Help for people on Universal Credit

[Bellysmackers]

OK so I'll more than likely get shot down in flames, fully prepared for that! But...it often feels to me like the more you work and try to create a decent life the more you're penalised. No handouts and help for people who are really trying in life.

My old aunt worked until retirement. She now pays ridiculous fees for her own care home. The lady in the room next to her barely worked a day in her life and it all gets paid for.

It annoys me! A lot!

Why are we not rewarded for trying to do well?

Thoughts??

And who is to even say that the lady had all 7 children willingly. Birth control and women's bodily autonomy is actually only recent. All that aside you are a tory's wet dream - part of a demographic who will exist on the wheel with no real prospect of riches but will resent absolutely everyone in the same boat as you.

well my neighbours three children aren’t. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂 They live in a VERY nice house- all claim UC and live off mummy and daddy. One works part time.
They will have to show they’re actively looking for work, they won’t get much because they will not be paying rent, 79 quid a week doesn’t go far.

Let me know how you get on with budgeting will you? I work with lots of young people in UC and with the way things are going even I'm struggling to make ends meet in their budget plans with only basic expenses included so I look forward to seeing how you do it.

Yanbu. I'm worse off as a single working parent working 9am-3pm than I was when I only worked 9:30am-1pm. I'm about £60pw worse off. Taught me not to increase my hours again.

Also, instead of blaming the people with less income etc why not blame the big companies who avoid their taxes and the tory gov who haven't exactly helped the rest of us who are actually in a position to make changes? Blaming people on UC is just a way to distract from the real problems with the cost of living and lack of increase in wages. Typical scapegoating that takes pressure off the government

I won’t be able to afford a care home. I’m lucky enough to own my house. I’m a wheelchair user, currently in hospital. I had an excellent job, and a very nasty divorce which meant I had to retire early. I’m now a benefit scrounger. Perhaps I shouldn’t have married an arsehole, but you know what, I didn’t know it would turn out this way and this autistic woman was unable to recognise the red flags.
#shouldhaveplannedbetter
😡

You can have my life on benefits OP; you have to take the shitty lifelong disability that goes with them. Your call.

OP's like this one suck all of the fun out of Mumsnet.

what should happen to the old lady

She should be fully subsidised by the state, not part subsidised by the fee-paying residents. This would mean the contributions paid by the tax p@ayer would go up but care home fees for self-funders would go down. The current system just takes the piss.

What annoys me is the ones who could work yet choose not to and rely on handouts

As others have pointed out though, do you know how vanishingly small this demographic actually is? The UC system is fine for people like me on a regular salaried income which rarely changes and is paid in equal instalments. For anyone else it can be very draconian. There is no "lazing about" anymore. You have to be actively pursuing work and you have to accept any job offer made or else you will be sanctioned. You are expected to put the same number of hours into job seeking as you would be expected to work. And again, if a job offer came up you would have to accept it even if unsuitable due to the sanction system.

There simply isn't scope for being a "layabout" on the system. So anyone who is doing that is going to be in a minority so tiny it's not worth thinking about. And anyway, the UC entitlement for someone not working and with no dependents is very small. It's not much of a life living like that, is it really worth getting so indignant about?