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Original poster

Harassed by universal credit!

273 replies

Ad210318 · 15/07/2023 19:35

Hi
I was just wondering if anyone else felt harassed by universal credit and how to deal with the situation.
so I have worked full time since 16 now 34. In 2020 my partner left and I had a baby (now 3) I have worked part time 8-10 hours a week since he was 9 months old.
recently he turned 3 and I have been non stop harassed by the job centre about getting 16 hours of work. I currently work 12 hours on a self employed basis but for a company. I have very limited child care only 1 day a week, going to 2 mornings and 1 full day in September when little one starts nursery. I don’t drive so need to stay local and also have no family to support with childcare. My sons dad is not involved in his life so I am literally on my own!
my question is how do you get the job centre off your back, they call me in 2-3 times a week and have done since my son was 9 months old. I feel like I’m doing everything I can right now to work but it’s never good enough and they are constantly on at me. Has anyone dealt with this before?
its making me so anxious! I literally don’t know how I can work more than I do without leaving my child home alone! (Obviously this isn’t an option)
Thanks in advance

OP posts:
TimesRwo · 16/07/2023 09:13

Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 09:09

The system is there to help people like myself left in a situation beyond my control! I’ve worked all my life, I still work now! I am certainly not lazy and would work more hours if I could find childcare! Unfortunately there is no availability where I am until 2024. Why should I get called up the job centre 2-3 times a week with my little one and harassed when I’m currently doing what I can? I never asked to be a single mother.

Show quote history

It’s frustrating, we get that. But those are the conditions of the benefits you are on. If you were working, you would be expected to log on / show up every day to be paid, why is getting benefits any different? You need to comply with the terms for getting paid.

TheBig4O · 16/07/2023 09:13

If you are self employed you should get a 1 year 'start up' period where the minimum income floor doesn't apply and you get full UC award. After that the MIF kicks in and they deduct 16 hours worth of wages from your monthly payment.

If you are registered as self employed with UC then they shouldn't harass you to work more hours. My dc are over 5 so I'm expected to work 25 hours a week. If I fall short of that (sickness, holiday, etc) they don't contact me as the money just gets deducted automatically. If you are in PAYE work then they absolutely will push you to do more hours.

DinnaeFashYersel · 16/07/2023 09:14

gogomoto · 16/07/2023 08:41

Because if you claim benefits you are expected to work a minimum number of hours (16) from age 3, it then increases as your child gets older. There's childcare subsidies available if you are low income to help you.

I've worked full time since mine was 11 months old.

Paying for childcare.
Paying taxes.

It's not an achievement. It's what most working people do.

MetalFences · 16/07/2023 09:16

Your child is 3, so is entitled to 30 free hours childcare. There is no reason why you can’t work for those hours, you’re choosing not to. You need to job with more hours rather than relying on UC to live.

She's explained this and gone into quite a bit of detail. You could at least read her posts before telling her and everyone else things that are completely obvious.

What you are doing is akin to someone saying

'I'm starving to death on a desert island where there is no food' and you saying 'have something to eat'.

Sweetashunni · 16/07/2023 09:17

Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 08:22

I have been a taxpayer since the age of 16 thank you very much. Now I need the system I’ve paid into it doesn’t seem to want to help me!

But if everyone did what you did, there would be a huge hole in the income tax pot. It isn’t an entitlement to drop to 8 hours a week until your children start school. You can choose to do it but equally they will try to get you to work more hours as it isn’t ideal for the public to be working 8 hours a week while claiming taxes paid by other people. So I don’t think you can ‘get them off your back’, no.

Original poster
Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 09:17

Melonportal · 16/07/2023 09:04

They're calling you 2-3 times per week. Are you actually speaking to them, or do you not answer? If so, what do they say to you? Have you explained to them the difficulties you're having working more hours, as they might be able to help find suitable childcare or a job with more hours?

I have to go in twice a week and one phone call. I have never missed an appointment or call. I have explained it to them and even taken proof of limited childcare but they seem to still be on my case. When he goes to school next year full time I can up my hours but unfortunately I’m finding it so hard right now. I feel really anxious all the time about it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 09:21

TheBig4O · 16/07/2023 09:13

If you are self employed you should get a 1 year 'start up' period where the minimum income floor doesn't apply and you get full UC award. After that the MIF kicks in and they deduct 16 hours worth of wages from your monthly payment.

If you are registered as self employed with UC then they shouldn't harass you to work more hours. My dc are over 5 so I'm expected to work 25 hours a week. If I fall short of that (sickness, holiday, etc) they don't contact me as the money just gets deducted automatically. If you are in PAYE work then they absolutely will push you to do more hours.

