Benefits reduction

[Bonsaitreepic]

I got my UC payment today. Just checked and it’s almost £300 less than usual. This is because my oldest is now classed as an adult as he’s left ft education. He’s not currently in work.
I have 3 other children but now I seemingly only get support for 2 of them due to the child cap.
Im freaking out. I only get maintenance for one of the children as I have the other 2 50/50 with their dad. I cannot afford to lose this much money every month. I was already struggling as it was. I’m unable to work just yet as one of the children has complex needs. I already get some DLA for them.
im quite sure there’s nothing I can do about this but I’m so worried

There is lots of work out there for him assuming he wants to work. There really is no excuse. Then he needs to start paying you rent. He is an adult and needs to start thinking and acting like one rather than relying on benefits

Am a tax payer as are my 2 DS, similar age to
yours. Both worked after school and now full time whilst deciding where they want to go career wise. Plenty of jobs out there. May not all be fun ones . Lazing about at home aka " deciding " at tax payer's expense literally makes me 😤.
Money doesn't come from UC cash point, most people should work for a living, especially
age 18. What will you do
when all DC's leave
home ? Was a single parent too btw.
Am sick of funding people like your DS to do nothing whilst I
work !
Zero empathy I'm afraid for him, some for you .

A perk of him working in fast food is a free meal on every shift and subsidised food any time, for lots of the teen lads my dd works with its a big perk. It’s £2.25 for a medium McDonalds meal and freebies every time new menu item launches. If you are struggling financially to feed him then a job with a perk like this could help.

We live in a tiny village and both my kids have walked into jobs within a week. Between them, they've done the following: pizza/curry deliveries, Amazon, Sainsbury's, pot washing at local cafes, running websites, checking coding for IT companies, dog walking, grass cutting, painting fences, selling things, fixing surfboards. The most recent ones they got a few weeks ago. Amazing what you can find when you're galvanized to do so. There's work for those that are prepared to work hard.

The thing is that, while in many places there is competition for jobs, employers are looking to take on the sort of person who puts her/himself out there and keeps persevering in the search. That sort will 'win' any competition.

The sort who sit at home moaning about how difficult the UK job market is (at a time of record vacancies) is not really the person that an employer thinks will make an optimal contribution.

OP, you (your household) seem to be getting roughly the same amount. It's just that now he's 18, your son is having his 'share' paid directly to him, rather than it being paid to you. The taxpayer provides this for him to live on: rent, Council Tax, electricity, gas, food, clothing, essential travel, which you were expected to pay out of what you received while he was under age. As PP said, it is he who owes you that money, not the taxpayer; your household is still receiving it.

Refusing to pay for the upbringing of some citizens because of the order they were born is exactly the kind of thing Communist China would do.

While he is messing about at that crossroad he gets a job. Any job to contribute.

It sounds like his UC is almost as much as has been removed from your UC so as a family household your income is roughly the same with an extra adult available to work and earn more.

Sorry if already asked but can't you claim carers allowance?

The UC payment your son is receiving isn't free pocket money from the rest of us - it's meant for living costs.

You choosing not to take more than £50 from him is the issue here - along with him waiting for the "right career" to occur to him.

He can panic about being at a crossroads at the same time as working in a job he's not interested in to pay the bills (he may need a parental nudge that this is the way of the adult world, we all often have life crises at the same time as having to earn cash).

When was it agreed that the state was responsible for paying for the upbringing of all citizens?

Primarily, it’s a parents job.

Wtf? He can't afford to be a fussy eater.

This.

Take £200 from him, what does he need to spend it on if you’re covering his living expenses?

I believe it was agreed in around 1912 if my recollection of History is correct. Sorry if you didn't get the memo, but unless you are around 130 years old we can probably ascertain that you benefited from it too.

