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

He's not working, he's claiming UC.

He needs to treat job hunting like a full time job. Hand out CVs, register with agencies, search search search, 9-5. There are jobs out there and he'll need to start at the bottom. But he'll make friends, gain experience and earn some self-respect as well as respect from society. He can progress and find his niche with patience.

The benefit system is there to help people who need, not want.

Assuming your child is 18, NMW is 7.49ph working 37.5hrs per week he would earn the equivalent of 1.2k pcm (gross) that is more than enough to pay rent and bills (500) live and save a little.

So your son is getting £292 UC, living at home, paying you £50 a MONTH rent, which includes everything, isn't actively looking for work, you're £300 down a month and you don't think it's fair that he contribute more because he won't have enough spending money???
UC isn't meant for spending money, it's meant for day to day expenses while looking for work!
I'm self employed and some months I WISH I had a spare £200 just for frivolous spending.
He really need to look harder for a job and pay his way.

Then maybe she should have planned better. She had 3 kids and was claiming for all of them, one with “complex needs” so she couldn’t work. She knew her eldest would age out in a couple years and she would lose quite a bit of money, so what did she do? Ah yes, she had a 4th kid. With no job and already on benefits.

Sometimes you need to accept that you have to lie in the bed you make. The OP needs to find a way to get a job to support the decisions she made. There really is no way around that.

I missed that bit but if they're in school all day then couldn't she get a part time job? Depends if they're in school or not.

Oh I missee that, so where does he get £250? Benefits?

@pollo8

If I worked every summer from the age of 13, serving food, mopping floors, clearing tables, this presumably fit young man can get off his arse and find work.

Me too. As soon as I was old enough I had a weekend job sweeping up and cleaning outside at a local petrol station. When I reached 16 I was old enough to actually serve petrol (in the days before self service!) so would be outside doing that in all weathers, getting covered in grime from lorry fuel tanks etc. Then I had a second holiday job at a garden centre/nursery weeding and re-potting plants in the school and college holidays.

If I didn't, I'd have had the absolute bare minimum essentials and nothing else from my parents.

How old is he?

I've not read the full thread so sorry if this has already been mentioned, but if you have a child on DLA you should have carers element (this is separate to carers allowance) and disabled child element on your UC claim. Please check you have got these, as UC aren't very good at adding them unless you've requested. If they're not on there you may be able to get them backdated to when you were entitled to those elements

The adult son is now responsible for supporting himself. He is not responsible for financially supporting his mother and younger siblings. If you read other threads, many parents do not charge their young adults rent / board and if they do it is a nominal amount. It is OPs choice to be on UC and to not work and to conitnue to have children. Her son has seen living on UC as role modeling - not sure what incentive he has to work.

While he is looking for a job he should be giving you almost all his UC I think?
All that's changed is he is not at school

Agree he needs to work.at anything.
Even the top earners in this country can't afford to have 4 kids, and no one in the household working.

And yes I know you can't send them back now. But you need to think now about how to get your son to contribute, and maybe get some WFH work yourself. Benefits are only going to be reduced in the future. The latest figures are alarming.

What money did he get when he was 17?

If nothing. Why does he want all the uc now to his self

Esp when you are struggling

Now he is 18 and gets uc that needs to go to you for the drop in your uc

Meanwhile he needs to find a job. Any job

Macdonalds seem to come high rec and usually many mac d near people. They pay well and look after people from what I've heard

Can you find an evening job and eldest look after the other 3 to earn extra money

If he's not taking his job hunting seriously enough. Maybe he should become the childcare as he is now classed as a responsible adult and OP can go back to work full time, you don't need 2 adults sat at home to care for children. I bet he will find himself a full time job then.

He needs to work. Leaving school and going straight onto benefits while you fanny about deciding what to do with your life is a shocking attitude to pass on to your children, really.

I will say to you what I posted to someone else upthread who posted similar. You don’t have a child with complex disabilities, do you? Not all DC with complex needs attend school full time, or even at all. Some have multiple appointments a week. Some don’t sleep at night and require their parent to be awake, therefore their parent uses the time they are at school to sleep. I could go on.

Even the government recognise carers are often unable to work, which is why there are no work commitments for UC claimants who are carers.

No, you only get paid for 2 children on UC now regardless

I know nothing about UC apart from what I’ve read in the newspapers. I thought the ‘2 child benefit cap’ applied to children born after a certain year? Is that not the case?

Oh, and nip his fussy eating in the bud. Feed him the same you do the others.

Her son has seen living on UC as role modeling - not sure what incentive he has to work

But when he's out and about buying his groceries, takeaways, coffees etc he sees people at work. It's really not an alien concept to work for money even if you've never done it yourself.

After April 2017 it's 2.

Absolutely this.

I would never ever have dreamed of doing it - college, Uni, apprenticeship, job. Those were the only options that I ever considered. Never just sitting about claiming money from the government.

Most kids I know work whilst at school - weekend job, 4 hours at night in the local tesco etc. Did he not do that?

He needs to get a job and maybe support by helping out so you get a job part time around his. The benefit system has to have a cut it's the same for everyone when a child reaches a certain age.

We are in the NW. A lot of my friends 55+ are applying, many have similar backgrounds, all are computer literate and we are getting nothing. We are fit and well and there won't be maternity leave needed. They aren't that desperate although they claim they are.

The point is there are children at risk here, not just an adult woman. Poverty is not something to be taken lightly and the mother should be supported in a way that can bring her back to the workforce.