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

I did its not 50 k

It’s a myth that has developed on here. 60% don’t work and many of the rest work just under the hours threshold, so very part time.

One final thing is that the roll of the dice comment doesn't make sense either does it as a reasoned argument ? After all you.roll the dice everytime you drive a car . So if you are unlucky enough to.be injured doing that in a tragic accident should the NHS and emergency services refuse to treat you or limit care ? After all.you took the risk . You knew there was an outside chance of accident or injury but went ahead anyway.
All of life is a risk from the jobs people do to.the sports they play so where do we draw the line ? Stupid argument when you analyse it.

The OP mentions and additional £700 deduction because of her partners wages. That takes her take home to £2,800 which is the same as a £48k salary in Scotland after student loans and pension contributions (not sure about English income tax rates - I know they’re slightly lower)

What is the 'hours threshold' you mention?

This.

I guess if you add the wages plus her benefits that makes nearly 50 k but actual benefits it's not is it . Actual benefits is 25 k

Nope they don't they don't allow her all if that they disregard income if you read what she put

To bring home £3400 per month, you need to earn around £50000.

£11.44*1.2 (for employers national insurance plus pension contributions) = £13.73

OP gets 4 hours sleep a night, so let's be really optimistic and assume we can pay a single carer for 16 hours a day plus then we'll need a walking night carer on top.

So the single carer for 16 hours a day will be £1,537 a week. Plus a waking night shift will be about £100 a night. So another £700 per week. So that's £2,237 per week. Or £116k per year. Could lop a bit off for while they're at school but not much because there will be school holidays and illness and appointments and so on.

In reality no carer will be doing a job like that single handed caring for two kids, it would be more likely to require 2 or even 3 people.

On top of that they would need a larger house as the carers would need somewhere to sleep on top.

So frankly the cost of providing benefits so that someone can stay at home and look after their severely disabled children is a bargain and it would cost the state vastly more if they didn't do that.

Fair enough but actual benefits is 25 k year. The thing that most of the why should we pay her brigade are not considering it if all that they will have to pay towards carers if they need help because it sounds tough yo me. Now a carer is gonna be about 30 an hour I know as I use a care agency. Obviously the carer don't make all of that but that's not on weekend etc which could cost even more . So they have to fund this . Etc one sort kf vost that hey have plus the sad reality is she is never gonna be able to work again so it helps their family not live in poverty. How can she work with kids who will never be able to live independent lives. That's sad that people can't see this

I was thinking that. For context we earn £110k and take home 1k more a month, so that is a roughly £90k salary. I’m not begrudging a family with disabled DC getting the money they need, it’s just it’s on the news a lot and threads on here about how little disabled families get and how UC is a disgrace, but that is a very good amount of money so not sure that it is true that disabled families are living on nothing.

The OP is, in UC terms, in a pretty exceptional circumstance. Most disabled people, including disabled adults, get a lot less.

It’s not that exceptional. 1.2 million families claim DLA. The rates of ASD and ADHD diagnoses have risen in the hundreds of % over the last few years. While not all of these will be receiving UC, the number of people in OP’s position by definition will have risen dramatically. Certainly many families round here are on both DLA and UC (it’s quite a popular topic on local chat boards), and if you look at the DLA thread hardly anybody is refused. Virtually everyone is awarded.

It's not really roughly a 90k salary though, is it?

It's a 27k a year salary (45 hours a week at minimum wage, or 40 hours a week at a pound and a bit more than minimum wage), plus the equivalent of a 36k salary (just checked the take home pay calculator and with no student loans you can take home 2450 on 36k). Except instead of working 40 hours a week for her 36k, instead the OP gets to be regularly hit, never gets a full night's sleep and that's not just while the children are young, and never gets paid time off or a holiday. If she's ill she still has to go to work. Oh and she gets to work around 112 hours a week for that sum.

So it's actually around the equivalent of two people earning a bit less than the UK average wage, which was £35k per year in 2023.

She's on higher rate dla as already said if child has lower rate it's not anything near what she is getting here . Plus yes people do get refused

That was my point. Two children, both on DLA at HR for Care, is pretty unusual.

and it costs a lot more as a family with disabled people as a rule. We pay 500 a month in gas and electric during the winter as the house has to be warm to prevent chest infections and there are numerous electric machines to run 24 / 7 not to mention the endless wet bedding etc due to incontinence. Then there is specialist clothing required to stop smearing of faeces etc and to keep them warm and clothed ( one is houdini as far as clothes go ) the specialist equipment that is not funded ( even if it should be ) .Incontinence pads ( free amount don't scratch the surface). And of you dare to.have a holiday expect to.pay a premium for adapted accommodation ( looked for next year and it is now 2,500 a week for an adapted cottage we have used before. And if you want to use the facilities on top that is 50 an hour . This is now unaffordable for many it is actually designed for).
People don't see any of these hidden costs . I think someone upthread mentioned 50 percent of disabled families living in poverty which doesn't surprise me at all.

Thing is though it's mire About the fact the as a mum, she's never, ever gonna be able to work which a lot of people are not understanding. So in effect, this stops the family for living in poverty for the rest of their lives. Because she will have to fund a carer out of this which I have said previously and if you look at agencies. You're talking about thirty pound an hour if not more on weekends

£90k salary takes home £5229 before things like student loan are deducted

Very well said and sorry to hear this

The calculation they’re doing is “if this was a take home what would be the pre-tax salary”. The salary doesn’t factor in that - the universal credit taper does, as you add that back in as it’s deducted from the UC amount in the OPs post. That means roughly she’d be on a salary of nearly 50k to HAVE that take home AFTER tax. Although it’s not a perfect science - it is somewhat difficult to predict given the different income tax amounts in the UK and the different % of pension contributions which will help many earners when they hit retirement age.

The £2100 is just the Universal credit. There will then be another £1400 DLA paid separately assuming both on higher rate.

And if each child is on highest rates of DLA for mobility also that is another £140+ a week as this figure only quotes the highest care component.
Maybe it does cost an extra £1100 per child per month for a severely disabled child ( top rates of DLA for both components and £414 higher child disability element on UC ), and it must be factored in that one parent cannot work. I just don't understand how these figures are sustainable in the longer term. I think ultimately it's going to end up that only the most severely disabled children get the help such as op's. It will become the same with all disability benefits, the criteria for receiving them will become even tougher.

this is an awful lot. I (lone parent on a low part time wage - just about 1k coming in) have 2 disabled children (one middle and one high rate care) and I get a fraction of that in UC. I cannot imagine that this calculation is right.