To think £800p/m is pretty generous?

[Cuppasoupmonster]

Off the back of the ‘trapped women’ thread, out of curiosity I used ‘Entitled To’ to find out what I could claim if I was a single mum of 2 primary aged kids with no savings and an ex who paid the minimum in maintenance. The hypothetical single mum earns 1,300 p/m and rents a property costing £900 p/m.

The calculator said the minimum she would be entitled to would be £800p/m, which in my view is about right. Yet I hear a lot that benefits are a pittance and had assumed that to be the case, but I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

Am I overlooking something? Not trying to be goady, I’m genuinely curious.

YABU = £800 isn’t enough in these circumstances
YANBU = £800 is about right or even generous

I'm delighted to hear that the minimum CM is £280. I'll let ex know that he owes me approx £27k!

Other than that, whether £800 in top ups is "enough" or not depends really. It sounds like tons to me, although I know it's not really. I know because I used to earn about £1300 pcm as a single mum of 2.
Now I'm ill, but not ill enough to qualify for anything over and above the basic UC rate. And subjected to the benefit cap. My rent (which is the cheapest place in my area) is about 51% of that income. Every month I get a little bit further into debt.

I can't bloody wait to be well enough to go back to work. If I can find a job that is, having been signed off sick for nearly 4 years now.

Would you like REAL figures to use? Because UC is not livable, survivable maybe.
Last month I was paid UC as a single parent of 2 children.
334.91 for me
431.73 for rent
534.58 for children
That's £869.49 after rent is paid to cover everything for me and 2 older teenagers living in a rural area where a car is essential and with prepayment gas & electric meters. I haven't been able to work after an operation in March but am not "sick enough" for PIP.
Now DS1 has gone to Uni.My new allowance is 334.91 for me371.29 for rent290.00 for childThat's 564.47 after rent is paid because they no longer pay my full rent on the basis that I have a spare room. There are no smaller properties I could move to in my area even if I could afford to move and he didn't need somewhere to stay in holidays. If I was paying private rent I'd be having to cover even more as it's a percentage I believe so I'm very grateful for council housing. I have been paying the 'bedroom tax' since it came in other than the last 2 years because I was allocated a 3 bed to get me out of the homeless hostel but until DS1 was 16 we only qualified for 2. If I'd refused the house they'd have taken me off the list and removed my hostel place.

This month I have started a new job, only 14hrs pw as that's all I can manage. It's costing around £4 in fuel to do the return journey to town and at least £3.10 to park for the day, if I walk further than I'm really well enough to do right now. That's at least £61pm costs just to be at work for 2 days a week, its actually double that as I'm doing 4x half days while I build up my ability to work full days which will always be a struggle but I can't afford to do half days. Of my wages only £344pm is 'allowed', after that UC is reduced accordingly by 55p for every £1 I earn, regardless of how much it costs me to do that job. Of my minimum wage earnings I expect to keep around £448pm before paying out those costs just for being at work.

So, my income of UC plus wages, after rent and cost of getting to work are deducted, is likely to be around £950. My electric & gas costs haven't reduced with DS1 leaving as the increased rates kicked in at the same time and realistically a 15yr old + 18yr old didn't use that much more than just the 15yr old does. My food bill has reduced a bit so that's something. I still have to pay car tax & insurance out of that, mobile phone bill (no landline), water, council tax, food etc etc. When DS1 comes home at Christmas, Easter, Summer I'll need to feed him too. My washing machine, oven and dishwasher (I have a disability making it essential) all broke within 6 weeks. I found replacements free from friends or for £30 off fb. My car needed a new battery and still isn't starting properly but I just have to keep my fingers crossed every time I have to use it. All I can say is thank fuck my £68 electric voucher arrived today.

We won't have a Christmas, if we're lucky I might be able to use the last edf voucher to put the heating on for the day.
Both my boys represent the UK in a sport which has no funding. DS2 trains twice a week which is £16. They have a tournament in Europe in December, on consecutive weekends as one is in youth and one adults. My brother has paid for the hotels as our Christmas presents, we are staying the absolute minimum nights in a 1 star room. DS2 has been encouraged to go by his school who offered to fund it when I said it was just not possible, but I have to pay out and claim it back which takes several months. DS1 is going alone as obviously there's no way we can all go for that. My son is representing his country and won't have anyone there to support him. It's an absolute miracle either of them are going at all and I will be suffering for many months to make it happen, but paying for world championships next year will be out of the question so I feel I need to make this happen for them.

I am exceptionally grateful for UC, but "generous" it is not!

I haven't RTFT, and i know UC is a bit different, but wanted to add my 2p's worth.

When i left my crap marriage i moved out and rented and was actually quite well off on tax credits (working tax credits and child tax credits), also got CB but no maintenance, 1 child in nursery although split the cost with my ex.

I was working full time (25k salary) and when i got a new job after a couple of years with a salary increase of 12k i lost my tax credits obviously and my overall income was about the same. I had enough over all those years to save up (nearly 1k a month) to buy somewhere.

If i hadn't been ambitious in work and wanting to own a property I guess I'd still be there years later.

I don't have an opinion on whether i was getting too much because i really benefited and it was only a temporary boost, but I don't like the idea of people staying on benefits for years if there are others options.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments

You can apply for discretionary payments to pay for an extra bedroom , I think you have to apply every 3 months though

Mine now goes through uc so I don't have to keep applying .

