To be cheesed off with Universal Credit entry fees?

[MaturingCheeseball]

I know it’s been done before, but…

I thought I’d like to visit Chatsworth House with (teenage) dd. The cost is £33 each PLUS parking at £7.50. So £73.50.

Then I saw the universal credit/pension credit/pip etc price. THREE POUNDS. And free parking! So £6.00 for two adults (age 17+).

I do not have 12 times as much money as someone on these benefits. I doubt many people do. I’m not begrudging the disadvantaged a day out, but come on! The price differential is ludicrous.

When I saw the £73 price I just decided we couldn’t go, and so be it. But upon seeing the potential for a £6 entry, it made me feel mugged off.

If you are receiving nearly £800 in UC now, you may well still be eligible even if you go back to work. Particularly once you add on a childcare element. It is even possible the amount you are eligible for increases.

That's the price. If the price is too high people will stop paying it and it'll be reduced. While enough people pay that price, it remains the price. Welcome to capitalism.

That’s currently what they do.

Sad
but that is the case along with those thanking you for making them aware of the discounts and suggesting more on offer
empathy is lost

We’ve spent our lives missing out on discounts but find the NT and Eng Heritage excellent value for money to many attractions when our kids were younger.
We couldn’t and don’t do any others ( except free museums) as the cost is simply too steep

Id think about memberships OP

We have never claimed. Not because I want to be a martyr, but because I’m currently going through the EHCP process and cannot face another 40 page form at the moment (I have looked at it). We have spent the past 12 years just getting by and largely avoiding places he cannot cope. Whilst I know we should claim where we can, when you are rock bottom and just surviving it’s hard. I cannot work more hours because of my son’s part time timetable, but we earn just a little too much to claim UC. This is why seeing people on here moaning about those on benefits having it hard and ‘us others’ being lucky winds people up. No one knows someone else’s circumstances x

Cop the fuck on.

I am beyond tired of seeing threads like this (yes I know I don’t have to read them).

I work 34hrs per week (plus unpaid time as there’s always more to do), as a social worker in children and families.

Single parent of two children and receive a UC top-up. Not everyone on UC is as feckless as you like to make out OP.

It's all wrong. The price should be the same for everyone.

Here's a thought. Chatsworth House is owned by Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish and Amanda Heywood-Lonsdale. The family are worth 910m pounds. It's part of our heritage as brits. They don't need the money. Why not make houses like this free to all UK citizens, and make money from tourists who can pay to go in if they can afford it.

I don’t get it on my pension. I made the mistake of paying into a small private pension. . 🤷‍♀️

Likely because they won’t make it enough (or what they’d consider enough) money from it. Either outright or indirectly through accessing other funding.

It’s not a large group though. While benefit claimants as a whole may be a large group pretty much every place offering these tickets only offer a small number of them. the place local to us it’s 3% of tickets annually.

I wonder if king charles would have to pay to get in

But these reduced prices aren't anything to do with the government. These are private companies.

I must admit the usual entrance fees for some of these places are disgraceful but it's not due to the UC cheaper prices

It used to be the case that places who had large amounts of specific lottery funding had to then be free. It’s a shame that has tailed off somewhat

Oh do tell me what other benefit I could be claiming. I am unable to work now after having a stroke & pip is the only benefit I can claim. 🙄🙄. & no I'm not sitting in a huge pot of money or in a mansion- in fact to downsize it would have to be to a rabbit hutch on a paving slab on someone elses property.

Most people on universal credit and going to these days out will have children (school runs) and have to work more than 12 hours a week to avoid sanctions. So "go when they like" is not true. And the cost of getting to these places is often too prohibitive to allow low income people to actually use the cheaper tickets. The jealousy on here toward universal credit claimants is getting tedious now, I would gladly swap with people who have non disabled kids, a present and earning husband and don't need universal credit to keep a roof over their family's heads after being badly let down by the person who should have been most on their team.

@Pickledonion1999 hmm why do you think that is the case?

You could always look for a charity to help complete the DLA form if you wanted to apply but decide the form is too much for you right now. Or apply for an access card, which isn’t such a long form.

It is disingenuous to say we can’t afford it are my children not entitled to days out whilst choosing (and of course that is your prerogative) not to apply for 12 years (and if you only just earn too much for UC, you would also then be eligible for UC because of the additional elements). It is a choice you have made. You can’t blame others for choices you have made. You not receiving support isn’t the fault of those who are receiving support.

If DS isn’t able to attend school full-time, have you request and enforced alternative provision?

Having recently discovered that places take part in this outrageous scheme , I am now boycotting them . I absolutely resent subsidising others day trips .
When my child was younger with both my husband & I working full time , I had to forfeit these places and take him swimming or to the park . This is what my hard earned wages are going to pay , days out for families of most benefit claimants who do not want to work.

That is an absolutely crazy price difference TBF.

Chatsworth House operates as a charity, therefore the heavily discounted tickets are part of the charity status. If you take away the discounted tickets for around barely 2% of its visitors and stop the charity status - then ticket prices will have to rise from £33, to cover the loss of money from grants and lottery money etc as they are no longer a charity - so would you rather pay £44 for example to enter, just so the barely 2`~~~~% don't get discounted tickets?

By demonstrating a commitment to inclusion and community outreach, Chatsworth strengthens its applications for public and private heritage grants (e.g., from the National Lottery Heritage Fund or Arts Council England

Your wages aren't paying for this

You, Coming here with your facts

Don't be daft. We both work and claim UC. We enjoyed the zoo visit that we definitely couldn't afford.

I work full time and qualify for universal credit.

If you’re unable to work for health reasons please look into New style ESA in case you qualify.

Its one that many benefit advisors in places seem to miss out because they think all ESA was rolled into UC when actually it wasn’t.