Graduate DD not qualifying for job seekers. The buck stops with us

[drivinmecrazy]

DD1 graduated this summer and moved home to us in October.
Since then she's been applying for entry level jobs in publishing and copywriting in London.
We live in a rural town with limited employment opportunities, for which we feel really guilty for, but that's another story.
We agreed to give her until the new year to focus fully on finding the ideal position before we expected her to apply for local jobs which would tide her over.
Since then she's applied for job seekers allowance. Found out today she does not qualify because doesn't have enough NI contributions.
She's certainly not work shy, she supported herself largely through uni and spent time from graduation until she me of September working full time at her uni job so was paying NI and tax.
Now she's home it falls to us to support her. She has dwindling savings so has enough for her socialising and we obviously don't charge her for board and lodgings.
But at 22yo surely she should be treated by the state as independent.
What if we didn't have the means to support her at home?
TBH I was hoping she'd qualify for the £200 odd per month for job seekers so she might be able to contribute £20 a week to the household, which would obviously not come close to what she is 'costing' us , but might give her some self worth.
We are fortunate we can accommodate her but it's a hefty weight for us to carry with the cost of living etc.

We have never claimed anything as a family but surely as an independent 22yo woman she should have some autonomy.

I realise probably shouldn't have put this in aibu cos I know I am, but where do our parental responsibilities stop?

She has obviously started applying for local jobs in what she has experience of and her cv is fortunately full of work experience so shouldn't take long.

But I guess my real AIBU is what would happen if we could not or would not cover her living costs

[Mynelast]

She's not looking to a future on benefits in any way, just to claim what she's entitled to.

Benefits shouldn’t be seen as an entitlement. They are there for people who really need them. If you’re worried about your DD’s self worth, encourage her to get a job and be self sufficient.

As you point out she’s an adult and can look after herself without expecting the state to subsidise her.

[Calmdown14]

Sorry this has already been covered but just a couple of tips if she is applying for entry level jobs as I sift through a lot of this type of application:

Be careful with the wording that she doesn't over exaggerate the experience she has. Great that she created content for the tea bar but focus on that (I see a lot of led/managed wording on things which just sound ridiculous when someone did five weeks somewhere).

Most of these roles will be to support a team or colleague so reflect that accordingly. Sometimes we need to tick the relevant boxes for admin skills, managing diaries etc so don't neglect these if they are in the job description.

The creative stuff sounds really interesting and she should emphasise the transferable skills from it as there will be a huge amount of editing and design which is useful to social media roles.

She should also look at communications roles. She may need to start with the assistant/ coordinator type roles but it would give good broad experience.

[Beverlybeier]

Hi is it because she has applied for the wrong benefit. If you are in a universal credit area that would be the benefit she should claim. She can do that initially on line. This benefit does not require anyone to have NI. I am assuming though that she has the right to work in the UK and hasn't been here on a student visa. Job seekers and employment support allowance are now legacy benefits that are dependent upon ni. Contributions and in order to qualify you need to have worked so many weeks over I think 2 tax years I would need to check that again. But she needs to claim universal credit

[somoslagente]

This is definitely incorrect but I understand that they don't see you as a fully-fledged adult until you are something ridiculous - like 26... and she would maybe be asked about this.

SHe has probably applied for the wrong type of benefit-

however, something similar happened to me when i was younger as i come from a town where all the industry had disappeared by the time i had left school and crazy amounts of people were queuing up for any random job.

i had to fight my way through to get any assistance whatsoever.

[Outfor150]

@Beverlybeier

Hi is it because she has applied for the wrong benefit. If you are in a universal credit area that would be the benefit she should claim. She can do that initially on line. This benefit does not require anyone to have NI. I am assuming though that she has the right to work in the UK and hasn't been here on a student visa. Job seekers and employment support allowance are now legacy benefits that are dependent upon ni. Contributions and in order to qualify you need to have worked so many weeks over I think 2 tax years I would need to check that again. But she needs to claim universal credit

She’s not entitled to universal credit, though, or barely.

[Forgooodnesssakenow]

@opencheese

She doesn't qualify because she's able to work and there's tonnes of jobs available to her

She needs to get out there and work. Not sponge off the state

When i was a graduate, I worked in a call centre until I found my feet

Yep, I had a job lined up but a month before I started it, I got a telesales job for that month, I'd worked int elesales all through uni so it was fairly easy to walk into a job briefly but I couldn't have afforded a month just off

[laylababe5]

@GoodChat there's a lot to be said for holding out for something in your field of interest. I was made redundant and wanted to change careers. The Social made it very difficult for me as I could have picked up something with my old skill set easily, but I held out and found something in my new chosen career. I'm now 5 years in and the company have made my junior partner and I'm earning way more than I could have in my old career. If I'd taken a job in my old field I'd still be stuck there. My sister has a Masters and needed money so took what she could get. 15 years later she's still in that same job doing shift work.

