to be shocked at universal credit amount?

[oddsocksmatchifsamethickness]

I've just become a single mum of one, husband gone. So obviously I want to bring my earnings up. I'm self-employed and will be doing so. But I put in a calculation for UC to see if I could get help while I sought new contracts. I'm self-employed. I earned 1K this month and did the calculation and it says I will get another 650 a month from UC.

Can that be right? It seems a lot, it would take my income up to a wage of 28K/year, but I only work 20 hours a week.

Is this what people get?

Quite.
Some of the people on this thread. Just appalling.

@Wiluli Good luck if you think that is a lot ? Most people would really struggle on it

it’s not a lot to live on, but £650/month into your bank account, every month, just because you are alive and living in the UK, is quite a lot of money.

The more you pay into your pension, the more universal credit she get just in case that’s an option for anybody who’s on the cusp. And before people kick off about that. It’s been a tactic used by men to avoid child-support for decades.

Quite.
Some of the people on this thread. Just appalling.

You'd have to be peculiarly dim to envy someone claiming universal credit or similar. And yet...

Yeah those 0 hour contract, minimum wage jobs are so appealing.

It absolutely does 'pay to work' btw. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a bit dim.

I'm not a benefit basher, but it is a tad annoying that I work full time to feed the kids, and one of the school mums keeps boasting that she's so much better off for only working 16 hours a week and getting tax credits & she's still got a big lump sum in the bank from a big pay off from her divorce. Her life is so much easier than mine.

oh fuck off and you OP honestly. All over the news people are struggling to get by but oh of course, not the UC recipients and their SHOCKINGLY HIGH benefits.

Fucking sick of this now.

👍

Do you always believe what others tell you? People deliberately give people a false impression.

Don't watch what anybody has because you don't know how they come by it.

It does sound like many of the other benefit bashing posts, however you word it. I don't understand why you'd envy someone claiming universal credit. Haven't you read anything about it? How dreadful it must be.

Just claim it. SHAMELESSLY.

Anyone else would if they were entitled to it.

It’s got nothing to do with anyone else. Absolutely nothing. That’s why starting a thread seeking people’s approval isn’t a great idea as it gives people the opportunity to tell you how much the disagree with it, which isn’t helpful to you.

@Freddosforall ”lifestyle choice” appears to be Schroedinger’s

both “made shit choices” and end up on benefits and also “made good choices” and divorced a wealthy man and ended up in benefits.

And even those zero hour min wage jobs can be very hard to get and keep if you are a parent. So many still want and expect full flexibility and availability for a part-time job.

She only gets to keep that lump sum in her account for a year and then it starts being deducted Penny for Penny. Which will bite her on the arse dramatically if she needs to buy a house, because when she’s only earning 16 hours a week, unless that lump sum or via something out right she’s relying on income to raise the rest of the money from a mortgage and generally speaking 16 hours, a week isn’t gonna cut it.
Is on the settlement doesn’t it but at the end of the day, some people marry better than others and some people divorce better than others

if you are insinuating the U.K. is generous and gives money to anyone , some European countries are a lot more “generous “ on their benefits than the U.K. . You must also look at the cause of the wage top ups , which is the fact wages are low .
We also pay a lot if tax . Personally I’m happy to pay a lot if tax for a welfare system that people can fall back if things go wrong .

Changed username so it's not outing, but UC seems to be astonishingly high in some cases - my single friend with a disabled child (the child has no expensive extra needs, they have a learning disability & get PIP because of it) is now receiving the equivalent the take home pay of a wage of £55k a year with her UC income plus their low paid part time work income. And yes, that figure is accurate before all the BUT HOW DO YOU KNOWWWWWW people jump on. I was specifically told the monthly payment amount.

One adult and one disabled child? How much UC per month? How much rent?

Come on...

@PurpleyPineappley but wouldn’t you like most people rather own your own money and not have the disabled child? I know I would. That’s not a life and one for myself or my kid. The reality of it is for the rest of their lives that child is not going to be self-sufficient, and the benefits will reneges on the benefits will not be worth the hassle.

And now we're starting on how much those with children with disabilities are receiving. It just gets better 👏🏻👏🏻

Universal Credit is shit for people who are self employed, compared to the old tax credit system.

You have to do your accounts every month (I currently do mine once a year as it's much quicker than arsing around every month). That's annoying but not the end of the world.

But if your earnings fluctuate from month to month, you'll receive less than an employed person who earns the same over the course of a year. That's because if you bring home more one month, your UC will reduce. But if you earn less than the floor another month, you won't get extra. So you're deducted UC on good months (which is fair enough) but then you're not given extra on poor months. So if you earn the same amount via self-employment every month it's OK, but if - like most self-employed people - your income fluctuates, then you'll be worse off. It's a shit system compared to what we had before.

And for the benefit bashers, I work F/T and have no choice but to be self-employed as I care for two SEN DC (one with high needs). I couldn't get a F/T job with hours to work around their needs.

We live in society where you are better off not working than working these days. So yes you are probably calculating it correctly. I have lots of friends who have given up work for various reasons and have found themselves financially better off since doing so. I know people will jump all over this defensively but honestly, some of my friends on UC earn more than my full time salary.

I have the same issue with going back to work after mat leave, almost my entire salary will go on childcare costs which are extortionate especially when you are a working mum and get very little help with childcare costs before they are 2 years old. If I didn't go back to work and went onto UC I would get benefits + help with childcare costs yet would be at home to look after my child. It's baffling.

Please notice I did not make any judgement on the amount being received or anything else in my post, I simply made an observation that in some cases UC appears to be surprisingly high. Same observation the OP made. Same observation my friend herself has made, come to that.

If they ‘have to manage’ it sounds like it’s not easy. Therefore you’ve just said it’s what’s needed to run a household 🤷‍♀️ the point of benefits is to allow people to manage. Maybe you should be angry about full time wages being so low, not benefits high?

@ExhaustedFlamingo It’s a very simple way around that. You have two accounts, one that you’re actually paid into by your clients, and then you transfer your wages which will be a consistent amount every single month into the account to pay yourself as an employed person would. It’s not rocket science

Read CAREFULLY before you start bashing other people. I didn't bash anyone, you're the only one doing that. Check yourself. The OP asked a question and I answered with my own observations.