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?

There are pros and cons either way. It's not unreasonable to encourage it, it's also not unreasonable to not claim and try other options.

I would recommend looking at your local council website for employment support (it might be under a naff title like 'Employment and Skills Hub'). Many councils run or promote employability programmes for young adults. Some send out their own emails on local opportunities including recruitment events from employers and training providers held at council sites. One of these really helped my DD who came out of her Level 3 apprenticeship needing that additional support, but wasn't in a place to meet the Job Centre's T&C.

Is not 16 hours?

Yes you are BU. Encourage her to get back into education or a into a job with fixed hours . UC should not be used as a fall back when she can get work and earn her money and doesnt have her own family yet that rely on her.

There are so many young people in this position, it makes me so angry when people assume they're just lying around playing Xbox all day!

I think people with young children or children well past this age have no clue what it's like for school leavers. If they don't want to go to Uni, and why would they for all that debt and it's only really prolonging the inevitable unemployment, there is no help for them.

No it's not. It's 35

There should be a local careers service for people aged 16-24 that may be of more help with job hunting than the job centre.

Whilst she's not working much it's worth her exploring options for the missing GCSEs - can she do evening classes? Take Level 2 equivalent courses? While she's looking for work she can't study in a way that would interfere either her job hunting or working but evening classes / flexible online things will be ok.

Yes she should claim what she's entitled to - you never know if you or her father might suddenly become unable to work or have another change in your finances.

No, don't charge her board unless you actually need the money.

She should be able to apply at the job centre for the flexible support fund for travel to interview costs / interview clothes and possibly help with public transport costs of getting to a new job for a few months.

Once she's earning too much to qualify for UC her claim will automatically close after six months.

Spot on. How about, get an education, a decent job and have some aspirations. How dare she claim benefits at 18 and just work a few hours per week.

My parents were far from wealthy. I funded myself for clothes and going out from school age as soon as I could get a weekend job. I worked school holidays too. I stayed in that job after my a levels and got a full time job because claiming benefits was far from my mind. An 18 year old can survive living at home and then find a job without the need for benefits if they live at home. Welfare is for those that need it, and the pressure on the country for funding welfare is through the roof.

It doesn’t work like that though. You have to sign up to commit to job seek for full time work. You have to complete a log that shows what you have applied for, what interviews you have attended. You then have to check in weekly with a work coach to discuss your progress. So it’s not as easy as just sit back and let the pounds roll on.
She has said that she doesn’t want to claim as she didn’t want to go to the job centre and speak to a stranger. Regardless of the money I think that doing things like this is important to build her confidence in social settings. She is very socially awkward so doing things outside of her comfort zone is needed.
The claim is open for now, if she doesn’t attend her weekly meetings then it will likely close anyway. Or in the meantime she may start work at the new role and earn enough so the claim ends anyway.
She does have aspirations but unfortunately as I have previously explained she was not allowed to progress to Level 3 of the college course she wanted to do. She would have been carrying on with that this year if allowed and so all this would be irrelevant.

Thanks I didn’t know anything about employment hubs but have just looked and there is one in our town.
That’s a good point to make about our circumstances changing. My husband has been made redundant in the last few years and had to leave his role before due to stress. Now runs his own business so that’s up and down. I work and the previous company I worked for a few years ago closed down at short notice so I had to find work quickly. I am aware that things aren’t always linear as some people some to think.
my DD is considering returning to college next year to do the Level 3 course which can be self funded and GCSE requirements aren’t needed as she has the Level 2.

My son is in same position but aged 17.5. He’s entitled to nothing. We have to keep him until he finds work. He knows that as soon as he’s earning, he will have to contribute to the running of the house. Nothing is free in life, and allowing them to think this way doesn’t help. We’re not trying to be mean to our son, but this is adult life. He chose not to continue with his education, so the consequences are he must work and contribute. If he’s not found work by the time he’s 18, he will be applying for jsa and I will expect a contribution towards our massive food bill.

You sound very angry. It's difficult for lots of people to get work at the moment. Experienced middle-aged workers, for example, are having a tough time and are often discriminated against in favour of younger workers! The climate is pretty dire all round (as I mentioned in my post) but I do still believe, generally speaking, that where there is a will, there is a way, yes. Sometimes it's about generating something ourselves if traditional routes to gaining employment aren't working.

OP and her partner are hard working tax payers. Her DD has been shafted by Labour economic policies which have driven up employer NI contributions and the minimum wage. Her daughter has worked is is still looking for more hours. She is entitled to claim.

There is no moral imperative for people to not claim what they are entitled to, provided they can prove that they are looking for work and applying for suitable employment.

Youth unemployment was statistically worse about 15 years ago… many of us are fully aware of what it was like back then when we were 18.

The difference I believe is there are simply fewer jobs for the completely unskilled with no qualifications past the basics (and not even the basics in OPs Ds case) because many jobs have been automated and AI adapted. So now they have to compete with more qualified and experienced workers for the same batch of jobs.