To feel annoyed that those on UC have more disposable income

[nappyvalley2024]

Myself and DH both work full time and have one child in nursery that we are paying for. We have a household income of just under £100k. After taxes, mortgage, student loan, NI, pension deductions and bills we are not actually left with a huge amount of disposable income. We are in the south east.

Brother in law and his partner have just had their first baby and announced that SIL will not be returning to work for at least 3 years. BIL earns roughly £30k and they live in social housing (lucky them). They will get around £900 a month in UC + no childcare bill.

So whilst we are running around like headless chickens trying to keep on top of things and juggle professional jobs, house renovations and parenting. My SIL will have the pleasure of sitting at home with no stress enjoying her baby. (SIL is known to be very lazy and also took the whole of her pregnancy off sick due to anxiety.)

At this point I just feel so deflated, and am wondering what the point is of working hard and being self sufficient. Funny thing is in laws think we are the lucky ones, when I don't actually think we are here. The system needs to change as there is no incentive to work.

Is this question to me?

And this is what is wrong with this country, it's considered outrageous to say that a couple on UC should not be having children.

What would these people do if there wasn't universal credit available?

People like you are what’s wrong with this country. What do you think of people that aren’t able to work due to illness then? Is it wrong they have given money too? Or is it just kids that you have the problem with?

I think you'll find it's people like us that keep the country afloat. If people are really sick then support should be available. But not a lifestyle choice.

Would all these people be having children if there was no UC? I highly highly doubt it.

People like you are just horrible people. Working people keep the country afloat. Some of them are eligible for UC for a relatively short period of their lives along side working, they still contribute to this country in various ways including financially. Plenty of vital staff like nurses are eligible for UC when their kids are small. Should these nurses and others providing vital services to keep this country afloat not be able to have children? You are being very naive and ignorant.

Probably yes, just like they do in third world countries. These children would just be in poverty. Or more women wouldn’t work in order to save on childcare. The wealth divide would be bigger. Totally irrelevant and UC is available.

Well said. I didn't choose to become terminally ill at 38. I had a great career and so did my husband. Life is shit enough without people looking down their nose at me because we have to claim benefits now

OP, you need to step back. There will people on UC with children reading this. Maybe count the blessings that you have and not be so offensive about other people whose circumstances are different.

@nappyvalley2024

They will not listen to you until something breaks. When you give you out state largesse, you can end up with people expecting it over time, which makes it very hard to reduce.

So the only option left now is for change to occurr when something "breaks".

For the UK its going to be:

Local Authorities: 20% will declare bankruptcy in less than 2 years.

NHS: Waiting lines will get much longer, services will keep being reduced, A&E times will increase etc..

The people on this thread reliant on benefits are under the mistaken impression there is a megic money tree that pays for it all. But due to Brexit/Ukraine/Pandemic the public finances have been left in such a damaged state that it is now effectively impossible to pay for these things. The UK cannot borrow cheaply either so that avenue is also closed.

So you folks have to make a choice:

Its either "get benefits" or "get better services"

If you choose to remain dependent on the state via benefits, your access to the NHS will be materially reduced over the next ten years.

So, make your choice but fully understand that there are serious consequences for that choice on your end.

I am so sorry. There seem to be regular rounds of benefit bashing on MN. Try not to let the bastards get to you.

Oh hello bouncing one. Was wondering if you would pop up with your doom and gloom about the UK about to go bust because of pensioners, benefit claimants etc.

@nappyvalley2024 when you're old and need a carer, someone who works 12 hour shifts often no breaks doing some of the most back breaking, emotionally taxing work and they're needing UC to make ends meet, tell them you think they shouldn't have had children, or any food that wasn't poverty food, any positive experiences in life that wasn't free.
You tell people doing those jobs all they deserve is to wipe the arses of others and have no joy, children, anything of quality, because they don't earn enough doing low earning jobs to deserve anything but working until they're in an early grave.

