Can we all take a moment to pray for Thea, living life on the brink of poverty at £6k a month (£3.2k of which is UC).

[BananaramaDefence]

In a good month when UC gives full entitlement, Thea has a total of £6,142.00, from £2,800 in take-home pay and £3,342 in universal credit plus child benefit. Her monthly expenses such as childcare, rent, council tax, energy and food etc are usually around £6000. She says: "So it’s living very much on the edge."

And now the cap is removed she will get more!!

From this: Pregnant mum-of-four: 'Budget benefit change saved our Christmas' - The Mirror https://share.google/QGbNeuIKPAmg1qNG5

No wonder people get pissed of with welfare in this country. I work 40 hours plus a week, have children, have to pay a mortgage, childcare and I earn way less than this!!!

No child should live in poverty but at the same time no family should get this muxh in benefits.

Before people say, yes but it's to pay rent and collate, I also have to pay all that and my mortgage is half my wage!!

Pretty sure this is being discussed on another thread posted this evening.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5451245-mum-on-uc-gets-ps3342-a-month-is-this-right

Why do we need another thread demonising a single mum who works full time, and is on UC top ups?
What are you hoping to achieve here? Give your head a wobble.

Mind boggling!!

I used to get annoyed seeing people on 100k complain about losing their childcare (we live in the NE so manage on a much lower salary) but if it's at the poverty line in London then they should at least get their 30 free hours

It's an absolute fucking piss take. This shit is going to keep Labour out of power for another fifteen years.

Because she is getting the equivalent of a £120k salary modem my on the tax payers dime, and moaning it's not enough!

I don't mind that she gets it , I guess she is considered to need it. But surely if someone earns 100k they would also struggle to live in London with 3 kids. Where the money comes from doesn't alter how far it stretches . So why are they treated as high earners?

Errr because in the real world earning 100k would mean you lose childcare. But, on benefit street you can be topped up to that income.

It's more shocking that people don't mind. High earners pay taxes to make those on benefits higher earners than themselves.

How did the country come to this?

The issue with this is that the cut off for UC is way lower than the amount topped up! So it really disincentivises working hard.

Because there is no way someone on benefits should be that much better off than someone working.
No one begrudges them a reasonable standard of living but this is just taking the piss.

There is already a newish thread on this. Why start another?

And that one and this one will be tiresome old rubbish anyway. Don't hate the player, hate the game. But these threads just seek to get people in froth about this single mum.

It's a fucking joke. Welfare (and taxation to pay for it) is completely out of control. I hope Labour get wiped out at the next general election

The lady in the article does work. Full time.

Oh, they will. They'll be annihilated. That said, Reform also support this nonsense, presumably because they don't mind people ripping off the taxpayer as long as it's white people doing it.

Which is why she gets what she does. If she didn't work full time so no help with childcare costs, she'd get a smaller top up.

But then people would call her a scrounger with no work ethic and still be moaning.

I've said this on another thread, but she isn't getting it, her childcare provider and landlord is. Take it away and we pay even more to put her in homeless accommodation until a social housing place is found and for her to be unemployed. We need social housing. We need to stop demonising parents of primary aged children for not working.

So for those who haven't thought it out, now what's the solution?
Stop supporting families and we pay for immigration instead.

But that's the same for a single mum earning 100k and spending most of it on rent and childcare! But she will be taxed to the hilt and told on Mumsnet she is privileged and a high earner. Can't you see the inconsistency?

More pissed at the unemployed couple with four kids and another on the way!

People kick off all the time if they learn a politician or the chief exec of a charity or similar earns 100k

The local chief exec of our complex and challenging local authority earns just over 100k

This people get abused and called fat cats. But someone else can get the same net income from benefits.

There are heaps of people doing immensely challenging jobs and trying to live in London on way less than 100k. Delaying parenthood often. Or limiting family sizes.

Something is badly skewed.

Who would you like instead? The morally abhorrent or the fascists?

Someone on £100k is not going to need a UC top up though.
This mum is on about £41k (if you work out backwards from her take home pay), which is not a poor salary, but it is not enough for where she lives hence the top up.

My partner and I work a combined 80hrs+ a week for the emergency services and we earn over 2k LESS per month than she does as we don’t get UC. We have two children…but we receive no UC.

Yes, I’m annoyed that her salary gets topped up with UC, which is a grand over what I earn every month…meanwhile her salary is also a grand over what I earn per month. Makes me think both DP and I should just cut our hours and get topped up with UC instead, oh and have two more kids (which, ironically, I would love if I could afford it).

They have the same net income though. That's the point and that's very messed up!

@BananaramaDefence According to mumsnetters, £6k a month is indeed the brink of poverty. Countless people on £100k salaries and higher claim that they are struggling by the end of the month.

It looks a bit silly to claim £6k a month is not a good income, and then moan when a mother receives that same sum of money in benefits.

Maybe move to North London then. That is why she gets a lot in UC.

Anyone would think that the season of goodwill had been abolished on this site.