benefits cap

[christine081251]

Hello , My son has 3 children (7 -11) is unemployed, a single parent and privately rents. His benefits for this month have been reduced by nearly £1,000 (under the benefit cap) to leave him with enough to pay the rent and £250 for the month.

Does this seem the correct amount as the benefits cap is £20,000pa , yet the amount that he will receive is the equivalent of £16,200?

I have checked on Turn-2-us and the figure does look about right. How can anyone survive on £250 per month with 3 children?

Any help out there?

It may be worth him looking into the types of roles that he can do that fit around school or with childcare, these roles are often not traditional male jobs which at be why he isn't aware of them.

You could help him look at his cv and skill set, is he CRB checked? Would he pass? Then a job in a school could be the answer? Is he aware of child care options?

If you are used to being employed all this may be new ground and quite intimidating. Benefit wise I think he has a lot to be honest and don't think he would get any more, as a single mum earning 30k I used to be left with a similar amount.

Oh come on now, no jobs available at all?? Or none that he wants to do? They’re crying out for people in the hospitality sector for one thing and he doesn’t even have his children all the time so he needs to find work around when he doesn’t have them or when they’re at school, simples!

Really no jobs at all? What about supermarket, pubs, taxi, online call centre work? Three children he shared custody of and are school age he really needs to be working. The benefits seem pretty generous if he’s getting £1250 a month.

The benefit cap is just that, upper limit, few people qualify for all of it. I'm guessing he's not getting anything for the children because he's ex gets their benefits, you can't claim twice for the same child. He needs to work even if delivering food on a bike!

If he's getting UC he should get payment towards childcare too. So that's something to look into. That will increase the possible jobs he can take.

The council may offer help with job seeking. When applying for a DHP he should say that he can’t move out of the borough and why. DHPs are a limited fund though and the council are likely to expect him to look for a job to lift the cap. He should also check he is getting council tax reduction (apply to the council) and single person discount.

@Whiskyinajar

Meanwhile MPs claim spurious expenses.

Yet a single parent of three children is penalised .

This country boils my piss sometimes.

... and get all their travel paid, and help with their second homes, subsidised bars and restaurants at Westminster, putting their spouses on the payroll even when they do next to nothing, and all of that is on top of their big fat salary.

The benefit cap is brutal, especially in the south-east, where rents tend to be higher. My colleagues who work directly with clients report that the benefit cap is the single biggest cause of food bank referrals.

I think it's tricky as obviously I'd hate to think of kids in poverty but it seems like a lot of money from the taxpayer to keep someone in private rented accomodation. Lots of jobs at the moment at the lower end of the payscale. I have a law degree from a well regarded uni and work as a toilet attendant.

A job is a job and even if he works a little he could be a decent bit better off.

He only needs to work 16 hours at minimum wage to get the benefit cap lifted. Lots of work in the hospitality sector.

That's correct alexxx, the benefit cap should not be applied if you have a child on DLA.

www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/when-youre-not-affected

Does the dc other parent work?

Why doesn't he work? He lost his job 2? years ago?

I think people see being a full time parent as a privilege accorded to few. If a child has a disability or condition that requires full time parental care (and benefits should reflect that) it’s quite a different scenario to having children without disabilities who can go to childcare, school etc.

Any parent should be doing their best to provide for their children, short term unemployment may be unavoidable, but it should never be a lifestyle choice.

@Nuuktown

How can anyone survive on £250 per month with 3 children? With school aged children, we get jobs.

Yup

He really can’t find a job in london for min of 16hrs per week? That’s his answer, to get work.

We use a gardener who charges £15 per hour and uses our tools. Rubbish is disposed of by the green waste collection service.

No need for the gardener to have a van.

School hours only would easily be possible.

Hi, hoping someone can explain this for me a bit. So me and my partner claim UC, for 9 months he’s had a grace period which has just stopped. He’s a self employed builder and they’ve knocked off £400 near enough every month, when I’ve looked into it, it’s says if your working more than 16 hours per week (between you) there is no cap (I’m currently out of work with the kids, 12,2,8 months), if I then got a job which was 16 hours a week would the benefit cap be lifted? I’m confused by it all 🙄

What are his qualifications and previous job experience? Could he get a remote job?

By getting a job

The benefit cap is brutal, especially in the south-east, where rents tend to be higher. My colleagues who work directly with clients report that the benefit cap is the single biggest cause of food bank referrals.

And yet people still complain that benefits are too high. Even though the government have made things very hard for such people.

To all the people saying that this man should get a job, he will be trying. Because if you don't show that you are applying for jobs you get nothing.

If you earn £722 between you each month, the benefit cap won't apply.

A self employed builder should be earning more like £722 pw, let alone a month.

There's another thread running where all the builders are on so much they've lost their child benefit, so won't be entitled to UC anyway.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/how-universal-credit-payments-work-if-youre-self-employed/

It's more complicated if you are self employed because after a year of working the DWP will assume you have earned a minimum income floor each month and base your benefit payments on this figure.

The only way to lift the cap is to earn more as a couple.

There's a group called universal credit survival on FB where you can ask questions anonymously and get better advice than on Mumsnet.

As a household, you need to earn £722 a month to stop the cap applying. That equates to a tad over 16 hours pw at minimum wage.

In UC, the threshold is a financial one, not hours, so if one of you got a job at, say, £12 ph, they wouldn't need to work as many hours.

@Gingerkittykat thank you!