How can it be right that you can get so much money on benefits?!?!

[TerrazzoChips]

How on earth can this be right? Link

it doesn’t include disability benefits but does include housing allowance and childcare costs. But a single earner will also have those?

I despair and could honestly cry. I am genuinely considering having another child and dropping my hours. I would be better off. I hate this so much.

Don't forget the infamous flat screen TV! Yay, what's not to like.

pointless trying to reason with someone whose source of information is the Daily Fail 🙄

Nice to see OP has come back.

Oh wait, no dumped and pissed off.

I cant believe that the Daily Mail are able to print such misinformation.

This fictional couple are earning the equivalent of 7.8 hours a week on minimum wage each, yet have 3 children in full-time childcare of which universal credit pays 85% so they are paying £4,650 a year to childcare on top of the £31,000 paid by UC.
Once all the housing amount goes to rent in the most expensive area in the country and the 31,000 plus the £4.6k they have to put in themselves to pay childcare they have a total of £14,350k (after the 15% cost of childcare has been paid for)a year or £1,195 a month to pay for food, council tax, water, electricity and gas, internet, clothes, travel, medicine etc for a family of 5 - they are scraping by and would unlikely be able to afford holidays, to run a car, days out, soft play - not a life i think many would be envious of.

You don't need to work 30 hours a week to claim UC. Some of us don't need to work and qualify

They found the scenario where the most possible money was given out on universal credit and it amounts to a disposable monthly income of £239 per person per month to cover food, utilities, clothes, travel and all essentials after childcare and housing - does anyone think that is overly generous?!!

A more obvious question might be

1. Why isnt it possible to support a family on an average full time wage, and
2. Given that houses cost no more to build in real terms than they did 90 odd years ago why are they now so expensive? Which is part of course to the answer for 1.

Well if this thread was started by a right wing grifter, it's backfired pretty spectacularly hasn't it.

Exactly. I'm on Facebook groups for universal credit. You see people getting £2k or so a month. But a lot of of that is rent and /or childcare.

Obviously there are exceptions but lots of working people who are entitled to UC and are earning more than 10k a year.

People on UC can apply for up to 100% council tax support.
Regarding commuting - ppl on UC that I know have Freedom passes so I assumed anyone on UC has them. Turns out it's the case only if they are disabled. But they save a lot of money by just not going to work anyway, while commuting is not optional for working peoole and eats up a lot of their taxable income.
Saving for deposit and getting a mortgage free home takes decades if you don't get "help" from the family and you can't stop working during that period, and waiting for social housing takes just a few years. So I'm not surprised by the current situation.

Many of us have to pay CT regardless of income. I paid £21 a month on ESA. I now have to find another £60 now that I've changed to UC

But if not working then they are benefit capped, so rely on the food banks i help run. Up to 100% is only for those on the breadline. The only people substantially better off on benefits is if you have a severely disabled child but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Your then stuck looking after a disabled child without the choice of work, and no pension at the end. I think at one point the benefit system was a lot more generous than is it now and with the cost of living I’m seeing more and more ordinary people needing help at the food banks .

We have to pay council tax and claim UC. If only we didn't have to!

You see people getting £2k or so a month. But a lot of of that is rent and /or childcare.

This is true.

But its important to recognise that someone earning £50k may also have to pay rent & childcare out of their post-tax pay, and may be left with less disposable income from working full time, than the benefit claimant working only a couple of days a week.

Of course this feels grossly unfair. The big issue is that wages are too low, while housing and childcare costs are too high.

You have a £1500pm mortgage. Who exactly is going to pay that when you go onto benefits?

What figures make this work? It is rubbish.

This is completely local council dependant ours doesn't offer this i pay full council tax

This is completely dependent on the council. Most don’t do up to 100%.

Crying for you op.

Did the daily fail give any tips other than quit work and have more children? If not I can help. They usually suggest small boats, prison and the lottery. You will be living the high life. Hth.

Another house came up locally and she was happy to move back here. She's been settled in that one for a couple of years now, but the owners told her earlier this month that they want to sell the house with vacant possession at some point next year and have given her notice of their intentions to give her time to find something else

the landlord will need to give the tenant 4 months notice, then if they try to sell the house and it doesn't sell - they can't return it to a rental property for 12 months. It might be useful for your friend to know this.

Instead of saying this is what the daily mail do, can anyne explain why they think this is incorrect, or are the daily mail right?

Because the childcare has to be proportional to the number of hours worked. You can't work part time and claim childcare for full time childcare

People started explaining why this is incorrect within 10 posts from the OP. Plenty more have explained since then; if you have a quick scan through the thread you’ll find the posts you’re looking for.

Lol I think the OP has been laughing at you all, everyone fell for the wind up 👏

This is a load of crap. I will break it down -

UC standard allowance for a couple is £628 per month assuming the are 25 or over.

Child element (for children born after April 2017) £292 x 3 = £876.

I don’t know how they worked out housing would be £26k. Let’s say it’s two boys and one girl and they qualify for a 3 bed. UC will pay up to the local housing allowance for your area. In my city in the south of England this is £218 per week or £895 per month.

This couple earn £10k per year or £819 per month. The AET for a couple to take them out of the work search group so they don’t have to attend weekly/fortnightly appointments at the Jobcentre is £1534 per month. Once the main carers youngest turns three they will automatically be placed in the work search group. The other parent would be placed in the work search group as their earnings are so low.

Childcare cannot be £31k. This couple is working 15.75 hours per week between them. If one parent isn’t working then UC will not pay towards childcare costs as it’s not needed.