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

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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?

As far as the government (as in any department which pays benefits) know the OP’s daughter is choosing not to work and living at home with mum, rent free.

Given that, £3,000 per year for drinks and nice clothes doesn’t really sound ridiculous.

Eg she could give you £35 pw towards bills and keep £25pw for socialising?

I would suggest contacting the CAB.

My 24 yo DS llives at home, suffers mental ill health, gets PIP and ESA, total payments per month is around £970.

Haven’t time to go through the whole thread but try and find a carers charity (as you are her carer) and they will help you apply for PIP to receive the most points applicable. When I was suffering with crippling agoraphobia my local carers charity helped me get a backdated payment of about £3000 to cover for the period I couldn’t work which helped.

It’s awful Op. The government just does not give a shit about anyone struggling in this country.
I am on Carers Allowance, for the pitiful £67 per week I have to assure the government that I am able to give up at least 35 hours per week which means I can only actually work a minimal amount. CA also doesn’t qualify for any discounts anywhere so I still have to pay for things like dental care and am currently needing at least £500 worth of treatment which I can not afford. Yet my BIL is on Job Seekers, sits on his arse all day long and gets lots of extra financial help, it is an extremely unfair system.
I am so sorry your poor dd has been through such an ordeal at such a young age, I really hope she does eventually get some help, somewhere. She has her whole young life ahead of her.

If she really isn't fit for work then you need to get her to a GP to get sicknotes. This will trigger a work capability assessment, which in turn if they deem her not fit to work could increase the amount she receives. But she needs to be seen by a GP to start that ball rolling.

Some really disgusting comments on here.

Sorry that you have to read this shit, OP.

Is this a joke? You expect your DD to get 100 quid for socialing and phone, off the government? While she lives with you?

What like, pocket money? From the government?

I would love 100 quid a week. For me.

If she is too ill to work then she needs to see a doctor, by telephone if necessary. Then get a fit note and ask for a referral for a work capability assessment. Plus refer for PIP.

At the moment all DWP know is that she's unemployed and lives rent free. And actually she is being given an income. Not very much but enough to feed herself.

But they don't know that she is ill. She needs to get herself recognised as ill by a doctor via a fit note and then the requirements on her will be different.

Otherwise she will be expected to actively search for a job, and if she doesn't then she can be sanctioned.

Okay well we all have anxiety and we all need to push through it. the world is very different today but when I was 18 I also had severe anxiety due to living with an abusive parent. So I got no help. I applied for benefits because I had to otherwise how would I have anywhere to live? If you are going to support your daughter at home then the DWP will expect you to do just that.

Do you see this situation continuing throughout her life? Will she always live at home unable to work? Or is she going to be coaxed into the world? I was thrust, and it did me good. But if you aren't going to do that, because you've provided a supportive home, and rightly so, what is the end game now?

In amy case by not claiming that she unfit fir work and goin g thru process of diagnosis
She will have to engage with a work coach ( dd gets a call every few werks she slso is ill but has all relevant disgnoses etc tho was refused pip we need to appeal )
And yoyr dd may get sanctioned if she does not engage or cannot without excuse i e diagnosis
Loding this amount
So she really needs to get gp involved and mh services etc so she can present the evidence
Get advice from eg youngminds

OP, why can’t you arrange a GP appointment on the phone, or over zoom?

This has become quite a common way for GPs to work in recent years, and will let her speak with them with you at her side, and without leaving her home (or even her room.)

In line with your original question, I agree that you are being unreasonable at present expecting the state to support her when she has no medical evidence of having additional needs. We can’t base additional payments solely on someone’s assertion that they need them.

Part of the reason that benefits are low for young people is to force them to take action. If a young person living at home with no costs could get a decent amount of money per week for sitting on their arse, there would be a lot of people happy to do just that.

By making things difficult, young people are forced into a corner and have to do something about it. It might be get a job, it might be get training, it might be get assessed for health issues. Equally it could be something more drastic as the OP's daughter has stated, realising it's not worth living. In any of these outcomes though the benefit system will be deemed a "success" because it will have been demonstrated that it's not something you can live on indefinitely.

@Talkingtopigeons The benefits system isn't fit for purpose for anyone, but it particularly penalises working age adults who don't have children and don't meet threshold for disability/care benefits.

So those deemed fit enought to work.

That said, the threshold for disability related benefits is a fucking joke and serious changes need to be made there.

If she had a diagnosis she would be entitled to more.
Surely you can understand why benefits need to be given based on evidence and not simply on what someone or their mum claims?
For her health and for her financial situation you need to get her to a doctor somehow. Talk to a health professional yourself for advice on how this can be arranged. If she had a festering leg wound you wouldn’t just leave her to it presumably. You both sound like your just willing to throw the towel in on her well-being as long as the money fairy comes along and makes it worth your while.

Your dd did not choose to be ill
however She and you supporting her
Have to engage with gp etc
As otherwise her claim wont get v far anyway
Eg she is too anxious to speak to work coach etc
She will be expected to engage with work related activities job seeking etc to earn her 60 per week...
Unless she has medical evidence etc of disability

Part of the reason that benefits are low for young people is to force them to take action. If a young person living at home with no costs could get a decent amount of money per week for sitting on their arse, there would be a lot of people happy to do just that

It makes no sense though, because the minimum wage is also less. Things don't cost less because you are 18 rather than 25.

OP
I am a single parent
after rent I’m left with £100 a week
I’m not surviving

As numerous other people have said, there is a mechanism for the OP's daughter to be awarded more money. But that involves an assessment, because the government doesn't just award money to anyone who come forward, no questions asked. If the daughter will not engage with an assessment, she will not be awarded any more money, just because her mum says she needs it.

For the rest of it, £60 per week "spends" for someone who is not paying rent, bills or food is plenty.

This fails to address the biggest reason for lower NMW for younger people.

It's to help them get employed.

If you had to pay an 18 year old with no experience the same as a 30 year old with experience who would you choose?

It's to mitigate the lack of experience most young people have.

And if they have experience they don't tend to go for NMW jobs

OP, I was also kidnapped and raped as a teenager, and was left entirely mute with severe PTSD. It was AWFUL.

I went through with therapy and medication because I was desperate for things to change. Bit by bit with exposure therapy I managed to get into training and get a job.

The benefits your DD is eligible for aren't a lifestyle, and they're not meant for social events and clothes that many of us working people can't afford. It's literally an emergency fund to make sure you can still eat and survive in a desperate situation.

I think the focus needs to be on getting help for your daughter rather than the benefits.

The minimum wage is less to encourage employers not to discriminate against younger applicants.

www.anxietyuk.org.uk/

I’m sure you’ll already have been signposted here, but if your DD would attend an online group it could be very helpful for her.

I totally agree that the benefits is irrelevant here. The real question is how you get your daughter out of this downward spiral.

To the posters saying 'most of us will take more than we put in' fair enough.
Should I just give up work now and go on benefits, what about If we all did that? Where would the money come from then.....
Maybe we should cut the state pension, the oldies have had their time and after all Ops daughter needs to pay for her social life!
You can't keep taking from a pot that isn't being re filled.