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.

There is literally a screenshot in the thread about this particular house and same discount to PIP claimants.
and yes I begrudge it because PIP is not means tested and it is claimed by plenty of people with anxiety or ADHD who have a job and even highly paid jobs.

I’m not naive. You on the other hand are ignorant and clearly don’t understand how benefits work. You don’t get DLA just for having a diagnosis. Equally, you don’t need a diagnosis to be eligible for DLA. DLA is based on needs, not diagnosis and you need evidence.

Autism assessments are about far more than just considering what the parents say. If you think any HCP is acting so unprofessionally as to diagnose when the diagnostic criteria are not met, you should report them, but action won’t be taken just because you, a random judgemental person, disagrees with their professional assessments.

We both work: full time for him, part time for me because it helps with childcare and the general run of things.
We have not had a single day out this year apart from St Paul's cathedral as I am an unpaid carer for my autistic son and we got cheaper tickets ( I think it was£37 instead of around £60 like that). That's it. I'd love to go to the zoo but even with a carer's ticket, it's too much for us. How is that fair? We absolutely do not qualify for UC but live in our overdrafts.

I work in admissions. They are based on multiple criteria including postcode, school attended and receipt of benefits.

@AgileBee you are perfectly entitled to care for your mother. But receiving uc for doing so? Nope. She could enter a home - and believe me I have oodles of life experience of finding a home for several demented relatives (one violent).

As I said, of course you can care for her. But if you have surrendered your job to do so then it is not the taxpayer’s job to compensate you (except carer’s allowance).

It's shocking why should the price be different. Can you imagine if they charged you more at the supermarket because you earned more than someone else, oh you Bananas are 10 times the price the theirs cause you earn more !!

Yes I know exactly how long the form is and what sort of evidence is required. It really doesn’t have to be that detailed and can easily be forged. The threshold is not black and white and so again, it depends who is seeing it and making the decision. There are forums on Facebook where mums are giving each other tips on what to write to get DLA for their child. I think the people shocked by what I’m saying really think too highly of the DWP and the whole SEN system. It does not work the way it should. Too many actual disabled children, and yes I include autistic children, are not getting the support they need while far too many non-disabled children are being given a label in one hand and benefits entitlement in the other

The UC that poster will receive will be far less than the cost of a nursing home for that relative.

But the mother will probably be paying for the nursing home.

You absolutely are naive. I am very aware of how the system works and how people are working it. It’s nice that you desperately want to see the good in people and services though

Only if she has any money.

I don’t the the op is being unreasonable. Many people who are on UC are working like myself I am also earning an average wage and rent is standard for non affluent area of London

I get a little each month (under £100) and it helps with things like lower costs dental costs (which I still can’t afford)

not many working people could afford the cost of the trip I could because I am on UC but otherwise I couldn’t but I am only very slightly worse off than many people who don’t qualify

it isn’t a fair system issue being wages have been kept low so have not risen with the cost of living it’s completely fucked up

It's not jealousy, it's fairness, would you like to pay more for the same thing as someone else.

No, I am not. I do this day in day out and have done for years,

People need evidence to support their claim regardless of what they write on the form.

Some children not getting the support they require isn’t the fault of those DC who get support.

Yea, the OP might want to check how much carers save the government.

This is a complete misrepresentation of the way these figures are meant to be interpreted. They are meant for professionals working with the disabled, not for ill informed MNers who don’t know the first thing about PIP or how it is awarded and take these figures as the main disabling condition, which they are not - only a moron would believe someone with acne or writers cramp alone would qualify for PIP.

For example. Acne by itself doesn’t qualify for PIP, but 15% of claimants have Acne recorded on their claim because it’s just one of the conditions they have and it’s usually linked to a more serious condition, but the Acne itself is not their main disabling condition. Same with writers cramp. 40% of those who claim for it are successful - what those figures won’t tell you is that that 40% have writers cramp (can’t remember the official term for it) as a result of a more disabling condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or brittle bone disease, which is the MAIN disabling condition.

The guide also gives the actual number of people claiming for these conditions as part of their disabling condition. In the main, they’re very low in comparison to the more serious main disabling condition. To quote your 40% of writers cramp as an example. If ten people claim and only four are successful then the success rate is 40%. And once again, it isn’t the main disabling condition.

It would be pretty odd. But two people have mentioned it now. Plus I did once see someone say that they claimed it and she didn’t work, but something to do with her husbands earnings being high enough they didn’t ask her to work?! I imagined I had read it wrong but now seeing people talk about it on here..

Only if she has the means. Very many don’t. Guess who subsidises them. ?

We all know what the loophole is and that is anxiety

its shocking that many people are not getting the benefits that they absolutely should be entitled to, hasn’t helped that assessments are no longer or rarely in person

but the amount of people who are for anxiety is ridiculous, that’s not to say sown do not need it but many are absolutely ripping the system off

Thank you for sharing this information. I’m looking forward to a cheap day out with my husband now 😊

I don't see anything wrong with the scheme. It enables people who might never have afforded to go, the chance to go.
But yeah, punch down.

What is AET? I don’t think you should need to work 30, but how can someone claim and not work at all?! Surely instead of paying UC the second parent should be working? (I don’t mean if you’re a carer- they should receive far more!)

I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the govt started doing something like this, pretty much everything else is subsidised for benefits recipients after all.