Anyone worrying about the rising costs of life

[Needanewadventure2021]

I know this is money related but im aiming it more towards single parents. I know everyone will be feeling the pinch but as a one income household it's making me feel sick.

I recently posted about taking my son on holiday. Luckily I have been able to save over the last few years to be able to take him next year. However I am now feeling like I cant justify taking him away.

I read tonight that household bills are set to rise a further £1500 a year! I'm already feeling a huge strain financially and the thought of it getting worse is making me feel ill. I have pounds left a month so what the hell are people meant to do?
We have no social life, no luxuries. Live hand to mouth.
It makes me feel shit to be honest and scared that it's going to get worse.
You get yourself to a place where you feel you can manage with what you have, then it gets ripped away from you.

I work in a low paid job. 30 hours but unable to work more. Constantly looking for a new job. Intermittent/insulting maintenance payments paid via CMS (DoE) and tax credits top up.

So now ive gone to UC with what I know... and I have the evidence to push for it. I shouldn't have to do that. Why can't UC just tell us what we're entitled to themselves.

The staff are poorly trained on a complicated system. It's likely they don't know themselves. Same as job centre staff. They are either lying to get you to move over to UC or are shockingly unaware of the most basic facts.

Thanks @Lahhdjdknwbjshdhb I'm going to have a look now.

Citizen’s Advice can help with accurate calculation, and might point you towards something you didn’t realise could assist you?

@Marni83

But the op doesn’t have any right to any contribution to housing costs under TC AND UC

Yes but whether the OP gets housing payments doesn't affect a tax credit calculation or award . It does affect a UC calculation and award. Lots of things affect a UC award and leaves claimants worse off that wasn't the case on TC

Can you get yourself a side hustle? Something like selling on eBay or Etsy, pet sitting/babysitting/tutoring/cleaning/gardening, AirBnB or taking in a lodger?

To cut your food bill are you able to grow anything, even if it's just some herbs on the windowsill? Can you shop in the evenings when the supermarkets reduce their food to 10 or 20p? Do you have a freezer for reduced priced bread and milk? Can you batch cook? Lentil dahl, basic pasta sauce (tinned tomatoes/onions/garlic), soups and stews are all super easy and cheap to make, particularly if you are using reduced price veg.

Car boots/charity shops/Freecycle and Trash Nothing are great for getting stuff. Local car boots usually have Facebook pages. You can put requests on Freecyle and Trash Nothing for things you need.

I hope things get better for you and your son OP .

@liveforsummer

Yes but I was only talking about the op’s situation
Not those you do have housing benefit

To answer your OP yes I'm very worried and in the same position as you. Last tax year I was getting by ok, this year I'm on my knees scraping around for the basics each month and considering cancelling DC's clubs such as swimming as I just can't manage anymore. My gas and electric has gone up, NI is to go up, food is going up, it cost me £55 to fill my car with fuel the other day, previously the most I'd ever put in was £40 although it was the first time I'd ever had to run it around on 0 miles to empty as I'd never not had £5 to pop a bit of emergency fuel in in the past.

People will give you lots of poor advice as they don't know (unsurprisingly - it's deliberately complicated) how UC works and is calculated. Personally having done a lot of research and manual, not website based, calculations I'd be £7pm better off which isn't worth the 5 weeks of no money that I am far from in a posting cover. I couldn't afford to repay an advance to get me through it either.

[quote Marni83]@liveforsummer

Yes but I was only talking about the op’s situation
Not those you do have housing benefit[/quote]
I am also taking about the OP's situation?!

@Marni83

Are you assuming the OP is incapable of calculating and finding the information herself?
Why is this?

Seems like a huge assumption of someone you've never met and who didn't ask for your advice?

Why do I keep reading about parents who are struggling single handedly to support children who are pretty likely to have another parent! One wage rarely does it these days. How does one parent get away with just paying a token amount when the resident parent has to house, feed and clothe their child?

No party in government seems willing to tackle the issue. It must be soul destroying juggling finances alone.

It's clear that everyone's circumstances are different. I know some people much better off on UC and I also know others similar to me scared to trigger a move to UC as they are worser off. A move to UC will not be in my favour at all. Every calculation tells me that. Would I really be holding on to tax credits which are stressful enough in how they overpay/underpay if UC was better for us.

Defo going to look into trying to sell some things. Willing to try anything. I'm hoping a new job comes through and gets me out the benefits system altogether. That would be a dream.

And @Lahhdjdknwbjshdhb I've just checked and sainsbury would be best for me too. However they are still more than I am currently paying. Thankfully I am tied in until June so I have some time

@liveforsummer

So now ive gone to UC with what I know... and I have the evidence to push for it. I shouldn't have to do that. Why can't UC just tell us what we're entitled to themselves.

The staff are poorly trained on a complicated system. It's likely they don't know themselves. Same as job centre staff. They are either lying to get you to move over to UC or are shockingly unaware of the most basic facts.

Yea he seemed genuinely baffled. I don't blame him. Likely it's poor training and he's probably on close to minimum wage worrying about his own living costs. I don't see why it's so hard to train them on the basics of what people are entitled to though... surely it's deliberate?

