Financially struggling with good job and now i have received some money which should be a good thing but ...

[Itisadifficulttime]

I am in a professional job, single mum with 3 kids living at home (5, 11 and 18) and one in uni (19).
Take home pay is between £3458 - £3550/monthly and I am still in overdraft every month.
This is without credit card debt i am also paying off in bits monthly.

4 months ago after a series of happenings leading me to incur further debt about £7,100 more to HMRC, i had a breakdown and was in a very bad way mentally. I was desperate and applied for universal credit. A friend suggested i may be entitled to some help.

I applied, attended two meetings at the jobcentre. 2 weeks later i got a message saying my entitlement was £-43.00. So i forgot about it.

Tonight, i have received £1844 in my account. 628 for May, 608 for June and 608 for July.

I don't trust HMRC. Their mistakes are part of the £7100 debt above. And even though this money is really needed, i am worried this is a mistake and next year or some years down the line i will be asked to pay it back (i.e i will be owing HMRC even more!).

This £608/month UC pay seems a lot. Especially after the message of £-43 entitlement.
But i have looked through the calculations and they have all the right figures.
£3550 for wages, £1150 for rent, 3 kids at home and i am single. The first £379 of my wages is not part of the calculations apparently.

Anyone got experience with UC? Can i trust this money? Can a single parent earning £3458 - £3550 per month be entitled to this much?

I am so confused as to why people taking home nearly £4k a month receive any UC!

It's because of high rent on the claim and 3 kids born before the cut off. I agree it's quite unbelievable and I guess why they have brought in the 2 child cut off now. People having kids now with 3/4 kids would not get anywhere near as much. I find it annoying when people seem to think benefits are awful yet someone can get over £600 Uc plus child benefit with an income of 3.5k a month. UC is absolutely dire for single people particularly when you can't work through illness or disability or you are young and a jobseeker, but for others - well unbelievable. There was another thread here the other day where the poster had no mortgage ( had paid it all off ) and with wages and UC had over 3k a month to live off.

Agreed. I find it so hard to think of my income - which is about half of the OP - and yet my mortgage is exactly the same as her rent but I don't qualify for UC, yet she does!

It's a crazy system.

Agreed, it is disgusting

I think once you have relatively high entitlement to UC you have to earn stonking amounts to not be entitled.

For every £1000 you are entitled to on UC you need to take home £1818 for the taper to reduce it to zero. Based on your wages I’d assume you’d be entitled to £2.3k Uc. Rental element plus three kids plus single adult. Your wages minus work allowance * .55 and deduct it from your UC.

I think the real problem is a lack of affordable housing. If the government invested in housing they wouldn’t need to be paying a landlords mortgage which is the only reason op is entitled to benefits on her salary.

But even with rent paid, op still has almost 3k to live off ? It is crazy and I say that as someone who helps people claim benefits every day and see the other side of things with people receiving an absolute pittance to live on. I understand that they want to make work pay but I do think it has gone too much the other way.

To be fair op would be entitled under the new rules just to £315 less. The biggest element is the rent and I honestly believe money would be much better spent on affordable housing rather than paying a never ending benefits bill due to high rents.

I would also say on that take home pay OP is paying over £1100 tax and NI a month. Most other western countries give parents tax breaks or tax credits. We have this madly convoluted system of elements and tapers. If housing was affordable or additional tax allowance was available to parents like it is in France for example Op wouldn’t be entitled to benefits.

Yes good point about the tax. I guess it still makes op a net contributor. It just seems a lot to get on such a high salary but obviously if entitled to claim then that's fine. I doubt it will be that high for long anyway once the 18 year old drops off the claim.

You crop up on all of these UC posts. While I agree that you’re knowledgeable, for someone who claims to help people with this type of thing you’re not half judgemental about who you think should and shouldn’t get what.

Maybe just give the help but spare the judgement? In this most recent post of yours it’s like you’re willing for the OPs eldest child in residence to fall off her claim so her entitlement reduces. You do know that one person receiving less doesn’t mean that another or others receive more, don’t you? That’s not how it works, love. Just be bloody kind for Heaven’s sake.

I think the point is to make work pay. From a fiscal point of view op being in work saves Uc about £1500 a month benefits. Also she pays £13k or so in tax/ ni a year. I think in work benefits are a good thing and by gradually tapering them you don’t hit that ceiling where you lose entitlement due to a pay rise/ promotion.

I know it's surprising about the amount it appears I can get on UC. It is surprising to me.

To be clear, I don't get child benefits. I also don't have 3K or almost 3K to live off after my rent.