[mylifestory]

There's something wrong, everyone out of uni is entitled to money when job searching. She needs to make an appt at a job centre to discuss in person

[LakieLady]

@Bekstar

I would ask citizens advise for a benefit assessment they'll advise what she is entitled too it may be she put in for the newer type of JSA as opposed to UC which has a JSA income related side. If she has savings they will be taken into account though and will have an impact on what they will pay her. New jsa is based on contributions but your still entitled without contributions it would just become income based because of lack of contributions. She also needs to make it clear you can't support her and aren't willing too because as long as your saying you will they won't give her anything. She doesn't want to sit and say she is a dependant of yours at all. But instead advise that she is laying board of whatever per week and that as she waits for money she is mounting up debt to yourself.

UC is UC, it's entirely income-related and there's no distinction between jobseekers or any other category of claimant.

The monthly UC rate for OP's daughter is £265.31, less any deduction that may be made for savings >£6k but <£16k . How this is calculated is explained upthread.

Adult non-dependant children are entitled to UC in their own right and don't need to "make it clear" that their parents can't support them. OP's daughter is emphatically not a dependant; she is a non-dependant for benefit purposes.

Even if the OP required her DD to pay "board", it would make no difference to how much UC DD gets. Only rent paid for housing counts, and UC would not pay housing costs for someone living with their parents. It has to be a genuine business arrangement and the DWP require evidence of that before they will pay housing costs where the landlord is a close relative.

OP's DD would be expected to pay board out of however much is left of her UC after any tariff income has been deducted.

[matesalka]

That is for locals. Before Brexit it was very easy for British native speakers to get a job as an English teacher in Spain. It was not highly paid but was enough for rent, food, and living costs. My daughter did this after graduating. She lived a year in Seville and it was a great experience. Unfortunately after Brexit that ship has sailed

[ConsuelaHammock]

If you couldn’t support her then she’d have to get a job . Any job !

[matesalka]

@AIBUYESYES

Lots of vacancies for English teachers if all else fails.

You can't be an English teacher without being qualified with a PGCE- not in state schools.

You can for English as a foreign language

[matesalka]

@ricepuddin

I also did remote/virtual tutoring to tide me over while starting out freelance! Sorry to comment so much on this thread but I do feel for OP's daughter as I think she was being a bit naive about the level of competition/connections needed for this industry

My son has an English Lit degree from a RG university and was earning £1000 per month tutoring English for GCSE and A levels and preparing children for 11+ exams. That was with working approx 8 hours a week. Of course there was other work involved, setting assignments, marking homework etc but it gave him an income and plenty of time to look for his dream job. It was also good experience

[BeavisMcTavish]

Hospitality businesses are beyond desperate for people.

did you establish why the UC was turned down? I might have missed it, but what are the savings levels? Might help people to stop wasting their time thinking about it. (I’m guessing that can’t be it, as no reasonable person would expect a 22 year old with substantial savings to get free tax payers money but worth clarifying)

[AIBUYESYES]

@matesalka

You can for English as a foreign language

It depends @matesalka
Most schools or colleges would want a TEFL qualification.

[Hearditonapodcast]

Here is the hard truth. You said your daughter has savings, so the 40-odd pence UC calculation is probably about right. And that's because you are expected to live off your savings while you are out of work. You've said she's using her savings for socialising and not paying you board, but that sets a terrible example of how to manage personal finances. She's an adult, 22 not 12.

The toughest life lesson some people have to learn is that the money you earn (or have saved) must be spent on boring, but essential, things first, before you can start thinking about socialising or buying nice clothes etc. I think you'll find that if you suggest she starts paying board out of her savings, she'll find a job quick enough. Incidentally, if she applies for UC once the savings are gone, and they find she's frittered them away on needless things, she still won't be able to claim because it's classed as deprivation of capital.

The state is there to support people who cannot work, or cannot find work and have no other means of supporting themselves. It's not there to support privileged graduates, who spend all their savings on going out with their friends, and have a safe, warm, comfortable home with their parents where they are fed and looked after.

[Stevie77]

Hi OP, just in case this has not yet been said - many universities offer careers support to their graduates for up to 2 years post graduation. If she’s not already using them, she should! They can help with every aspect of job search and application, CV, they know and have connections with employers etc. it’s a must!

[AIBUYESYES]

@matesalka

My son has an English Lit degree from a RG university and was earning £1000 per month tutoring English for GCSE and A levels and preparing children for 11+ exams. That was with working approx 8 hours a week. Of course there was other work involved, setting assignments, marking homework etc but it gave him an income and plenty of time to look for his dream job. It was also good experience

It does worry me when new grads start tutoring.

