To think I should work less and claim Universal Credit?

[Tiredandgrumpymum]

After a difficult divorce I find myself supporting my 2 children on my own. Ex-husband pays the bare minimum.

I work full time on about minimum wage, all my shopping is done at Asda usually yellow-stickered where ever possible. This year managed to take my 2 kids away for a weeks break by the seaside in a caravan. We had a lovely time but did it as cheaply as possible. Bought ice cream and put in the freezer in the caravan so when kids asked for an ice cream out I said wait till we get home.

No eating out except for takeaway chips etc. No expensive days out.

Just bought all the school uniforms as cheaply as possible from the supermarket and the school shoes which I've had to put on my credit card.

My SIL popped round for a coffee earlier on her way back from the hairdressers having treated herself to a new cut and colour at a posh salon and she was just on the way to get her nails done. She's just returned from a 2 week all inclusive in Turkey with her 4 kids. Her kids get the best school uniforms and school shoes and she pays for them to do various activities I can only dream about. All this and she works 3 mornings a week and gets topped up on UC. She goes to the gym everyday as she can afford it and has the time to so looks fabulous.
I'm sorry I sound so bitter but I really am.

So sil could be getting pip for herself and DLA for one of her children?

Do the figures if it works out more financially viable to work part time do what is better for your family

You’re still expected to work a minimum of 30 hours a week even if you claim UC. You can’t just chose to work 16 hours and they’ll pay the rest so there aren’t any circumstances in which this could be true unless her youngest isn’t yet at school when she could do 16 hours

If she’s got ADHD she might be entitled to DLA and different rules could apply but that’s irrelevant to you as it’s not your situation.

It’s made up! Why are you arguing over something which is made up!

How's her pension looking? Her prospects and earning potential when the kid fly the nest? Sometimes it is not just about the immediate impacts. You need to balance both. I'm sure you'd at least be entitled to childcare support. It must be very tempting and you sound like you're working very hard at keeping it all going, but UC can and does change.

Whats stopping you from claiming what you're entitled to ?

We don’t know OP is lying. But I think the SIL needs bashing if she really is affording a 2 week foreign holiday and luxury salon treatments on UC!

I think people have lost sight of the difference between necessities and luxuries. Beauty treatments are luxuries and you can have a cheaper holiday if the taxpayer is funding it. And some people whose taxes are helping this woman won’t be able to afford any of these things.

I'm glad my circumstances provide you with entertainment.

This is why people are turning to reform. We just can’t effort this, it’s just maths.

The welfare state is a joke, so many entitled people dependent on the state with no motivation to get a job/work more hours. I personally know a woman with 5 kids, 3 have adhd, all in main stream school, she gets nearly £3k a month, what’s the point?

I lived in America for a few years and whilst it has its problems (it really does), it was quite nice that people were motivated to work and I paid so much less tax!

If a child gets at least middle rate care the parent has no work commitments on UC at all

If the system allows itself to be abused because feckless politicians set it up to work that way then the OP has the same right as her SIL to play the system. Morality be damned. So it.

This.

The sooner the govt reduce the amount paid out to claimants, the better. Far too many opt to treat them as a career choice instead of an emergency/contingency plan.

I think it stemmed from when you said ADHD was not a disability but it sounds like you’ve now realised it can be, so that’s cool :)

Really? Your circumstances mean you are entitled to UC. Why don’t you claim? You’d get around 3 to 5 hundred a month, not including housing. You’ll get more if you rent.

Why aren’t you replying to anyone telling you this?

Would you like to swap your NT kids for three with ADHD?

I don’t need too I have adhd before and while I have a family and have a good career that is much harder to achieve with ADHD . I also have a child with adhd , that struggles massively, extremely intelligent and years ahead of her peers academically but struggles emotionally as do lots f children and teenagers. Many with anxiety and other MH issues that come from people with your ignorant mentality , for not realising that for us to achieve the same as a neurotypical person it takes us 10x the effort and that is draining .

Nobody gets that amount of UC unless claiming for multiple disabled kids.

She isn’t though, the OP is misinformed or lying.

FFS.

You really seem to have a bee in your bonnet about why I'm not claiming. Why is that?

Why is it that you won’t answer the most basic question you’ve been asked multiple times? It’s not like it’s not a relevant question.

Because your whole post is about how you’re struggling, and it’s not fair that she gets UC and you might give up work to get it too… when you are already entitled to it! You’d have the extra money every month, you’re entitled to the same thing she is. So what’s your problem?

If you go private you can get an adhd diagnosis very easily. There are even tips on the internet for how to answer their questions. Not saying that it's a good thing to do but seeing the spike in adhd and autism diagnosis something is clearly off.

Because I can't claim, I inherited about £10,000 from my Grandmother about 15 years ago. I've never touched a penny of it. I kept it in an ISA and its now worth about £18k. Its for my children.