Do all 18 years old go on UC if they cannot find a job

[Crystalovertherainbow]

Do the family needs to show their income or the new adult is considered their own financial unit now , even if they live with the parents and their UC is given them

HNC’s and HND’s are not generally the path taken by your average post-A level/level 3 student. Of course, all relevant education and training is to be encouraged, but these are generally vocational pathways taken as an alternative to an academic undergraduate route. So no, most 18 years don’t leave college with HNC/D.

And to the pp who said funding stops at 18 - wholly untrue. 3 September’s from 16 as standard, and then later on it’s to do with prior attainment rather than age.

If you are not eligible for UC (e.g. too much in savings) then you may be eligible for JSA. It is not means tested and you can only claim for 6 months.

No, JSA and UC are two different things. During my recent period of unemployment I could not claim UC but could claim JSA.

I recruit band 2s in my nhs trust and anyone thinking an 18yr old can walk into a nhs job with no experience is in cloud cuckoo land. There may be 300 applicants per vacancy, lots internal and lots with relevant experience. In the early 90s I was given a bank job in a psychiatric unit with no training or qualifications or experience. I usually did one weekend day and more, including nightshifts in the holidays. That job doesn’t exist now - it would be through NHSP for bank, which you can’t get without having already had a job and anything permanent will have 100s of applicants with experience. No way would they give that job to a 16yo now. We have newly qualified band 5s doing band 3 jobs while they try to get a band 5 job. Nobody is giving band 2/3 to randomers any more. You can do things to make yourself more employable but you are up against it.

If you're 18, have no income and otherwise meet the conditions - capital under £16k, looking for work etc - then answer is yes.

You get £312/month to keep body and soul together.

My son claimed UC for a couple of months between finishing college and getting a job. Now he works while also at university.

Until UC was rolled out, there were two kinds of JSA: income-based and contributions-based.

Income-based JSA has been merged into UC to hide the number of jobseekers from the public. Claiming UC whilst signing on every fortnight is so similar in process to how income-based JSA was that it can be thought of as a rebranding of the same benefit.

Contributions-based JSA is still here under the name "JSA" and is the one you can claim for six months only, and only if you've been continuously employed for a while.

Despite the comments on this thread, I can’t imagine many people aspire to having their children claiming benefits at 18.

It's not about aspiring though is it, it's about getting by when there is a lack of jobs. There are some right snobs on MN who have no clue how people live in the real world.

Yes I don't get why 18 year olds needing a bit of help is looked down on but parents needing all sorts of help raising the kids they decided to have is perfectly fine?

Pipe down - brilliant 😂

yes, let’s all do what we want, fuck it - tax payers will just continue to shake the money tree.

What about OAPS with generous private pensions getting loads of triple locked state pension they don't need?

There's a lot of posters on this thread who need to listen, really listen, to the full-length version Common People by Pulp.

I am indeed that old! But, as I said in a previous post, my DD did it and my DGD is currently doing it - she has 2 part time jobs to fund a year of travel before hopefully going to uni. And no “who you know” involved. We’ve all gone and got our own jobs, no parental help. But we were all also willing to do anything, and try hard at it. Waitressing, cleaning toilets, care work, night shifts in awful places. All those things teach you valuable skills, no job is ever wasted, even if it just teaches you what you don’t want to do.

Can you explain how people seeking work and claiming UC are treated differently in stats from those previously on IB JSA?

You're right, and also you're going to need one of those fireproof outfits that the Fire Brigade wear.

Oh thats nothing I was told on a thread that only parents should get social housing

I think the North/South divide came into play here.

That song says “cut your hair and get a job”. And yes, of course life is easier if you’ve got wealthy parents who can and will bail you out, but if you haven’t? And let’s be honest, a lot of people don’t. What are you going to do? Bemoan the fates that meant you weren’t born into money? Or crack on and make the best of it.

I think we all know that there are a significant number of very financially privileged individuals on MN who clearly can't grasp that this is a necessity for some people.

In 2023 my mortgage deal ended and the new one, thanks to the the CoL etc came in at £120 per month more. I didn't have the option of switching provider as I was part time self-employed after being a carer to my dying father during Covid.

Later that year, my daughter turned 18. I lost £200 per month in maintenance from XH and about £350 in tax credits and child allowance.

So in a very short space of time I was done £700 per month, as a divorced single parent. Luckily I found a full time job, but as it's public sector and term time only, I have to work a second job to keep everything ticking over.

My daughter is at uni and thankfully gets full loans but still works part-time to supplement that income.

I don't know what we would have done if she'd not gone to uni as it was never an option due her choice of future career, but the judgement on here of people who need their kids to claim if they can't get a job is bloody horrible and totally unrealistic.

I am indeed that old! But, as I said in a previous post, my DD did it and my DGD is currently doing it - she has 2 part time jobs to fund a year of travel before hopefully going to uni. And no “who you know” involved. We’ve all gone and got our own jobs, no parental help. But we were all also willing to do anything, and try hard at it. Waitressing, cleaning toilets, care work, night shifts in awful places. All those things teach you valuable skills, no job is ever wasted, even if it just teaches you what you don’t want to do.

Well done you cleaning the loos but also going on a gap year tends to be what privileged folk do, can't you see that? Also, getting a job right now is really, really hard. Restaurants for example have massively cut back on staff. Things are different and tough at the moment.

I believe asking your 18 year old to claim benefits is demoralising. My 19 and 17 year old both have jobs they applied and found a job quickly. I don't know what is wrong with people telling their adult children to fuck off out of the house and find a job.

Then it becomes a lifestyle

It used to be Working Family Tax Credits (a.k.a. handouts by proxy to employers) and separately JSA and separately Incapacity Benefit. You knew that JSA meant out-of-work and could work, IB meant out-of-work and can't work, and WFTC meant in work but skint. Journos and the public knew where we stood.

It's now all UC, with not-very-clear breakdowns of why someone is on UC. Result, we get confusing and misleading headlines that say things like "Four million Brits on UC without having to look for work", without it being clear whether these are disabled people who can't work and would have been on IB, people who don't have to seek work because they are already working and would have been on WFTC, or both disabled and in-work claimants who have been lumped together for maximum scaremongering effect in the headline. And we get MPs, a shadow Chancellor, ignorant of how many people are claiming in-work.

Some horrid responses here. I turned 18 during Covid and signed on during my 18th birthday. I’d been looking for a job for months and there was nothing. My parents were struggling financially and I needed to do anything I could to help. The measly £300 or so quid a month paid for food for the household until I eventually managed to find something part-time a few months later. Even if it wasn’t during Covid, if I’d have been unable to find a job at 18 I’d have signed on ASAP.

I’m pregnant with my first so nowhere near this life stage but I certainly wouldn’t begrudge my child signing up for UC at 18. They would of course be actively encouraged and supported to get a job at 16, but if at the time they happen to turn 18 they haven’t found one or are in-between jobs, I would 100% advise them to sign on. Not in the least due to the support they’d get from the JobCentre in finding a job. It would give the perspective on what a small amount UC is for a single adult.

Not to mention the small amount of UC for a single adult can pay for their transport to job interviews, smart clothes, driving lessons if they live in a rural area and need to drive in order to get a job etc. Not every parent can accommodate this!

All 18yos with a modicum of intelligence should be able to move somewhere and get a job. I get there's no jobs in some rural areas but there are in cities and I think moving at 18 is something you do.... whether to Uni, or to work. Claiming benefits at 18yo in the absence of very specific circumstances is just ridiculous. There are loads of jobs available.