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

I'm in the same boat... This month I'll loose 200 odd pound from u then child benefit will drop in December when she turns 20 and I'll loose housing benefit for her too. Shes still in non advanced education as she left school without qualifications as she couldnt handle school due to asd. She's trying to find a part time job but struggles a lot with the social side of it all... She's applied for maybe 60, got 2 interviews and neither were successful so it's not as easy as some are making out

Slightly confused. If someone had worked from the age of sixteen, they would have built up NI contributions and would have been able to claim contribution based sickness benefits, which are not means tested, so are not affected by other household income or any savings. In addition there are universal benefits like PIP/DLA which again, are not means tested. Benefits are not usually given and then paid back, they are assessed on your circumstances at the time of the claim.

And the poster you are replying to said upthread somewhere that they worked in benefits advice and volunteered with disability charities, so why would they have had occasion to deal with the ‘many people who cheat and abuse the system for so many years’ ?

Unless you know everything there is to know about the nature of someone’s disability and the exact details of their benefit claim, you can’t possibly know whether they are cheating - there are so many permitted variables.

@Rosscameasdoody and @Beezknees because I do know what they are claiming for. In the example of the person who blockpaved their own driveway, they were claiming for a bad back. Equally, just because you have not witnessed it or know the circumstances don’t assume it doesn’t happen. 2% you are quoting is known benefit fraud. If they are still fraudulently claiming it is not included in your statistic, however @Rosscameasdoody, you are once again reading more into my post than I am stating. I never made any comment about how much this is happening, but as per my earlier post any fraudulent claim is wrong IMO no matter what the scale.
Surely you don’t disagree that someone who claiming who doesn’t need to is wrong and takes away from those who genuinely need it, which is the entire premise of my second post on this thread

So many people critical of the fact that she isn’t working are also overlooking the fact that if she is claiming the carers element of UC she will not be expected to look for work. And that dispensation is there for a reason - she is caring for a disabled child.

@Serrina its short sighted to make the assumption that I don’t know the details. As I have replied to a couple of other posters, the person who fraudulently claimed and did their driveway was claiming for a bad back, whilst carrying flag stones. The point I initially made was that I support the welfare system for those that need it and those who fraudulently claim all benefits for many reasons take away from those who need it. I would find it staggering if anyone disagreed with this. Fraudulent claims do happen and therefore getting into a ‘to and fro’ about individual claims or the scale of them because someone said they haven’t seen any is irrelevant and just clouding the point I was making.

Of course I don’t agree with fraud, but I equally don’t agree that you can possibly know all there is to know about the nature of someone’s disability or the exact details of their benefit claim, sufficiently to know if they are cheating or not, and this is the problem - so many people thinking they know more than the agencies involved in assessing and paying the claims. Of course people will try to cheat and disability benefits used to be an easy target, but the system has been tightened up and the assessment process is harsh even on the most severely disabled, so it’s not as easy, or as common as you make out. And trust me there will be more evidence than ‘bad back’ to any claim for benefit !!

I would agree entirely with this. Whilst he’s at home he’s having everything paid as he would when he was at school. He shouldn’t need this money. Explain to him that UC used to give you £300 for him living with you as a child but now they give it to him as an adult but less -£250. Household has remained the same so he needs to give this to you to pay your bills. When he gets a job then he needs to contribute this same amount really - which is nothing as if he was renting he would be paying a lot more.

Do you really imagine that this person has ‘bad back’ documented as a reason for claiming benefit ? There will be medical evidence, assessors reports, a diagnosis of an actual condition, as well as how it affects him, and whether or not he is fit for work, before any claim is put into payment. But hey, you know everything.

@Lovelysausagedogscrumpy he sought advice and filled out the paperwork, had meetings and agreed entitlement which were then claimed back, perhaps he had bad advice or fell through the cracks, the point I was making was it’s an imperfect system which is what my example proved. The previous poster said she worked in welfare rights and that she had never seen anyone who claimed fraudulently. My point was if someone who works first hand with people who claim and has never come across a fraudulent claim, perhaps that is how people can claim fraudulently for many years.
I’ve already explained in two posts that I did know the details and they are fraudulent. It can and does happen. As I’ve already said this back and forth about individual clouds the point I made that I think it’s appalling that anyone claims fraudulently and that they are taken away from those who are genuine. I find it hard to believe that anyone would disagree with this, regardless of the scale of the fraudulent claims.

can he sign onto universal credit if he is 18

Have you read any of the thread?

Don’t be ridiculous, who the hell would donate money to a family where there is a grown man sat on his arse claiming benefits because “he doesn’t know what to do yet”?

