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?

People with severe anxiety have difficulty with day to day functioning so they can get points in other areas too.
And the SW would be the person to fill in the form with her in order to adequately explain how her anxiety affects her. I'm really not sure why the SW hasn't suggested this.

OPs daughter is avoidant as addressing her issues is too painful for her.
So going forward she needs to claim disability benefits as she's not going to be able to work as things stand

When I was made homeless at 19 due to my mental health I got 115 every 2 weeks to cover everything, I had no one to help me out and it was incredibly hard but I was claiming everything I could and that was while I was waiting for my fit to work assessment. It isn't much at all and thankfully I didn't have full household costs due to being in a homeless scheme. I barely had anything I had a cheap smart phone and that was basically it. I didn't even have a TV or anything and couldn't afford one. Unfortunately unless she is going to work with people to get the right support and assess to the extra money they can't help, the money that she is currently entitled to is simply for her to survive.

poor dd. of course it's not enough
Can't remember where but i read an article that says most people take more then they put in. Make sense with state pension nhs schooling etc. So people can fuck off with the whole my tax money crap

The thing is OP you know your daughter, on paper though there needs to be black and white rules. Rather than saying she needs more money, I would say MH provision needs to be better.

Sorry I cannot empathise, she should sort out her mental health issues then go and work, not live on handouts and the welfare state which should be seen as last resort. She sees you as a safety net. I didn’t even have that and had to run before I could walk. Social anxiety (which I’m desperately fighting) is something That holds me back to this very day but I’m navigating life with it.

Maybe people should take some time to think about what ‘accessing a social life’ might mean
This young woman has a social worker which indicates a high level of need and by the sounds of it, severe anxiety.
If she is ever to have any sort of future, which will include getting a job, she needs help.
Part of that will be supporting her in engaging in society again, probably in very small steps. @Frequency has indicated, she isnt going go be out clubbing every week.

I support my next door neighbour who hasnt left her house except for medical appointments for over 2 years. If I could get her to the local church coffee morning that would the start of a social life for her. I also support someone else who has had a stroke and goes nowhere. He is desparate for a haircut - so our aim is to get him to the barber. That will be the start of his social life.
Having a social life is not about drinking, clubbing, partying. Its about engaging in society, with people.

Can she maybe look for some sort of remote work if she has social anxiety? I know that may be difficult though if she hasn’t got experience.

I notice a lot of posters saying to apply for PIP - from my experience working for the dwp, there is a lot of criteria to meet - people are asked if they can feed or wash themselves unaided in the assessment. If she can leave the house to go to the pub etc, it is extremely unlikely she would qualify.

My daughter has £180 a month left for her and her son after bills are paid. She needs to buy food out of that , clothes etc.
So I think £60 a week for a teenager at home is plenty.
If she doesn't leave the house what is she actually spending ??

If she's too anxious to leave the house, visit a doctor, or attend a job centre, how is she going 'on a night out once a month'? She's either housebound or she's not.
UC isn't meant to 'fund a modest lifestyle'.
She needs a part time job.

Frequency while I agree the welfare reform does target the most vulnerable in society they do have to procedures in place to ensure those claiming are entitled to do so.

Your DD is no doubt suffering from a disability that affects her daily life and there are benefits to support her however its not wrong that to access those benefits she needs to seek support from HCP otherwise everyone can just claim PIP.

Maybe if she is forced to fund herself her phone and her social life on £60 pw it may encourage her to seek the support she needs in order to claim more.

If UC do not allow for her MH as they do not know and she has no evidence she runs the risk of being sanctioned for not attending appointments or actively looking for work so her £60 pw could be less.

Yes, the lower three quintiles of households receive more back in tax credits or benefits than they pay in taxes.

I read that in a post on here recently, and checked on the ONS pages.

But the problem is she isn't claiming to be ill, she has no diagnosis or intention of getting one.
The country can't afford to subsidize older teens nights out and clothes because they don't want to work (which is how she is currently listed on her claim).
She has declared she lives rent free, therefore she only needs to eat.

The government don't want people to feel comfortable enough, to remain on benefits. It's to survive on.They want them to retrain or find a job. Could she find a job working from home?

By budgeting. Its not meant to be easy money!

Have I accidentally fallen into the daily mail comment section?

This is just a tiny but very shiny little example of how the corrupt government get away with it. Have the peasants squabbling over who is poor or disabled enough to qualify for a bit of extra help. Just vile.

OP I agree with you and I feel very sorry for you and your daughter. I hope she gets the help that she needs.

She is too anxious to visit a GP to get diagnosed with anything.

She needs to see someone even online or gp home visit so she can fill in unable to work
On uc she needs to tick disability that will trgigger needing (un)fit to work form from gp etc

She needs ti get some support fir her anxiety ask for home visit

@Frequency with the social worker's support you should apply for PIP, which is based on needs not diagnosis.

If you don’t think her government provided pocket money is enough for her to live a full enough life on maybe she could get a job? There are absolutely loads of jobs that you can do from home these days. People are so far down the line of feeling entitled to money being given to them in the UK, we are SO fortunate to be given anything at all especially when she’s contributed very little if anything at all. Where do you think the money comes from? From tax payers who mostly have worked and never received a penny’s help.

The problem is that as far as the government is concerned, she's a perfectly healthy adult who could walk into a job tomorrow (hospitality employers are crying out for warm bodies in most places).

You know that's not possible, but the DWP don't.

God this, in spades 🙌🏼

I think a lot of young adults this age incur significant student debt to support their lifestyles.

Hopefully there will be home based work she can do as a solo contributor.

Our country can’t afford to entirely support people for as long as they live. It’s a contribution, presumably she’d have to live with others in a bedsit if she weren’t living with you and she wouldn’t have money for discretionary spending.

hypothetical situation: 19 year old cant be bothered to work, perfectly able- they should get more money?

It's irrelevant whether someone is judged 'deserving' or 'undeserving' - ifs a financial benefit not a moral judgment. However what I don't understand is why you don't think £60 isn't enough, given that would easily cover the very occasional night out that she has?

Part of that will be supporting her in engaging in society again, probably in very small steps. @Frequency has indicated, she isnt going go be out clubbing every week.

This is actually exactly what I meant. You've put it much more concisely than I did. The idea of it was to give her the means to access society independently of me and my sister.

She met her boyfriend in school. He was the cousin of her primary school friend and attended her seconday school. They've been together since they were 13 but are now drifting apart as she is unable to keep up with the change in his lifestyle. He's at college meeting new people and going out to new places and DD cannot join him. They are currently "on a break" and she hasn't left her bedroom for 10 days. She was supposed to be coming to the salon supply shop with me today to pick a new hair colour but is still in bed telling me she feels too sad to get out of bed.

Plus, I wouldn't of thought a person with severe social anxiety would have an awful lot of socialising to do!