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

Until something goes wrong you may manage on that money. Then an uninsured driver rear ends you writing off your car. Insurance takes an age to pay out and you struggle to find a car as well maintained as your old written off one.
Or your freezer/washing machine breaks down. Or your clutch goes. Or you need a new sofa. Or you get burgled and need to find your insurance excess. Or the nursery goes bust after you pay your bill for the month leaving you with a nursery to find and no cash to pay it. Or the landlord sells the house and you need a deposit upfront plus removal truck costs.

Its this.
And then you need to borrow, and factor in repayments out of your income.

I've done it, its stressful and was dammed grateful for my previous education and career that I was able to build back up to a decent salary within 3 years or so.

You're clearly unhappy with your lot.

We as a household earn a similar amount to yours. Times are getting tougher.

Not for one minute would I decide to pick apart the amount thos on benefits get in comparison to our income... because ultimately they have less. They are worse off.
Otherwise me and you would give up our jobs and go on benefits.

Why imply those getting less than you are getting too much??

I can give you a few examples of where things go wrong when you divorce ...

House is sold, equity shared out, but not enough to buy a new place on one income.

Too much in savings for UC so can't claim.

Spend it all on rent over next 2-3 years then can claim.

At that point, can only rent really shitty houses because ... UC .... with mould, damp and anti social neighbours Welcome to the next 5 years.

It's a big change from the nice house, middle class lifestyle. Seen several friends go through it. None of them have any money so they can't get much on UC.

Absolutely, I really can see how disability benefits or those for low earning single childless people are too low. And I don’t begrudge anybody what they are entitled to in benefits. My OP was just about this scenario as I was reading the ‘stuck women’ thread.

So outline how you would be finically better off?
If a women earning less than you (£1300) gets a top of £800 then you earning £1600 would get less than £800. Your husband brings in £2300.
The child maintenance on a £35k salary wouldn’t even come close to giving you the equivalent of your current joint income.

You would have the children full time so the nursery bill would be yours alone.

You would only be better off if your husband is an addict of some kind spunking over a grand a month on himself.
Even by your own flimsy calculations you'd be getting 800 in benefits. Your husband earns 2k so how does that work out?
Plus you might have to change your work hours to do pick ups and drop offs all by yourself, lose whole days wages for child sickness.

Where did I say too much?

What I'm saying is you SHOULD be able to afford this. You and your husband both work so why can't you? Because you are being ripped off, paying ridiculous amounts in housing, energy, food, tax etc etc.

I've always been able to afford these things because I'm a higher earner. I do not for one second think I work harder than anyone else. In fact I probably work less hard.

All children should have these things, and the reason they don't is because there are too many parents like you looking down on others you consider less worthy. The people who are less worthy are the ones who are depriving the working population from a fair wage. Not people in a similar or worse position than yourself. You are focusing all your attention in the wrong direction.

Are you sure that's right? I get around £1300. That covers my rent and everything else. This obviously goes up or down as I work part time.

Yes I was going to say this..you might think you will have more money left over a month (you won’t) but you will be in a little flat instead of nice house, nice car etc etc

I agree with every word, I’m a Labour voter, I hate what the Tories have done to our economy. I’m not ‘directing’ at anyone. I said I was pleasantly surprised to see the calculation, not that I think it’s too much and it should be lower. Why does everyone keep saying I did?!

It’s not a lot to live on. It’s manageable if you’re very careful, are probably cold and don’t eat good quality food. There’s very little room for saving and I’ve seen the panic on people’s faces when their washing machine breaks or their child puts a hole in their school shoes. It’s not great. There is little joy in life for many people in this position. It’s living with stress every day. It’s not a life I would want. This is a goady thread.

We are financially very comfortable. I wouldn’t dream of writing a thread like this. Just why? I grew up with poor parents. Life was hard. Walk a mile in their shoes and all that.

Oh, I see. So it is just single mothers that you are having a go at?

Out of interest, why do you think single parents are so often in poverty? Why do you think children in single parent families are very often in poverty? Do you just think it is fecklessness?

Why am I ‘having a go’? Do quote me.

You keep saying how generous it is. And how you don't get any help.

Whether you mean to imply it or not, the implication is there.

I earn 1700 pm. I get 850 in UC, 87 in child benefit, and 7 a week from his dad (pathetic I know). That's about 2600 a month. Rent is 900, childcare is 850, council tax 90, electric 100, water 45, phone 20, fuel 150, Internet 30, food 120, clubs 30, then there's clothes, birthdays, mot, stuff that goes wrong (broken washer), and general life. I have enough to save 75 a month. Sounds lot but I struggle. No idea how people on lower wages cope.

@Chillisquid @ItWillCauseAWar will have a disabled child element and carer element so she may well get £1100 UC on top of other benefits such as PIP and CDP.

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.

When I say I don’t get any help, I’m not saying I should. I’m saying, even for ‘middle’ earners like us, the current climate means we can’t afford many luxuries (or luxuries at all to be honest). So you would expect the same of lower earners as well. Relative to how shit things are at the moment for everyone, it’s not that much worse.

I didn’t put a biscuit in any of my posts.

Generous means alot.

It's in your op.

We aren't all misreading what you're saying here!

Oh and that doesn’t include the child maintenance which I set at £280 per month for both kids (which I think is the minimum), sorry I should’ve said that before

the minimum for thousands is precisely £0. Why so disingenuous?

This is the very definition of punching down.

That’s a clear breakdown thank you. I suppose my OP relied on the kids being school age but nursery fees are brutal!!