!? Christ.

Yes she didn't chose to be ill, but how much help has she received after her attack?

Benefits are to help people survive, not for nights out.

I agree, it's like emergancy funding in between jobs.

£60 isn't a lot, but I don't think that UC is particularly designed for topping up mum's mortgage and the occasional jolly.

You've opened a can of worms here by asking if she's worthy enough, it'll just stoking that fire. There will always be people who are better and worse off. I don't think it's particularly respectful to your daughter either. You sound a bit too emeshed and resentful.

Does your daughter have any future plans or goals that will help her move past the trauma and start living independently? I am curious why she isn't home based working. It's pretty standard now, plenty of online jobs don't require much social interaction or qualifications.

Of course she is, but she needs to do what is needed to access it. Support - financial or otherwise - is not given on just on someone's say so, the demand/request needs to be validated.

If she can't leave the house how is she going to have a night out? Be realistic OP? If she can go on a night out she can work in some capacity. £60 is more than enough for a pay as you go cheap phone and food.

You can't live on that much, only barely survive, which is why this country is falling apart, but she should be eligible for PIP.

You can actually fill out the forms without her going to the doctor although she is less likely to get PIP, it is possible.
Her Social Worker should be able to include information with her claim about how her condition proscribes her life, and that would count as some evidence.

Ask the Social Worker for help with it.

Could she get a job in a bar if she's used to that environment?

To be fair, it doesn't sound as though she wants to spend a night out. I'm sure you don't need any of us to tell you that encouraging her to speak to social services and GP and engage with services would be best, not to ask for more money for socialising that seems very unlikely to happen. I think itemising out her money for her phone and clothes and partying will piss a lot of people off and it does sound like you are able to support as is and there needs to be a degree of self-engagement. Sorry, I'm not trying to tell you to suck eggs here and it must be really hard

OP, it is shit. To give you an example, children who leave the 'care' system at 18 - traumatised children who by definition are unlikely to have family who can help them out, and who are much more likely to have poor mental health - receive the same basic entitlement (albeit some variance due to housing cost)

The principle behind the policy is that people should 'learn to cope' enough to get into work. That includes for example, people who have lifelong physically disabilities - UC assumes that people must adapt and adjust.

My knowledge re this is based on researching UC as the scheme was being drafted (part of my master's degree)

The trouble is, people who use the benefits system are rarely those who vote the govt in, or who campaign.

Oh and for those on here frothing at the mouth about PAYING for OTHER PEOPLE's CHILDREN, unless you're in the top 5% or so of earners, you're not paying them anything. Anything you put in you're statistically almost guaranteed to get out by drawing your own pension. You're not providing a net benefit so you can calm down about 'paying people to go on nights out'.

How does she manage to go on a night out if she has such severe anxiety that makes it difficult to work as she can't leave the house?

I agree, it's like emergancy funding in between jobs.

Yep. The point being that if you are a) too ill to work b) too old to work c) caring for very young children so can't work

For more than a short spell of a time, then other benefits kick in to provide a higher level of income - PIP & DLA, pensions, maternity allowance, child element etc