Universal Credit meeting and annoyed

[Flyingwithoutwingsxxxxx]

I've been to my first universal credit meeting today in over 10 years. I recently made the decision to change careers. I left my previous job in November, signed up to an agency to teach around my access to healthcare course and to lower the cost of my childcare. The agency has been slow and so I've applied for another part time job around my studies.

I received almost a full payment from UC this month, as I obviously didn't work over Christmas and the agency hasn't been as busy. I am trying to rectify this by securing work 3 days a week, around a full time course and a 7y/o daughter. I also had to prove that I wasn't getting financial support toward this course, of which I am not. At the meeting today, I was told my studies don't count and that I still need to look for 35 hours of employment. I stated this isn't possible, as the access course is full time study. This was disregarded.

Whilst at the appointment, I was listening to another staff member talking to a single dad and the attitude was completely different. The advisor was telling him how to claim back money as expenses, telling him about reclaiming fuel costs, that if he gets a winter coat to put that through as expenses and so on. He was having so much financial support and guidance, along with understanding for being a single parent. I was sat there thinking what a difference in attitude there was, in comparison to me being a single mum. It's hard regardless of being a single mum or dad, shouldn't we all be treated with the same respect? I came out feeling really belittled and undermined. I've never relied on UC and have paid my taxes consistently for 18 years. I'm trying to better my circumstances now to avoid having to rely on support later in life. This didn't seem to be a relevant reason for not working full time today however.

There are not different rules depending on your sex.

I can only assume the other advisor was more helpful than yours or his circumstances aren't the same as yours.

This.

Maybe that other parent is meeting his work requirements.

I’m sorry op but UC isn’t there for the taxpayers to pay you to retrain, no matter how worthy your future career is. You have to do what all of us do - study part time and get a job. Full time students aren’t supposed to be able to get the dole or some people would live life being perpetual students.

Sounds like he is self employed in his first year. I am too and they were very supportive about how well I am doing and clarifying what I should be claiming as expenses. I’ve found my dealings with them (ex left suddenly) to be really positive so far.

The difference between you both was probably that you had quit work to become a student. Training should probably have been done around your previous job. Sorry man.

Didn’t think you could train full time and claim UC ?
claiming UC is to help you find a full time job which doesn’t normally allow for you to study full time

You can't study full time and get UC. He's probably self employed and getting advice on expenses and tax allowance.

It's an access course. Teaching is no longer financially or mentally viable for me, hence my decision to move over into a healthcare profession. Unfortunately, they don't offer the access courses or degrees around full time working hours. I'm hoping once my divorce comes through I won't need to claim.

This.

His circumstances will be totally different to yours op.

I have a nearly full time job, 2 primary age kids and claim some UC. No way would I give up paid work to study on a course - way too risky. Studying and further education is a luxury for a parent, usually only afforded to those who have a partner.

You are correct everyone should be treated with the same amount of respect including the man whose private conversation you were listening to.
Putting that aside, assume his circumstances were not the same as yours.

@ShanghaiDiva I was sat 5 feet away in the seating area. It's an open space where you are seen to and wait in the same room. I couldn't exactly sit there and cover my ears.

@cadburyegg I was working nearly 50 hours, much of which was unpaid. I can no longer facilitate this and I'm no longer willing to go to work and come home bruised, bitten and spat at unfortunately. I've worked full time my whole adult life, whilst raising my children. I will be doing something to better my own future and lifestyle from now on. As an agency teacher, I'd have been able to afford to work around my choices however, the agency isn't getting the work through, hence me applying for a role as a one to one tutor 3 days a week. I will now be able to spend time with my daughter also, which is even better.

What area of HEALTH CARE do you think will be less mentally stressful?? 😬

his claim is none of your business and it would have been courteous and respectful not to listen in. Scroll through your phone, perhaps?

@Cakeontheflo you have no idea about the profession I'm going into. @ShanghaiDiva I don't know about you, but my ears still work when people are sat next to me, regardless of a phone being in my hand. I don't suddenly go deaf.

