To think my universal credit feels generous.

[MoonBaby1]

I got to my early 40s without ever needing to claim but circumstances find me single and paying the lions share of child related outgoings.

I work full time on£31,000 and have found out this year thanks to applying that I get on average about £800 from UC. It has been an absolute life changer and will hopefully be able to afford a modest uk holiday actually during the summer holidays and pay the school back some debt im in for after school care.

So many benefits bashing threads so I just wanted to present another side that as a cash strapped mum of two who works full time, UC is making a positive difference to our life. I didn't even think id qualify!

Middlesbrough, Billingham, Redar, Stockton, Blackhall, Hartlepool, Peterlee...

@FakeUserName24 NHS so unfortunately working for an organisation that really can't pay everyone a good wage.

That’s bollocks.
If you can’t afford to pay your staff a living wage then your business model is wrong.
’oh my company is great, it’s fine we run off slave labour because the shareholders are so happy!’

ill get the violin.,

that basically proves companies can and do need very cheap labour if they cannot pay the prices of what a worker should be paid, which then proves the modern corporation cannot make profits like they used to in the industrialisian age , and then proves we need a better economic system

excatly, and well put

There isn't a threshold for uc it depends on your circumstances amount of children, rent, childcare. My wages are lower then op but I have a mortgage and no kids in childcare so don't get them elements

If you think this is going to invite kind comments about people on benefits and the idea they have too much money, you're sadly mistaken.

Agreed.

Tesco made a profit of over £3bn last year.

Bollocks can they not afford to pay their own wage bill without help from the UK taxpayer.

An organisation that gets hundreds of billions of pounds in funding every year can't afford to pay a decent wage but you expect companies with no support to pay better wages, and if they don't then for their staff to be taxed so that they can have a nice holiday?

£800pcm or £800pa?

Most companies in this company are tiny, and employ about two people. The shareholders are usually them.

That’s because we all have different priorities and expenses. I don’t have a car or go to the pub, I’m very stingy witb heating and live in an absolutely teeny tiny studio flat, but I do go on holiday.

And concessions should be made for those companies, but we should not be propping up businesses that have a turnover of £3bn p/a.

Just had a quick look at caravan holidays during the holidays.... . So I think I may have more of a camping budget 😆

To those assuming i felt I was swimming in money I didn't mean that. Im just happy I can live albeit very modestly better than I had been in a relationship with a stingy man.

Thst experience for 2 decades. May have lowered my expectations.

You still haven’t mentioned your child/children’s father.
How much is he paying and is he taking them on holiday?

The main problem I see is feckless dads not paying enough so the taxpayer makes up the difference.

DM has a cleaning company and all of her staff are on £1 over the NMW at a minimum. Some are on more. But they still get UC because there is not enough hours. She does not have shareholder. She runs it alone, and there is nothing wrong with her business model seeing as her company as been running for over 25 years.

Not everyone on NMW that claiming UC is employed by Amazon and the like that have fat cat CEOs.

Give the fuck over with your "stable couples" smuggery.

I don't claim UC as it happens, but I am a single parent and I'll tell you just how fucking much easier it was financially before my previously loving husband decided to lay his hands on me...

every company that cannot be run for profit and pay proper wages, has no standing in modern society

Some places allow you to pay in instalments.

What do you suggest?

We currently operate under a socialised system in which government subsidies cover workers' losses.

We probably only have two options - become much more capitalistic like America or become communist like North Korea?

Book at the very last minute. DD got a caravan in the Lakes last year for £400 for the week. She booked one week before she left. The same caravan was being advertised for £1200 for the same dates a few months earlier.

Also, look at places in the NE, such as Whitby, Haggerston Castle, Scarborough, etc. The north has some beautiful places to visit without the price tag that other areas attract.

State intervention on the private sector always works out well, just look at Cuba and the Soviet Union.

Everyone there had several holidays every year.

The OP doesn’t say if she gets any child maintenance from the father , but what I can’t understand is why this is disregarded from UC calculations. One of the secretaries in our Department gets £1200 a month from ExH plus UC. Since April she’s also got an extra nearly £300 a month due to the lifting of the 2 child cap . Won’t work any extra hours and doesn’t want extra time as UC is then reduced 🙄

I’m not sure I understand the post tbh. If the children had a father, he should be contributing, if neither of you had jobs that afforded your lifestyle: why have two children. Afterschool care is subject to tax free childcare scheme, so again don’t understand why that would incur debt. Universal credit wasn’t invented to send people on UK holidays. The benefit system wasn’t contrived to mop up poorly considered lifestyles, but that’s how it is used.

Which multibillion businesses are propped up by the government?