To be absolutely fking sick of Universal Credit

[scorpiogirly]

Posted a few days ago regarding being called in for an appointment after work messed my wages up.

Went through all pay slips and could see the mistake, also could then see the basic pay per month which is over the AET. This is after increasing my hours.

So I messaged the work coach and explained what happened and that going forward my pay would be over the AET and asked if I still needed to attend the meeting which is today.

I was told yes as it was under last month. And we can discuss this apparently when I go in. Discuss what? Possible reasons work made the mistake? This is a work search appointment. For which there will be nothing to discuss or put in place as I will be over the AET.

But no, let's still waste my time, their time and also taxpayers money.

I just hate it. The way they make you jump through hoops in order to get the help you're entitled to.

Just a rant really. Does anyone hate UC as much as me?

Yeah, I hate them. I’m working but just under their AETor whatever it’s called. I was fine until the gov put it up three times in a few months! Now I have to go in for UC appointments even though I have a job. They repeatedly make me UC appointments when I’m at work, and one ‘job coach’ had a real go at me when I said I couldn’t attend because I was at work. She was a right cow and also fucked up my sick note and then tried to blame me.

I’m grateful for the money, but it would be better if they focussed on people who were capable of work but not working. There are young people in their mid and late 20s who have never had a job. It would make more sense to focus on them than harass people who are actually working.

It was a huge jump too. From 743 to 892!

Are you looking at changing jobs or just going along with their appointments?

And yes I agree about focusing on those who don't work at all. Obviously excluding people with disabilities and caring responsibilities.

What's stopping you?

You might want to bear in mind first, though - I claim UC myself. I'm just grateful for it

People make identical posts about the NHS and schools. The root of these complaints is public services, who are funded by those who are net tax contributors. The answer to better funded services is fewer claimants and a greater number of net tax contributors, those who pay more tax than the value of services they withdraw from the system. If you are being inconvenienced and your prospects limited, you are absolutely entitled to find yourself a better paid job and withdraw entirely?

I got my migration notice Jan 21st to move from income related ESA (support group) to UC. Filled in and submitted the form same day. The "next steps" has stated since Jan 21st, that i'll receive a call in 2-3 days to double check and confirm all info in my claim is correct.
Needless to say, they haven't called. So i called them 2 days ago to make sure i've not been missed, "Blessing" was less than useless and just said "It says next step is we'll call, so just wait for it". She just looked at the same page on my to do list that i could look at myself, no further info. So i sent a follow up journal message stating what she said and asking if that was correct. 48 hours later, no reply.
Supposedly it will tell me on the 23rd of Feb how much i'll be receiving and will be paid 27th. I seriously doubt, given thery're almost closed for the day/week now, that they will call me, check my info, move to the next step of deciding if i need a work capability assessment, and if so, get that assessment done, look at it, and make a decision if i get LCWRA like i SHOULD as a transfer from ESA support group, in the space of 10 working days to then tell me on the 23rd (a sunday) what my entitlement is going to be. Of course ESA have paid me for the last time as my claim with them officially ended Tuesday just passed (as migration pays for 2 weeks post UC claim submission) so i'm now in Limbo, and if the 2-3 day timeframe for a call has now stretched to 2 weeks 6 days minimum if they don't call today, then how long will the rest of the supposed 5 week from claim to first payment process take?!

That's another area where there's no consistency. Some work coaches will accept that, another will insist you upload them to your UC account.

Is that not just working tax credit? That's how it worked, and was one of the 'legacy' benefits that UC replaced.

I don't think she said she isn't grateful?

Please, make an appointment with CAB or other local advice agency that deals with welfare rights issues.

That all looks like the most god-awful mess.

Not fit for purpose. Old model, doesn't work and is a waste of time and money

The 5 weeks started on the day that you made your claim, that won't change regardless of how long it takes them to call you. I'd send a journal message asking your case manager to call you so you can check all is fine with your claim and then call again if you don't hear anything

If you are in the support group, you won’t have a health assessment. You’ll automatically be placed into lcwra.

Did you use the government gateway to verify your ID?

When you leave your journal message, are you leaving ‘a message for my work coach’?
You won’t have a work coach assigned to your claim so leave your journal message as ‘a payment’ in the drop down menu.

