Do you feel bad for receiving a ‘high amount’ of UC?

[AnotherNameChange1233]

Last week I went to my local Children’s Centre and attended a Citizen’s Advice group that runs once a week.

As long as you’re registered to the Children Centre, you can turn up for any advice needed. Some people want privacy so they go into a side room with the advisor and some parents may help other parents if they’ve been in a similar situation/can offer the correct advice. It’s also like a social group for parents, hopefully you get the jist of it.

On the table I was sitting on, one parent was trying to get her head around UC as she didn’t quite understand LHA rates, how DLA impacts UC and what elements she would be entitled too. Anyway, I started speaking about my experience with DLA, UC and offered to log into my UC account if it was easier for her to look at the breakdown visually (instead of me talking and complicating things). I also got her postcode to explain how the LHA rates work and etc.

Another parent suddenly spoke up and said, ‘don’t you feel bad for claiming that much money?’ She wasn’t argumentative or anything and we had an interesting conversation but it made me think, are people like me supposed to feel bad when receiving a certain amount?

She also said something like (I’m paraphrasing here as I can’t remember it exactly word for word) if people can’t afford their rent then they should move to a more affordable area. I raised the point of Landlords purchasing properties as part of the Right to Buy scheme, charging extortionate rent which taxpayers then pay through UC. Surely, it’s more a problem that there isn’t affordable rental properties in many areas.

For full transparency, I’m going to mention all of my UC amounts and wonder if people that claim similar, feel bad?

• 292 single person allowance
• 1450 private rent
• 539 for 2 children
• 293 for 2 disabled children
• 589 childcare costs
• 189 carer

£216 is deducted from my entitlement due to my wages. That means my UC amount is £3133. My wages is £771. I receive two amounts of MRC through DLA which is £580 all together.

Now that I’ve written it down, it seems like a whole lot of money but the costs that come with raising one of my disabled children (the other still costs a lot, but not as much as the other) is through the roof due to their issues

Because it’s very relevant to the topic and your situation? Which you have started a thread about?

Because it’s his responsibility to support them financially not mine? (And all the other people working their arses off on this thread)

It's interesting I think that lots of young women who have unplanned pregnancies in their 20s terminate due to finances and not having their own home, not realising that they would be entitled to lots of help with universal credit and childcare. I am very pro choice but I also think that this should be more widely known so that it is a true 'choice' for early career flat sharing professionals who feel they have to terminate a pregnancy that would have been kept if finances allowed.

Yes!!! I’d take that to ensure 2.6k take home a month for my family. I’d take any suffering or torture that betters my family, I’d do almost anything to better my families lives that’s lawful.

I work hard, don’t doubt it for a second, but will never be able to bring home 2.6k! I had to leave home at 16. I’ve struggled from the ground up and even though I’m in a job that pays full time, would need to be on 35k to bring home 2.3k and it’s not going to happen.

Sorry to discard your point but I genuinely would be happy to trade epilepsy for it.

Yes, I would feel bad sponging over 3k from the state. It shouldn’t be allowed.

The cost for rent is huge and housing in general has got out of hand. I had friends in council houses who paid £400 per month, although it was some years ago so no idea what it would be now. Instead of all these private landlords we need more social housing.

Obviously you're entitled to it but I do find it galling that someone is able to earn more than my DH and I put together working full time stressful jobs, while caring for 2 young kids (albeit not with any additional needs)

It's not your fault that I feel that way, but I'm not surprised by the women's incredulity given the sheer amount of money one can claim in benefits alone. While also working. It does make a mockery of the system and of getting people back to work!!!!

Looking after disabled children is more than full time work.

It's greedy landlords and the government who should be ashamed of the cost of living

Err because why am I flogging myself teaching all day (including disabled kids) to support men who don't support their own kids?

I must admit like a pp says, I am always surprised when people say how benefits are not enough to live on as I have always felt they are very generous which I didn’t know until I was in a position where I was a single parent to two disabled dc. However I get nowhere near the op.

To be fair - why is the UC system paying but from what you’ve shown the father isn’t contributing.

even not together, a father should be paying something towards their child and that’s a situation that really needs some proper addressing and legislation to deal with cop out dads.

If I’m being completely honest with you, I don’t know how I manage to work part time alongside caring for the children. I have a really accommodating manager and without them, I think I would have had to quit ages ago

But did you not read her post? She had two disabled children so she can’t work full time!

Are you serious? Health is more important than money and I don't have much of that!

How old are your children?

Will either of your children ever be able to live independently? If yes do you have a plan for your future when your benefits maybe decreased?

You are looking after two disabled children on your own. You are saving the Government money.

I don’t begrudge anyone benefits who has disabled children to look after.

We all benefit from society which helps us all be able to function in one way or another. It’s not all just about money.

Your take-home pay is far in excess of many jobs regarded as very desirable careers. You recieve significantly more money than the take home pay of a junior doctor, for example, with many years postgraduate experience and tens of thousands of pounds of student debt.

Quite!

You should not be paying tax if you’re only earning £771 net per month. You should check that you’re making use of your personal tax allowance (which is around £12.5k per annum, I believe).

Exactly. You’re given what you’re entitled to. I wish you all the best ❤️

You are looking after two disabled children on your own. You are saving the Government money.

No because she’s chosen to have them. We all incur a debt when we have children because we are choosing to produce somebody society will have to pay for through education, healthcare and other services.

You understand that people die from uncontrolled epilepsy, yes?

I have no clue how the person you aimed that comment feels about your reply but as someone who recently lost a loved one to SUDEP, I found your comment cruel and thoughtless.

I'd pay £2.6k monthly to have my children's father back. I'd happily live in a soggy box in the middle of forest if it meant I could speak to him one last time.

I don't pay tax on wages of that amount?

But there are plenty of posts on here where people are earning around what the OP gets in benefits and have to pay their own housing costs and childcare and they are told to suck it up.
I can never understand the reasoning behind people who earn a good salary being torn to shreds, yet people who get the same amount in benefits are not. I am not saying the OP should be torn to shreds - she is only claiming what she is entitled to - yet there are definite double standards.

Please answer the question about how much you are receiving from the father of your children.