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.

And again. Not funded by the taxpayer.

As in like a friend fully taking and paying for someone holiday I understand. But noway in hell should UC be enough for any holiday on its self

No, but again, a tax on those who are working and saving?

Woman are over represented in earning NMW 53% and claiming UC 65%

The main driver of this is single parent households being predominatly woman

The maximum rate for pip isn’t even £800 so that’s incorrect.
Also, you can’t even get the low, or medium rate without providing tons of medical evidence, so there will be a reason he receives it and obviously you’re not privy to that information.

Why does mumsnet allow these bashing threads they’re disgusting. Vulnerable people who are already low being torn apart by others acting like packs of hyenas it’s not right.
Shame on you all. Being so full of hatred and spite you never know what’s around the corner remember that.

I disagree that it is benefit bashing per se. It is the frustration of hard-working people who are unable to afford full price entry to these attractions.
At the moment it appears that there is no incentive to work because people have access to trips like this if they don’t.
The original purpose of the welfare state was to support people in dire need. How has it become possible to live on UC for anything more than a very short period of time?
Apologies for side-tracking the thread.

Ok fair enough. I feel a bit daft now. Just pretend I wasn’t here, you didn’t see me…

How is it a tax on working people who save, 76% of the working section of UC are working and saving

You’re in a position to save. Lucky you. Lots of people on UC aren’t in that position. They can’t have savings above £16000 anyway, and are penalised for everything over £6k. Why not be grateful for your privilege?

Well I’d say that £33 each is overpriced so I think the issue is the differential, not the price of the discounted tickets.

I think these UC discounts are a good thing because, while a small number of people might be taking advantage, the majority are not. To me, this is about children who would otherwise not get these experiences getting them because no child should miss out.

Of course it’s benefit bashing. The decision of a private business to levy a high admission charge has been used as an opportunity to have a go at people on UC or PIP or whatever.

Why not be grateful for yours? If you genuinely need benefit and you are fortunate enough to live in a country that provides it? It is absolutely a privilege. Many countries don’t.

I would see a special fee for PiP as very different from a special entry fee for someone on UC. They are not the same thing at all.

See post at 18:50

To be fair, you could argue that we will always have people dependent on benefits for life as there simply aren't enough jobs to go around. Even people currently in work are struggling to find new jobs there are so few.

I work and am aghast more at the high price of the regular admission. As I posted previously, I wonder if there's such a huge difference to make the visit seem more worthwhile for those who don't have access to a car or whatever and otherwise wouldn't usually go. They might gauge the 'value' of the visit based on what others are expected to pay. But that's just speculation, it is a really huge difference in ticket prices.

Have I started incorrectly due to your original figures?

If half of all umbrella benefits are paid to elderly, ill, people with disabilities, the other half are Able to work and as you said 38% of them are working - doesn't leave many "lazy scroungers" its either 12% your way or 24% my way

Maybe not thick, but certainly wrong. 38% in ANY kind of work. Much less in full time.

I’m not on any benefits. Which privilege would you like me to be grateful for?

What’s the difference to you? More pertinently what responsibility do you imagine UC claimants have for the decisions of a private business?

Ah yes, the one I replied to and you ignored? If you are going to post ableist bullshit then at least own it.

I am guessing it’s more than 3 stone for me then, maybe I should just starve and wait until I am cured or die

Well probably the ones you thought I should be grateful for???? Since I too am not in receipt of any benefit?

You knew exactly how the thread would turn out, the way they always do.

people have given you several ways to get discounted tickets (& not by going on benefits) if that was really your issue, you'd have thanked them for that.

Exactly. And either people believe it's right to just give these cheap tickets to people on benefits, or it is wrong-and either way, it shouldn't be that if you have a friend on it, you get it cheap!

Actually a lot of the issue is that there is no discount for an over 16 at all unless they are on benefits. The OP said £40 (ie 2x£20) was roughly her limit. If she paid £33, got the child discount on her (presumably non working 17 year old) at £11 and booked online or parked elsewhere, the trip would probably just scrape into doable. Its the assumption that a child miraculously becomes able to fund their own ticket on the day of their 17th birthday that is the really big problem here. (And no there is no discount for a student either - so a family who are barely over the maximum student loan limit and shelling out to support a child at uni on the minimum loan is then hammered again by having to shell out £33 for the student - and maybe a sixth former..)

If I were on UC I don’t think I would buy the tickets at Hampton Court, because you can’t upload proof of UC online and have to show it in person. It feels quite outdated, and I can imagine it might be uncomfortable for some people similar to how free school meals used to be handled in the ’90s, when things weren’t as discreet as they are now.