Friend earns as much as me on benefits

[NattyFinch]

I felt really shocked and conflicted after a discussion with a friend recently that revealed that she receives over £2000 a month on benefits for 2 children while I work full time as a single parent with one child for a similar amount (once I’ve paid all my taxes, ni etc). It stemmed from her saying she was going for ivf treatment at 48 at a total cost of £8000. I’m supportive as a friend and try not to be a judgmental person but this just seems unjust when I’ve worked so hard to stay in employment and raise my son single-handedly for 12 years. She doesn’t want to move to England because if the ivf is successful she will get more money to stay in Scotland. AIBU to think this is all bonkers ?!

I don't particularly begrudge any benefits payouts if granted honesty. I think once someone has earned 12,570 they're liable to pay TAX on any earnings after that so seeing some on benefits being given more, in some cases a fair bit more than that in total can sting a bit.

I will edit this to say I also think from a taxpayer/workers side of things being told contributions to a state pension is included in those TAX deductions should be abolished, purely based on when I started work at 16, I was told monies taken from my earnings would be put towards my state retirement pension when I reach 60, having reached my 60's the goal posts keep moving so I'm in doubt as to whether there will actually be a state pension in x amount of years time.

The calculators often aren't correct. I'm in a Facebook UC group and the admins always advise doing the manual calculations rather than relying on the calculators.

Also, any single claimant earning 2k a month with 2 children would be entitled to some UC.

I posted up thread - I earn £2160 a month and get between £300-£360 UC depending on how much childcare I pay. Anyone getting housing element would get more.

It probably shouldn’t surprise me given how bad I know some of the tax related tools are but I’d assumed you’d get some rounding errors for a calculation like that not that it would be out by thousands of pounds a year. I know someone who earns around that £36k (which I know only due to her role having published pay scales) with 2 kids who thinks she’s entitled to nothing and while I don’t know what savings she has or how much her mortgage is I was thinking of her when putting an example into the tool. I should maybe suggest to her she checks again as she’s trusted whatever calculator she was referred to from the gov.uk site.

There also just seem to be such a lot of inconsistencies and weird rules. Why are you effectively penalised for savings but not for any child maintenance you receive (& why is the process to get child maintenance paid over so shitty to begin with though that’s a whole other question)? Why is your mortgage not eligible but someone’s landlords is? Some of the tax rules for high earners are similarly mental.

I pay for other people's kids, their education, their healthcare. Very happy to have done so for 40+ years, very happy continue doing so, despite never having had any of my own.

A civilised society looks after its children, it is in everyone's interests to do so.

Your post is lovely and has restored my faith in humans(well almost).
It's almost like they are the future or something, the kids I mean. Why people don't think about who these children will grow up to be is beyond me. They are literally the next generations politicians, engineers, doctors, lawyers, carers, cleaners and everything in between.
Instead of investing in these kids, lets just bash their parents for daring to claim benefits instead that is the attitudes of so many.

Your friend should do (or get someone else to do) a manual calculation rather than relying on the calculators. How much her mortgage is won’t alter the UC calculation - she will get a higher work allowance compared to someone who rents, but the mortgage amount doesn’t matter for UC.

Child maintenance doesn’t lead to a deduction because, for too many, it isn’t reliable income.

That would be great, and some of those children will grow up to do those things, I think the kids from these workless backgrounds that do go on to be doctors, lawyers and politicians are very much the exception sadly and are extraordinary people. They've had every disadvantage and barrier hampering them and still achieved. I come from a community and family were generations of worklessness are common, for the most part, it's not great futures waiting for these kids.
I don't know what the answer is.

And the worse of it, these kids are not stupid, they see the world around them, they see people slogging their guts out in minimum wage, hard jobs, and being no better off than the people who don't work and have the luxury of free time.

Hello, just after any advice. I work full time, my partner is currently 10 weeks pregnant and unemployed. I earn too much to receive any help according to benefit sites but I don’t earn enough to cover all bills.

my partner cannot get JSA or anything like that because of her national insurance contributions, does anyone know anyway around this? Or any way to get some extra help for us or her to receive some sort of money.

Maybe start your own post.

I’m more shocked that your friend is going for another child whilst relying so heavily on state benefits.

Absolutely agree.
Children are our future.

What I can’t cope with is why some younger generations then go on to whinge ( and I’ve read some truly horrible comments on MN for example ) about the elderly receiving pensions, or even any type of care when they need it.

Its all for one or nothing at all.

Sounds like he earns too much for that.

She might be entitled to maternity allowance if she has worked enough? Otherwise it is just child benefit and working more hours.

Minimum wage is just that though. The low paid struggle because of housing and childcare costs. Governments can't tell business to pay more because property portfolios are people incomes now.

It makes no odds what the realistic salary is, if benefits are there to also give people a "realistic" amount to live on does it?
If people on benefits don't get a decent standard if living then the complaints about child poverty, freezing pensioners and broken Britain get thrown about.