Universal credit. Joke!

[Mo3gic]

So my partner works, we have 3 girls and receive universal credit. I can not believe how much of a joke this system is. “We make it easier to work” is their crap logo. They don’t! My partner works 24hours per week, if he goes over this they deduct it from UC. My partners wages literally pay for the car finance, and car expenses. He’s left with £50 to go towards any bills or shopping. So all the bills get paid from UC. This month is our last payment before Xmas. Once we have paid our rent bills. We are left with £14! That’s right. £14! To buy gas and electric for the month as we are on prepayment metres. To pay for my bus fare to take girls to school. And to buy shopping for a month for 5 people. Then let’s not forget Xmas is around the corner. We can’t even afford to buy the girls presents. I could say to my partner go work as many hours as you can, but then they will deduct it all from UC, which you think well he’s earned it back anyway. No because then work tax him so he loses quite a bit. But then UC decide oh no he’s earned too much this month so we will close your account down as your not entitled to it. So then we get nothing of them, and what my partner has earned isn’t even to cover the rent. Just frustrated with the crap system. I’m trying desperately to get job, I get interviews but then don’t succeed in securing the job. Then childcare is an issue as there isn’t really any childminders at the school and the schools childcare doesn’t have spaces. Is this just me or is anyone else in the same boat? I real feel like I’m losing the will to carry on, just everyday scrimping and scraping, trying to pay bills and put food on the table. We have never used a food bank but it’s really getting to the point we’re going to have to.

Could you become a childminder, so you could combine looking after your children with other people's?

@IDontEvenHaveAPla

This is the problem of ignorance, OP and those who "milk" the system are in a severe minority

That’s your opinion and I’m afraid I respectfully disagree. I grew up in a house which ‘milked the system’ and know many families now who ‘milk the system’ - it’s certainly not an uncommon minority to me.

What they all have in common is that they, like the OP, genuinely think they’re being reasonable and doing their best in an unfair system stacked against them. In reality they’ve just lost all prospective on the difference between ‘impossible’ and ‘difficult’.

If you have a child with mild illness/ additional needs but they don’t qualify for DLA is it actually essential you’re at home? Probably not but it’s likely easier and you’ll feel ‘justified’.

If you have 3 kids and childcare is 2x your wage, have you been ‘forced out of work?’- no you’ve had children you couldn’t afford.

I could continue but honestly it’s common place and I’m sure like me many people see this frequently around them.

People who intentionally, openly and blatantly ‘milk the system’ are few and far between but people who claim they’re ‘doing their best’ whilst avoiding their life being any harder than needed, or having to be held accountable for their own life choices - they’re pretty damn common!

Fucking hell, this post is frustrating- as someone upthread said, your difficulties are coming from your lifestyle choices, not UC. Before taking a break from my career to have children, I paid £45000+ tax- yes, £45K- in a year but I still chose to work. You'll always be better off working if you want extra money than be in the situation you're currently in.

Ps. We're Not currently entitled to any benefits even though we could do with some extra money. The only option is for me to go back to work as soon as I can. No excuses.

Is this a windup OP?? I mean...our household income is about 65k and we DON’T have sky...our car is also 12 years old!! Neither of those are essential in life!!
Drop the sky...get freeview!
Get rid of the car on finance, save for a 3months and buy an old run around.

When the advisor told you to work 24hrs, she was probably referring to tax credits.

You're on UC now. You keep 37p in every pound. Your husband needs to earn more and you need a job, or you need to cut your expenses. There's no way around that.

Have you been applying for Christmas temp work? You could do nights/weekends, so DH can do childcare?

That was a calm and dignified reply to OP @ LonginesPrime and a fair question originally

Unless you come into contact with people who claim Tax Credits,then you would not know how generous it was.Many examples I could show,but one was a friend of mine started at a job.Got promoted quite easily because as she put it,no one would increase their hours above 16 a week,because then they would lose maximum benefits.Another one in our street,had 7 kids,husband worked part time 16 hours shelf stacking,and owned a people carrier and a bmw.
Anyone on this thread who is quoting oh only a very small percentage are abusing benefits does not have a clue how many really on Tax Credits have their lives geared to minimum work,maximum benefits.
This is a mindset that has stuck,and the recent changes to 2 child maximum,at least one parent working at child reaching age 3,Universal Credit,benefit cap etc etc is a bitter pill many are having to swallow for how generous Tax Credits were in the first place.