It's even more soul destroying when you use the very service set up to support children and they favour the paying parent. My son's dad is absent by his own choice. In the last 6 years I've had 5 emails from him. 4 of them was him arguing the case that he has rights and refuses to allow me to take my child abroad because he pays maintenance. Let me tell you he is ordered to pay 143 a month. It is collected by DoE. However I've had many months of non payment. Majority of months it's less payment. It's never what he is told to pay and I am told I need to be grateful his employer are sending money at all and they won't enforce it and is unlikely to ever get paid. When my son's dad was refusing consent to take him on holiday it was at a time his employer was allowed do send less than £12 a month and I was told I need to accept it. But he pays what he should. Its an absolute insult

@theseoldbone my work coach had just returned for 6 weeks of UC training when she sat in front of me insisting - seemingly genuinely- that I'd definitely have to transfer to UC once I ended job seekers and started work. I genuinely think she believed that. I very clearly explained the reasons why that wouldn't be the case but she continued to insist. Her I am 4 years down the line, still on tax credits, was able to update my claims for tax credits to include working tax and update my housing claim, both of which she was adamant I couldn't do.

I'm very glad I'd taken the time to do my own research (which is why I know for a fact that whether or not you get housing costs on your UC claim affects the rest of your award) I get people thinking logically that it won't make a difference either way but it definitely does due to the different ways they are calculated. Yes the OP wouldn't get direct housing costs either way but the income in the long run will be different

Maybe we are being made to believe we are better off on UC so it reduces the amount of people they have to migrate over and ensure they are kept in the same position financially

[quote liveforsummer]@theseoldbone my work coach had just returned for 6 weeks of UC training when she sat in front of me insisting - seemingly genuinely- that I'd definitely have to transfer to UC once I ended job seekers and started work. I genuinely think she believed that. I very clearly explained the reasons why that wouldn't be the case but she continued to insist. Her I am 4 years down the line, still on tax credits, was able to update my claims for tax credits to include working tax and update my housing claim, both of which she was adamant I couldn't do.

I'm very glad I'd taken the time to do my own research (which is why I know for a fact that whether or not you get housing costs on your UC claim affects the rest of your award) I get people thinking logically that it won't make a difference either way but it definitely does due to the different ways they are calculated. Yes the OP wouldn't get direct housing costs either way but the income in the long run will be different [/quote]
I refuse to believe that person was thick enough to have had the training and not absorbed it. They MUST be training them to lie

@Needanewadventure2021

Maybe we are being made to believe we are better off on UC so it reduces the amount of people they have to migrate over and ensure they are kept in the same position financially

Apparently the migration promise is a load of rubbish anyway and only apples to a couple of months grace of the same payments rather than a permanent situation.

@liveforsummer you're joking

I remember it being in the news a while ago. Maybe 18 months or so back. Just clinging on to my TC as long as possible for now.

Fuck sake. That's all I need

On the other hand I doubt they are on track to move everyone over, with covid delays and short staffing etc I'd imagine we've got a quite a bit longer before worrying about it.

I think it just makes me sad that so many people are finding it hard to make ends meet and it's only getting harder. It's not like we can say we can't eat or feed our family, or use gas/electricity/water. I have no unnecessary subscriptions. I have the cheapest sim only. I am on now tv offers which make our TV the equivalent on 9.98 month. I've stopped my son's swimming lessons. It's so sad how people are having to live

It isn’t right at all, @Needanewadventure2021 and it’s sad how accepting people become of dads not paying.

It's pretty common isn't it. It's the ones who only have to pay £7 a week flat rate for multiple kids. They are laughing. Whether they are on benefits or not if the child resided with them it would cost alot more than £7 a week to support a child let alone children.

I need to shut up about this as it makes me livid. Kids are expensive. I also do not think kids get cheaper as they get older other than childcare. My DS is 7. He is so tall he is in clothes older than his age which are more money. The only brand thing I buy him are Nike trainers and they are always sale. I got picked on so bad as a child for wearing cheap non/brand clothing/shoes. There's no way I want that to happen to him. He couldn't give a crap about brands in all fairness but he is young. I remember a friend of mine, when her son went into secondary all he wanted was trainers in excess of £200 because everyone else had them. I'm not looking forward to those day as the answer will be no. His maintenance wouldn't even cover a pair! My point is though kids get more expensive to keep yet maintenance never increases unless the paying parents circumstances change. My son's dad has been with the same employer now for 20 years in the same job. He hides alot in his pension to avoid paying more. Im doubtful he will move jobs. But his known to earn on the side too. Can you tell his a proper decent guy! His employer never sends what they should and the shortfall has never been recovered. It's appalling.

The whole set up of benefits and maintenance is wrong. Sooooooooo many people are left to struggle and now finances are being crippled.

Thankfully I have such a happy easy child. He expects nothing. It helps alot. But as a parent you can't help but feel sad that you can't take them on similar days out to their friends and you can no longer afford to pay for him to continue swimming. I wish I could give him more. Not spoil him but not have to keep saying I will see what I can do once I'm paid. But it's no longer just that. I lie awake sometimes wondering if I will be able to feed him towards the end of the month. Will I be able to put the heating on when it gets cold. Basic living!

My ex doesn't have to pay anything at all as he is 'self employed' (and puts all his money through his girlfriends account). Because he occasionally throws me £20 he's seen as paying off his arrears (over 5k) so they wiped those. CMS is absolutely shocking and dealing with them caused me so much stress I still get angry thinking about it now years after I've actually had any dealings with them.