Families on UC

[happypickle]

Off the back off another thread and doing a few searches of the benefits calculator, it seems the sweet spot for a lot of families will be to be renting, have a low/medium earning (typically) husband and an unemployed mother who stays at home. This seems to yield the highest return for UC, no childcare expenses and a happy mum who gets to stay at home and be there for her children.

It doesn't seem to be fair that UC system supports this whilst middle earners will be expected to both work full time in order to pay their mortgage and pay extortionate child care fees to probably be in a worse financial position than those on UC.

I know the theory is that long term, the working couple will be better off as they will have better pensions and career progression. But is that really the case?

I earn around 40k a year and still receive between 2-600 a month depending on what I've earnt that month. I'm a nurse in the private sector. I rent and have 3dc. The beauty of UC is it takes my monthly wage into account which is good as I can still pick up the odd extra shift and I won't get a letter at the end of the year saying I owe them money. Life is much better now I'm recieving the top and I'm not nearly as stressed.

Money where mouth is.

Woman quit.
Man works.
Sell house.
Rent.

Good luck. Enjoy have fun

Oh but that won't happen.
Grass is greener till the bugs come out.

Fucking benefit bashing arseholes really piss me off.

IF YOU THINK LIFE IS SO GREAT IN BENEFITS. WHAT IS STOPPING YOU?

seems the sweet spot for a lot of families will be to be renting, have a low/medium earning (typically) husband and an unemployed mother who stays at home

Are you sure it supports SAHMs? I thought they were given work commitments under the new system?

I work full time as a registered professional. I claim UC. It's shite. I would much rather be paid enough of a wage that I didn't need to claim at all.

Any wage increase applied (either through a pay rise or through working extra hours) is offset by the reduction of my UC payment so you are never really any better off.

But if your parents lived like that, and their parents lived like that, and all your cousins and friends live like that too, it's your normal.

Put the fucking services in place to help people.

I have lost my job and am on UC because my disabled son has no school place and no childcare will take him because he is so high need.

No on ficking cares he is legally entitled to education and a school place. But because im forced into UC to feed him people care an awful lot about that.

During this time I start getting my own health issues. It's degenerative and can't be cure but it can be slowed. Do you think I can get help! 2 years im waiting getting worse and worse. I would not have qualified for disability benefits if I'd had treatment but probably would now if I applied. I will need more help as time passes costing more to the tax payer when I can no longer care for myself. This could have been delayed years had I got prompt help but as it is I'm coming up on 3 years of each department referral to a new department because it's not their area.

Think of mental health treatment. Support in school for autistic children to gain the skills to work not be broken by ableism.

Earning potential correlates with educational quality/provisions. Yet we have increased numbers of SEN kids unsupported and forced into mainstream. Impacting the kids in mainstream. Ratios in early years are increasing so more kids per adult. Funding to early years and education is appalling and we have known for years and years better provision at these times leads to better outcomes and less reliance on the state the reasearch all shows this but the gov did all those cuts regardless. And this is what we are left with.

It's incredibly rare to choose to be on benefits. Blame the fucking system failing people. I hate shitting myself falling over and being stuck at home with a child so disabled no one else is able to care for him. Who would honestly choose such a life? I want to work it's far easier and I was far better off when I worked, people spoke to me with more respect and I wasn't assumed to be a lazy selfish money grabbing slob.

People on here are so horrible about benefits it's disgusting.

Run up to the election. The Hateful Tory voters have been reading the media output that paints all benefit claimants as scroungers that cost every tax payer squillions a year.

When, in actual fact, the average tax payer paya far more for pensions than unemployment.

Pensions - which is the absolutely highest payout of welfare, it runs to billions upon billions whilst unemployemnet is a tiny fraction of the welfare bill. (I haven't looked in a while but unemployment once cost the UK Taxpayer about 1 to 2 Billion whilst Pensions cost the Tax Payer 160 billion)

But the Tories want to beat the poorest instead of suggesting that wealthier older people maybe don't need some of that 160Billion worth of payments.

Fwiw- unemployment benefits make up less than 1% of welfare spending. The notion that tax payer money funds millions of people who have never worked is a myth, bought by fools, sold by the wealthy.

Benefit calculators only let you do a certain amount of calculations in a day, how many days you spent looking for this sweet spot?!

Oh, is it bash the pensioners time? 🙄

I don't know where you're hearing that, because the more you work the more UC you get to keep in proportion, so you are always better off working more. There is not a massive drop off with UC like there was with tax credits.

