Irritated that families on UC get heavily discounted entry

[happybug1234]

feel very aggrieved this afternoon to find out that people on UC get heavily discounted entry to popular attractions:

London Zoo
London transport museum
science museum wonderlab
Cutty Sark
kew Gardens
St Paul’s cathedral

As a mum with a professional career, with both husband and I working full time, paying a mortgage, paying a fortune in childcare for 2 under 4’s I seriously despair! From experience of people I see around me, families on UC seem to have more disposable income than us as their rent is paid, have no childcare costs and all their costs subsidised on social tariffs etc.

why is the government getting away with this and why are more middle class/income people not up in arms about it! At the moment I can’t see how us working hard and being self sufficient has benefited us as a family.

People will regret it when we lose the nhs. Or if themselves or their children suddenly become disabled it happens and they lose their homes because they can no longer work.

Exactly and they suddenly know the full medical history and financial situation of a distant relative or a neighbour

Indeed. My mum had melanoma and the Scottish NHS saved my her life. They also put me back together when I smashed my leg into three places. Broken arm. Shoulder too. My mums broken arm (I'm very clumsy).

If I hadn't been able to claim benefits more than once in my life I would have been homeless. That's the part people don't see

Farage will say literally whatever he thinks will curry favour. Man would sell his own granny if he thought he'd get votes. And what I cannot understand is why people still trust him after the brevit fiasco where he put his face on a bus detailing money spent going to the NHS and the next day was on the TV saying no I never promised that. That anyone would put trust in him is just beyond me.

I'm still in horrible pain two years on from this fracture. Very soon I'm going to be told by the dwp that I'm fit to work again when I don't think I am but that's another story. It's not all about zoos

People absolutely do see it. They just chose to focus on the minority of claimants who could be working but choose not to (even though the reasons behind that in itself are often complex). And because people are feeling under pressure and are frustrated and angry with the current situation we are all in, they want someone to be angry at. Being angry at the government doesn't really work because they're too lofty, but minority groups or those on benefits etc is an easy target. So that's where frustrations always get directed when the general public need to tighten our belts. And people forget that those on benefits are not immune to the impact of cost of living. It feels better to be coming on an anonymous website like this to vent without accountability rather than lobbying your government and holding your government to account. (Who are ironically paid from public purse...)

People don't think it will happen to them or their child.

I didn't until it happened to my child and the NHS saved his life against all of the odds. He is disabled but even the hospital who cared for him call him a miracle.

These places all sound like London to me:

London Zoo
London transport museum
science museum wonderlab
Cutty Sark
kew Gardens
St Paul’s cathedral

So UC claimants from London are highly likely to be going, IMHO.

...and yes, someone disputed my £100k+ figure earlier so I picked an example to stand that claim up. BUT, my original £113k example which was disputed was grossed up for tax. That person had a net household income including UC of 'only' £74,410.

So 116k might be unusual but £74k is half that so I'd be amazed if that wasn't quite common. Hard to see why the Mirror would cherrypick outliers that undermined their whole "Poor people needing an end to the child benefit cap" story.

So London was reasonable place to pick, I stood up my numbers because they were challenged and the actual number I started with seems quite typical at 50% of my calculated example.

And also this. I also never ever thought I'd be on benefits and a lone parent until I was completely blindsided by my ex. It has really opened my eyes to be fair as to just how easy it is for life to change on a dime.

Why would anyone receive childcare when they’re working so little?

i put your example into the Turn2us calculator - 3 children, 2 adults, 2k per month rent, 380 monthly earnings.

Total benefits: £ 2252.95 per month
Universal Credit
£ 1837.90 per month

How many times does it need to be explained that most people claiming UC are working !!

You still don’t get it.

Yes there are areas of London where the LHA will pay £2000 pcm rent but the actual cost to the landlord is more than that.

So in Hackney for example, the LHA is close to £2k a month. The cheapest 3 bed in Hackney I can find for rent on RM atm is £2400 a month.

So
2 adults, 3 children
Rent £2400
One adult earning £380
They cannot claim childcare costs because only one adult is earning

Couple allowance £667
Children £912
Housing element £2000
Total income £3958 pcm
Money left after rent £1558

Workable but tight but still very different from your 5k+ calculation.

I didn't say only 1 adult was working.

Nothing else you have written makes any difference to what they receive at all.

...and it really doesn't matter anyway since this example I started with which you challenged was about half the income. (It was only £113k when it was grossed up to compare to a salary that wasn't UC, IYSWIM.)

Very possible I'm confused here but if they're bringing in £380 salary between two adults in a month then they're each only working about 3hrs a week if getting minimum wage for over 21s? So again why would they need any childcare costs?

£380 is just the maximum they can earn without any tapering. They can work more - up to £116k when they no longer qualify for UC. So if you prefer just imagine them doing more hours.

"THey they they".....

Does anyone else find it interesting that people who proudly state that they have never claimed a thing in their lives and "pay for the scroungers", know more about the benefits system than those of us who, for one reason or another, actually deal with it on a daily basis?

They know more than those of us who know what you need to do to be eligible to claim UC, PIP, ESA, Carers Allowance, Attendance Allowance etc, and how easy (or otherwise) it is to live on such sums? Than those of us who understand that no one gets a "free house" because rent allowances rarely pay the full rent due and that social tarrifs are actually worse than missing a couple of meals to pay the full whack because the service is so bad, bad enough that kids can't submit their online homework in the case of broadband for example?

Interesting that "they" are living a life that none of the naysayers are prepared to live themselves but are happy to claim so much knowledge about and slag off. I wonder where all this "knowledge" from.

Earning £380 wont lift the benefit cap.

I just wish when I’m helping people with appeals, claim forms and budgets as part of my volunteer role with a support charity people had both known such precise details of their situation and shared them as openly as they do when discussing finances with their neighbours, second cousins or sister-in-law’s neighbours…

Yeah, I can imagine that it would make your job easier!

Thank you btw, my (very stubborn) disabled adult son refused my help on his PIP claim. It was a volunteer that helped him with his appeal that got him his award. It almost certainly wasnt you but thank you to you and your colleagues. He has Cerebal Palsy due to birth injury brain damage but the assessor said he wasnt disabled enough......

Meanwhile, my monthly UC in total doesn't come close to £2k like an example used for rent alone and that is with carers element and disabled child element added.

Have you got a TV? Do your kids occasionally have fun? Or the biggest sin of all, a games console?!

NOT ALLOWED!

What we are supposed to do instead eludes me! Should you put your child into care? Me make the LA pay for my parents care? What we would pay in tax would be a tiny fraction of what that would cost the state (taking emotion out of the equation obviously). So it seems that we are supposed to perform our caring roles AND work FT AND live on a pittance and no sleep.

As Ebenezer said "Are there no prisons? No workhouses?"

Full time?

Mine doesn't not even close

Exactly we all pay into the system so it's their for if we ever need it.

Will it blow your mind to know I get universal credit AND have a blue light card!

I even get free carer access to places too!