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

I don’t think you should feel bad, you clearly have a hard life and you’re not swanning around living in luxury, despite your very high household income.

But the father(s) of your 4 children absolutely need to be held responsible and pay their fair share for each child. This amount is then deducted from your benefit income- with the cost to taxpayers minimised.

If there is more than one father and they are in good jobs, it could even negate 100% of your benefit payments. If the fathers don’t pay up, or engage in fraud to minimise payments, criminal charges should be brought against them.

@JosiePosey

The problem here is not the benefits for this the family but the fact that it’s extremely hard to earn the same amount. That’s what should change. Workers need to paid properly and fairly. I’m so sick of benefits claimants being the scapegoat for what is actually a product of rampant and unfettered capitalism and a government that just simply don’t care about ordinary people.

Spot on.
many working families with both parents working full time can’t afford days out, nice food, special treats etc. People go into debt to cover Xmas, birthdays and some even live in relative poverty.
Yet people on benefits when questioned about their comfortable lifestyles (who describe themselves as lucky) accuse others of benefit bashing because their children “deserve” days out, comfortable life and shouldn’t live in poverty.
living on benefits should never be as comfortable as working. It should cover the bare minimum like heating, food, modest housing. Not “nice things”.

You are not doing anything wrong

HOWEVER: to get that much money you’d have to have a gross salary of £66.5k (single earner): which is a fairly high income and should give a comfortable lifestyle

As someone who has never been entitled to any benefits ever, I see a big difference in having to pay for housing vs not

Well said

Me too. It makes me so sad. I’m wondering if it’s bots rather than people. It’s hard to imagine an actual human being so cold hearted.

living on benefits should never be as comfortable as working. It should cover the bare minimum like heating, food, modest housing. Not “nice things”.

But OPs caring for two disabled children. If a parent is a carer for a child/children with additional needs so literally unable to work full-time it would be pretty awful to ensure they cannot afford ‘nice things’ and just live a basic existence with about enough to survive. I don’t see how that’s going to benefit anybody.

It’s just extremely sad that the majority of comments on this thread are negative. There are some kind and helpful ones but not enough and that’s a sad reflection of society’s views on those with disabled children.

She's got 2

Not sure why so many posters think she has 4

You can read /highlight all of op posts easily and she says there she has 2

Wow the lha rate is crazy high where you live. I'm guessing central London? It's only about 700 for a two bed here and I live in the south east.

I used to work with children and families, including those with disabilities, and this is in line with what I have observed.

(It is more than I earned at the time, too.)

I think it is disgraceful that we’re handing that much out. The rent is absurd.

They're not all owned by people purchasing through a right to buy scheme. For some people that is their pension - all of it, and they’ve saved throughout their career to purchase something that can provide an income for themselves when they potentially can’t work. You should move if you can’t afford the area.

For posters picking on the OP and her disabled children perhaps you’d prefer this country to bring back the work houses. Lock em all away in there and when you drive past you can look down your noses and it’ll make you feel superior. I couldn’t imagine coping with a disabled child. A child who you know is unlikely to fulfil any potential of living independently. It’s sickening the bile spouted on this thread from the ivory towers of those that have no idea of this kind of suffering. Long term. Not just a brief inconvenience. This is OP’s life and you’re all tearing your hair out with jealousy over money. It’s vile

I was very surprised reading this to discover that child maintenance is not factored in to benefits calculation. Why isn't it just counted as taxed income?

Thankyou. Well said. One of the few voices of reason on here

It is an eye watering amount but you are entitled to it, so not your fault. If the dad is contributing then I would that you are quite well off.

Meh most parents have lots that they can't get done when their kids are around, and get less sleep, including those who work full time and have disabled kids (like me). Getting paid to have 7+ hours a day without kids or work is a luxury - let's not pretend otherwise.

But we’re not productive as a society? Business has a high tax burden. We are in terminal decline unfortunately.

There was an article in the Guardian about coffee shops and what there costs are per £3.50 cup of coffee…

70p goes on VAT, 25p corporation tax, 50p for rent, 27p for coffee beans, 15p for milk, 15p for utilities and 10p for packaging…only 35p goes to wages and that leaves the business with c.£1 profit per cup

Running a business in the U.K. is not for the faint hearted- it’s a cost minimisation exercise. Then we have employees on extended sick leave - another massively increased cost for business in recent years (partly this is due to lack of investment in public health/NHS … so the government is partly to blame here). It’s stressful and unattractive trying to turn a profit and grow a business in these conditions.

Part of the reason why wages are low is that we’re not producing enough economic output per person… we simply are not bringing in enough cash to the economy. Our welfare state is creaking under the weight of an ageing population and increasing ill health and levels of disability (including huge growth in mental health illness and neurodiversity).

Unfortunately we do need to do something about this regardless how palatable it is. We can’t go on spending without filling our coffers.

Big business not paying their fair share is only one issue- there are plenty of smaller businesses that pay so much money to the government - it would be better directed to their employees. But until we reduce our tax burden nothing will change. It’s such a sad state of affairs for all of us.

the rent is an average rent in our area for a 3 bed HA house, no more cheap council rent,

Thatcher’s sell off of council houses has cost this country a fortune. People that would have had secure, lifetime tenancies, with low rents, are now in often unfit for purpose private rentals, without security, and having to pay an absolute fortune in private rent. So much benefit money is then just funnelled to private landlords. THAT is the scandal.

Have a re read of the definetition of gloating. There was no smugness in any of my post, just relief that my children have a smidge if happiness and dont live in poverty.

My DD has had so much counselling due to the self harming and threats of suicide she has made. If I wanted sympathy I would of gone into far greater detail about her.

What does a fun day out consist of for you? Because for us it's being able to have a picnic at the local park and have some treat foods... or maybe they have seen a magazine or a small cheap toy in the shop that they would like. It isnt every day, nor every week. Its maybe two or three times a month. DS went to the cinema for his birthday, which is a month before Christmas so it's a squeeze. Their hardly going to expensive activities or weekly clubs

Why are you so angry at a family of people with additional needs, claiming what the government has decided they can claim

Instead of being angry at the government for making your wage so little your struggling?

Why would you want to drag another family down to your level instead of asking the government to change things so that your life is better too? I never said it was fair, at all, I said I feel very lucky.

If the shoe was on the other foot I would not be angry at the family needing to claim benefits, I'd be more angry at the government and what their doing to everyone.

Your right it isnt fair and I'm sorry your struggling, I would hate to be in that situation. But that's not my fault and I did not Make the rules. If I did make the rules, your and my children would all have a better quality of life and so would working people

My sister is due her first baby this year and I cant believe working people arnt allowed the £500 maternity grant. That's appalling. I dont feel smug that I got it and my sister cant. I feel really bad that she works so hard and has put so much into the system yet cant get a grant to help with her first child.

No smugness or gloating from me, just relief that that my chuldren will have a nicer childhood than they would if we didnt get help.

This. The refusal from the OP to answer the question speaks volumes in itself.

@AllTheChaos absolutely.

Definitely not central London! It’s higher here in zone 2! And still won’t actually get you a two bed flat (actual rent of a two bed flat here is about £1,800 a month plus bills)

Precisely.