Benefit cap? Benefit fraud?

[coco99]

Have I unknowingly been committing some sort of benefit fraud? 😭

I’m currently in receipt of
£1778 universal credit per month
£748 DLA for my son every 4 weeks
£83 carer’s allowance weekly
£26 child benefit weekly

I was discussing finances with a close family member today and they’ve told me that I’m getting too much and there’s a benefit cap? (There was no judgments, she’s just worried I’m being going to get accused of committing benefit fraud). She said that my total benefits are way over the cap, but I never knew there was a cut off point? Universal credit know about the DLA/carers that I claim because I informed them? I’m panicking a little bit now that I might have been overpaid and will have to pay some back!

AIBU? Have I been claiming too much that goes past the cap?

A person on minimum wage who was also a carer for a disabled child and with the same housing costs as the OP would recieve more than OP though. Her money is due to her circumstances. A person on NMW in her circumstances would have their money made up by benefits.

Retraining for a 'better paid job' you have no idea if the industry the PP is in is low paid work like care work. Which is a very skilled profession yet sadly undervalued and underappreciated. You need lots of training for that and you get paid pittance.

As if it's that easy to retrain ?! Laughable.
Working 50 hours a week and juggling home life and paying bills - how can you afford and have the time to retrain?!

Of course not! I am merely saying that is a lot of money, and anyone working full time and not getting anywhere near that ( like the PP) is understandably questioning that amount! Didn’t Ian Duncan Smith say that no one should be getting more in benefits than at work?
I replied that we don’t know all the details - what else is there to say?

Looks like they’d better try having a disabled child instead then, that way they would be entitled to the level of benefits that OP receives and would have no need for bitterness or jealously

They just see the money and don't think

I’m sure you’d rather work everyday than watch your child have their limbs amputated and become severely disabled for the rest of their life 🫶🏼

Was just about to post something similar, there are some complete idiots in this world!

I’m sorry that you had to read that disgusting post OP

It doesn't equate to a gross yearly salary of 46k at all, its around 36k.
Anyway, looking after a disabled child is hard, but if you're so jealous of that lifestyle, you crack on.

You are fucking out of order !!!

I do agree with this and if our housing market weren't so messed up it wouldn't be the case. I used to get just over £2k in benefits, almost half of that was my rent. I also had friends who lived in social housing whose rents were 30% higher than mine is in a private rental for the same size property. We REALLY need decent, genuinely affordable housing.

I have a severely disabled child who will always need 1:1 care we get a significant amount in benefits for him wanna swop ?
Nah I didn't think so 🙄

OP I'm sorry you're having to go through this, ignore the ignorant

Aw It’s okay, honestly I’m not surprised 😂 people can bash all they like, it’s not my fault how much the government sets for certain type of benefits, but if they were in my shoes and couldn’t work due to being a full time carer then I’m sure they’d claim what they’re entitled to as well 🤷🏼‍♀️ not to mention the DLA is my disabled child’s money

threads like this always bring the ignorants out! What you fail to realise is a lot of of the benefits that people are receiving go to pay for private carers, activities, special arrangements for travel etc Things that local health authorities won’t or can’t pay for. I very much doubt the OP is living the high life.

I’d rather have the choice of a healthy child and work, she has no choice and doesn’t set the rules, yes it’s a lot but the child will need extra things for the fact that they are disabled.

I mean how to say you have zero clue about disabilities with some of the comments on this thread. People have no clue what it is like caring for a severely disabled child, its 24/7 and its full on and quite honestly the money given probably isnt enough because again the expenses that come along with most disabilities will be bonkers. You just have to look at the price of some equipment needed without extra day to day costs (certain food, extra electric for machines etc).

It genuinely baffles me how clueless some people are on the day to day issues that dealing with disabilities entails. They just see numbers and get jealous like its anything to get remotely jealous over, some people really should be made to live a week in others shoes before they talk such crap honestly!

Everyone has their own issues. For all you know the lady in question could have a disability herself, yet isn't eligible for anything.
Life isn't always greener working.

So you think OP and her disabled child should try to live off of less than full time minimum wage?

No, I said to anyone who doesn’t know the details that is a lot of money to someone on a low wage. It’s the low wages that’s the problem

For those who think it's too much, if the OP couldn't care for her child, and they had to come into the care system, the cost of a children's home for them would be in the ball park of 30k a month upwards. And that wouldn't be for anything amazing, that would be for a staff team paid not much more than minimum wage.

For a child receiving that level of DLA, there's no chance of the OP being able to work. Caring for her child is her full time 24hr job.

I mean it's more than a qualified, registered nurse/physio/occupational therapist etc makes working full time for the NHS. I don't begrudge the OP it though, if her child has a severe disability then it must be tough.

Not necessarily more. More than a newly qualified. However any of those people would be working 37 hours a week. If they wanted to do bank shifts every evening, night and weekend like the OP has to do, they could more than double it (not that it would be allowed due to health and safety reasons)

It's also important to remember that most of the OPs benefits would be taken off her if she had a partner who worked (the carers allowance and DLA would still apply)

@OldMcDonaldHadABigMacI’m actually a qualified mental health nurse, and hopefully one day I can go back to my career when my son is in full-time school.

People like you give women (presuming you are one) a bad name. Don’t be so judgemental. They’re obviously getting the higher rate care allowance because their child needs it. I’m sure they’d love to be able to have a ‘normal life’ over a disabled child any day. This is not the time nor place to be jealous of someone’s position they find themselves in.