Is it worth working on universal credit?

[boymama82]

We receive UC as my partners wage is classed as low. We own our own home outright and receive approximately £400 a month from them. I'm looking to get back into work on Saturdays Sundays and Mondays when my fiancé is off work as we have an 18 month old and a 2 and a half year old. We don't need the money but I want to get back into work, will my UC be reduced siginificantly?

We already do claim universal credit and they know we own our home?!!

He works 4 days

Have you never met a nurse ? Plenty of them do getting on for 4o hours over 3 days

OP, as you don’t need the money then think about putting your earnings into a private pension (SIPP).

You can only put 80% of the earnings in so if you earn £100, you can put £80 in. UC will be reduced based on the £20 you are left with not the £100 before pension contributions. I.e. UC will be reduced by £11 not £55.

Then the £80 you put in the pension will get Tax Relief applied so an extra £20 added by HMRC.

So you lose £11 in UC but get £20 in Tax Relief in your pension.

Actually the 80% is based on the rule stating the maximum amount into your pension including tax relief is your salary. If your earnings are very low there is another rule stating you can put £3600 including tax relief into a pension even if you don’t earn anything. I assume you would earn more than £2880 + £720 tax relief per year though.

This is why tax needs to be asset based and not just income. I’m a lone parent who is paying a mortgage but because I’m classed as a higher earner (I have to be as no one is going to give me a house), then I’m paying for people who are ostensibly ‘better off’ to receive benefits.

This

People seem resentful th at she owns her home, she needs somewhere to live and she would be costing the government more if they had to pay for rent or social housing.

Why are the only 2 options

owns outright and gets benefits

OR

gets help with housing costs and benefits?

why is ‘works and pays their own way in life’ not an option? 😂

'Works and pays own way' is not an option because we live in a country with chronically low wages, some of the highest childcare costs in Europe, and pheomonal housing costs. Almost half of those who claim UC are in work. That work just doesn't pay enough for people to actually live.

I don’t see a problem with being home owner and ask for UC if you can’t meet ends. But UC should be just given to people that cannot bring more money home through work, not to people who choose not to.
OP could work more hours, partner could find a second job or change jobs (let’s face it, male are in major advantage on this), UC in not their only option.

With no housing costs, 2 full time wages is plenty. Especially as OPs dh works 4 days, so that will help with childcare. We can't afford childcare, so I work evenings. I don't appreciate my taxes subsidising op having an easier life than me. Work shouldn't be optional if it's at taxpayer expense.

Can you imagine the administrative expense of deciding individually who can/ should work and whether there are jobs available. There are rules for people who have young children and you don’t need to look for work till they are older. In a few years those children will be in primary school and the op will be expected to work 25 hours a week and won’t be entitled to anything.

Not necessarily.
Try finding Ofsted registered childcare, for a 10 year old, every other weekend, when you live in a small village.
It doesn't exist.
The options are to leave him home alone eow, or to pay a babysitter. I earn minimum wage, so after tax, NI, pension, petrol, company car lease, informal babysitter fees and 55% U/C deductions, I am approximately £20 down, after a full weekend at work.
It's soul destroying.

So, that's £2.25 per 30 minute visit (home care). Out of that, I pay tax, NI, pension, petrol, car hire and childcare.
It is NOT always worth working. It really isn't.

It is not worth it. Theyve took 2 thirds of my partners wages just to recieve a pathetic 370 which is no where near the amount they took off. They told us we would be better off at 500 a month at least. All lies. Already couldnt make ends meet now I dont know what the hell were gona do as now cant afford rent and tax let alone food gas and electric and travel. And not entitled to housing or tax benefits. How the hell is this legal. Warning to anyone , do not apply for uc on a low working income. You will be worse off. The pandemic put us on the bottom rung , worse off now than when I moved out into my own place at 18. Now a grandmother and never been so poor in all my god damn life.

Well I'm much better off working and claiming UC than I was when I didn't work

I still find it crazy that when I had my first child (he's now 25) single parents of children under 12yo could be on Income Support with nobody forcing them to work and we are now at a point people with young babies are looked down on for not leaving them in childcare to work.

I still believe quite strongly parents with children below school age should have no expectation to find work - if they want to great, but caring for young children should be seen as equal value. I see so many parents dropping babies off to us on next to no sleep because the baby has been unsettled in the night. So many are completely exhausted by the duel demands and it is even worse for single parents who have no way of sharing those demands.

Children are important and will eventually be the ones running society and taking over the jobs. They need to be valued within wider society not just seen as a lifestyle choice and the parents left to struggle on with the same expectations on then as those without children or with older children.

@Anna8089

I'm struggling to understand your post.

Can you give us a bit more detail of your situation eg the amount your partner earns, whether you have children and if so how many and how much rent you pay.

UC It’s not about working or not working it’s how the system is set up..

Please tell me what are people on uc spose to do? There's no social housing left, private rent is more expensive than a mortgage. Only choice is to part buy , just so you are not on the streets.

So true, ive just been given the job of my dreams but because its minimum wage and part time there's no point in taking it. So upset. With that nd uc I wouldn't be able to live. What make me laugh is I thought uc was meant to help get people working it's doing the opposite! You could work more on legency benefits. I can only earn 404 month on uc. I cud do 16 hrs a week b4 and not get any deductions.
I think 55% is too much for deductions, with rents being what they are. People r paying 900 to a grand for basic housing nothing fancy. This was thought up by people who clearly Don't rent or know how much things cost in UK.