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.

Her youngest was not born 11 years ago....

My son is adhd, and I work full time. This hasn’t stunted my brain so much that I can’t see it’s radically different for other parents of kids with adhd because it presents with different levels of severity. I can work because I don’t get called to school because they’ve evacuated the classroom to keep the kids safe from my son. Other friends can’t.

Her youngest is 11, so, yes they were….

The youngest is 11?

Sorry, I am tired!

You must mean to say it's controversial because this is anything by an unpopular view, and even the controversy around it is waning.

Even if you’re not on benefits I think big families are for someone with a strong support network.

I have a few friends with four kids and they have supportive in laws /siblings on both sides who helped with childcare.

What’s done is done and I do hope things get better for OP, but generally speaking I think people without real back up outside their nuclear family unit, should think twice about having more than one or two.

Based on a guess of mid rate dla and no mobility
a guesstimate dh salary of £30k
and 5 disabled children

One child moving out would result in an approximate income reduction of
£8,500 / year

9 weeks visiting your dh at Uni, if you are taking everyone with you OP, could probably get you back that £8,500

Yes it’s crossed my mind too

Dhs full salary must have been good to think they could afford so many children and
when you now allow for the children being disabled
even if they don’t receive the higher amounts and no mobility it’s still

£45,200 / year with 5 children plus dhs salary which if at £30k
another £24,000 / yr take home

Would somebody on £70k take home need to use the food bank ?

Just think if you had stopped at two?! You could have earned while they were in school perhaps…your dh may not have become so ill and could have stayed in his higher paid job, you would have 2 in uni now and you could both work while providing for them in uni….oh well!

Hardly anyone can afford 5 children so I have no idea how you will manage. In the old days, before reliable contraception was freely available, people would send children to live with relatives or out to work.

The house comes with the job but that doesn’t automatically mean there is no rent. Entirely down to the employer. Some posts won’t but will be taxed as a benefit in kind.

The issue is that peoples circumstances change. One minute she can afford her children and are self supporting, then her husband has what sounds like a breakdown. He then has a reduced level of responsibility work wise. And his pay alters accordingly. And it then becomes a struggle.

Many people claiming benefits will once upon a time have afforded their children.

Thank you. That is what I mean.

So the individual is better off, the individual is contributing to society and providing for themselves, and the state (ie other tax payers) is better off as not having to fund as much UC.

Win-win solution all round. What’s the issue?

Before you say: “but she’s only X better of and has had to work for it”, yes, that’s the whole point: people should work to put bread on the table.

Do you have anything constructive to add to the discussion?

DS 19 complains of this which puts him off applying for part time vacancies. It isn't unique to Facebook.

I agree that indeed is a rubbish site to search for jobs. I have had success directly applying for jobs on NHS jobs website, local council websites and linkedin. All these have led to interviews and jobs in the past 15 years. What are your qualifications?

This is true. Most young people don’t know what they will enjoy doing as a job and choose subjects based on their likes at the time. I know, as I did the same. I work in a totally different field from which I have a degree in. My masters which I did after getting some work experience is much more useful and related in some way to the work I currently do. Education is key! Getting certifications in shorter courses in your chosen field can also be useful to get your foot in the door.

I wrote this post yesterday:

Northermcharn · Yesterday 15:05
'I'm so fed up of paying taxes which then pay for other people to e.g. have more children (and not pay tax). Absolutely sick of it. As are millions of others.

Taxes are supposed to help pay for a safety net in benefits, old age, illness etc. This makes sense. We all agree about this (I think).

Benefits are not meant to be there as an assumed way of life.'

This morning I see it has 25+ reactions in agreement. A small sample but a telling one.

The politicians need to wake up - this is why they are practically giving the likes of Reform (whom I don't support, I'll be a Conservative voter in 2029, for the first time. Kemi is excellent) a key to Downing Street.

At the same time why would you keep having children if you can't look after the others or it's highly likely that they have a genetic disability? I've come across people with large families where nearly all the children are disabled. They moan about struggling. It's difficult to have any sympathy when they have child after child and can't manage with the ones they already have

Spot on @Northermcharn .

This is how most people are feeling.

I know someone who has 4 kids and she doesn’t work just breeds and claims every benefit she can.
No men on the scene she’s made it a lifestyle choice.
She had her fourth baby to keep the gravy train going when the youngest stopped in education and her benefits dropped it beggars belief.
Meanwhile if you are older and unemployed and job searching you get zero help despite paying a small fortune in tax and NI over decades.
No one in this day can afford 4 or 5 kids unless they are super rich and those that do are expecting everyone else to pay well that’s got to stop.

Agree with this. And partly because of this situation I’ll also very begrudgingly vote conservative at the next election.

I think people are sick of making sensible, boring choices in life just to end up as cash cows.

the majority of posters moaning about their taxes being used for benefits don’t earn enough to be net positive contributors anyway