All low paid people should work excessive hours, every shift, work through back pain, depression, sickness and grief because they're worthy of nothing else.

If you work in retail, factories, heath and social care, if you're in hospitality, you're not worthy of having a family, remember that. And when the women who do those jobs decide what is the fucking point in even getting out of bed, who'll be packing your shopping or serving you at a till, who'll clean hospitals or wipe your arse?

Because not giving those on piss poor wages any opportunity to have some joy is a very slippery slope.

And I hope that one day people realise that the people who do the shitty jobs you don't want keep this country afloat just as much as everyone else.

Whilst low earning folks arent paying as much tax as higher earners, they still pay it. People forget that.

@IClaudine

Unlike yourself, I inhabit a world of REALITY-based thinking.

I also understand the full spectrum of the public finances as I have decades of financial and economic experience.

You are not a child and this is not high school. Experienced people like myself have told you the truth, if you choose to go off into your distorted view of the world, that is your own choice. I don't waste time educating people who only listen to what they want to hear. Its a waste of energy.

Thank you. Life is so shit, people have no idea the pain I'm in and at the moment I'm getting blood transfusions every 3 days. I have a husband and 2 kids that are suffering too and then to read all of this. I know I shouldn't read it, but it's hard not to. Thank you for your support

You said on a previous thread that you didn't start a proper job until the age 36 after spending 16 years studying. But you claim to know more about the real world than the rest of us.

OK.

Strange that the reality of these amazing people who apparently keep the country afloat completely fails to take into account 10/15 years of wage stagnation, zero hours contracts and state subsidy of a low wage economy. Apparently it’s all the fault of the “folk” who do the low paid jobs who actually do keep the country afloat and on whom we depended so heavily in successive lockdowns. We didn’t really miss anyone working in financial services.

All of this. Some posters on this thread appear to be dim as well as nasty.

You're not educating anyone, you've provided no evidence, just your opinion. And as for this:

The people on this thread reliant on benefits are under the mistaken impression there is a megic money tree that pays for it all. But due to Brexit/Ukraine/Pandemic the public finances have been left in such a damaged state that it is now effectively impossible to pay for these things.

Are you under the impression that benefits claimants have systematically underfunded the NHS for decades? Spent billions of £ on leaving the EU? Billions more on dodgy PPE contracts for their mates?

None of the things that caused the current situation were caused by benefits. None. Your understanding of public finance isn't nearly as good as you think it is. The government could stop all benefits tomorrow and we'd still have bankrupt councils and broke hospitals. If your 'REALITY-based thinking' actually believes the state of the country's finances were caused by benefit claims and can be solved by cutting benefits, I've got a bridge to sell you.

What is wrong with this country is people like you living in a 100k household acting like you are hard done by not poorer people also having families

Disgusting

100% this

Oh I don't know, maybe we could make businesses pay a genuine living wage. That's the problem with this country, we constantly scapegoat and vilify the vulnerable. We see top ups to employed people as a subsidy to the poorly paid rather than a subsidy to the company poorly paying them. Why are we subsidising multi million and billion pound companies and then tell those hard working employees that THEY are the problem!

If they gave the money directly to the companies maybe people would see what the real problem is.

If everyone stopped blaming each other, they might see what the actual issue is.

Every group has been set against another - young versus old, (and vice versa), working vs non working, disabled vs fit, social housing vs private rentals/mortgage payers, those on UC vs those that are not…..etc., etc.,

The real problem is the party that have trashed this country, over the last 14 years.

But, they are quite happy for groups to be set against one another because it deflects blame from where it lays.🙄

What you essentially said with your comment about having children OP is that you don't think a large amount of the key workers who were still going to work and exposing themselves to the public during the pandemic while everyone else stayed home, so you could get your food shop, all for minimum wage shouldnt be allowed to have children and families of their own because they are the working poor and rely on universal credit to top up their incomes. It's really vile.

You realise people have kept that party in power though by voting them in? These ‘groups’ exist no matter what party is in power.