single Mum’s suicide (Universal Credit related)

[OldHag1]

So sad to read about this young mum and her struggle with depression and illness.

She felt ‘pressured’ into finding work and the risk of losing benefits played on her mind.

R.I.P. Amy

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5628837/Mother-21-killed-feared-losing-benefits-inquest-heard.html

Why should someone who has self harmed not get help? Woman in story had a history of self harm, she didn't get the help she needed, now she's dead and her son has no mother.

Tissues if you believe what you read I feel really sorry for you.

tissue is this your line of work as you seem very sure of what you’re saying?

tissuesoft you are either naive or lying.

You may but people do not.

I may win the lotttery on Saturday. Does that mean a couple of million, will be dropping in to my bank account in the very near future?

It had to be offered to each customer in their initial appointment, the alternative is to wait until their first payment which is not fair. I am not naive or lying about anything t at all

My youngest brother started a claim in November they still have not issued his first payment and told him to reapply (aka they want him to reapply so they don't have to pay backdated payments). If it was not for my uncle he would be homeless / starving / who knows what, this government and the people who keep voting for these practices have much to answer for.

KittThCar Should have explained more fully, i dont resent anyone getting more help because they have self harmed,of course not,but ijn this case,the money has gone in less than 2 days,on £1000 bikes for himself and friends, clothes for himself and friends and drugs and alcohol,
If the money was used what its meant for then of course they deserve it, but when this money has gone he is asking to borrow more off anyone who will lend it to him
It is terrible what is happening to people through UC and everything i have written is true, whether you like to believe it or not

worriedmum i am glad you have posted your comment,
I have no idea why these stories are not believed, and UC dont pay back pay,
Why would this poor young mum commit suicde if she wasnt worried about how she was going to manage
God knows who voted this Government in, certainly wasnt me
Also, i dont know if everyone knows either that if you get a job while on benefits, 63p out of every pound is taken off you, which leaves 37p in the pound you get

You clearly are since people have said that isn't the case. The government lie about lots of things. Nothing is as clear cut as they make out. I also know someone who recently went on to UC and as they recently got paid (two weeks ago) UC wouldn't give them a penny saying that their pay should of lasted till the first UC payment, 1) they didn't know they were going to lose their job and 2) as soon as they did find out, they paid off a large interest debt as they didn't want that looming over them whilst on benefits and got up to date with bills. They assume they know everyone that loses a job is a lay about waste of space or assume people all have savings. Life isn't like that. I do OK but I never have savings.

Spoke to my son last might to clear up if he got an advance,yes he got £158 which he has to pay back, and is doing now,also he id having almost £50 a month taken off him because he has a tax credit overpayment ,[so they said in a letter] but he insists he didnt have tax credits,[from 7 years ago] a lot of people are having the same letter,also from 7 years ago
He rang tax credits about it,they say has no debt with them, and UC have taken it over,
Why have they, and at £50 a month off his £73 a weekafter paying gas,electric.water, council tax, part rent, nothing left for food
Our Housing Association are helping him and say they think its illegal, the minimum someone is supposed to be able to live on is £73,
He is very stressed and scared he is going to lose his flat[oh and its warden controlled] as he has had strokes, ] what is left, add it up,
The H A are very good and have assured him he wont lose his flat,they are helping him to sort this fiasco out
He also has an appointment with our local MP, not that i expect much help from him,hes tory,and voted all these these things in
No wonder people are suicidal, i am worried about my son,the state he is in

Forgot to say warden payment also [£30 a month]

Jeez lovey lover that is horrifically bad. Thank God he has you to help. They shouldn’t be allowed to take so much JSA or UC is a measly sum to begin with they should take back a manageable amount. Who the hell makes the decision that people can live on basically nothing?

Loans/overpayments should be paid back but at a manageable amount and nobody should be sanctioned whereby they loose all their benefits for any amount of time.

