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?

I think the government want a quick fix where they can say they’ve made big savings immediately once the changes are in place but really if they had the patience they could reform the system in a much fairer way for all alongside sorting the nhs to really support any disability benefit claimants who with the correct support from UC and timely treatment from the nhs might be able to work. They want to quick result at the expense of some groups though when if they looked at a longer term plan the results would be on firmer foundations for many years to come .

Exactly. If people get thousands for rent and childcare, it is obviously going straight to pay for the rent and childcare when UC is paid, they don't get to spend it freely which is what I think some people not familiar with UC may imagine.

The only thing that makes our UC payment higher is the carer element and the severe disability element due to our son's disability. This is only because my son receives DLA and I had to practically beg for it in my journal when his DLA started getting paid.

Universal credit is nothing but future focused. It is only about long term planning. What do you think is wrong with it?

My work colleague claims UC top up and lives quite frugally and then is able to pay for 3 week trekking trips on the other side of the world. In fact at least 2/3 foreign trips last year. Like you say it's all about budgeting.

This is a Mumsnet myth that is always stated without evidence. It’s about 37% of UC claimants that work.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-9-january-2025/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-9-january-2025

If you don’t need uc, stop claiming it. If you stop claiming it and it puts you in financial dire straits then evidently it’s not ‘too much’, it’s simply that your wage and possibly the area you’re living in means what used to be an astronomical take home pay is now not fit for economic purpose. So are you in need or gaming the system making it more difficult for those in need?

Id add, UC was created to make working people better off. You’re reaping the benefits of this as it was intended.

They have started to do these in depth checks in the past couple of years. they would have no way of knowing if someone took cash out of their account weekly and gave it to a friend/ relative to save for them. The DWP have no way of finding out what that cash was spent on.

I agree. My friend is in pretty much the same circumstances as me (number of children, rental cost) yet she doesn’t work whereas I do. She has a fair bit more disposable income each month and I couldn’t understand why. Having thought about it, I think it’s because my job pays minimum wage and I need a car to get there, so have added expenses of a car (insurance, services, MOT, petrol) which adds up to a lot. So she’s better off not working.

I do find it a bit depressing, and completely agree that the work aspect of UC needs looking at. I used to be able to keep a higher percentage of my salary but that changed to 45%. I also think the minimum wage should be higher. My job is hard and exhausting and my pay is shite, with greedy employers getting the government to top it up via UC.

Well it’s not a Mumsnet myth from me, it’s from 25 years of working in social housing. It’s households though, not individuals, I’m not sure what your link is showing as it’s too long to read to find the 37% figure

How do you know?

A lot:

1. long initial assessment period leading to claimants being left without money and needing advance payments
2. carers allowance being deducted
3. work allowance should be raised so you can earn more before deductions
4. self employed earnings not being taken into account for the AET

It’s not just UC though that I think needs changes . In an ideal world high rents need tackling as well as the extortionate cost of childcare. The biggest issue is the nhs. All these cuts proposed to disability benefits might look impressive at first but the effect on the nhs will wipe those savings out as if you force people into work who will then become worse due to the strain of that the nhs will be under a lot more pressure very quickly .

I actually think UC is a good idea. It helps get people off benefits. I was on tax credits for 10 years until the change over to UC. I had a year's grace before they'd look into our bank accounts for savings. They paid us the same amount of money as tax credits, so I don’t believe people are being paid less unless their circumstances change. Tax credits allowed us to have savings, whereas UC do not. I took the year's grace to look for a job. It gave me the push i needed to get working again. I ended up landing a well paid job.

The biggest issue with this is that people can manipulate the circumstances for example a couple can state they are single so get more… but have all the benefits of being a couple. How will it even be possible to regulate that behaviour?

So your changes are quite short term, and yes, a regular review of the work allowance could be built in fairly easily.

the benefits system is limited in how it can address high rents and childcare.

It’s highly regulated and people are caught doing this every day

Well I helpfully put it in my 2 sentence synopsis, it’s 37%. If this is not too much for you to read 🤣

The anti savings and home owning features of it do seem like they could benefit from a rethink. It’s a system that will very happily pay landlords mortgages but not the home owners.

It’s also a really difficult one to balance - but the regional variations in cost of living don’t seem to be reflected.

But then neither does the bit about living somewhere thats affordable to you. There’s a lot of UC and councils funding nice houses / nice areas, whereas people who have to cover it themselves move to somewhere they can afford and as part of that move to a new community or area.

Yes I read that. If that’s individuals, thats not the same as households.

so one working households can be one working individual and one not working individual. Can you see why I wanted to check?

If you don't need it then don't claim it?

When I had my first we were young and neither of us earnt much. Our combined take home after tax was around 3k, our rent was 1k and childcare was 1k. So we had 1k left over for food, bills & everything else. We were entitled to benefits but we didn't claim any.

It is quite easy to do analysis of the figures from the govt report linked.

UC claimants actually in work is 31% (2.3m/7.5m).

UC claimants in work plus seeking work and other work related things is 41% (3.1m/7.5m).

6.2m households claim UC so as 7.5m/6.2m so 1.2 people per household on average.

So the 37% figure works fine as an approximation.

The only people getting too much UC are the private landlords charging exorbitant rents that the HB element then has to try and keep up with (it always falls a bit short).

This happens if your child gets DLA too. We currently have a years grace where savings don't count due to how long it takes for you to get DLA and all the backdating that it involves including the UC elements.

Ok so household wise, The majority of households work. That’s how UC is usually quoted, apologies.

It’s not a myth, it’s just that since 2022 they’ve been pushing all the disabled and can’t ever work claimants off ESA and on to UC. Before, when UC was just the abled but unemployed or underemployed this was true and for the abled on UC is still true.

Unless they’re accidentally doing benefit fraud or are being overpaid due to DWP error.