I was an English teacher (qualified) and a tutor for years, (as well as using tutors for my own DCs.)

There is an enormous difference between passing your own exams, and getting a degree in English, and being able to teach others. I agree that some new grads may be able to do this with the right skills, but on the whole, it's far better for parents to employ teachers who know the syllabus and the marking scheme.

It also makes a but of mockery of the rates charged- someone starting out unqualified should not be charging the same rate as a teacher with 20 or 30 years' experience. The problem is that tutoring agencies want their commission so they will tend to take on tutors who are not qualified or have no experience.

[Aprilx]

@BeavisMcTavish

Hospitality businesses are beyond desperate for people.

did you establish why the UC was turned down? I might have missed it, but what are the savings levels? Might help people to stop wasting their time thinking about it. (I’m guessing that can’t be it, as no reasonable person would expect a 22 year old with substantial savings to get free tax payers money but worth clarifying)

I thought this had been cleared up. It was the new style Jobseekers which was turned down because that is now based on contributions and she didn’t have enough. She hasn’t applied for UC yet, but a 22 year old should be entitled to about £62 per week assuming she hasn’t got a huge amount of savings.

[MyMilkshakeScaresAllTheBoys]

I'm in a totally different sector now but I did a journalism degree 20 years ago. I was a photographer too.I don't envy her!

Some ideas:
Look at what else publishing companies do. Not everyone can do book publishing. My first paid job was at Haymarket on Packaging News doing their directory, not even the magazine. They also do events.

Seriously consider trade publications. A friend of mine does quite well in the tractor media!

Look at other roles in publishing companies. They need all the regular office roles too and project managers. (Start as a project assistant)

Look at content management. She could do that in retail to get the skills. I did this for a ski clothing company. It's all the website work, product descriptions, and html back end. Maybe marketing content if the place is small enough.

Look at content design. UK gov is great at this. Read the book by Sarah Richards who really developed the practice here. More and more agencies are moving out of London like Defra.

Finally look at content strategy. The skills in that are very transferable.

Best of luck to her!

[LuckySantangelo35]

@drivinmecrazy

is she looking for jobs all over the country?

she’ll likely need to move away from yours

[matesalka]

@AIBUYESYES

It does worry me when new grads start tutoring.

I was an English teacher (qualified) and a tutor for years, (as well as using tutors for my own DCs.)

There is an enormous difference between passing your own exams, and getting a degree in English, and being able to teach others. I agree that some new grads may be able to do this with the right skills, but on the whole, it's far better for parents to employ teachers who know the syllabus and the marking scheme.

It also makes a but of mockery of the rates charged- someone starting out unqualified should not be charging the same rate as a teacher with 20 or 30 years' experience. The problem is that tutoring agencies want their commission so they will tend to take on tutors who are not qualified or have no experience.

Well my son didn't use a tutoring agency. He sourced his own students by advertising on Gumtree and Nextdoor. You may be right but he was good at it and all his students improved their grades and got into their preferred school. He took it seriously, committed to the the school year, created progress reports for the parents and it was a good experience. Unfortunately he didn't really enjoy it though as he wanted a job in copywriting so in the end moved on but IMHO it was much netter than a minimum wage job. He tried those and they were soul destroying being treated rubbish in a hospitality job. Coming home exhausted and not having the energy to put in 100 % to job hunting. With tutoring he could reserve his energy and time into looking for the dream job he wanted. Looming and applying for a job is a full-time job in itself. You have to tailor your application to each specific company, research the company, see what their philosophy is and what they are exactly looking for and one application can take all day.

[matesalka]

@AIBUYESYES

It depends @matesalka
Most schools or colleges would want a TEFL qualification.

Yes my daughter taught EFL and got a TEFL qualification. It took 2 months but was worth the time and money investment IMHO. However I wouldn't do an online one. The i person courses where they give you in person teaching and classroom experience are much more highly regarded and they need to come from an accredited body. It was intense for those 2 months but she then went on to work in Se like for a year and also worked in s EFL schools here in the UK and had private students.

[80s]

Companies such as Berlitz have their own, short training courses and don't even require a TEFL qualification. spainwise.net/language_schools/berlitz/
Decent training is obviously better for both students and teachers, mind!

[Forgooodnesssakenow]

@drivinmecrazy

That's interesting. She said that she had checked UC and she thinks she'd be entitled to 46 pence or something ridiculous.

Feel awful encouraging her to apply in the first place.

I just read above she has 'dwindling' savings.

Why are you happy for her to contribute from benefits but not from her own money? So spoilt