AIBU to be angry about the benefits system

[Daffodilsinfebruary]

I have recently discovered by using a free, independent benefits calculator called entitledto that had I applied for Universal Credit over 2 years ago, me and my family would be over £16,000 better off.

I had assumed that benefits were for either single-parent families or people unable to work due to disability.

The majority of our savings would have been from claiming 85% back in childcare costs. We also would have had a payout of over £200 each month in addition.

For context, we bring in just shy off £4,000 a month. I thought this was a very reasonable income and we would be entitled to nil.

I feel angry that we did not know about this. A friend of mine who I met through our children attending the same nursery told me she claims 85% back in childcare costs during a conversation in which I complained of my childcare going up £150.

I did further research and 19 billion pounds apparently goes unclaimed every year.

I’ve never claimed benefits in all my life and worked hard to get on the property ladder.

should I be angry that we didn’t claim, or take it in my stride.

I wonder how many other families who could have claimed but haven’t.

The money they pay towards mortgage interest is a loan which has to be paid back once you sell your house. If you are managing then it would be madness to take that loan out.

Sorry but i dont why are you allowed to claim for rent when you have a job earning 4k a month.

Seriously

What a strange comment. What figure would
you rather was plucked out of nowhere to be the cut off point then?

One of the best, and fairest, bits of UC is that there aren’t these arbitrary cliff edge limits associated with it (such as the 16 hour working week which only served to disincentivise working more). With UC, a person’s individual entitlements are totted up (personal allowance, child element, housing element etc) and then that overall figure is reduced according to their income. As is often trotted out, with UC it ‘pays to work’, meaning that an individual is never better off by working less or being solely reliant on benefits. What skews things massively in the current economic climate, however, is the sickening cost of childcare and private rents. And so those age-old stereotypes of benefits only being for the destitute are being increasingly eroded because the earnings thresholds at which benefits cease to be available are getting higher and higher.

I hope that’s helpful. Might I suggest that you stop pointing the finger at individuals, and take a moment to consider the structural
failings in our society that have led us here.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game 👊

Universal Credit has four built in systems for deciding what's 'fair' when it comes to rent:

Firstly, private rentals are subject to the Local Housing Allowance rate for the area. The LHA was frozen at the 30th percentile of the Broad Market Rental Area in 2020. That has now been lifted and it is now set at the 30th percentile of the current BMRA. This means that anybody who rents a house that costs more than the bottom 30% of rents in the area has their rent capped.

Secondly, there is a bedroom calculator which determines the rate that can be allowed. It is possible but unlikely that someone could rent a bigger, cheaper property, but generally, it prevents people claiming for a four bed house with only 2 children, say.

Thirdly, if a Council/Housing Association tenant has a property that is too big, a bedroom tax applies, even if there is no smaller property they could move to.

Fourthly, the claimant's income is taken into account so full rent is rarely paid.

The PP has high rent and high childcare costs. Her UC doesn't cover it all by any means.

Wow no need to be nasty I was just trying to understand be cause I earn 50k but as I don't have children I don't get any help but managde to pay my rent and bills. I understand the child element and childcare amounts given but rent allowance I didn't think was given.

From thay example the child element and childcare costs together (1.3k) cover the childcare amount in total (1.1k) with 200 left over so I wasn't really understanding then why with 4k from the job which would cover rent and bill and enough disposable ledt over why rent allowance is given. Doesn't make sense to me that's all.

You earn 50k and have no children, you don’t need help to pay your rent. You posted a short reply that sounded shitty so someone gave you a shitty response.

You clearly do if you were looking at your entitlement to Universal Credit.

You are also paying tax. Don't forget that. Too many people happy to make unpleasant comments about single mums on benefits.

Well I asked a question it wasn't in a shitty way it was judt a question as to why rent allowance is paid if as per that example aa a single parent she said her take home is 4k a month and I earn just below that with same rent figure and i can afford to pay the rent bills and have some left over each month. So if uc provides child element and child care why does she need help with rent when her wages are sufficient to cover rent.

I'm not being nasty I just don't understand 🤷

Because the way Uc works is that people get whatever elements they qualify for based on their circumstances and everyone who rents gets a rent element. If you were to apply for UC you would also get a rent element on your claim but because you are single with no kids your total Uc entitlement would be a lot lower than someone with kids and therefore your earnings would wipe out all of your Uc entitlement. People with kids on their claim also get what is called a work allowance where an amount of their earnings are disregarded before earnings start reducing their total UC award. As a single person you would not get that either. Universal credit is one benefit that replaces six others, so it takes rent into account also. Also you as a single person would only get a one bedroom local housing allowance rate for rent ( assuming private renting) but someone with kids could potentially get a 3/ 4 bedroom rate depending on number of kids and their ages, so her rent element could be hugely higher than yours. Add this bigger rent element to all the other elements that can build up with having kids and childcare and you can see why someone would have a much bigger UC award than you ? People with disabled kids can get up to an extra £400 on their claim for a disabled child, this is in addition to the child element and if they are a carer they can get an additional £200 element for being a carer. Therefore some people's awards can be huge before deductions for earnings, it's all dependent on circumstances.