Shinesweetfreedom - You are spot on. Add into that that people could claim tax credits with thousands in the bank. I know people who lived mortgage free with a lot of savings ( earning next to nothing in interest ) and still claimed hundreds in tax credits by keeping their income low because they were only based on earned income ! crazy system that needs to go.

Babyroobs,
It is on its way out,replaced by Universal Credit.The Facebook page Universal Credit Survival is an eye opener that the penny is finally dropping re benefits

Shine - What really annoys me on that fb site is the number of 'single' claimants with their fb profiles showing a happy smiling couple and been engaged for ten years and just had a new baby yet they are asking for a single calculation. Total piss take.

@TheRightHonerable Um, it's not my opinion, what you have stated IS an opinion. Please go do your research and see statistics/figures, and then accept that what I stated is not simply an "opinion".

As much as people like the OP who are capable of working but do not, frustrate me, they are still in the minority overall and cost the taxpayer significantly less, in comparison to those who are genuine claimants. The rich who milk the system are the ones who truly cost the taxpayer a hell of a lot.

This issue gets others worked up and the politicians and political parties like the Tories depend on the ignorance of the public in such instances so that they can implement harsher rules to those on benefit. Benefits and immigration, the best way to depend on the personal opinions of people and their ignorance. You can now add Brexit to that too.

You wouldn't be expected to look for more than 35 hours. You would be expected to be taking home 35 x minimum wage (assuming your claimant commitment requires you to work 35 hours ... it can be less). If not taking home 35 x minimum wage you will be asked to look for better paid work.

Thankfully my daughter isn’t that poorly, and I wouldn’t claim it anyway.

Hold on
If you had a severely disabled child that required special pushchairs you wouldnt claim dla/pip but you're happy to reduce your hours so you can claim uc?

Has the world gone mad?

I am currently on maternity statuary pay and I pay my own rent etc I was wondering if anyone can help me with regards to getting help with housing benefits in universal credit and do I need to tell them when the baby is born and that’s when I get help or? Help please!

The irony of op being so disgusted at the thought of claiming DLA for her child ( I claim for both my boys at the high rate due to their disabilities but we don't get other benefits like UC ) is if you are on tax credits or universal credits you can claim a premium for a child who is entitled to DLA and a carer premium.
It's a few hundred pounds a month.
I know this because a lot of the mums at both of my boys SEN schools are single parents .
Although all get tax credits as they haven't moved families with disabled DC on to universal credits in our area.
Some are terrified of the prospect of universal credits.
These are mums who have DC with life limiting conditions or who like my youngest need 24/7 care / oxygen etc
No way they could work.
In this instance the benefits system is essential.
I'm up at 3:39 am , still haven't slept tonight as my son has had his 7 th seizure and his oxygen levels keep dropping despite him being on oxygen.
Could I get up and work tomorrow? Not a chance.
The fact I was also disabled several months ago by a brain stem bleed but I'm still doing an almost full time caring role ( it will be back to being mostly me in January when my husband has to go back to work) when I can't swallow properly, in tube fed and I need a walking frame or I fall on my face and other people take the piss and don't work really upsets me.
The benefits system is essential for those that need it and undoubtedly tax credits is better by far.
I was refused pip recently and I'm an absolute train wreck.
Maybe op could do evening shifts in a nursing home to fit around her husbands job and he could go full time to share child care ?

@IDontEvenHaveAPla

Ah, I see. Can I ask where you’ve gotten your facts from then? I’ve yet to see any reports or reliable studies which comment on the individual situations of UC claimants.

For example- those for who work is genuinely impossible vs those for who it would just be difficult. I can’t imagine a research methodology which would enable this to be ethically or accurately accounted for but it sounds as though you have managed it???

The reports I’ve seen relate simply to how many claimants claim each type of benefit - for example pensions cost the tax payer far more than UC...etc. This wouldn’t make your claims about ‘most’ UC claimants not milking the system fact though, it would still be firmly opinion.