So sorry to hear that you are struggling. Your DS should be getting about £290 a month. My friend ,in the same situation, takes £100 a month from her DS. I think that you will have to take a bit more from your DS.
I am also in the same situation. I am a single parent with younger children with Sen. My DS has ASD and needs support with looking for work. He has been applying for anything and everything and has only had one interview. There may be plenty of jobs out there but they don’t seem to want school leavers with no experience. We haven’t yet applied for Universal Credit for him as we were hoping that he’d get a job fairly quickly. As that hasn’t happened he’ll have to apply. It’s really not that easy for school leavers to find work.

I think the point is, while lots of people argue that getting a job at 18 may or not be easy, OPs son doesn't seem to have even tried.

She says he's at a cross road figuring out what he might want to do. While claiming UC and spending it on the food he wants to eat as he's 'fussy'.

So need to think he's trudging round rainy streets applying for hundreds of jobs through tears like he's a Victorian street urchin.

Same as no need to think OP is struggling with a severely disabled child.

The benefits system we have had for a while now has enabled lots of people to decide it's a better deal than working, or just easier. Or preferable. For many reasons. Some lazy, some just for convenience.

And then people fly into a panic when some of that money is removed because e.g their child has reached a certain age.

And then some MNetters get all up in their feelings and engage in outrage about how there are so many reasons why work couldn't be an option for those people and imagine that benefits were always at a subsistence level akin to almost being in the workhouse in the 19th century.

When actually, it has been for years, a very good alternative to working for people that qualify.

OP was receiving £300 a month just to cover for the last few years, a teenager. And has 3 other kids she claims for. And doesn't work. So has been housed and her lifestyle comfortably financially supported for the state for however many years and now that's been reduced, people are scrabbling round to excuse why both she and her adult son might not or outright can't, work and how unjust the system is.

The gravy train has just slowed down, not completely stopped. Though some posters think OP and her son and presumably her other 3 DC who will be adults some day are being victimised in people ever expecting them to get a job.

Because there will always be a reason not to in these kind of families and the cheerleaders on MN will always come up with a way to support that.

If he’s not surrounded by people who work he may not realise the way things are. You don’t realise what you want to do by sitting at home. You try things. Your confidence grows.
Sometimes just being employed gives you access to internal vacancies for better jobs. Or you hear of opportunities from workmates or customers.
It’s all experience for interviews and applications - real examples of how you dealt with a difficult situation etc.
If he’s got experience of caring for a disabled sibling then look at care jobs or TA in school or school transport passenger assistant.

You were never going to get an answer on MN that didn't tell your son to go and get a job like its so bloody easy to just walk into one

Places that are desperate and take anyone are usually Shite places to work that will end up giving him other issues and places that can be more discerning have a huge pool of experienced workers to pick from as places like Wilkos shut down, entering the world of work isn't easy

Other option if he genuinely can’t find work is him care for siblings and free up Op to work. She may find it easier to get a job as she’s got practical experience for care work, cleaning, school kitchen etc albeit not paid work experience.

Plenty of jobs about in most places for a young person who has no other commitments and only needs NMW.

And if he does have to get a shit job then so be it. I’ve done it many times. We all start somewhere.

really not easy to get a job !! My 17 year old stepson has applied for 26 jobs in the last 6 months and only had one interview and he’s applying for everything!!!

@Dixiechickonhols a then what? He becomes an unpaid carer for how long? Til he finds a job, at which point the OP is left high and dry? Indefinitely? Why is this preferable than him just handing over most of his UC now?

His UC should be going into the household running costs. It’s pocket money for him to do nothing. If he wants money for special food, or fun activities, that’s what a job is for. Essential costs come first.

"Shite places to work that will end up giving him other issues"? Like what?

What sort of job should an 18yo with zero experience expect?

We've just had a tree surgeon in for a few days clearing our orchard and doing hedges, etc. he's desperate for another worker to help them as they're so busy.

He said in passing that he would happily take on someone inexperienced and pay above minimum wage just for picking up logs and branches etc. he's had a few start and not stick at it because it's hard graft. Well no shit. Life can be hard.

Beggars can't always be choosers when it comes to looking for work - or at least they shouldn't be able to choose to rely on the state because it's not exactly the work they want.

It's very easy in MN world. Maybe ops DS could take in ironing