Well known nobody tells you what you are entitled to . Although I do remember years ago , your Dr was allowed to tell you can claim for an illness , now they're not allowed to tell you .

@Motomum23 , that is an horrible and unkind comment. 😡

Thank you for taking the time to explain that makes sense.

No problem. It really isn't the easiest benefit to get your head around !

I find it worse that, as a single parent with 2 children and earning 3k a month (if you count child maintenance from their Dad, much less if you don't count that in), and yet I don't qualify for any UC.

Weird how it works that you, with 4K income, do.

I am on a Facebook group with lots of knowledgeable admins who all say that the online benefit calculators aren't accurate. There is a formula used which is posted thread or anyone can apply for UC to see what they'd be entitled to, if anything.

SMI is a loan repayable with interest and the general advice is to avoid at all costs because most mortgage providers would be able to offer a payment holiday to people who are struggling, which works out cheaper than taking out a SMI loan.

I earn 32k a year as a single parent of 2 and get a £360ish UC top up per month which mainly pays for after school club, so a far cry off £4k a month. If I rented I would get support for housing costs but I'm in a much better position owning my own home.

I don't resent people with high childcare costs getting more because that money goes straight to the childcare provider! It doesn't go into that family's pocket as soon as childcare costs go down, whereas a family who isn't entitled to help towards childcare gets to keep that money as the costs fall.

The SMI only kicks in after 9 months of claiming UC but if there is earnings in that 9 months you are then not eligible for the SMI

You can't use HMRC Tax account and UC to pay for childcare. If you claim UC then you can only receive help through your auC

@Spectre8 - I'm glad the previous poster explained it to you. It's not that my rent is paid (because my rent is £1.3K a month and my childcare is £1.2K a month, and in total I received around £1.1K that month in UC.

If I'd had no childcare costs that month, I'd have 'only' received approx £230 that month in UC. So whilst you and I have the same income, I have 3 kids to cover school uniform / school trips / birthday and Christmas gifts / birthday gifts for kids friends / kids hobbies and sport / kids clothing and footwear / toiletries / haircuts for kids / god knows what else, with about £230 more than you have, when you have no kids. Honestly, UC doesn't mean someone is rolling in it, I promise. It doesn't even cover the childcare costs of me working, let alone all the travel costs I have for work.

I know UC is meant to be a benefit that encourages people to work, but I can assure you I would be better off not working and getting free school meals/ free prescriptions, and being able to spend time with my kids rather than having them in childcare for almost 10 hours every day etc etc, but since becoming a single parent I have barely stopped in trying to better myself to earn a better income for my kids, so that hopefully one day I don't need UC at all.

I believe that the Government has also published unclaimed benefits for pensioners like
Some people have been struggling, when there is more help available

However, they do need to apply, because it is not automatic

Pension credit
Winter fuel allowance
Attendance allowance

The government is very sneaky in not making it clear that it's easy to apply and many working people on lower incomes qualify for support.

People talk about benefit frUd but that's a tiny issue - unclaimed benefits swap that figure

I had a look to see if we would be entitled to anything when DC1 starts school in September and we would get just the £42.55 child benefit.

I am now doubting whether to actually put the claim in as although it will help for the next 4 months (gives a slightly better saving than tax free childcare), after that it wouldn’t and I’m not sure then whether I can reapply for the tax free 20% towards child care as the 15 free government hours also kicks in for DC2 lowering costs, with free hours you can still use tax-free childcare. But with UC I wouldn’t be able to claim Tax-Free.

If I claimed UC for next 4 months how easy it would be then apply for tax-free childcare again after.

The system is extremely complex.

£4,000 monthly Net is Annual Gross of £64,550. Why would any household on £65k be entitled to extra benefits?

Jesus I'm so sick of people who have kids acting like they shouldn't really have to be out of pocket for it.

Overall I think I was misinformed as the 85% back in childcare costs is after a very complex calculation taking into account earnings, actual childcare costs, number of children etc. It technically isn’t 85% for everyone who applies to Universal Credit. So I take back what I posted in my OP.

There is so much hassle involved in claiming I should have probably put the claim through last October when I began paying 2 lots of childcare costs and would have benefited for a while. Now it seems to complicated putting the application through and now I’m worried if I will be able to use the Tax-Free childcare in September when my child attends morning and afternoon club and my other one goes to nursery and I have to pay for additional hours and food. As Universal Credit and Tax Free Childcare are 2 separate systems.

I understand why people don’t claim Universal Credit now.

I don’t think I should not be out of pocket for having children I take full responsibility, got on the property ladder and had considerable savings before having them. I didn’t plan for such a large increase in my nursery costs which came into effect on the 1st April 2024 due to minimum wage increasing so much and Cost of Living Crisis.

Obviously if there is help available for childcare I would be stupid not to apply.