How can we manage financially as Universal Credit support reduces?

[elliejjtiny]

We have 5 dc aged between 19 and 11 all with disabilities. Dh was a manager up until youngest was born, then he became unwell and had to take a massive pay cut. I'm a Sahm and get carers allowance. We get UC. Dc1 in his first year at uni, dc2 about to start in September.

We are just about managing at the moment but barely. In September we are going to lose the child element of universal credit for dc2 and I'm worried how we are going to manage. When the dc were younger I thought I would be working by now but I'm only getting 4 hours sleep a night and my 11 year old needs constant supervision when not at school so I don't know how I could fit work in. Dh has to work away about 15 weekends a year (from friday morning until late Sunday night) which leaves me completely exhausted each time. We spend 9 weekends a year picking up/dropping off/visiting dc1 and I imagine spending the same amount of time with dc2. There is no childcare for children my dc age with SN and they have to be picked up and dropped off at school. The dc have appointments about once a week on average and dc4 stays in hospital about 1 night a year when I don't get any sleep at all.

Realistically I can't think of any employer who would employ me with the amount of time off I would need and on so little sleep. At the moment I spend the time dc are at school doing the housework, cooking the dinner and trying to catch up on a bit of sleep.

I'm trying to think of anywhere we could save money but I can't think of anything. Dc1 doesn't cost any less money while he is at uni.

No of course not but she can stop the second youngest one going to a uni three hours away if they can’t live unsupported and she can ask the oldest one to transfer to a closer uni if they also can’t live unsupported. And it’s permissible to point out to her that this situation is of her own making and that she will need to find some way to work when her partner is home so that their income increases.

It was a generic statement (sorry 'rule of etiquette' 😂) from pp, not about the op. Obviously that ship has sailed.

I wonder why the OP hasn't been back? 🤷‍♀️

Families with more than three children are statistically negligible.

Anyway you have to examine your prejudices if you think you have a right to a say about bigger families. They tend to be of minority ethnic/global majority origin. What are we saying when we criticise them?

Kids born before 2017 were excluded from the 2 child cap.

As others said the UC gravy train has reached the last stop and you now have to figure out what employment you can manage. As someone who’s relied on tax payers to fund your family and lifestyle for so long you should make the most effort to contribute to society in a way that pays back what you owe. Even if that means doing charitable work - which under UC rules counts as „looking for work“ iirc

Maybe she's very upset reading some of these replies and doesn't want to.

I think the issue is the outgoings will reduce but the income reduces more.

If someone is on 4 hours sleep per night how do you hold down a full time or even a full time job?

I'm upset reading some of the comments.

It is taxpayers business when all council services grind to a halt, there are no TA's, no help for vulnerable children, nothing left as a safety net for the most needy in society, because there are so many people like OP who take, take, take, and think that's perfectly fine.

She chose to have more and more children knowing it would put her entirely out of action.

She chose to do this knowing her husband had no savings, no safety blanket.

She chose...

It's people like her I blame when the council has nothing left... Even though council tax is astronomical for working people and those not on benefits. And going higher yearly.

And I'm fed up of it.

And so are many millions of others. Millions, tens of millions. She's taking the p...

Her headline alone to this post sums it up. Get a job, love! Your husband can look after the kids more and you both sleep less. Tough,hey.

You just do. Because you have to.

Yes, i was being sarcastic. She's taken a proper hammering.

Me too.

OP's life sounds so hard :( My three DC draining me and DH completely but at least we both able to work to pay the bills so one thing less to worry about.

No suggestion, just wanting to wish things will work out for you in the end.

Do you?

Unlikely.

The UK government has been too scared to tell us what they think (or act on it). That is why we are in this mess.

If you’re able to, working always means you have more in your pocket, even with tax and welfare accounted for, than if you don’t.

This is plainly untrue.

To drop my hours to 22.5 even though I’m a single parent? | Mumsnet

Well the majority of income tax actually goes to supporting pensioners - over 50% of the welfare bill is pension related - rather than families like the OPs.

This is borderline, pensions are 51% of welfare bill, but most of pensioners can't get a job, can they?

@FairKoala my sleep is such that 4 hours is my standard and I hold down a full time job, am studying for a degree and manage all the other stuff I have to in life and running a house etc.
OP needs to get a job that is full time and can support the family she wanted

Explain. Using the correct etiquette.

Well said. Get a job.

Unlikely that you personally are paying for other people's children. Unlikely that it could ever be your business, and it's a shame that you are so crass as to ever imagine it could be.

Likely that you disapprove of big families for particular reasons though. There is often an unpleasant undertone with busybodies like you.

I never said OP should get a job.
But as a family, they need to adress the financial issues arising from the reduction in benefits.

Lots of families up and down the country have to do this, weather it's a reduction in benefits, increased mortgage payments or one parent losing their job. Definitely not unique to the OP.

Also a pp explains similar on this very thread. Working does not always pay off - which is unbelievable. How can it be right that people are better off on benefits than working.