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 even then it’s not that simple. My daughter’s school has a number of pupils who would be deemed to from a SIMD quintile 1 background but who wouldn’t automatically qualify because of their postcode.

Please provide statistical evidence to state unequivocally that a high percentage of people that are perfectly capable of working, are claiming UC. This is the issue here. There is a belief that a high percentage of people on UC are scamming the system. If you are capable of earning they will not keep you on UC. Are there loopholes that people use yes, are those people going to then without it become honest hard working citizens? I doubt it, they will be looking to find another way to live on easy street which will most likely involve criminal activity. The vast majority of people on UC NEED to be on it. Without it you would soon be complaining about the higher crime rates, the vagrancy and that nobody is doing anything about the starving and homeless children.

A lot of people have been dealt a shit deal in life, my husband has cancer, but we have to manage on our occupational pension income as he’s had to give up his part time job. He’s not entitled to PIP as he’s not sick enough, yet.

So The marginal middle not on UC and PIP have no problems ?

Is the entrance fee based on a theory of who may or may not have problems in their lives

If you can’t afford to pay £33, you have to be earning a small salary which means you don’t contribute much in tax anyway. People on £100k+ are the tax backbone of this country on their high tax rates. They pay for the benefits, not you

This. Also the offers are not reduced by very much. My grandson's offer was A A A instead of A A A*.

On this subject I think OP is right. Why should a working couple who don’t qualify for UC but pay all of their own bills have to pay 12 times as much as someone receiving benefits? I am not in either camps but I can totally see why it’s annoying people, after all is said and done, days out to the likes of Chatsworth house are not essential basic needs, food and housing etc is

Its the situation that's ugly.

What a terrible post.

For a start, you seem to think 'claiming benefits means poor' which it doesn't.

Then you've assumed that 'poor people' claiming benefits are siting in their house, drinking beer, eating UPFs and watching TV.

Then you assume that to access art, beauty and education you need to have money. Which you do not as you agreed yourself, we have many work class museums which are free.

The you said people on benefits should be able to further themselves and develop then said they already do as have access to free museums and free/reduced rates for education.

The you went on a rant saying learning about the arts and so on shouldn't just be for the priviledged when you already said it wasn't as there are so many free museums and free/subsidised educational opportunities.

Then you went on some wild speculation that OP must be earning 12x the same as 'someone on benefits' and have more spare money which is just weird and not something that can be calculated when such vague terms as 'on benefits and not on benefits' are used. Economists wouldn't approach that because it makes no sense so how you think you've come up with a calculation is just bizarre.

🤗 only by idiots too thick to understand the reality.

I claim pip now after 40 years of contributing, I had a stroke, apparently I have no self respect either & im a loser.

id happily go back to not having had a stroke & not claiming pip if someone could just sort that for me.

EDIT: I won't be using any of these discounted tickets because I am not well enough/able enough to, so hopefully that'll make some people in her happy.

Lots of people on UC also work. Many of them full time.

Or is it convenient to forget that?

Why do you deserve it to be discounted? What is your actual objection - that people poorer than you get to see something cheaper than it's available to you? Do you want to keep it for yourself? Do poorer people not deserve to be able to see these buildings/grounds/galleries/museums as well? Do you think a ticket discounted by....10% is going to enable that? Where is the cut off?

It is frustrating to have to pay full price when full price is out of the reach of many who are working. But there will always be those who fall the wrong side of any kind of means testing. What is the alternative? That nobody with a lower income has access to these places? Are you comfortable with that?

It’s not just £33. It’s £33 x fee-paying children + partner. The total is about a week’s food budget.

It’s the blunt cut-off point I object to. If you are not on UC then you must be in £100k+.

What would be the campaign? "Make private businesses increase their ticket prices for the disadvantaged?"

Universal Credit cultural discounts and heavily reduced tickets for attractions are typically funded by the cultural venues and attractions themselves, rather than through DWP welfare payments. These institutions subsidise the reduced rates (like £1 or £2 entry) using their own commercial revenues, charitable donations, or independent endowments.

