To believe UC needs a bloody makeover!

[Lovethystupidneighbour]

Don’t panic - not a benefits bashing thread.

I see a lot of negativity around the benefits system in the UK (namely UC) but it needs to be said that in the right circumstances you can be very comfortable on benefits. It seems the government is incompetent and distributing these benefits efficiently. Why do some people get too much money and others get not enough to breathe on? Seems bloody ridiculous to me. UC is not fit for purpose!

AIBU to think they need to create a better system? How is this the best they can come up with?

That’s true. I think that part is ridiculous

No recoiling here, although suggesting i would is a transparent attempt to bait, because:

A. Your life is none of my business.

B. Your post is designed to whip up a storm about overly generous benefits.

C. I don't believe you're posting in good faith.

D. It's possible your post isn't genuine at all, and it's sophisticated propaganda.

You would likely recoil if you found out our monthly take home pay from jobs plus UC. 2 kids, no disabilities

Do you rent and have childcare?

Didn’t say if you rent, what income is, how much UC you get. Just gloating that you get too much and don’t feel guilty for it while saying the system needs changing… not the smartest benefit bashing thread I’ve seen

I’m very grateful for UC. It’s stupid though and I think people falsely believe everyone on UC is poor. It’s hard to read those comments and know it’s absolutely not always true

A friend gets UC top up on a salary of 45k plus but an old colleague who is now disabled gets a pittance.

Ah, there it is.

Sigh.

It’s complicated but often the amount of money isn’t the issue it’s more to do with the individuals ability to budget, lifestyle choices etc.

My dsd receives it (severely disabled) and gets more money than she can spend but she isn’t able to do a lot quite bluntly put. I have friends who receive uc plus both get pip and they are not short of money, however id also point out he’s a great cook, batch cooking healthy food, live in a modest council bungalow, doesn’t drink alcohol at all nor smoke, and only “luxury” is a small dog, they holiday once a year renting a dog friendly caravan with disabled access as she can’t cope with steps.

I am a debt counsellor so have helped dozens in benefits struggling but what they all have in common in debts mostly from buying things on payment plans with no understanding of how compound interest works, a real naivity around money more generally. Poor budgeting is a huge factor which is exacerbated by the fact most benefits are monthly now not weekly. By the way I’m not criticising or blaming just saying that for many people, they cannot deal with being given £600 and being told it needs to last 4 weeks, if you don’t have this problem you cannot see the issue! Pay weekly places id have banned if i could except for absolute essentials, they cause so much misery

Do you know what UC is and what it does though?

it’s effectively a universal income. Which is surprisingly to the uneducated liberals who love banging on about how we should all have a universal income 😂

what you’re critiquing is what it’s supposed to be

Both comments can be true. I don’t feel guilty because I’m a tiny part of the economy and I see lots of my wealthy friends do everything possible to pay less tax/get the best benefits from the govt. Which is whatever.

However I do acknowledge it needs change from above.

For transparency, we have a household income of about £65 k a year. This month we got around £1500 from UC.

Childcare costs are maybe £1000 a month?
rent is £1175.

Yet I see others eating from food banks because their circumstances don’t add up. Seems ridiculous to me.

65k a year including your benefits?

Can you give a break down off how much you both earn ?

I think UC should not exceed NMW for a fit, healthy adult (with dependants).

But then, you should be able to pay for housing, food and clothes from NMW which is impossible!

65k just from wages? What’s the monthly take home after tax?

Are you declaring your earned income correctly - is it PAYE through HMRC or self employment?

I wonder if you're being overpaid by UC and might have a large amount deducted soon.

But if it's correct, then fine, the cost of living has gone up so you're hardly rolling in it.

4 grand roughly

All through HMRC!

all is correct as we can see the breakdown.

It feels like we have excess money but we are also quite tight with budgeting so maybe that’s why…

I don’t know a huge amount about it - but it seems absurd that UC is used to top up people who are working full time but unable to make a liveable wage for their family. That’s just the government propping up disfunctional businesses…

If a business won’t pay its full time members of staff enough to live then surely it needs to make efficiencies or be replaced by something better. Not allowed to aritificially employ cheap labour at the governments expense

not to mention that people who work full time deserve to feel like they’re able to support themselves. No able adult should have to feel dependent like that - horrible for self esteem

As a working top up when you have children it is reasonable. If you are working on same wage and single you don’t get anything from it which means cost of living can make life hard. If you’re not working it isn’t really enough to live on and there are lots of hoops to jump through. I don’t know how it works alongside disability benefits.

How generous it is really comes down to individual circumstances. A lot of it will be housing costs of a person rents so go straight to a landlord, not usable as cash for the person claiming. The real amount they have to live on will be similar to others with the same kind of circumstance.

One thing that makes it tricky to deal with UC is it doesn’t recognise 5 week months so we find people claiming back childcare costs can have difficulty.

Yes NMW isn’t enough..

Not including benefits. 40 from OH, 25 from me

How long have you been receiving UC, OP?

I think some people don't think to apply as they are earning but they would be eligible.

And there the argument starts about what constitutes disabled. And that's another can of worms.

So I just put it into a benefit calculator.
2 parents
Parent A earning 30k
Parent B earning 35k
2 children
Rent £1175
Childcare £1000

And it came out with a UC entitlement of £1k

I guess that will go once your children are not needing childcare.

Ok I will bite

you got £1.5k off uc and take home £4k in wages

yes the system is screwed

is that what you want me to say ?

That’s what I get..