Is anyone else struggling at the moment?

[hugsandpugs]

Feeling so fed up of struggling week to week and trying to stretch money to cover all the things that need to be paid out.

We currently only have husbands income coming in as I’m out of work due to migraines.

On average our monthly income is around £2,200 including child benefit and though it may sound a lot we are currently dipping into the tiny bit of savings we have just to get by!

There is 5 of us - me,hubby and 3 children & the food shopping alone crucifies us! We are lucky that our mortgage cost is fairly low but the rise in everything else is meaning every month is a struggle.

Just want to know I’m not alone 😣

If everyone is struggling, how are people affording to send out their ironing?

If you are only getting £300 from universal credit then it may be worth applying for ESA - you can get 382.20 a month - it will cancel out your UC payment possibly (it did mine) but its still worth it for the extra £82 a month.

You do need to supply fit notes from GP I believe.

Could you look for part time work? How often are you having migraines, if its daily that's awful poor you.

And it its daily or even more often than not, definitely apply for PIP.

What about attendance allowance OP?

We are a family of 3 and have struggled since forever. I earn just above min wage and DH works but has restricted hours. The biggest costs are food and petrol. We only have one car and that is crippling us financially as I have to drive quite a distance to work. They took our FSM away when DH started at high school and we'd never get it back unless one of us stops working. It's like those earning just above the threshold for support are hit the hardest. There's no help out there. The petrol went down 5p per litre for one day ffs! What if it never goes down again?!

You are not alone. I struggle as on zero hour contract I find it so stressful. Have been trying to get a new job for over a year but in my area it is mostly care work advertised. I took current job in desperation some time ago as my office job hours dwindled to nothing as I was not needed after the company I had been working for had been sold.

I will contact them. At the moment we pay full council tax and I’m wondering if perhaps we can get a reduction on that so worth an ask

Apply for pip, it affects your daily life

How are you only getting £300 in UC. You should be paid for all children now. I’ve estimated standard allowance and 3 child element 1600 before deductions. You’ll be entitled to the higher work allowance of £710 as you have a mortgage

thank you all for your input, I’ll reply to everyone individually later x

People are paying for that service as I know someone who is doing it.
Everyone I know is struggling but obviously there are others that are not.
Surely that’s common sense.

You will be entitled to free school meals as of this year. Anyone on uc is getting it.

I would agree with this . £30 a week for one child’s meals is a lot . You could do a pack up much cheaper than this . Good luck OP you sound like you’re doing your best with what you have . Could your OP do a bit of plastering on the weekend to top up his wage .

Good plasterers are hard to come by. He could earn a lot more money. I would encourage him to start a plastering business then you could help by manning the phones, doing the paperwork etc. which would also give you more of a sense of purpose. Sorry about the migraines, they sound awful.

That would be my worst nightmare tbh. Ironing for a living.

Ask doctor to refer you to a migraine clinic at the hospital, more options are available from them, eg Botox, and other treatments.

£300 universal credit sounds really low, are you sure that’s right? Could you claim pip or LWCRA?

I think you either need to find a job or look at PIP though I’m unsure if you’ll be awarded this for migraines.

There’s a lot of quiet pie in the sky thinking here. OP likely won’t get PIP. She could try for LCFW. For free school meals you have to earn à really low amount, like under 7K. UC don’t pay anything towards mortgages. I only have two kids but on a similar wage to OP husband and I get 300 in UC so it sounds about right to me.
Attendence allowance?! Well if OP’s husband is going out to work he’s not exactly her full time carer is he.
People on MN seem to always imagine there’s magic solutions when there often isnt.

If Op loses UC she will lose things like free school meals which will be available for all kids on UC from this september. So it may be no benefit.
Op have you seen the increase following the lifting of the two child cap yet ? Many people will see this increase with june payments.

All kids. on UC will get FSM from September. Attendance Allowance is for Pensioners !! Are you meaning carers allowance?

Attendance Allowance is a benefit which disabled pensioners claim.

A few suggestions op.
Hand in fit notes to UC and wait to be assessed for capability for work. If you are found not fit for any kind of work then that could mean an extra £200+ per month on your UC- sorry I can't remember the exact amount.
You could look at PIP if affected more than 50% of the time. It's a hard benefit to get though but does depend how your condition affects you.
Kids will be eligible for FSM from the autumn term.
Check you are now getting child element for all three kids. If not then it should come this month. Check UC know about your third child.
Look at whether your partner could do some plastering jobs at the weekend although i guess he would then need to register with Uc as self employed which can be tricky. I'm also conscious that this may then put more pressure on you looking after the kids more. .

@Pickledonion1999no I was responding to someone else who suggested attendance allowance! It was a well meaning but pointless suggestion. Like 90% of replies about poverty on MN

It sounds like you may not be getting all the UC you're entitled to. It may also be that where you are paid at different frequencies you're underestimating income.

A household of couple with three children with one person working 40 hours at minimum wage should have an income of around £3,000 per month.

Net earnings calendar monthly of £1880 (assuming no pension contribution)
Child benefit of £62.85 per week, £272.35 per calendar month
Uc for a couple over 25 and Child element x3, getting the higher work allowance (because no help with housing costs) is about £930 per month. (Entitled to UC for all three children from 06/04/26l

If you are unable to work through ill health you may also get the the Limited capability for work element of UC and PIP.

Have you checked if you can get help with council tax support? It varies between councils what the requirements are.

Thanks so much, I’ll have a chat to them and see if they can help at all. Any help I can get would be great at the moment.

I know many are struggling but my kids mention so many of their friends are going on holiday for two weeks to Florida etc and I’m thinking perhaps other people aren’t struggling as much as I thought? We could only dream of going to Florida or the equivalent for two weeks! A holiday for us is a couple of nights camping usually.

I don’t wish I was rich by any means as I appreciate the little things in life but I grew up being on the breadline and I really wanted things to be different for my kids.

I’m so frustrated at being unwell and how much these migraines have taken things from me. I actually want to be working and earning money 😞