I work full time earning over minumum wage and get UC. Why would I feel guilty that my job doesn't pay enough to support me and one child?

Benefits need to run on a case bu case. Those with disabled children deserve all they get but I've just done a calculation online just to see what I would be entitled to and I will receive £10 less than my current wage from working. Which would actually mean I would be better off not working and being a stay at home mum because my travel costs would then not exist. The system is broken

Just for background I get UC, my dp works full time but I have a zero hours contract but do work most days totalling a 30 hour week, however this it to suit childcare ect so I am there for my dc in school holidays which works for us as a family.
We have two primary age DC and rent our property which will is and will be long term.
With rent, full council tax, bills (gas water elec and internet), alongside phones (PAYG) insurance, petrol, Netflix ect we just about get by each month

I urge everyone to Google 'amount of unclaimed benefits'. Now try and digest that figure.

But the idea with UC is when your children hit 5 you need to be working at least 25hours a week

It's so fucking boring. And repetitive.

You're much too late with this. The polls closed hours ago

Being on benefits was a safety net for me when I had to be a SAHM for my disabled son. There’s no other way I would have survived.

When on benefits there are restrictions on how much you work without losing money, which in theory is as it should be, but in reality traps people in a situation where they can’t slowly increase their hours, working more hours means you end up on less money.

For example carers allowance - you can earn up to £151 a week from work (CA is £81.90 per week), if you go over this threshold at all, even my 50p, you do not qualify to claim. So there’s no phasing out of CA to return to work, but if you’re caring for someone for over 35 hours a week it’s unlikely that you could just come off it and work the 28 additional hours (assuming minimum wage) in a month to gain that back.

I was on legacy CTC, and that was similar. When I returned to work if I went over 16 hours I was suddenly in a situation where I had higher fuel costs, higher care costs for my son (to take into account the level of flexibility he needed), no free prescriptions, no free school meals for my younger dc, and no possible way to work the hours I’d need to to make up for the shortfall.

I realise that my situation - disabled child - means some MNers will think my case acceptable, but the lack of phasing back into the workplace is a restriction for everyone.

There’s also the stress at relying on benefits. Particularly when you work as well. Have you all read about the woman who went over the threshold whilst claiming CA? She went under the threshold some months, and some months went over by 50p to £3. DWP sat on it for 3 years then demanded it all back. Over £11,000.
If the government want people back to work they need to overhaul things to allow people to get back to work with a level of flexibility. IME most people want to work, but the fear of losing money when things are already tight traps you.

I’ve come off benefits now, it’s a struggle sometimes, but I know I’m free to earn more without the fear that I’m going to lose more than I earn. Being on benefits was necessary, but it was humiliating relying on gov orgs that treat you like you’re dishonest and putting up with the stigma and opinions of real life people who believe the propaganda that we're all benefits scum and scroungers. It gets a bit much sometimes.

It's 30 now, they increased it. But people still seem to think it's the same as tax credits where you only had to work 16 hours. It just goes to show that people have not actually done any research into UC and what is required to claim it, they're just spouting anti benefits nonsense that they know nothing about.

Any wage increase applied (either through a pay rise or through working extra hours) is offset by the reduction of my UC payment so you are never really any better off.

You lose 55p in the £1, so you are better off if you earn more - not by the full amount you earn but by nearly 50%.

On the mortgage- lucky you for being privileged enough to have the deposit. I earn plenty to pay a mortgage but all my money goes in paying my landlords mortgage instead.

so judgemental and such a nasty post. You know it’s exactly what the gov want? You’re playing right into their hands. Point the finger at the families working their arses off but still get uc instead the of millions they have spuffed up the wall with all their dodgy going ons

I realise that my situation - disabled child - means some MNers will think my case acceptable, but the lack of phasing back into the workplace is a restriction for everyone.

I have been told in the past on here that this still isn't a good excuse. I could just get one of these millions of flexible WFH jobs that allow me to work school hours, have 14 weeks annual leave, will cater for the need for frequent appointments, phases when the child is not attending school etc. Easy peasy, ya know ;-)

You are better off, because you get to keep more of your UC, they deduct a certain amount but you're always better off working and earning more.

In most cases, you’ll always be better off working than on UC. You’ll also be better off working full time and getting a UC top up.

These parents will still be attending meetings etc and having to work search/apply for jobs for 30 hours a week.

Most people think they’re not entitled because they earn a lot but sometimes that’s not the case.

I earn £2500 a month, my partner earns £1500 and we still get £1245 UC🤷🏼‍♀️

It is the amount you earn that matters not the hours you work.