To think UC's new AET is fucking ridiculous?

[sentfrommyiphone]

I’ve been working & claiming UC for the past 2 years. Today I got an email saying I need to attend a mandatory appointment to review my commitments, the reason for this being the AET is now £892 & I only earn £881.58.
I now have to attend regular work meetings because of this £10.42 shortfall! & if I fail to attend any of these I will be sanctioned.
The ironic thing is, I have to take time out of my working day to attend an appointment with UC about helping me find more work?
I’m on a fixed term time only contract at 20 hours a week & im paid pro rata.

What the actual fuck?

Did I say I had a problem with the additional 2 hours required, or was I replying to somebody who said generally that people should not work (any reduced hours at all) to fit around their lives?

It's a luxury to be able to work hours that fit around your life, especially when you claim UC and I've claimed for a long time. You need to jump through the hoops if you want to claim, it's the way it is.

I'd like to be able to work school hours only but I've got bills to pay so I work full time.

I also work full time, granted I am blessed to work from home so I have a bit of flexibility, but I do not begrudge people making sensible decisions which suit their life, especially while their DC are young.

Not everybody has the support network around them to be able to work FT all of their DC's lives.

Not everything should be measured solely in financial cost, and when finances are considered, you need to look at the big picture and include all of the associated costs for each model. There is no sense in making a woman of 2 young DC under 5 go from a MW job which fits around her children's schedule to FT, if the result is that the extra earnings she makes will also be entitled to claim hundreds of extra £'s a month to cover that childcare. It's great that that is a choice for parents, but it shouldn't me mandated.

IMO the 18 hour system is a fair and reasonable compromise. My issue is with this "tax payer funded easy lifestyle". It doesn't make economic nor moral sense to condemn people for taking jobs which make their lives more manageable.

I agree that it's not always easy, but I think 18 hours is a fair enough expectation. Would be nicer to see subsided childcare though!

I'm a single parent of 3 kids, and I earn the equivalent of about 24 hrs a week at min wage, so well above the AET. Got migrated to UC a year ago and it's been straight forward so far. But now UC have given me an appointment for a Work Search Review. Not sure why, or what they're expecting? But wondering if they're now going to start harassing people earn between the AET and CET to find more employment?

It depends on the kids ages. I think the expectation for people with school age children is to do 30 hours per week at minimum wage depending on circumstances. The new government might change it though.

How much is this UC payment? On top of £892 income a month. I am just curious.

It's different for everyone depending how many kids people have, when the kids were born, whether they pay rent, whether people on the claim have disabilities, whether they are carers etc or have childcare costs. The payments can run into thousands a month for some people if they have high rent and high childcare costs.

Is the reason it’s gone up due to an expectation that wages will have gone up? In which case, could your employer just give you a small raise?

It doesn’t sound that marvellous that they didn’t think of this themselves.

Also though, perhaps your employer would give you a few more hours to help you out - as then you would earn even more.

Oh ok. Thanks. I guess I am lucky that it’s a world I have not (yet) had to know about.