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.

Those pensioners who have barely worked and do not have enough NI credits for full state pension just get topped up with pension credit.

Free TV licence only for those over 75, try finding an NHS dentist, all pensioners get free eye tests, and no it doesn’t make them better off than someone on just that state pension who would also be eligible for help with their rent.

Off the top of my head (so yes, do research and feel free to correct me) it is the bottom percentile. So they take the an average and then say the bottom % are in poverty and raise benefits. My take away was that you will always have some people living in poverty as someone always has to be in the bottom %, but I think there is some statistical jiggery-pokery that says you can.
I’m not sure what they include as a house in central London paid by housing benefit is very different to a flat in a cheap area so it can’t be value of total benefits as people claim different benefits at different amounts.

I sometimes wonder if class envy stems from the mistaken belief that working people must be wealthy, but it’s becoming clear to a lot of working people that that are busting a gut for the similar standard of day-to-day living as those who aren’t - i.e. nurses using food banks

Making cultural/historical/educational experiences more accessible for lower income families is not a bad thing in my opinion. I’m quite happy (I’m on a relatively low income) to pay a bit more for entry to these places because of that.

My niece (19 year old single parent, born and raised on a council estate, wears a lot of tracksuits… please go ahead and clutch your pearls) has used these discounts for days out to stately homes, country parks, play centres, and farms/zoos etc. If she had to pay full price she probably wouldn’t be able to take my great-niece to these places and would most likely be judged for that.

Yes me too
Its a wonderful scheme
We’ve seen louds of places that aren’t usually open to the public aswell

In that case, why not reduce the entrance fee to an amount that everyone can afford, regardless of whether they’re receiving benefits? Therefore giving every child the same opportunity. The fee is beyond what a normal working family without benefits can afford.

I don't get this. How can they claim UC if one of them isn't working at all? Shouldn't they be made to seek work of some kind once their child is at school?!

I completely understand your frustration. I have been severely disabled all my life, having been born without eyes. As a result I have benefitted from event entry schemes aimed at disabled people for most of the time. Most large attractions, shows, concerts, etc. offer a free companion ticket to people like me who would be unable to attend alone. This typically means that My husband and I will attend an event or attraction and only pay for one ticket, so, half price.
You must be green with envy and wishing that you or a loved one also had a severe disability which renders them unable to go to places unaccompanied so you can enjoy such lavish freebies too. It's all just so unfair, isn't it?

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it and I’ll have a look.

i’m sorry if it comes across that way. I blame the system, not the individuals.

wow, it's actually impressive how you came so close to the point but managed to miss it.

OP literally said that it's the amount of the discount that annoys her. £3 vs £33 is a 90% discount not a 10% one. It's doubtful people would moan about that - when was the last time someone started a thread complaining about student discounts which are similar. But 90% is a huge difference - as a pp explained, places like chatsworth aren't running at a 90% profit so in order for some people to pay £3 the majority of full paying guests are likely subsidising the cheaper tickets.

In reality, the difference is probably minimal and I doubt it would make a difference to whether OP could afford to go if entry for everyone else was only £32 rather than £33. But I understand why, in the full context of the current financial situation for lots of people, it feels unfair.

Just out of interest, are students included in the list of concessions or are they also expected to pay full whack, since they're 'privileged' enough to be tens of thousands of pounds in debt for an education?

I think the issue sometimes is not that people begrudge other people on lower incomes paying less (even a lot less) but that the price of some of these tickets doesn't really seem good value for what you actually get once you get inside. Especially when you're paying for more than one person. £73 is lot for looking around a house.

The bedroom
tax is only relevant if you are in receipt of UC or the housing element. She works and has a pension so I don’t think it applies. Either way it would be covered by the rent she’s gets from her lodger (£500 a month). This is in an area where there are over 2,000 people on the local housing list, of which 650 are homeless. Whole thing needs a shake up, ideally by investing in one and two bed flats for people to downsize to in the borough, freeing up family homes for those in need.

Okay whatever you say

Why is a SAHM allowed to claim if their child is school age?!

That’s why NT membership is such a good deal. A single parent with three kids pays £9 a month with access to All NT properties in England.

I would assume because it doesn’t make them the level of income they want.

Places don’t do these schemes because they’re kind hearted souls. They do it because it benefits them - for example the place I mentioned earlier in the thread reckoned the scheme cost them 3k, but they used it in successful funding applications worth 60k.

Lowering prices generally wouldn’t have the same usefulness in things like funding so it won’t interest places the same.

I claim universal credit because I have 2 disabled children and cant work because 1 of them requires 24/7 round the clock care. I used to be in management, had a good wage and didnt claim anything. I'm anything but lazy. I actually didn't know about this scheme so im glad this thread was started.

It’s an amazing house though.

They're not. It's a load of bollocks.

I'm on UC and PIP and I fully understand that you are not saying I shouldn't get the discounted rate but that the difference in what i pay and what you pay is extreme and i agree. I'm not sure why PP have taken it as a benefits/disabled/class difference/insert other negative connotation here...bashing thread

YABVVU! Hasn’t it occurred to you that your disposable income might be 12x more than someone on UC?

My DSis is 50 (3 kids, teenager and 2 adults) and has managed to never work. My cousin is an alcoholic and doesn’t have to work. My DHs cousin is also an alcoholic and chooses not to work. My nephews gfs (though not together) have kids school age and have never gone to work. 2 of my cousins moved to Ireland (from London) and have 8 kids between them, all school age and have never worked.

There’s no disabilities involved, except alcoholism. They all get their lives funded by the tax-payer because they don’t want to work.

I have no idea how they manage it but they are not very clever so it can’t be that hard to do!

It will be interesting over the summer to see which of the expensive days out places pass the VAT savings onto customers and which won’t.

i can understand the cost issue for smaller businesses, but it’ll be intersting to see what the bigger ones do.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy05rnlpe9o

As the average UC payment across the board is just over £1k a month, the likelihood is most people will not have an income 12x that