Some of the decisions they make are utterly illogical.

My DIL had 2 p/t jobs, one term-time only, the other year-round. Her earnings overall were well above the AET, but slightly (like £5 or something) below it in one or two assessment periods in the summer holidays. She got loads of hassle about finding another job.

The second year it happened, she got utterly fucked off with it, jacked in the term-time only job and increased her hours in the year-round job.

She earns less, gets more in UC, and they have to pay her childcare costs for 2 extra days pw in the school holidays. She's worse off, they're paying a fair bit more in UC, but hey, it ticks the right boxes so the DWP are happy.

This is the stupidity I'm talking about. See attached pic.

So if I were to find a job in which I'd have to travel up to 60 minutes, how the hell would I fit in 25 hours a week!?

My dd starts school at 9 so I'd get to work at 10. I'd have to leave at 2:15 to get to the school for 3:15. That's not even taking into account traffic.

Seriously? Could you just not use breakfast club and after school club like the rest of us?

They don't have an after school club there. She is waiting to start an art class though which is one day a week in the spring.

I'm also saying a 2 hour round trip to work there for 5 hours. Then of course fuel costs would go through the roof. It's bad enough now.

I did and I have but I don’t agree with kicking people when they are at rock bottom (DWP, not you). But I did it myself without their help.

It’s not an ‘inconvenience’, I jumped through all the hoops because I was grateful for the help. What I do object to, is them taking advantage of people and ensuring they don’t have a voice.

For example, I was specifically told by my work coach to submit my SE earnings by 11th of the month.
They closed my claim because I hadn’t submitted my earnings by the 9th. What would you do in that scenario?
How can anyone work within a system where two people who work for the same company tell you two different things?
Its incredibly frustrating.

Many schools don't have after school clubs. There might be the odd five weeks of craft club or cheerleading but not a proper after school provision.

A childminder then? Then you'd be traveling 2 hours for a 7 hour day. I don't want to kick you when you're down @scorpiogirly but most people, including single parents, don't just work school hours jobs they use childcare to allow them to work.

Thanks so much!

Like hundreds and thousands of unpaid carers in the UK, I provide 24/7 care for free and save the government an estimated £162 BILLION per year. I do hope the air isn't too thin up there on your high horse.

Keep your fingers crossed though, we are all just an accident or an illness or a catastrophic stroke away from permanent life changing disability, and you too could be enjoying a life of luxury at the expensive of "tHe TaXpAyEr" if you are really lucky.

Use a breakfast club, that adds another hour to your working availability. Or is it too inconvenient for you too?

No because the breakfast club starts at 8:40. So that allows 20 mins extra whocj would besnaffled by traffic. So a childminder? To pay someone else to look after my child. Not really cost effective. How much would that be? At least 12 quid an hour. That's 60 quid a week. So 240 a month. Half universal credit gone on that alone. It would be a 5 hour day working 5 hours Monday to Friday in a job that's an hour away.

It's by the by anyway. The whole point is that I have a stable job.

I do hope you've never claimed benefits in your life, (including child benefit)? Or used the NHS at any point? Otherwise other people have been paying for you! Urgh, what a cheapskate freeloader you are, so frickin entitled.

No wonder this country has such a bad reputation when it comes to work ethic. Minor admin and bureaucratic inconveniences are portrait on this thread as huge problems.

I don’t claim benefits but I have to deal with various government departments on a regular basis, including my own employer. Guess what, mistakes are made. We all have to make telephone calls, write complaints to get what we need, appeal, chase things, sort out misunderstandings. This often has to be done during work hours as the normal 9-5 applies to most gov departments. I do all those things even when I’m the paying customer, for example applying for a new passport.
I don’t think I’d dare to complain if I had to jump through hoops to receive money that other taxpayers provide me. (Yes I know most of you work but let’s be honest if you receive benefits for a prolonged period of time you are most likely costing the country more than you’re bringing in in tax payments). And not everyone is a carer providing a very important service.

Tax credits used to be easy and they mostly left people alone except for an annual review…it led to massive overpayments that some people are still paying back today.
Benefits are public money, our own taxes, I’d rather they were overly bureaucratic and follow the rules than to make it “easy” for people to claim and potentially abuse the system.