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

Good for you. For many with disabled DC with complex needs that isn’t possible, safe or appropriate. If you genuinely have a sibling with complex needs it is surprising you don’t realise not everyone’s needs are the same and what is possible for one isn’t for many, many others.

Honestly, I had a job from 16 in the local supermarket then a factory, then retail whilst at uni. Pretty much everyone in my class did - Costa, shops, hotels etc.

Same now - most kids have a job at school and at uni. I am not sure where you live but I find it so hard to believe you could not find a job in 7 years. At Christmas everyone is looking for temp staff.

Welcome to reality.

To many people rely on benefits while their DC are young and put their heads in the sand about the DC growing up.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise.

The Uc standard allowance for someone under age 25 is £292.11 per month.

So in terms of state support almost exactly the same amount of money is coming into the household as before.

Your son needs to put that into the family pot

You can not expect to be paid twice for the same person

Still confused as to why the son came out of FT education and went straight to collecting benefits? Is he ill or disabled?
something is not right with this whole benefit system. Pisses me off tbh.

It’s capped at two children so she won’t be able to. At a guess I’d say she was still able to claim for all four as the claim existed before the cap came into force. Her eldest being classed as an adult will be a change of circumstances so the new rules will apply when the claim is reassessed.

“At a crossroads” and “fussy eater” 🙄

I am a huge supporter of the welfare state, and not usually a benefits basher.

But why the hell is a grown man able to get £250 UC?

My niece is autistic and her parents didn’t think she could cope with work - genuinely. She made a UC claim and within the month they had her on a retail placement for a month that led to a 16 hour contract at the end.

There are some awful stories of people being pressured into jobs and sanctions… but honestly, I think there’s the other side where lazy arsed teen-adults get £250 from the state that mummy lets them spend on snacks, whilst she’s in tears and and in debt.

He needs to get a job, pay you the board you need, and you need to stop paying for his bloody phone!

So I pay tax so that your adult son gets £250.00 pocket money to contemplate his navel and eat his special food...

Panicking isnt going to help. It is just an excuse. Next it'll be "he's anxious/ stressed". Not as stressed as you are trying to pay bills while he is probably playing video games not working

If panicking is what he wants to do then panic while in work if that helps.

How many jobs has he applied for?

It’s simple, if you’re providing bed and board to your adult son he needs to pay you £300 per month. That’s probably all his UC payment. He’ll soon find a job when he hasn’t any spending money.
teenagers sometimes need a bit of help, in my experience of raising my own and three step teens they often have unrealistic, fixed ideas about what jobs look like and it’s worth investing some time looking at them properly together. Once the smaller chaps are in bed this evening go through types of jobs available in your area and the pros and cons. I’m my experience they hated getting up early so I encouraged them to get evening work in hospitality because they’d roll out of bed in the afternoons and then do an evening shift and it seemed to fit their body clocks better (it’d destroy me now but teens are a different species). My lot had a lot of fun working in kitchens and having a beer together as they closed down. Kept them going till they moved on to bigger things. Just an example, because sometimes they feel a bit scared of the world of work and these sort of jobs are less intimidating.

To put it in perspective, I take £250 per month for my personal spends. I work ft. It's enough spending if bills, food etc paid to have some treats (not in a dentist month)!
£200pm when you're not working is a lot! Bet you don't have that much.
And £50 for full room and board? Hope he appreciates that sweet deal (if that's right).

The alternative is that he looks after the other children at night, weekends and you get a job to cover those hours.

You must have known this was coming for a very long time.

Your son needs to find full time work and pay you proper rent, you can't afford otherwise. My son pays me £400 a month, for that we provide all his meals etc.

If you're £300 worse off a month, I would be nagging him constantly to find work and expect your son to pay £300 or at least £200 when he gets a job.

Could the one who has just left FT education and is looking for work apply for a Seasonal Role with the Royal Mail?

https://jobs.royalmailgroup.com/search/?createNewAlert=false&q=christmas&locationsearch=

What did he study and to what level, by the way?

So I pay tax so that your adult son gets £250.00 pocket money to contemplate his navel and eat his special food...

Exactly this... My autistic daughter with a catalogue of health needs, works 40 hours a week, spends 10 hours a week travelling on rush hour public transport, impacting her health, pays tax for this too. Unreal!

Yes, good for me and every other responsible teenager. There are 18 year old carers, caring for people with complex needs. 18 is an adult. Serious mollycoddle culture.

It doesn’t sound to me as though the OP has ever been in the workforce. As PP said, normalised welfare dependency so the son assumes the state will provide and he can either at his leisure for the right job.

Someone in your household needs to get a job!!!

Was he actually homeschooled or were you just lying so he could be paid to do nothing with his life?

If your eldest has £200 disposable income then surely they want to help? Don’t feel bad about it. In fact why do you feel bad? He’s an adult, why wouldn’t he want to pay his way and ensure his mum isn’t struggling. If he got a minimum wage job starting next week (lots of places are desperate for staff) the problem would be solved.

Does the kids father genuinely have them 50/50? And does he pay out 50% of their costs? Again reassess this. Will he help financially assuming he works.

He does not need time to work out what he wants to do he need to do anything safe and legal that pays. My DS finished his A levels in 2020 during lockdown. He worked at the local airport loading and unloading freight as an agency worker, he took nightshift as the pay was better. He is now on a Degree apprenticeship and doing very well. That 18 months taught him a lot about money and hard graft. He claimed UC while he looked for a job, he got it for about 10 weeks and applied for loads of jobs literally anything and everything plus as it was during covid times it was much harder. He did more voluntary work during that time as well, it was online but was doing 20 hours a week mentoring younger air cadets.

I was thinking I don’t have £200 a month for myself and I work full time! £20 a week is about my limit.

You clearly have very little understanding of the needs of some DC with complex needs. As I said, for some it isn’t possible, safe, or appropriate.

I have a DC with complex needs who social care and the NHS recognise it is inappropriate for young adults, including his older sister, to care for. There are many other families in similar situations, the OP may well be the same.

OP, to put an end to that debate, can you clarify if your DS can look after your other DC in the evenings?