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.

@askmenow Even 100 years ago local authorities helped financially the elderly poor. Are you really suggesting we leave people to starve on the street?

Can you post your incomings and outgoings OP? Maybe we can help find some areas that you can cut back on

Single adults do have it very tough and you have my sympathy.

The kids not being there will mean less food and electricity etc, so less outgoings.
Although of course your rent is going to be the same.

You could also look into finding some extra income because you’ll have more free time eg babysitting, getting a lodger, ironing etc

To answer your question, I can’t work more because my dc have additional needs that mean I can’t. I also have my own disabilities.

I do work, part time, from home. But I have dc who can’t even be left with immediate family and two of whom are not well enough to attend school.

There isn’t really a way of earning more doing what I do now (legal profession) - my current employer is extremely flexible and the company extremely disability positive. In any other company, I don’t think I’d have managed to stay in employment. What I do is quite niche, and isn’t a well paid area of law.

I had to pay board when I was in uni then moving onto working. I remember having to pay £100pm back then. But I’d ask for it when they get their grants etc.

my dc didnt come home from uni, they stayed in the uni and worked.

Oh blimey, @WaitingForMojo , I'm so sorry to hear that. Will your support be withdrawn as your children get older too? I know that as a UC claimant mine will as the kids grow up but surely your support will continue, it's a travesty if not!

It is utterly ridiculous that your rent takes up such a huge amount of your wages.

I am a SM on UC with 2 still at home so I get where you are coming from. But it doesnt help kids not to contribute imo. Paying rent/board teaches them to budget, to appreciate things dont come for free, and that they are part of a family pulling together.

The only time mine have not paid keep (over 18) is when they have moved back in for a few months to help them get funds together for another move, so a temporary thing. Otherwise they give 1/4 of their wages.

You are sacrificing a downsize for THEIR benefit remember - so that they have a home still while at Uni. I 100% agree with you, they need a place still. But you could get a smaller place and not be so stressed, so to even it out they need to step up and pay for living with you.

The thing is though, if you have a house all sorted and paid for by the time you reach retirement age, you can survive on quite a low income at retirement, just the pension if needs be. Whereas if you rent, it’s very much harder and that’s why I sympathise with the OP. Just working harder won’t be enough because we live in a very different economic environment today where inherited wealth matters more greatly than wages.

Rents have been rocketing due to the fact that younger people and families who would have previously traditionally purchased houses find it more difficult to do so, as house prices have increased much faster than wages growth. So there are a lot more renters. At the same time the number of available rental properties has not kept up.
So the days of meritocracy are passing us by and it’s now increasingly about family wealth passed down.

It will stop when they are 18 (16 if not in education I think). They will be able to claim benefits in their own right though, if they still struggle this much. Which I hope they won’t. I hope they will be independent even though it will leave me in a bit of a financial pickle. Hopefully though at that point I will be able to work full time.

At the moment I just cross my fingers!

I’m actually still on legacy benefits and not completely sure how it works with UC.

Then surely you need to diversify your expertise..... look for short courses to show employers you're willing to learn and progress. You could be working for another 20 years.

Is there anything you can do to achieve higher earnings? We don't know your job but could you take a course in bookkeeping for instance which could be a sideline to greater income.
There must be an adjunct to your current job that might enhance your employability or provide extra income.

You seem defeated because you're unable to give your children the same level of support your parents gave you but not all uni students get the support you had.
And not all degrees are equal. Some tbh were pretty useless and wouldn't necessarily lead to enhanced earning potential in later life.

Hopefully there will be a change of government before then and things will get easier for you. Yours is a completely different situation to mine and the OPs and I wish you well. I'll also keep everything crossed for you and your family x

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, peoplemnslate those claiming instead.

I bang on about this all the time, @Blakessevenrideagain . The biggest single item in most UC claims that I see is housing costs, so a big chunk of the UC "bill" is the landlord's, not the claimant's.

If only there was a programme of building decent housing, with secure tenancies, to rent at a reasonable rate. The government could borrow the money (which they can do cheaply) to build houses and flats cheaply, and rent them out at reasonable rents. They could hand them over to councils to manage, and the rental income would repay the borrowing. Over time, it would be cost neutral, especially when some of the costs would be offset by rental income.

They could call them "council houses".

Not RTFT but from another post it says your kids are already in UNI?

TC/ UC stops for kids once they leave full time non advanced education so you shouldn't be claiming anything for kids in uni.

Non advanced includes A levels and some college courses, notuni.

Exactly!

Does your ex have space for them to move into if required between uni? You mention he is doing great. It is hard but ultimately you can't afford to keep paying the rent for a bigger property and need to downsize.

When you're retired, you'll be at the age when you're eligible for retirement housing. My dad had a one bed flat via a retirement housing association that was affordable on his state pension. Yes it was very basic and very small, but it was affordable. The properties tend to be easier to get than council housing, there aren't the ridiculously long waiting lists.

@whiskeydistillery V late to this party but Oxford and Cambridge have the most generous student support available of any universities. For this reason they're actually a great bet for poorer students versus other universities but the cultural aura around them tends to put poorer students off, which is a real tragedy. It's much easier to end up with all your costs covered there than almost anywhere else.

The upper limit for pension credit is a couple of pounds a week lower than state pension, so anyone getting a full state pension is ineligible for pension credit.

Social housing for older people is a good shout though. There's a much higher turnover because they become vacant when people die, so properties become available a lot more often. A former colleague of mine got a lovely flat in a block for over 50s, a few weeks after her 50th birthday. She was the youngest in there by quite some years, but absolutely loves it.

Don't ever take advice from people who haven't been in your situation.
Most of the replies on here are laughable and there's no way the people advising you on what to do would be willing to do it themselves.
They tend to live in a different world on here and expect you to be happy with a life they wouldn't be.
It takes alot of guts and courage to raise children alone, never mind hard work. You've done well to get this far and you will be ok.
The three of you need to work as a team that's the way forward.

I don't think I can do that though as I'm renting but thanks for the suggestion

Thanks I appreciate it

Unfortunately this is the reality. People think life on benefits is hard but they have no idea. Doing it alone is way harder. Good luck op