I think this type of thread will become more common now the cosy of living has gone up. And of course single mums and immigrants will be blamed.

What is the purpose of this thread? The majority of people on benefits either just about have enough to get by. Or they can afford to pay their bills and have to make appalling choices like not eat. Yes there's the odd few that for whatever reason are financially secure but it's usually due to disability or secure cheap housing.

Benefits are small fry comparatively to the tax evasion and loopholes the rich manage to do. Why not start a thread about how much more financially stable we would be as a country if everyone paid their correct tax? And instead of tapping some figures not a computer and 'deciding' the poor must be moaning about nothing, why not do some charity work and go and see what it's like to actually be poor and see the struggle and the low outcomes for children.

@ChristmasisRuined of course I’m not boasting about disabilities and I’m lying here in the dark wondering when all hell will break loose… Last night was the latest I’d stayed up in ages and all due to this thread. what an odd thing to say.

It was actually my council who contacted me for DHP (they get the figures from UC I presume 🤷‍♀️). All I can say is that not all councils are created equal and mine has a policy that nobody will pay “spare room” supplement if they’re on benefits.

I wish you and your 2 boys all the very best - what an amazing bloody Mother you are xxx

Why is it goady? Yes that’s appallingly low.

I did the calculations on both turn to us and entitled to and am aware of what I can get. Colleagues in the same situation as me ie 1 young child and same wage (as they are in the same job) get up to 85% of their childcare costs reimbursed and both of them did get the full 85%.

"Good transferable skills" have nothing to do with whether or not you get a percentage of your childcare costs reimbursed, it's decided solely on your income.

Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing about that post is bragging.

It is more than possible that poster gets £1100 UC per month. If you read the thread you will see I did a possible example of what that poster’s UC could look like for the other poster who questioned the amount. I have copied it below.

For example it could be:
Standard element £334.91 (assuming over 25)
First child element £290 (assuming born before 6/4/17)
Second child element £244.58
Severely disabled child element 414.88
Carer element £168.81
Rent £395
Total = £1848.18

Earnings minus work allowance
£1750 - £344 = £1406

Earnings x 0.55 = Deduction
£1406 x 0.55 = £773.30

Total - earnings deductions = total UC for month
£1848.18 - £773.30 = £1074.88

And that’s without any childcare element.

And DHP can’t be for a range of reasons, including disability.

Definitely this.I have 3kids(one is nearly 18 so doesn’t get taken in to account)luckily he has a job so makes his own money to buy clothes etc. I work part time make £680a month rent is £347 a month(council), Universal credit pay rent and i get £190 top up. Gas and electric is £300 so that leaves about £570 to cover phone, internet, food, nappies and clothes for the kids.

Thanks for your reply. I thought I was missing something but it didn't make sense.

It makes perfect sense. The difference is we pay our own mortgage and nursery bill. As PP said, under UC rent is paid and childcare bills heavily subsidised. Out of our combined earnings until a few months ago 2600 was taken up in mortgage and nursery bills alone. Nursery is so astronomically expensive.

Can we add pensioners to the list of the "guilty" as we also get blamed.

Not everything is about you Ancient Gran, we’re discussing working aged people with small children.

You still have more money than the single parent family so how is what they are getting generous? If what they are getting is "about right" then you are doing OK aren't you. Of course paying your mortgage is investing in an asset that the single parent will never get for their rent.

If we are going to say who is going to be blamed then it is reasonable to add pensioners to the list with people on benefits and immigrants. It isn't actually up to you to say what we can post.

Just to add I am working and I have a dependant child I am bringing up, he is my GC but funnily enough he still costs money so my pension needs me to earn as well.

We don’t though. Combined monthly income of ~4K, 2600 goes on mortgage and nursery so that leaves 1400 for everything else. That’s the same as hypothetical single mum, less if she gets child maintenance (or single dad to be fair 🤷🏼‍♀️)

The point of my thread wasn’t ‘AIBU to think they shouldn’t get as much’, it was to point out some benefit recipients aren’t doing as badly as MN would have you believe in the context of the current climate.

You said your mortgage in £1,400 and nursery is £600 so that is £2k not £2.6 and it leaves you with £1,900 so hundreds more than the example you gave.

Your still ignoring the fact that the mortgage is not only providing you with a home but is an asset you are investing in so in the long run you will be even better off than the renter. It isn't rocket science, I've paid off my mortgage so I have no mortgage or rent and one day you will be in that position. You could always rent the £900 house if you wanted to and you'd have another £500 a month.

I agree OP.

I know what your trying to say.

Basically when you take away deductions to a middle earner wages , then you look at top ups for a low earner, it levels out.

So families on UC aren’t that much worse off than a family with a middle earner.

Which just shows how crap wages are!

Up until 3 months ago that was the case. It will be the case again for 2+ years when I go back to work after this baby is born. I highly doubt I will have paid off my mortgage by the time I retire, what with the frightening rise in payments.

Yep, exactly this.

I hate these threads.

As a mother to a disabled child who has no choice but to be on benefits, these threads make me suicidal. We're treated and judged as the lowest of the low by society. If we didn't exist anymore, we'd do you all a favour by saving the taxpayers money.

It's the most depressing feeling.