to be scared when kids leave full-time education

[spanieleyes22]

So I'm currently eligible for Universal Credit with 2 children over 16 but in full-time education. But when the youngest turns 20 I believe I won't be eligible for it any more. I don't know how I'm going to pay my rent or survive without it. They will still be living with me and will be in university (hopefully). What do people do when this happens.

You've completely missed the point.

You will. The best thing you will be able to give them is your time and your love. Money is not nearly as important.

This short rental is only going to be for first year. Second year onwards the rental is 12 months or just shy of it.

PLus many university halls contracts are much longer. My Dc pays for a 40 week contract. Its unusual to finish in May

Many uni students also have PT jobs to subsidise their student loans, enabling them to pay rent in shared accommodation (or rent to their parents, if they come home between terms or go to local uni).
It's a good point about over 55 accommodation by pp, this could save you a lot of rent. Do you also have a company pension you could cash in before you are eligible for state pension?
Then, when you only have state pension this could be topped up by pension credit if you have no savings.

A friend is in exactly this position. Her child now gets UC which will be £727 a month when the new rates come into payment in May. He's also just been awarded PIP and is getting the enhanced rate of daily living, instead of middle rate care, plus the standard mobility element, so that's another £549 every 4 weeks.

Friend will lose the child tax credits she was getting, which I think was around £150 pw, but as a household they will be significantly better off. She was very resistant to the idea of getting him to contribute to household expenses, but I think she realises that it's not feasible not to, and he is fine with it. He doesn't go out or anything (severe MH issues) or have hobbies apart from reading and listening to music, so really spends very little.

She can't get a job because he freaks out if he's alone in the house for more than a couple of hours.

So, downsize to a 1 bed flat. 2 single beds in the bedroom, a sofabed in the living room. During the 12 week holidays the girl sleeps in the bedroom with you, the boy on the sofabed in the living room. (Or they choose to stay in their year round student accommodation after year one). The majority of the year, it's just you in a one bed, which is perfect, and as well as saving on rent, you'll save on Council Tax and utilities.

Realistically, you can't expect the state to provide benefits to pay to leave 2 bedrooms empty for the majority of the year, as well as providing maintenance loans to your two children to pay for their accommodation at Uni.

Regarding your retirement, once you retire and are on a fixed income, move to a studio flat in an area with low rental costs, so that you can live on the state pension (plus any private provision you may have made).

Ultimately you have to cut your cloak according to your cloth.

Dd was home for over 6 weeks over Xmas and will be back mid May until late sept

Then she needs to be working full time and paying into the pot for when she is living in your home and saving for student digs for when she is at university. 40 hours week is going to be £457 weekly, over 16 weeks that is £7321

We were in the same position 15 years ago, and I work in retail. Yes, it's a bit of a shock to the system, but not an unexpected event. DC had to get jobs during uni/ after finishing school. They actually got holiday jobs from 14 and got into the habit of working.
I do get at the 'benefits are only supposed to be temporary' when the biggest benefits bill is for 'in work.' Instead of addressing the sham of companies being allowed to pay piss poor wages, people mn slate those claiming instead. A huge part of the population gets support due to low wages for full-time jobs with no hope of 'promotion' or 'career' moves.
I work f/t, and we make do, i will be working until i drop. We downsized housing through council. DC do not have rooms, front room floor on airbed if they are desperate.

Although I did have to explain to a colleague at one point a few years ago, that he and his wife would lose a lot, both worked minimum hours to maximise benefits so 'they could be at home for the children' . He thought they got full benefits until after university. He was horrified. So I guess some do not understand.

Not necessarily.Its all how you spend it not what you get.

This is reassuring. I have kids with additional needs which means I’m not able to work more hours etc and prepare for the day when the benefits stop.

They may become independent. They may not. It’s reassuring to know that if they don’t, we will be ok.

If they do, then I won’t be in a position to help them much financially in adult life and I hate that. But I guess I have helped them now, and they need it now. Maybe it will enable them to have independent lives and not need my help so much.