3500 does sound like a lot but when my rent, council tax, childminder fees, gas & elec, broadband/tv/phone, water, medicine, car insurance, car lease fee, professional insurance, professional licensing body fee, professional body membership, professional union fees, petrol, train tickets, phone bill, care for my dad, swimming lessons for 2 kids ( used to be 4 kids), hair care etc the money has vanished. This does not include groceries for 6 people and all the other miscellaneous expenses that living entails ( clothes, coats, shoes, uniforms, gifts for parties they are invited to, presents for their own birthdays/family members, contributions at their schools for various things). Mentioning the monthly expenses I can remember witjout having to check.
We don't go on holidays. Hardly ever have take-aways.
I have not even been able to continue my divorce process because there is just nothing left over for solicitor fees.

3500 doesn't go very far. It is not a miserable life, the kids are happy, fed and dressed. But it doesn't go far and this year i find i am constantly in overdraft every month.

My rent quoted here is actually less than I actually pay. After going to apply for UC, two days later my rent got increased by £270.69.

I explain this because it reads like some people are upset that I could be entitled to this UC and feel that I have too much.
I am genuinely surprised that I am even entitled to something let alone the amount that's been calculated.

If I had known about this, I would have applied ages ago. I would have maybe had less anxiety, less migraines, less greying and worry lines on my forehead, I would have been more present at home.

I have written a message to my case manager and waiting to hear back if this is indeed real and not some mistake.

@Itisadifficulttime make sure you report the rent change although it might not be increased due to local housing allowance cap.

You can also apply for discretionary housing payments to top it up from council.

I get what you are saying about not much left after basic bills and expenses met.

Just to be clear OP, I don't begrudge you this money and can see how your money vanishes with all the bills etc you have to pay.
The amount you get in UC does seem to acknowledge though that households with kids need over £4k a month after tax to live on. How does that square with teachers/nurses/midwives/shop assistants/binmen etc who don't even bring in that much through 2 full-time working parents? It feels as though life has become so expensive that wages are well short of what is needed to cover the basics, which is crazy.

OP, you can probably make a tax claim for all your professional fees if you need these to practice? You just need to do a self assessment form each year and HMRC increase your tax code

You are taking home the equivalent of a £75k salary.

And what’s your point? As we see people say time and time again on MN, it’s all relative. People on her frequently claim to be on huge salaries, and then simultaneously complain about the COL crisis.

We can and do all struggle, irrespective of our income.

Not sure why so many people are disgusted with the UC system.
When I go back to work after maternity my take home will be 2000 per month, husband 1500 per month.
2 kids, one in nursery.
UC top up will be 450 per month, would have been an extra 550 (1000 total) if we rent.

It doesn’t make sense to me either.

I'm still paying off a debt 3 years later from UC due to them grossly over calculating what I was due. I'd even spoken on the phone to someone to check that it was correct and they assured me. And then nearly a year later I was hit with owing them nearly £3K of overpayments 🙄

I dunno re UC but HMRC are very reasonable about payment plans

If you need help to budget step change will help you work one out, and from there you can agree a payment plan with HMRC

Then get some advice on budgeting and sort yourself out - 4 kids is a lot so it’s easily done but you will feel so much better with a plan. Pensions too.

I guess the difference is that I can't afford haircuts and swimming lessons for my kids.

Or sky TV channels. Not sure I will afford heating this winter. So I guess it's horse for courses a bit.

I find it hard that you get so much though, gotta be honest!

Crazy. I'm single, work, 2 kids, and end up with half of what you get per month!

@BodegaSushi , I am currently going through that with HMRC ( I referred to that debt earlier). I can imagine how you felt about that. I am still really not happy with that and why I am wary of this UC pay.

@continentallentil , I actually did try to come up with a payment plan of £50/month to HMRC and they rejected it. Their reason - because i will be paying off the money till 2035. I explained that the 50/month is a very tight squeeze at the moment but i would be able to increase it when I no longer have childcare to pay for, complete my divorce etc. The person still said no. I had to call back a few times and eventually I spoke to someone who said, of course that's no problem.
I only owe them because of mistakes they made. I will look at budget step change. Thank you.

@AndSoFinally , that's true and HMRC still made mistakes with that.

@ChocolateyCrunch , hair care not hair cuts. And it is not a luxury.
I also can't believe that most of the money I earn goes on bills. I pay a huge chunk in childcare and can't wait till I do not have too. I also pay care for my father.

@bunchofboys 75K salary??!! Definitely not me. Though I do work very hard and would welcome 75K.

I appreciate that these are tough times for a lot of people. I wonder how people are coping. We are all struggling to make ends meet.

I know I am fortunate to have my job and be able to keep it.
When I look through my expenses, I find that a good amount of my expenses are related to my work :- - Childcare to enable me to work, - Car and all it's expenses to enable me to work, - All the professional fees to enable me to work. I only listed the ones that are paid monthly. There are some that are non- monthly and are compulsory. They can cost anywhere up £900 and some are not covered by work.- Divorce costs to enable me to work/keep my sanity/keep my life/have my kids.Still have not heard back from my case manager.