@MyhorseMyfreedom

You really are the reason why so many people who work their socks off all hours of the day and night get pissed off at the benefits culture.
Basically, what you're saying is because you want to be a sahm and your DH an almost sahd you exploit the benefits system in order to fund your lifestyle. Meanwhile those of us who work hard and are not so thoughtless, with a great work ethic, are funding your selfish Lifestyle!
'FT wouldn't work for us'!!!!! 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

@linny2008 Housing benefit isn't available any more except in a very small number of cases. You'd have to put in a claim for universal credit. Use a benefit calculator (eg. EntitledTo or Turn2Us) - then claim the day the baby is born. If you have a partner who lives with you it will have to be a joint claim.

This thread is exactly why people will not vote for another Labour government even though the Conservatives are not exactly champions of the working people. I know that benefits spending is a drop in the ocean and the real tax issue is corporations and the wealthy, but some of the posts on here really make me unsympathetic to the plight of those on UC. I used to work in an area and industry that exposed me to many benefits claimants and the fast majority were miking the system. I feel genuinely sorry for disabled people who are being screwed over, but OP are you having a laugh?

24 hours a week between you with three children, sky, phone contracts and a car on finance... what part of that sounds viable to you? I struggle to understand your complaint about wages having to be spent on rent and council tax, what do you think people spend their wages on? Is this even real or an attempt to get the masses frothing over work shy scrounges? Pre election political trolling?

We have just gone back on UC. We claimed it for a year while we got back on our feet (I'm not going to go into personal circstances but we had a really bad year when I was pregnant and then SMP).
Once my son was 10 months old I took a minimumwage job 2 nights a week while my my partner worked 40 hours at just above minimum wage, however due to sickness it was often slightly lower.

He got back on his feet. I got a better paying part time job for more hours. DS went to preschool at 2.

Now we are facing DH losing his job (pretty much thanks to the uncertainty of Brexit) so surviving back on my wages...however he is out every day looking for another full time job.

UC is there to help you get back on your feet, not to fund your lifestyle. Our Christmas is going to be tight, but we will just do what we can. Facebook and eBay for gifts. I'm currently unexpectedly pregnant (contraception fail) with number 2 and will only be taking a short maternity leave because even if DH has found a job (he will have hopefully) going back on SMP will make it tight again.

We run 2 old cars (live rurally and both needed to allow for work) but they are just cheap runarounds. We have free view. No sky, netflix etc. We have 2 basic phone contracts. You live with what you have.

OP I do feel for you, struggling financially is shit. But looking for sympathy when there is more you could do to improve the family circumstances does leave others with a foul taste.

We are a family of 4. My husband works 45 hours a week and i work 10. We still get a little top up from uc so your partner could could really be doing more hours.

One way or another you need to work more hours between you.

Expensive car finance and phone contracts are not ideal but check the small print before just ditching them. You may get stung by hefty exit fees on a phone contract and some types of car finance can leave you still owing money even if you hand the car back.

Are you getting council tax reduction? It's separate from UC, you have to claim it from your local authority.

I can't believe what I'm reading on here and it must be a wind up from a PP! You and your DH enjoy downtime so full time work wouldn't work for either of you so you've had 4 kids and use UC to fund them because obviously part time work doesn't bring in enough. Are you serious? Everyone enjoys downtime and would probably rather not work full time but to have 4 kids and make a conscious choice to raise them on benefits is in my mind, a little disgusting actually. I really think in those situations, one of the parents should be forced to work full time and the fact they aren't just shows what a state the system is actually in.

OP, the issue is probably the car finance. If your DH's wage is only covering that, there's your problem. My car is £145 a month with zero road tax and will fit 5 people in it. My wage more than covers it. If a wage is only covering the finance and upkeep of a car and you're relying on benefits to pay for your essentials like rent and food, something needs to change

But I have already opened a claim with universal credit and it says housing benefits on it? Obv I don’t claim anything now as my wages are high because my maternity pay starts in December. So I won’t get any help at all with my wages being so low compared to usual?