@Rosscameasdoody and @Lovelysausagedogscrumpy this person was actually found out to be making a fraudulent claim. Years later he got a job in a supermarket warehouse. Of course you both know I couldn’t possibly know anything about the case. As I’ve already said several times now and won’t bother repeating myself again individual cases are irrelevant, fraud can and does happen and whatever the scale it’s wrong. Regardless of what tightening up has been done, it’s still appalling that people do it as per my original point.

does having an adult child working in the household reduce her benefits further? IDK the answer to this?
I have a disabled child at college and it is hard, I work full time from home so I have flexibility and a v understanding employer but have no choice as a widowed parent. I am on a low income though as this is the
trade off but I do get PIP for my son which helps a lot without this we’d be struggling. People would swap circumstances in a heartbeat if they could, no one wants their child struggling just to claim higher benefit so a lot of posters on here are sHowing zero empathy. others have e said similar things to me

I said I worked in welfare rights, which is advisory, and I later dealt with disabled people doing voluntary work. You’re confusing it with working within the DWP welfare system, which is not the same thing.

And I too am confused about the example of the person who worked from sixteen, who had his benefits clawed back. It would have been clear to the assessor that he was not entitled to means tested benefits because of savings, and, assuming he had paid full NI contributions, also clear that he would have been entitled to contributory benefit.

So it’s not bad advice or falling through the cracks, it’s an error on the part of the DWP and usually in those circumstances the overpayment is written off if the claimant is not at fault. Similarly your example of someone claiming for a ‘bad back’ proves my point about it being impossible to know everything about that person. I’ve never yet seen a benefit claim based on ‘the claimant has a bad back !!

It would also have to be declared as income so wouldn’t benefit the OP.

No too busy to read all messages , was just giving my ten pence worth .

I’m howling 🤠🤠🤠🤠

Taking caring for a child/children out of the equation, there are some very different mindsets when it comes to work. Many people with quite severe disabilities have jobs, at all different levels. I worked in the public sector and had many colleagues with a range of conditions. An amputee, MS, autism, sight impairment (one chap had an amazing guide dog), epilepsy, several wheelchair users, etc.

We all knew customers who felt ‘entitled’ to whatever they could get from the system, whose time at work was minimal, who resented having to even try and find work, as earned income reduced their benefits. I think that’s the downfall of any welfare system, the most in need often fall through the cracks because of the demands of some others.

Its no surprise to me that there is a shortage of front line workers in schools, hospitals and social services.

Very true. The lengths some absent fathers go to to avoid paying for their children is astonishing.

It does happen, I know of a relative who claimed all her life and worked cash in hand, had a kid who also then went straight into having kids and claiming benefits including full rent paid - then had the audacity to complain when the landlord sold up and she was going to have to move 1.5 miles up the road as she didn’t want to live in that area. The child now works the bare minimum and claims the maximum she can - she is lazy and entitled.
The initial relative mentioned lives alone in a 3 bed, full pension, full pension credits, reduced council tax and still works cash in hand. My mum gets only state pension despite having worked all her life and having a disabled child that she still cares for.

Thats one set of relatives, I am aware of another relative that has never worked and has children and gets everything paid for, still manages a holiday. Another relative that has managed to get housing association even with 2 full time incomes coming into the house that are decent wages. That person has gone into a private rental and kept their name on the books and a single childless working age relative has gone into the house despite no entitlement and other families desperately needing it.

So as a PP has said, the 2% of fraud is what what authorities know of, but we’ve both been able to name a good few that have “slipped through the cracks”.
What these do is bleed a system set up for people that need it, and add to the overall welfare costs.
Welfare is there for people that need it and have no other option.

Ironically when I was out of work following redundancy (for 6 weeks) I needed support and was put through the wringer. I had paid tax and national insurance for 20 years prior. Was told I should take my children out of nursery to save money as I wasn’t working though I needed them in childcare so I could look for work, go to interviews and ensure they had a childcare slot when I got back to work. I finally managed to get job seekers allowance (which they concealed even existed) which I claimed for about 4 weeks, got a new job and went back to work full time.

I’ve got to start thinking about this on the future. I work part time and get CTC but will be merging to UC this year. My eldest gets DLA and my TC/UC has an uplift for this so I get a bit extra. In a few years they will turn 18 and so I’ll likely more than lose half my UC (I have a second child who will still be child for a few more years) And the child benefit and also their DLA which will turn to pip and likely be paid directly to them. They will hopefully be able to get a job but that remains to be seen as their disability is autism and can be complicated. They talk about never moving out from home and then some days wanting their own place. So who knows? I’ll be dropping into the conversation over the next few years that whilst I’ll be looking for more hours at work eventually (or retraining is part of my plan) my household will lose the income goes to them so when they get a job and still live at home then their income/UC/PiP will have to contribute to the family pot. Sadly their autism means they don’t tend to hang out with friends and they’ve also never been a big spender or wanter of things but it’s definitely something I need to plan for.

If they children are with their dad half the week why can’t you get a job then? I’m a single parent and have no help, I have two jobs that I work around my children.

There is no childcare avail for disabled kids, especially holiday clubs. My son was excluded from a fair few as they could not meet his needs. If DWP wants parent carers to work this needs to be addressed