@BenefitWaffle Actually, oh expert, my granny and grandad had bought my mum a house outright in about 1973 because they were bothered about her marrying a bloke twice her age and with no money and then having me. They could rarely support financially after that and left her nothing when they died. Dad never really worked, mum earned minimum wage equivalent or less and had to keep all of us (Grandparents included) on her stupidly low salary. Dad never claimed benefits (he was ill, not lazy) as he felt they weren't for people like us so never asked anyone for help. So I grew up in a house that was paid for but cold, scruffy, and tense, with no clothes, no healthy food, no toiletries or san pro, no bedding, sometimes hot water was witheld due to cost, no activities past the age of about 10 when they became expensive, no holidays, no fun and even less interest in my personal development or education. So please take your 'tended to' and assumptions, stick them somewhere dark and actually listen to those of us that have lived a life that you could never imagine yet still manage to keep it together. How dare you comment on my family situation when I've never even met you?

What are your dcs going to study at uni OP? It seems a lot just go to uni these days for the ‘experience’ rather than with an expectation of them getting a job at the end of it in the field they’ve been at uni for. If they’re just going to uni to fill the gap until they have to work, talk to them about other options such as apprenticeships, or jobs that really don’t need a uni degree. I work alongside people who have been to uni, doing the same job as me, which doesn’t need a degree. If they’re then working, you can charge them rent/board, even if you just take from them what you are losing in benefits.

I don’t understand why @TheSnootiestFox is getting such a hard time.

MN is full of different folks with different outlook/experiences and advice. As grown ups, we take the advice that works and leave the best. She stated what she did - it’s one option. May not work for the OP, but is an option nonetheless.

@spanieleyes22 , you’re not a failure. You’ve raised two reasonably adjusted young people and now they need to support you in seeing them through the next phase. It’s shit when life doesn’t pan out how we planned / anticipated.

Some of these posts are incredibly patronising. We’re not stupid. We know the benefits will stop. Not everyone is in a position to work more, prepare for it. Our circumstances are all different (and I have a masters!)

Genuine question then, why can't you prepare for it if you know it's coming? It's not like you're going to get a choice so why not do something to make it less traumatic? if you can't work more the you either need to spend less or earn more with the work you can do, I don't see an alternative?

OP - if both your children are at University it looks as though you will have been overpaid UC. Your entitlement to a child element would have ended on the 31/8 before they started at University. Your payments will need to be re-calculated to see if you are/were still eligible and any overpayment will need to be calculated and referred to Debt Recovery.

I do think there is a hell of a lot of people nationwide who don’t realise when their children become adults and their benefit stops for them that it affects their whole claim, ie housing etc and they will just be considered a single person ( if they are single).This will in turn considerably reduce state help.I’m surprised there aren’t more posts on the subject.

It has been loans not grants for some years.

Quite.
Know this myself personally as all child related benefits stopped at 31 August of the year they finished college.Which is usually the year they turn 18, or 19 depending on college course.

I guessed where you might live before you posted this! I'm further south and could probably get to all of those within an hour plus the two York universities are only 30 mins by train so that would be 7! (And most of them are pretty decent - although I would say that having got my degree and masters from two of them and about to start my PhD with a third one)

Are you in an expensive part of the country? Is there any option to move location to a cheaper area? Rents in my area in the north are a fraction of the cost of some southern areas.

NOTHING is a given! TheSnootiestFox studied, busted a gut, and put themselves in a better position to cope with any future reduction in income.

Nobody should assume the State is going to keep them in old age given there simply aren't enough funds to cope with demand as we all live longer.

Find a side hustle, charge adult DC's rent and/or take in a lodger. Even dog walking is iro £12hr and given many owners have returned to work after getting lockdown pets, that's apparently doing a roaring trade.

Apologies for being the bearer of bad news, but you will only receive additional money for dependent children until 31st August after their 19th birthday. This is as long as they remain in further education, payments stop when they enter higher education.

OP, you cannot expect to continue receiving benefits so that you have a spare room for both your DC.

I'd rent a 2 bed house and get a good sofa bed for when they are both at home.