AIBU to encourage my 18-year-old daughter to claim Universal Credit?

[ThisTealWarrior]

My daughter is 18 and no longer in education. She currently as a job (7.5 hours per week) and is waiting to start another job pending DBS checks. I advised her to make a claim for UC at the beginning of September before she was offered this position. She had to go to a meeting at the job centre this morning to start the claim and weekly check in video calls until she starts the job. This won’t be fixed hours as it is a bank staff role.
She has made such a fuss about it saying it is pointless basically acting like claiming is beneath her! We don’t charge her any board and don’t intend to after she earns more either but I have explained that technically we could. I just think it’s important to claim if she is eligible and also explained about NI contributions for when she gets older. I have explained that at some point the hope will be that she is earning enough that she doesn’t need to claim but for now she should.
Am I being unreasonable?

She has made such a fuss about it saying it is pointless basically acting like claiming is beneath her!

I don’t think this is a bad attitude to have, to be honest.

I wouldn’t encourage any of my children to claim benefits at 18. Claiming benefits is something that far too many people become reliant on and I wouldn’t want to send my children down this path, if I can avoid it.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

I think we have worked out she would be entitled to about £150 a month based on her current earnings, but obviously as the PP says it would be vile to claim that.

I don’t think it would be vile. It’s what she is entitled to and it’s not her fault that the government has made choices that caused hundreds of thousands of jobs to simply disappear.

It's "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", not "Take everything you can".

If she doesn't need the UC, she really shouldn't be claiming it.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

But you should when you're living off the bank of mum and dad and mum and dad asks you to.

What do you expect her to use the money for if she is not being charged any board? Then ask whether that’s a good use of government funds.

Welfare isn’t an endless pot. If you keep taking out there’s less for others. I’d far rather see money go to care leavers who don’t have a loving family home to live in for free.

Well she would still be in college this year continuing her course if the government hadn’t brought in the GCSE requirements. But that’s another story.

If we said that she needed to fund her own food shopping then yes she would then need the money.

People claiming UC get class 3 national insurance credits automatically. See here.

Yes you do UC pay class 3 automatically

The UC already is reduced to include zero for housing for under 24s.
So the money I would put aside for travel to/from work before the first pay cheque.
Travel to/from job interviews for full time jobs
Perhaps an online qualification that could increase her chances of getting a FT job
Savingd towards a flat deposit and a potential move away from her home town to where there is work.

Welfare has never been an endless pot, but the lack of jobs for young people is a serious issue and you can’t expect OP to fund all the above from her wage now can you? Her DD is an adult.

To be honest I said that we wouldn’t charge her board as I thought people would say that we would be wrong to do so.
I have seen other posts where parents have said that they wouldn’t dream of charging their adult children board.
Seems to be a different opinion here and so we might need to rethink.

Not all will be eligible for the housing element, but under 24s can be eligible for UC’s housing element. There isn’t a blanket ban on it. They don’t get it if they live with their parents in their parents’ home, but that applies to over 24s too.

So then she’ll have no incentive to work more because she gets money from benefits.

It’s ludicrous that she even qualifies when living with her parents, they should raise this limit to 25 like in European countries.

For me this depends on whether you want to raise someone with a bit of drive or a dependent scrounger with no self respect. I know what I’d want.

Well not everyone has that privilege the job market is brutal at the momernt
And 18 year olds can live off fresh air

Thank for clarifying, it isn’t a blanket ban but the £150/mo quoted by the OP will not have any £ towards rent/housing

You should if you have no other option.

It’s a parents responsibility to help their 18 year old get on their feet, not the Governments. Unless, of course, they are absolutely not able to help their child financially.

Asking an 18 year old to claim benefits simply sets them up for a lifetime of claiming benefits, in my opinion.

I don’t want that for my children and would only encourage them to claim benefits if I had no other option.

She is hoping that the new job will likely lead to more hours as they have implied that, although nothing definite yet
Then she needs to also keep looking for a FT job. Implied is not good enough.

Well of course she will minimum wage is significanltly more then £338 / month universal credit.

They can if their parents are not charging them anything.

Which is only £150/mo for the DD. The bit of funds isn’t for fun, it’s to go towards finding a secure job and getting on her feet. If OP were wealthy, she would not even be considering her DD applying.

That is so not true.

Yes correct it doesn’t include any housing benefit contribution.

The universal credit system is more difficult to get over paid on. Was this a long time ago? Tax credit system was notorious for doing this sort of thing to people.

She should get a guaranteed hours job instead of none guaranteed she needs to learn

People should pay their taxes and claim their benefits, whether it's PIP, child benefit, the state pension or universal credit.