How ridiculous. She wasn’t listening in, they were sitting right next to her. If they wanted to have a private chat, they should have gone somewhere else or found a private space.

Anyway, OP, I totally understand! I went through something similar a few years back. My situation is a bit different from yours since I don’t have kids, but I had a rough time in school, bullied for years, didn’t earn any GCSEs, and ended up working in a private nursery. I did that for a few years, got my qualifications, but honestly, I didn’t enjoy it because of the stress, long hours and low pay. I desperately wanted to switch to a different field and applied for everything (reception, admin, recruitment) but I couldn’t get anywhere as I only had childcare experience!

I considered enrolling in a full time course at the local college, but it was five days a week, and I wouldn’t receive any financial aid (I would have been fine working weekends, but it wouldn’t have been enough, and I probably would have burned out eventually since the course lasted 18 months). In the end, I just gave up! I think it’s really tough for people to retrain because there’s no support available, so unless you make all the right choices in school, you’re pretty much stuck!

@Flyingwithoutwingsxxxxx you are annoyed that despite studying you need to look for 35 hours of work and have then created this spurious claim that you were treated poorly as a single mum compared to the treatment received by this single dad. You chose to leave your job in November without fully researching the rules regarding further study, work and UC. This is a problem of your own making and nothing to do with single mums receiving less favourable treatment.

The 3 day job plus being with the agency and looking for additional work should cover the requirements. Just do some searches for part time jobs and record it in your journal.
You do need to be avaliable for full time work but as long as you evidence you are looking for it but can't find something that meets your availability they shouldn't stop payments.

@nothingorsomething she wrote that she was five feet away, not next to the person and given the details in this thread she was clearly listening in!

@ShanghaiDiva It's not a huge distance, so you can still catch someone's conversation without actually eavesdropping.

His meeting sounds very much like someone getting their self employment started, so he is in completely different situation to you and the support he was given was tailored to that. I got the same help when starting my business a few years ago. After the first year, he’d get the same sort of meeting you had as you only get 1 year to make your self employment profitable to at least minimum wage.

You quite your job to study. UC doesn’t pay for that. You need to work. If you want to quit work to study then you need to us savings to do so.

Why don’t you go self employed as a tutor? Then you get 12 months to claim UC with no minimum income floor, so you’ll get full payments. But you will need to go to a meeting 3 months (or every month?) to demonstrate how you are building your business and for them to check that you genuinely are trying to get a real income etc. But you can do other things, like study, during self employment. As long as you are advertising and bringing in students and money and showing them that you’re working at it.
You need to fill in your income and expenses for the.business every month and they will calculate your payment based on that, and you need to register as self employed with HMRC and do a tax return etc.

@ShanghaiDiva I did actually do all of this. Odd that you would think somebody with a solid career in education and mental health prior to that, would not do this. I'm also not going to apologise for not being hard or hearing. Next time I'll take ear defenders or ask them to speak quieter. I was treated very poorly in comparison to the gentleman today and will not be made to feel responsible for that.
@JLou08 Thank you for this comment. I am fortunate enough that I won't need to claim for very long, due to my circumstances. I have been grateful that for the past four months, I have received some help from UC however. We are fortunate to have a system that supports in times of need.

Retraining is a luxury! As is 'spending more time with your 7 yr old' and 'obviously not working over Christmas '.

Luxuries you should be paying for not the tax payer.

@SargeMarge this is a really helpful comment. Thank you. It wasn't just the information, it was the experience in general. Much more supportive and helpful attitude in comparison to the man who dealt with myself. I wa sat there thinking how lovely the man dealing with the gentleman seemed.

I would never go self employed as a single parent personally. I would prefer to work for a company and have the security of that. I took a risk in signing up to an agency, in order to work around my studies. This hasn't worked out as hoped however, I have an interview for a well paid position that will offer me 3 days a week, at an extremely competitive rate. If successful, this will work out well for us. UC will actually continue to support those who are studying access courses, as it isn't a university funded course.

UC is pretty harsh as it doesn't allow people to study for a better career. The improved career prospects and earnings would make it more likely that a single parent comes off benefits long term and their child has a better outcome.