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

Mum in same position with £200,000 outstanding on her mortgage would get £625p/m (same parameters but I put she would like help with 200k mortgage). So not quite as much as if she were renting, but much more than £100.

I think your post here, OP, proves that you want people to contribute their examples that appear to show how lucky single mums are compared with others.

My DH and I are low earners, I bring home about £500 a month and he £1250. We have two DC and our rent is £850 a month. We get UC and it’s about £1100 usually. We struggle, like previous posters have mentioned it’s the unexpected costs, there’s very little wiggle room.
I recently worked out what my finances would be like if I was to separate from my husband and I would be much better off.

Where on earth have you got the idea that £280 is "minimum maintenance"? 😂

Surely if I’m wrong (I used the Entitled To calculator), then you can just explain how I am? I’m not being goady - I don’t begrudge anybody their entitlement in benefits. Who knows I may need it myself one day 🤷🏼‍♀️ it’s just it’s not quite as stingy as I was lead to believe by some threads on here.

I don’t think single mums are ‘lucky’. I know how helpful it is having DH around and I wouldn’t want to lose that for a monetary gain.

This!

Can't stand all this "race to the bottom" rhetoric.

Not sure how that works out. You do not get help towards mortgage payments from UC.

I wouldn’t fancy being a single mum living on £2k a month to be honest.

Goady thread though.

OP what is your annual salary and DH’s annual salary? If neither of you earn over £50k you could claim CB and not be taxed on it. You could both earn £49k each and not be taxed on it. I only ask as the take home figures you have mentioned seem to be well below this £50k so would be worth claiming if that’s the case

Because I was reading the ‘trapped women’ thread and out of curiosity wondered how much help a mum on minimum wage and renting would actually get. I said in my OP. How am I a cunt? This isn’t a ‘my neighbour is on the dole and goes on 5* holidays’ thread, I used the ‘official’ calculator and all I’m saying is the entitlement isn’t as bad as is sometimes inferred on here, in my opinion.

Oh joy. We haven't bashed benefits for a couple of days.

If its so great, get on it yourself hey op.

That income is barely livable. So not overly generous at all. A proper wage for all workers would be better for all, and the public purse. Hth.

I don't agree most of those things are luxuries. The fact there are many people who can't afford them is what you should be focusing on rather than squabbling over pennies.

I've been a single mum to two for several years and have to work. There's no way I would begrudge the person on your example because I couldn't live on that.

”Stingy” is relative, though, isn’t it?

When I said that you have no idea, I wasn’t alluding to your use of whatever online calculator you looked at. I mean that you have no idea of what strains are involved in lone parenting, financially and otherwise. Basically you want to trigger “lone parent bashing” on here. It’s poor taste.

Of course it would but as I am the Chancellor I don’t have that power 🤷🏼‍♀️ And I never said it was great, just that it isn’t an absolute pittance as often said on here.

Am NOT the Chancellor! If only!

You can quote to me whatever figures you want. But I'm actually LIVING it. Two kids under 4. Your OP is full of generalisations and I am saying they don't translate to real life in lots of cases.... such as MINE. This is another thread where those that don't struggle judge the ones that do... under the guise of 'oh I'm so glad you benefit claimants have it better than I thought'.

FYI UC do not pay towards mortgages. That's fine- but your post implies they do. This is not accurate.

Your DH's pay must be around £35,000. You're about £15,000 short of having to pay tax. Why on Earth haven't you been claiming it?

Agree with @Cassillero . Race to the bottom.

I believe you get that amount overall but not just in UC. From the info you've given, your exact rent, wages, single parent to 2chidren you are getting max 700 in UC unless calculation is different for disability but your first post made it sound like those were extras on top of UC.
I don't begrudge you any of it, I'm a single working mother to one child and it's bloody hard.
Also op, the minimum amount of child maintenance is zero.
And yes my child does deserve nice things and holidays considering I work damn hard and he misses out on other things because I'm not always around as much as we'd both like me to be.
Anyone who thinks it's the easy life, divorce your husband, move into rented and claim every penny you can.

I’m not squabbling because I’m not objecting to the benefits, I said I was pleasantly surprised it wasn’t as piss poor as I expected. And I think tuition for your kids alongside school is a luxury - we couldn’t afford that.

it’s just it’s not quite as stingy as I was lead to believe by some threads on here This is so faux naive - many people living on benefits are on the breadline - you can read the reality for yourself if you are bothered www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022

Goady, goady, goady

No it’s not stingy but they couldn’t get away with giving any less because you wouldn’t be able to survive. I get my rent paid plus full UC as I can only work 6 hours a week due to childcare but if I didn’t work those 6 hours I wouldn’t be able to afford enough food, fuel or any joy…soon I won’t be able to work those 6 hours as have another baby on way so think I will be about £100 worse off a month (wages are more than child allowance) so it will be tough I think. I can only hope and pray that I start getting CM but unfortunately I definitely cannot rely on that (hence being a pregnant single mum). Oh plus I have credit card I think I will be paying off the rest of my life. But I do put money into my child’s savings every month, I did take her on holiday this year, swimming and ballet lessons because I completely prioritise her and I haven’t had my eyebrows waxed in about a year lol.