To push ds into claiming

[Lacky301]

Ds has just finished uni and never worked through me and ex dp give him £450 a month between us plus I've always bought him the odd thing and gave a bit extra here and there.
Me and his dad are seperated and his dads just received notification that he will now be charged full council tax as ds has finished uni I'm under strain financially. I've told ds he needs to claim universal credit until he finds a job but he keeps saying I want my results first. Am I wrong in pushing him to claim to take some pressure off me and dp. Fwiw he would get around £370 per month as living at home.

This. Tell him to start supporting himself while waiting for his results - he could get a job in McDonalds or a supermarket or anything - or use his indicative grades to get an assistant physio job or something in an adjacent field. Why should the working population pay for an able-bodied 24 year old hang out for the summer? As his parent, you really shouldn't

Well done your son. My daughters the same - has been working weekends since she was 15. It’s really good for them and has really helped her overcome social anxiety. She’s doing her GCSEs now and it’s something else for her to think about.

we didn’t give her the choice about ‘finding her feet’ - if you want to live then you need to work. You don’t expect others to pay you benefits when you’re a fit and healthy 21 year old. They are there for people who really need them.

No he isn't staying with us he's come back temporarily then he back in his uni town until August

Is your son 24? Is this serious?

You are not listening! He can work somewhere locally for 2-3 months until he moves (if he moves). That’s fine. Lots of people want students to cover summer work.

1 events company is not very inspiring is it?!

While he's been concentrating on his studies, so has every other student. Most of which have also been working to fund their studies, volunteering in relevant fields and forward planning. Yes, he's perfectly entitled to claim universal credit but he's a major red flag to employers having very little work experience by his age, in comparison to his peers everything screams lazy little mummy's boy and your attitude pretty much confirms it. You're not doing him any favours, he's in for a massive struggle here and needs some tough love.

Honestly these posts are heartwarming

Also, a lot of Trusts (if not all of them) have rolling job adverts for waiting lists for various HCPs, which includes students who are due to qualify this summer.

Your son should have applied and been on the waiting list for a physiotherapy job already.

Universal Credit is not to give a teenager some time out, that is a ridiculous attitude to have

Besides which, he will have a work coach who will push him to look for work. He will have to attend regular appointments at the job centre and prove how he has been spending 37.5 hours per week looking for work, applying for jobs and attending interviews. Personally, I would rather just get a job!

If he needs some advice then maybe he can take a leaf out of my 17 year old daughter's book. She's at college but wanted a casual job. She created her CV, printed it out and walked around our local towns, dropping it into every business that she passed. By the end of the second day, she had a job

Then surely he can walk into a job in the NHS - they are crying out for physios. I assume he’s done placements etc? He could be a health care assistant whilst waiting/ applying - I’m sure agencies would jump at the opportunity.

He would my sister got made redundant aged 22 during covid and got nearly that living at home too.

My DS may have some time off this summer. He is doing a very punishing degree. But I am not expecting the taxpayer to fund it.

Surely he's completed some placements during his degree course? Maybe reach out to them, where they know him.

In my nhs trust, all grad jobs starting august/sept are spoken for. However, there are always waiting lists and looking keen is a good start!
There'll be plenty of summer jobs; kids sports clubs especially will be looking out for fit young people.

I wouldn't be giving him a penny even if I had more than enough money to give it. He's an adult and needs to learn some independence and work ethic. I worked whilst at uni as did most people I know. I also had a grad job lined up before I got my results.

If he is staying in his accommodation until August till him to look for work in a large company like supermarkets, mcdonalds or wetherspoons. They often have space to transfer location so he is less likely to have to give it up when he moves back. This will tide him over until he can apply for graduate jobs.

The first question any employer will ask a fresh out of uni adult is what have they done since/outside of uni. They are unlikely to be jobs he wants based on his degree but will get him a reference and give him a way of showing some key skills such as time management, good communication working under pressure etc. It will pay more than he gets now and will help him in the long run. Even if he decides to apply for other stuff once he has his degree result it is easy enough to leave a job and start a new one. His results are not a reason for him to wait. His CV needs to stand out and he can use these types of jobs to fund him whilst he gets work experience if needed too.

Am I wrong in pushing him to claim to take some pressure off me and dp.

This is the question you asked and I think the answer is very clear - you are wrong to push him to claim benefits.

YABU to not have instilled a work ethic in him. I was a student for 6 years and every single holiday Easter, Summer & Christmas, I worked full time. During term time, I also worked part time, and some of the time full time (evenings and full weekends). I've been working since I was a young child (before child employment limitations were a thing).

Never had I a gap in my CV. Your son is now disadvantaged to have such a poor work history. Studying at Uni is no excuse to not work part time and in holidays, nor is physiotherapy a degree that makes it impossible to work alongside uni.

Is he serious about his future career? I cannot understand why he hasn't already been applying for roles or volunteering for sports clubs already.

My children are still quite young but both of them are really excited to turn old enough to get a part-time job.

I bet if you hadn't been subsidising him he'd have found work.

If he's wanting any job I'd say the care sector would be the quickest way to get into work, once I finished uni I got a home care job straight away with no experience. It was my first job. I worked there for 6 months until I found something else. It wasn't great and I found it really hard but it was a wage. If he's wanting to hold out until he finds a specific job in his field I'd be pushing him to find a job for now rather than claim UC. If he's genuinely struggling to find a job then by all means claim UC. You know your DS best so as long as he's not planning on staying on UC for longer than he needs I think it's fine to apply and see what he's entitled to :)

A DEGREE in physiotherapy? 🤣
and he cant find a job??

are you trying to drum up support of Sunak in weeding out monkey degrees? 🤣

DS had zero paid work experience until he finished his A levels. He easily lined up bar work for the summer literally straight after his last exam. He worked there the whole summer before starting uni and returned to work there during the Xmas hols. He managed to get a 3 mth paid summer internship relevant to his degree last summer. Now he has just completed his 2nd yr at uni and has a month off before he starts his 12 mth industrial placement in July. This wasn't easily attained - he literally applied to numerous companies and went through multiple interview/assessment rounds and endured rejections over the course of 6+ mths before having 2 placement job offers to choose from - all for a sandwich year job. It is really competitive out there!

Ok op just seen the update about what his degree is in. I am one. Fist off gradcracker won't be any use as it doesn't cover physio or other medical roles, he needs to get on the NHS jobs site https://www.nhsjobs.com/ and start looking for posts now. He doesn't need a CV as such he needs a profile on this to apply, like a cv but slightly different. The bad news is that most of not all of his contemporary students have been applying for months and most trusts will have filled band 5 riles for the year, certainly for up to winter. He will have been told this and to start applying as the unis all no this run job fairs etc. I have done several as part of our recruitment this year. Unfortunately with the current NHS budget cuts there are fewer jobs 2 for 200 applicants at out trust . He need to look now but unfortunately he may have missed the boat, so I would look for Healthcare related roles now

He's been extremely busy with his studies

No doubt he has, but then so will most of the others, and at least among the students I know most of them work as well

And if he's "not lazy", then as already asked, how come he hasn't already applied for grad schemes, got a stopgap job or even prepared a suitable CV?
You mentioned that he'd "have to leave" when his accommodation deal runs out, but casual employers know and accept this - especially when they're desperate for staff as many currently are

He completed his course when, maybe a week or two ago, and doesn’t even have his degree yet.

Not sure why a degree in physiotherapy is funny?

Isn't the simple answer to stop funding him the £450 a month and put that towards the council tax? If he's not propped up by you it's up to him to find money to support himself. He's an adult not a child and if he wants to chill out fine but it's time he stood on his own two feet.