Did you also know that disabled people get huge discounts on Premier League football, major concerts and other events, and their seats tend to be in row 1? Oh and they can bring an accompanying person at no cost?

Did you know many companies give comp meals to the homeless, or free coffees?

If a private business decides to give out freebies, it is their business.

I go to a lot of free/cheap cultural events attracting incredible high-profile speakers, for example Malala or any former prime minister.

Despite being free, all the visitors are the 5%. Extremely sophisticated accents, Oxbridge degrees.

There's so much free or cheap culture available in the UK, most people just have no interest.

The uptake of these iniatives isn't huge as one would usually require a car to get to Chatsworth for starters - not easy if you are on UC. Unfortunately the UC recipients I know don't get out much, if ever. An 'outing' is a walk around the neighbourhood.

there was a similar thread on here a week ago - the OP was slated then as well but tbh I see where you're coming from.

For all the people who go straight on the defensive bleating about judging benefits claimants - it's not about judging them as individuals! I don't blame them for taking advantage of offers that are available to them any more than I'd blame a student for using their discount - surely everyone would if they were in the same position! Nobody would pay £33 if they could pay £3 - I'd judge someone far more for having more money than sense if they did. I've done it myself - I was on JSA for a brief period between finishing uni and getting my first job and I made sure I got dental treatment I needed then to get it free.

It's the organisations offering this people are annoyed at. Nobody is saying people on benefits should sit at home in the dark all day flagellating themselves, but the whole point of these expensive days out is that because they are expensive they are a very occasional treat for the vast majority of the population. Not cheaper than a costa coffee. Someone claiming these tickets could go to London Zoo for a £3 one day, then the tower of london the next for a pound, then hampton court palace for another £1. Then go on holiday to wales and visit 5 castles at a pound a go. Whereas the family not claiming anything could never afford to do all that. Even at home they could go to the local pool using their free or hugely discounted membership while the paying family are charged nearly £30 (in my council run pool!).

So it's not placing people in receipt of benefits on an equal footing with those who (on paper) have more money coming in - it's giving them a huge advantage.

The wording itself literally says the tickets are "To help those who might find cost a barrier to visiting" - but a huge amount of people (including OP) who just earn over the threshold to claim WTC, or who earn slightly more but have huge expenses ALSO find cost a barrier to visiting.

Obviously Chatsworth can charge however and whoever they like but personally I agree that it's not the fairest way of funding entry.

Still at £132 I’m guessing you’re not on the higher tax rate

You can buy a three month National Arts Pass until Tuesday for £20 which gives a 50% discount on literally hundreds of visitor attractions including Chatsworth. It would pay for itself in a couple of visits. Maybe you could afford that and have lots of days out @MaturingCheeseball?

Lets test the water by banning discounts for pensioners. If that proves popular we could think about extending it

Its called living within your means.

So noone should get a helping hand because you don’t?!

Pride?? Setting a good example to your DC?

Most i.E. 65 per cent of UC claimants don't work. A lot who do work, just do 12 hours a week to keep the work coaches off their backs.

Because the reduced tickets are limited in number and quite often only usable off peak (rather like travel passes for pensioners which are partly a prop for public transport as they can only be used off peak). Reduced access costs for people with disabilities is often a reflection of limited accessibility at the attraction. The business is getting bums on seats where they would not otherwise attend.

If anyone has a complaint about some visitors getting a discount then take it up with the private companies who run these attractions - they are in business to make money, they are not welfare foundations. They see a business benefit in the tickets which is why they do them.

YADNBU - Working hard does not pay in this country that much is clear.

YOU lump us all together. When you kick off like that it hurts all of us with disabilities/children with disabilities. When people say those of us claiming benefits have no self respect, are losers etc,

it also hurts people working in essential jobs that are low paid (but who we'd be fucked without) that need to claim top ups to get by.