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

For anyone wanting an accurate calculation for UC, join the Facebook group universal credit essentials, they can help you work out your entitlements.
I can work out my payment every month to the penny using the calculations I learned on there.
Everyones circumstances are different but it's easy when you know how.
Housing allowance for rent, capped at lha and what your housing needs are depending on age and sex of any children.
Personal allowance.
Child allowance, different for first and second children, third and subsequent children might not be included depending when they were born.
This is your base rate.
Earning allowance, different for PAYE and SE also if you have a mortgage it will be higher.
Wages are deducted from the base rate at 55p to the £.

This seems really good. you have a nice wage too so good for you!

I’m glad you do 💐

UP TO 80% not a blanket 80%

We are the 5th richest country in the world. 1 in 5 children live BELOW the poverty line. How do you square that op? Is it all the fault of feckless single mothers squandering their generous benefits?

The op is being totally dishonest about her feelings and motives in writing this thread.
Either that or thick as mince.

Either way, I'm out.

Wishing you a less bitter outlook in the future op.

This sounds a lot like socialism to me, but we very much live in a capitalist society.

Which workers are paying to "top up" the lower earners? It's not the upper echelons who avoid taxes, that's for sure...

I can't believe you've gone to the effort of doing the Universal Credit calculation for a fictional single mother. And can't even be arsed to check your own eligibility for Child Benefit.

Too busy worrying about what other people have to sort your own finances.

Meh I’ve saved you all a few quid by not claiming it! Our finances are okay, we’re not in debt, not as comfortable as we would like but everyone is in that position. We’re moving house soon to a cheaper area to ease things up.

There are some posts on this thread encouraging people on benefits who are financially vulnerable to disclose a breakdown of their income and outgoings - and the purpose is to check if they have a reasonable amount of money to live on?

@Lifeitiswhatitis says

Your thread (whilst maybe well intentioned?) knocks people like me down when we are already feeling pretty low because you start from a point of 'knowing better' than the people with actual lived experience. It's condescending and for what purpose?

I am very sad to hear about the impact this thread is having on people who already feel very low and are in a financially vulnerable position.

Please do leave the thread and unwatch to safeguard yourself if you are in a financially vulnerable position and this thread is upsetting.

For anyone feeling particularly low this evening, there are mumsnetters that care about your wellbeing and welfare :)
www.samaritans.org
www.turn2us.org.uk

Thank you! I’ll have a chat with the council and may well push back on UC about that. The council gave us the 3-bed because of the child disability, and if I can take from DWP rather than my council then that makes me happy. More in the pot for social care.

Yes as that’s exactly what I said in my OP.

Not 🙄 you do yourself a disservice with such ludicrous extrapolations, I can’t even be bothered to engage with them.

I became a single mum last year and had to claim uc and I was very pleasantly surprised, the money was plenty imo. They paid my full rent then gave me £800 and something in uc, I have 2 children. Council tax benefit so I only pay £9 a month, i get child benefit, free school meals, the extra cost of living payments. No maintenance from their dad. I've just started working part time but not paid yet so not sure how that will work out.
The money is plenty if you are sensible and dont have debts to pay.

I'm in Dublin,we get 2 grand a month in benefits.
Plus 420 in child benefit.
I'm struggling,I've no rent or mortgage.
But my dp got a job offer the other day.
And he had to turn it down as the wages where less than what he gets on the dole
Our WFP wouldnt be through till after Christmas.

There was no way we could manage on his wages alone.
Dublin is a really expensive city to live in.

We wouldn’t have begrudged you it though. Claim what you’re entitled to. Let others do the same. Hope that your financial position remains good and stable. Keep your beak out of others finances Beaky, people on this thread have shown you have no real knowledge of them.

What’s a « fair wage » though? More than £2000 a month after tax for working part time? As a minimum? What employer is paying that?

Jesus, makes you feel sick when you’re struggling to hear that.

If the LA have recognised DC requires their own room it should be a relative formality with UC as long as DC receives middle or high rate care CDP. Here is Contact’s section on needing a separate bedroom.

I’m entitled to discuss and have a view on public spending, because that’s what benefits are, along with many many other things that we discuss on here.

Ellatella Are you saying you live with 2children on £800 a month, after rent and council tax?

The local housing allowance doesn't often cover all the rent that she is paying

The childcare element of UC doesn't usually cover all the childcare she is paying (or even 85%)

Her ex is likely paying zero, like most dads in this country

Even if she has £1200 a month to cover all her fuel, food, bills, car expenses, that isn't enough especially in the current crisis- she will never have enough to cover one off expenses like school uniforms,

And what @Mirrorcell

50% of single mums are in poverty in this country. Benefits are a large reason for this. (and the low incomes they get from employers another reason).

Defintiely not “on the breadline” as your username suggests. I get less than that in full time employment and no benefits to top it up.

what is the point of working.

@Lifeitiswhatitis says

Your thread (whilst maybe well intentioned?) knocks people like me down when we are already feeling pretty low because you start from a point of 'knowing better' than the people with actual lived experience. It's condescending and for what purpose?

I am very sad to hear about the impact this thread is having on people who already feel very low and are in a financially vulnerable position.

Please do leave the thread and unwatch to safeguard yourself if you are in a financially vulnerable position and this thread is upsetting.

For anyone feeling particularly low this evening, there are mumsnetters that care about your wellbeing and welfare :)
www.samaritans.org
www.turn2us.org.uk

You clearly don’t realise how much being disabled and having a disabled DC costs. I’m sure the poster would happily give you the money as long as you also take the disabilities.

The council pays her rent AND she gets £800 on top of that, is how I understood it. It sounds fair and manageable tbh.