I work for UC I am also on UC aibu to think they should pay more?

[Tootired25]

Weird one I know but I work for UC through a private company that DWP has a contract of employment with, DWP pays the wages. It is minimum wage (£12.21) an hour. I have DP and 2 DD's (5&8 if relevant). The amount of work right now is insane what with legacy benefits being transferred to UC, the phone is always ringing and it's hard enough to put yourself on break at your alloted time let alone do a made dash to the loo. A phone call can be a simple 2 minute thing or 40-50 minute new claim, the abuse, the suicide/self harm threats make it a job not for the faint hearted. However the majority of us who work for them are on a UC top up because it's not enough money and honestly because of the fact we deal with people all day every day on the benefit, surely they would want their employees to earn enough that they themselves do not need to be on it?! Anyways I know this is a rant and there are hundreds of jobs out there that should be way more then minimum wage because with all the price rises it's nowhere near enough to live on , but you know life's a shit show I guess and if you aren't born rich you should get used to the bad end of the stick. Ah well.

Agree it's crap wages and I really appreciate what you are saying about a lot of people being stressed and anxious. I work as a benefits advisor and the whole migration thing is really stressing people out. However whenever I ring up UC with a client query no -one ever seems to be able to deal with it very well and just says they'll pass a message to the case manager. Do you have a high turnover of staff ?

Absolutely we have taken on over 200 people in the last month! That's the thing as well you are probably coming through to one of us hired in, there's only so much we are allowed to do so we are sending forms, messages and emails left right and centre to case managers and work coaches when let's face it if they just allowed us to do a little bit more we could help people like you so much more and save more you having to ring repeatedly for an answer to a simple query! The frustration is excruciating! I feel your pain

I'm employed via the DWP and work for one of the legacy benefits that's migrating over. The pay is a constant discussion of ours especially with the stress of the migration and claimants. Hopefully there will be permanent vacancies in your area that you can apply for

Lots of jobs are min wage -many only just above ( having min wage has its pro/ cons. I suppose you could also say lucky we have UC many places don’t. If your on min wage is your partner also on min wage to get UC as two full time would be £48000 so quite good to get UC on that

gah! I’ve clicked YABU when I was supposed to click YANBU!
Darn it.

I suppose your right in the sense we could be considered lucky however it is ironic isn't it that the very company that demands we get well paying jobs can not provide it to their own employees, and no DP is unemployed rn as he was made redundant while his dad, who was also his best friend, was fighting cancer, his m/h took a nose dive further when his dad passed away not long ago. DP is amazing self less partner and father who has had a really shit time recently.

Lots of public sector roles are minimum wage.

Which is exactly the problem, and why people can afford anything in this economy

But to pay you more, taxes will need to go up, and people moan about that too.

Just click the one you want it will change unless voting has been switched off.

' if you aren't born rich you should get used to the bad end of the stick.' - lots of people aren't born rich and go onto earn a decent income. You could get some advice here on your career path and increasing your income, but that wasn't your question - so 'should they pay more?' that depends is it cheaper for them to pay min wage and UC or is it cheaper for them to pay more?

It's so wrong. We have government and people who like to judge saying the benefits Bill is too high, yes it is but it's in their hands to be able to change it.
The thing that's annoyed me lately is a big deal has been made about more people claiming uc now but they're not explaining it's because of the migration of legacy benefits. What will happen to the people who administer those benefits when we no longer have them?

so 'should they pay more?' that depends is it cheaper for them to pay min wage and UC or is it cheaper for them to pay more? @OneSharpFinch if it's cheaper for their employees to get uc maybe the government could stop vilifying people who work and claim uc.

@Tootired25 do you work for TP on the UC phone lines? I did less than a week on the phone lines and couldn't hack it, I don't know how you cope TBH.

Can you try and find a way to transfer to UCR? (That's where I am). It's still MW, but the work is a hell of a lot different and more offline. There's an absolute ton of internal vacancies for UCR atm as we're taking on the full claim reviews in the next few months. They're taking on a lot of TLs, which is more money, plus QAs (again, more money), and ACCMs. You should apply for everything that comes through internally.

Employers pay minimum wage when staff are easy to replace. If 200 staff can be found for one staff intake there is no reason for them to pay more.

Of course jobs like this should pay more than NMW, but how much would someone need to earn in order to not need UC?

If they have DC and live in an expensive area it's going to be well above NMW, which is what UC aims to address - topping people up according to need.

Otherwise, employers are going to either employ people who can afford to work for less, or pay people more if they have higher outgoings, both of which is illegal discrimination.

Do you mind me asking how I would apply for thee jobs please. Asking as my fixed term contract will be coming to an end soon. Is it all WFH?

It's all getting paid by the taxpayer regardless of whether it's via UC or a public sector salary and it sounds busy but low-skilled like most MW jobs, so I think YABU. 🤷‍♀️

Yes, people going on about more people claiming UC and PIP, when it is people moving from DLA and ESA.

I don't agree with that. Some charities can not pay more, but their staff are very much valued and not easily replaced at all.

I don't think its smart to rely on this job, honestly you could stick an ad on facebook local for cleaning/ironing/dog-walking/helping out elderly people with lifts or admin and earn double min wage.

Agreed. Does the low wage contribute to high staff turnover? Ive lost count of how many people are my work coach. I'm also regularly given incorrect information one member of staff was particularly rude and patronising and didnt apologise when it was established she had given me incorrect info and couldn't deny as it was all in the journal

My neighbour is a healthcare support worker at our local hospital and gets something like 11p than minimum wage - they put their hourly rate up owing to minimum wage Increase and it’s still low and to go up a band she has to do more training but they’re so short staffed they can’t release her for training.
some of the things she’s expected to do are hardcore like sitting with people and families when patients are end of life, dealing with violent and aggressive people - it’s just not fair and minimum wage is nowhere near enough

2 people earning minimum wage isn’t much in this day and age they should get a healthy top up from UC but I am not sure they do sadly

There are way too many public sector roles. That is one of the key issues with the economy. Departmental budgets need slashing by at least 20% of the economy is to recover.

The current ratio of public sector to private sector workers just isn’t sustainable in the long run.

If we end up with an IMF bailout which is looking increasingly likely under Labour then that’s the sort of reduction that will be mandated.

Unfortunately, unless you already work for TP, they're all being recruited internally. Yes, all WFH.

These are the current UK vacancies.
https://www.tp.com/en-gb/locations/uk/careers/?page=1