Universal credit... Struggling!

[bumblebee39]

I am finding it really hard to get used to UC. My income has dropped a lot recently and so I feel like normal for a couple of weeks, and then am poor the rest of the month. Paying off the advance is a struggle too. It was easier getting tax credits etc. Weekly and then I covered everything else monthly but had my food shop money each week.

People just don't want to realise just how utterly SHIT UC is.

😂 apparently they are getting rid of it soon! I bloody hope so. Tax credits were so much simpler! And due to the cap I have had to get housing be fit top up not UC housing element. The whole thing makes no sense! It does have the desired affect though, I can't wait to be back off benefits and away from UC!

They'll never get rid of it. They want to punish low-income people, not the employers who pay them a pittance, don't offer perm contracts, zero hours contracts, use only agency staff, etc etc.

Could you close your UC claim and make a fresh new claim for tax credits, housing benefit etc? I don't know if that would leave you really short but it might make things more manageable once you get past that stage?

I'm already on a separate claim for housing benefit because my area is not on UC even though I was when I moved to it. I think I should contact them and find out, thanks X

I don't have any budgeting advice but I just wanted to say that you do know that student finance isn't counted towards benefit entitlement, don't you?
I had student finance when I was on tax credits and they are totally disregarded.
Hope things get better for you soon.

@ItsTheGloaming unfortunately on UC , student loans ARE counted as income despite the fact they are loans and will need paid back at some point . Under tax credits they weren't counted but on UC they are

It's disregarded for tax credits but reduces your UC so that its roughly the same as tax credits not the same as tax credits and income support as it would be otherwise X

But in real terms it's less plus you have to go through 5 weeks were you don't get any money but can borrow an advance off future payments so it ends up less X

It's an unfortunate situation OP.
Is it possible for you to defer your studies for a year and get a full time job to support your family?

Thomlin - Once you are on UC there is no going back to legacy benefits. the government want everyone on Uc eventually.

@MrsMattWillis and @bumblebee39.... Really? That is fucking outrageous! I thought UC was a travesty before but now..... It is actually deterring people from trying to better themselves.....

Is it possible for you to defer your studies for a year and get a full time job to support your family?

And then what? She'll still need the UC to finish her training .

Welcome to mumsnet
.... where you can talk about your private schools, skiing holidays and what to buy from anthropologie but don't you dare ask how to mange your budget on benefits.

the whole country will be on UC the next two years OP. so budget carefully and consider the future too. UC isn't going anywhere, it will cost billions to reverse back to the old system so not sure where you got your Intel from that they're removing UC soon

To be honest I feel I have been consistently penalised for being a student and not unemployed but I will not let it deter me. My parents had a free university education and a council house when they needed one, I have had an uphill battle with student loan companies and terrible private landlords. I used to pay a lot in tax and my parents have ether invested a considerable amount of their lives into civil service and the NHS or paid a lot in tax. I think it is important to have the opportunity to move forwards, and I have not come this far into my studies to give up now. Besides which, I am due a baby in the early summer so will not be able to work then and am Persuing a part time or temp job until then. I will then be PT self employed, take a year off from study to focus on my baby otherwise and still be reliant to some degree on UC up to the point that I graduate and can therefore obtain a better job with a big enough salary to support 3 kids as a single parent without the help of UC or tax credits.
I understand the fear that people will get comfortable and mooch off welfare forever, Beveridge even wrote about it in his infamous report, but I believe the system should be there to support people who are doing there best and have been put in circumstances beyond their control (domestic abuse, breakdown of a relationship, unplanned single parenthood)
I do feel that UC is wrong because it acts like we are all long term job seekers not job seeking, even when we are committed to raising kids, studying, working as much as we can and doing our best.
I mean, I have had to decline 3 jobs because I can't work weekends. Of course I can't, I am a single parent with very little family support and my kids dad is not even allowed contact with them. How would I work weekends? I can't. I can work weekdays, due to the marvellous wrap around care schools provide these days and childminders doing longer hours, but I cannot commit to any weekend work (except after my kids are in bed and then from home). And I certainly couldn't commit to a zero hours contract: they muck up your UC even more and almost impossible to do childcare in such a random way.

Even the health visitor said to me "obviously you can return to study once DC2 is 2 years old and gets nursery funding" I was like "actually I'm still studying, just part time and my university have let me have no attendance until my childcare is sorted" she was shocked. I think there isn't actually an expectation by anyone that single parents will be doing more than that until their kids 2 or 3 but in the mumsnet bubble I know there are people who aren't faced with the front line reality of UC milk vouchers and food bank use escalating. Or with the realities of how hard it is to be a single parent in the first place, without the added stresses of bringing in an income and building a career

Monday55 the whole country will not be on UC in the next two years.
It’s projected that those on working benefit will be migrated to UC by 2023
At present UC can’t be applied for if you already have more than 3 children, therefore you have to applie for HB
Pensioner will stay on HB and not migrate, approximately 50% of claimants are over state retirement age

Mrsmattwill student loans were counted as income for HB purposes

Yes for housing purposes (housing benefit or UC housing element) in substitute for out of work benefits (ESA, income support, JSA) but not tax credits

Tax credits only took into account taxable income, that’s why. Savings in an isa don’t count either

Up to £6900 of student finance now counts as student finance also 🙄

As taxable income*

Hi have you tried contacting universal credit and getting paid every fourt night??. That may be would help you..

You've made a série of decisions that inevitably made it much harder for you than someone who would have made different decisions. You can't ignore this and must take some responsibility for this.

You have a plan and with determination, a lot of hard work, and further decisions that don't hinder them, you can still reach you goal of work and self support but it is going t obe very hard and require a lot of resilience, that's almost inevitable.

Good luck OP and I really hope you succeed in your aspirations as what better role model you would then be for your kids but don't blame the system, it's there and that's that. You need to work your options and decisions around it.