Does this Universal Credit amount sound wrong?

[FryingPanWithJam]

Total amount in UC is £2421.40 a month

Income is £1950 a month, Partner. I’m unemployed as a carer, I get carers allowance

Two kids on higher rates of DLA

Rent is £930

I really, really worry about being overpaid! I wasn’t even aware I could claim it until someone mentioned it at a support group. I am really shocked

Ooooo are we doing the jealousy over people's with disabled kids again? Jolly good.

Looks right OP, don't worry about it

If you had 2 severely disabled DC you too would be eligible for UC. Same for you @GivingitToGod.

Having two severely disabled DC can be extremely expensive.

I can't believe people complaining on this post about the OP getting such a large amount of UC to top up the household income.

OP is a carer to two severely disabled children. She can't go out into paid employment. The UC income she and her household are receiving will be a hell of a lot less than if the government had to pay for care from an external company so OP could go out and work.

How anyone can begrudge two disabled children being provided for by the government is ridiculous. It's not exactly a career choice to have children needing such a level of care.

The physical and mental side of having to be alert 24/7 to care must be exhausting.

No amount of money will compensate for that.

Some people don't earn that working full time!!

And those people would also receive UC if they had two severely disabled DC. Having severely disabled DC can be very expensive.

It is very expensive looking after disabled children. But there are people out there who spend there benefits on cigarettes and fancy nails then say they can't afford to feed the kids. Just saying that's all!! I'm not attacking you.

And those people are most likely not caring 24/7 for disabled children and have time available to achieve a higher salary should they want one.

I don’t begrudge disabled children being provided for. But I don’t think it’s selfish or unreasonable to feel dismay at paying towards somebody else taking home 3 times what you do, when you live hand to mouth. It isn’t selfish to prioritise yourself and your own family, as OP is doing.

High salaries aren’t available to anyone who ‘wants’ them. Thats very naive.

Sounds like too much. I would write and ask for clarification or phone and record the call. If they say itt ok then you don't have to worry. If it's wrong it saves you the drama of them hounding you for it back down the line.

Most people don’t. The average salary for full time work is 34,000. Half of the UC amount.

Comparing OP’s situation to others working full time is ignorant and was an attack on parents caring for disabled children who receive benefits.

Families with disabled DC are more likely to be in poverty and live hand to mouth than non-disabled households. Scope’s research states the average disabled household has extra costs of £975 per month. That is on top of disability benefits such as DLA or PIP. This figure is potentially much more for households with 2 severely disabled DC. The extra money received does not cover all additional costs.

Well this is why the country is broke, I don’t begrudge the Op getting help, I sympathise with her having to stay home for her kids. But the books just don’t balance when you’re giving away free cash like this. That’s more than people who work full time. What’s the point in working?

Don't work then, go on UC.

And one of my neighbours get similar to this for 2 very mildly autistic kids, who are both in main stream school. She can work school hours no problem, chooses not to and gets over £2k a month. It’s unsustainable. DH are making our plans to leave the country within the next 2 years, with job opportunities abroad where we get to keep some of our hard earned money.

My feeling is they’ll have to confront and cap it at some point as the number of diagnoses are skyrocketing and the issue of social care and benefits means our economy is literally unable to cope, there’s no way it can with the numbers we have. It’s scary tbh

I think I will! Treat myself to a few months off. My business partner in Texas pays 10% tax, 10%! And I’ve been out there and it’s not Dante’s inferno/falling apart for the lack of public funding. We’ve just got it so wrong.

Unpaid carers save the state a fortune. The alternative is more costly.

There is no such thing as mild autism. It is not a linear spectrum from mild to severe. That is a misunderstanding of what the spectrum is. In order to get a diagnosis of autism, one must have difficulties that “limit and impair everyday functioning”. Something that limits and impairs everyday functioning is not mild. When people use that term, they mostly mean that the autism doesn’t affect them. Not that it doesn’t impact the diagnosed person themselves.

I don’t see caring for your own children as saving the state a fortune because that’s the basic standard expected from parents. If you choose to have children you choose to care for them 24/7, although I appreciate the level of care OP gives her children will be greater than others, hence the payments. Which I don’t begrudge - but was shocked to see how high they are, which I’m clearly not alone in. It’s not an attack on OP, it’s concern for our flagging and degrading economy. Even Labour have admitted we are in deep trouble, I don’t think people realise how serious it is.

It seems this is a conversation that can't be had without claims of ableism being directed at anyone that suggests that welfare spending on disability needs to be financially sustainable. The conversation can only be centred on the needs of the disabled and their families and never ever on the needs of those expected to fund these hefty bills who have much less disposable income left at the end of the month than many of these families.

I don't know what the answer is but those who scream about discrimination and try to shut down threads like this are playing a dangerous game. Anything funded by taxpayer money needs to be widely endorsed by the British public. It simply isn't the case that there is an inalienable entitlement to a certain level of support just because you feel you need it or because the current system allows it. We have an increasingly aging and sick population and what was once affordable isn't anymore without increasing taxes further for those that are struggling themselves.

I agree. The number of people out of work is absolutely terrifying and nobody knows quite what to do about it (least of all me). Starmer is clearly buckling in for some radical policy announcements but nobody I know with good qualifications is planning on staying in the UK beyond the next year or two.

I don’t see caring for your own children as saving the state a fortune because that’s the basic standard expected from parents.

You clearly don’t have severely disabled DC. Your posts are ignorant and certainly come across as attacking parents of disabled DC who are claiming benefits.

@Bumpitybumper agree, that's a fair post.

What matters to people at the end of the day is having money for the 'extras' - of course everyone should be entitled to the basics: food, a roof over their head etc But the reality now is that many taxpayers who are working to capacity have less disposable income than those who don't work or deliberately keep themselves under employed - working part time to keep earnings low and to give themselves the lifestyle they want but funded by others. That's not right and not sustainable.

And of course while those who are disabled need looking after, the number of people not working is crazy, particularly when you consider that very many people with anxiety and depression do still work

It is genuinely very shocking that you ‘decide to care for a child’ 24/7 as a parent. No. That was never a choice. My children would cost Millions, yes millions, within the space of about 5 years if they were in Residential care - A very valid and unavoidable situation for some families.

My caring role involves going to sleep after Midnight. And waking around 3.30am, sometimes 4am if I’m lucky! That’s it. Because from that time, I am providing 1-1, constant and often painful care in the form of being bitten, pinched, grabbed at. Cleaning out smeared faeces from a bedroom. Constantly managing high pitched, ear piercing vocal drums. Ensuring medicines are taken. Plus all the additional stuff you ‘just do’ as a parent. The just is obviously in jest because no parent ‘just does’ anything.

I am still in my 20s yet I have lost most of the back of my hair through stress and exhaustion.

I claw back, if I’m lucky, some hours of sleep whilst they’re at school. My partner doesn’t though, yet still helps juggle during the never ending nights. When you’re so tired, you could weep. But you can’t do anything about that. You have to keep 2 profoundly disabled children safe.

The amount needing for never ending lists of disability related expenses is immense. It isn’t ‘just money to raise a family’