I can’t believe living on benefits is easy to begin with.

this is terrible how many more , the system has yet more blood on its hands RIP x

My son has appealed,but has been told it will be 14 w3eeks until he gets a decision, it is ridiculous,im sure it could at least be reduced for now until its sorted ou
My daughter is paying back overpayments at £10 a month,and she is working,
The trouble is too that UC are not really properly in this area yet, but because he started claiming in another county he has been kept on them, he should really be on ESA but because they are stopping it here now,and transferring onto UC he cant claim it
I dont see how they can take it from his UC especially when its supposed to be from 7 years ago
I help as much as i can, but i only get a basic state pension
I can understand how worried that poor girl was, working isnt worth it now unless you are on a good wage and no benefits,Things have gone back to the 60s and 70s
I used to have a cleaning job, but no tax credits then, and if i earned say £4 i could only keep £2,that is why a lot of people didnt declare casual work,its getting back to that
For every pound you earn while on benefits 63p is taken off you

I think the world is getting a much harder less sympathetic place.

The job centre (or whatever it’s called) must have known Amy was in distress and probably not fit physically or mentally to work. Also her son would be quite young, i’m guessing, so she probably wouldn’t have had to work until he went to school. Or has that changed?

They should treat all people with respect and not as though they are trying to con the system.

It seems these days even mums with young children are pressured to work, this is why they have chi;ldcare benefits,its disgraceful,
Whoever decided that Universal credits was a good idea should live in the real world for a few years not just test things out for a short time for an experiment
I think it was Boris Johnson who thought up UC, [could be wrong] or was it Ian Duncan Smith ?

It was Iain Duncan Smith.

To be fair, the goals of UC were good. Combining six separate benefits into a single benefit, making it easier for claimants to navigate the system and for the government to administer it, whilst at the same time removing the disincentives to work in the old system. Unfortunately the Treasury's insistence on cost cutting has meant that the withdrawal rate for UC (the rate at which you lose benefits when you start work) is much higher than IDS intended and has also caused other issues. Add this to the Civil Service's usual inability to manage IT projects which has seen ballooning costs and the result has been the problems we are seeing.

Personally, I think the idea was indeed good. The problem has been the implementation. If implemented as IDS originally proposed and without IT issues I think it would have been a major improvement on the previous situation.

So sad for poor little boy who has to grow up without a mother.

I don’t think people really understand the reality of having debilitating health issues, physical or mental, and how that translates into getting assistance.

I had to stop working full time 7 years ago due to chronic illness and physical health that’s gradually deteriorating. I haven’t had a single penny in disability benefits. People who know me are stunned when they realise I don’t get any help. I had to turn to very sporadic self employment when I was able to manage it in an attempt to bring in something, and I’m extremely fortunate that I’m married and my DH is on an okay income, otherwise I don’t know how I would have survived.

Fundamentally, being incapable of working is no longer a guarantee that you’ll get financial support. There’s a reason the names of disability benefits have been changed from Incapacity Benefit to Employment Support Allowance and from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments - they want to ensure people understand that incapacity and disability are not sufficient. The assessments are designed to rule out as many people as humanly possible. Assessors routinely lie and make it very difficult for you to exercise your right to record the assessment. Assessors are incentivised to refuse people. It’s an utter disgrace.

The proportion of disability benefits fraud is minuscule by the government’s own reckoning, but disabled people are the easiest targets.

This is a systemic problem which will continue until there’s a change in government. What sort of country allows the government to deliberately target the most vulnerable in this way? Everyone should be ashamed. This government has a lot of blood on their hands.

The government seem to interested in turning everyone against the poorest in this country. I don’t know how many people have said that people get paid to stay at home and do nothing. The amount in benefits is ridiculously low whilst some of the richest in society are dodging paying tax and whatever else people changing over UC are losing their homes as their benefits are not being paid on time.

Paying people a pittance monthly instead of weekly can hurt the most vulnerable in our society.

Sadly some people just dont believe that Universal credits are so hard to get and when they do its waiting weeks and sometimes months, and as above poster says,you dont just lose one benefit you lose them all at once
I was reading up last night on what payments cover and what they dont now cover, and the ones to really lose out it seems are disabled children which is a disgrace, and you cant claim for more than one disabled child,if i read it right,
More people in general will lose a lot of money through UC
I too feel so sorry for that little boy and yes this Government has a lot of blood on their hands, and rub it in too, by giving themselves pay rises
I dont know who votes these people in, but i bet even some of them wish they hadnt now