Thank you for this advice. I will look into it. I’m registered as self employed and have my UTR number and have taken them in to the job centre but they seem to want me to not be self employed? It’s all been very confusing

OP posts:
lemmein · 16/07/2023 09:25

I'd have less of an issue with this if they pursued absent parents with the same vigour as they do single parents claiming benefits.

I'm sorry op, it's shit - but there's no point trying to reason with these people, they don't care.

nobodysdaughternow · 16/07/2023 09:27

In September, is your dc eligible for a school nursery op? They offer 3 hours a day as it falls within the education system.

The universal credit system is there to support people like you and me, who are in a difficult situation. There are non-negotiable rules in exchange for money to live.

If you don't meet those rules, they can and will stop your benefits. The rules are the same for us all, regardless of our previous situation.

Stop feeling hard done by and start ensuring you don't loose your benefits.

We wouldn't be able to survive without UC. I won't bore you with the details, but I would gratefully suck up a few phone calls in order to feed my kids and keep a roof over my head.

TwilightSkies · 16/07/2023 09:28

As someone else has suggested, show them clear proof that there is no available childcare and then ask them what they suggest you do.

FrivolousTreeDuck · 16/07/2023 09:33

Will you be able to increase your hours as soon as your child goes to nursery? Can you give them a definite date from which you'll be doing 16 hours' work and ask them to put you on hold till that date?

YallaYallaaa · 16/07/2023 09:34

Can you set yourself up as a childminder instead of your current job? There’s clearly a need!

tipito · 16/07/2023 09:37

A friend of mine left an abusive partner last year with nothing. She got herself a job and UC paid 80% of the childcare! She's actually better off than before now

Noicant · 16/07/2023 09:37

Can you pick up a few extra hours do them when your little one is in bed? Or look at other freelance websites (what is it that you do? There are various freelance job websites that may be worth looking at) I don’t think you are going to get UC off your back until you do.

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 16/07/2023 09:37

I had the same issue. My child has no contact with dad, no family childcare support. Mine also has disabilities so no childcare will take them. Still I was harassed and was even at one point told I had to work a weeks work experience in a local cafe full time for free. I refused because I'd have to magically find a childcare provider to take a child with disabilities for a week and pay it myself for work experience in a fucking cafe? They agreed in the end I didn't have to. They continued to harass me until my child started getting their disability allowance and then left me alone. Now that they are in education, I am at uni to try and avoid being harassed again should my child's disability allowance ever be removed.

SkinnyMalinkyLankyLegs · 16/07/2023 09:44

Soontobe60 · 16/07/2023 09:00

That’s not how UC works. It’s not a savings account that you get back what you’ve paid into. You’ve worked for approx 13 years. Assuming you’d paid National Insurance all that time, on a basic annual income of £25000 you’d have paid approx £1800 last year rising to £4800 on an income of £50000, and obviously less than that for preceding years when you’d have been earning less.
Have a look at how much UC you received last year - I’m pretty sure it was far more than £1800

Your child is 3, so is entitled to 30 free hours childcare. There is no reason why you can’t work for those hours, you’re choosing not to. You need to job with more hours rather than relying on UC to live.

Show quote history

Her child may be entitled to those hours, but they aren't receiving those hours due to no childcare provides having space to offer her the full 30 hours. Nursery spaces really are like hens teeth in some areas.

How do you propose she works more than 16 hours if she can't get a nursery space which would allow her to work those hours?

dhilez · 16/07/2023 09:44

You have to meet the conditions to get your free money

dottiedodah · 16/07/2023 09:45

AD210318 I think you are having a hard time here TBH.You have worked up to now, and paid taxes. And are looking for a little help when you need it temporarily. I would maybe seek advice from a CAB (In our town they have a mobile unit set up on a Monday morning) Can you see a different Advisor ,or maybe speak to the Manager? You are doing 12 hours and thats more than many! If you can make 16 hours by next year then that should be more than adequate .

Yea2023 · 16/07/2023 09:46

TBF, you work 13 hours a week - are weekly x2 visits and a phone call so bad considering what you get in exchange for that?

As for ‘I’ve worked all my life’, most ppl do, many for 40-50 years many folk here are working juggling x2/3 hours you do with more kids.

I’d be a bit more humble and focus on this being a temporary arrangement for which calls/visits are a minor inconvenience.

Bananaandpecan · 16/07/2023 09:47

You need to explore the self employed "rules" as per what a poster above has mentioned as there are definitely different rules and criteria for self employed and employed claimants.
You need to clearly and concisely put on your journal that they are harassing you, it is effecting your mental wellbeing and explain the childcare issues.
Provide proof from childcare providers that they are full and you are on waiting lists.
Reiterate the same when you go for an in person meeting. If they carried on I would use their in house complaints system and also write to my local MP.
They are wanting blood out of a stone at the moment and all it will do is cause you more stress.

Bananaandpecan · 16/07/2023 09:49

Some of these replies are unnecessarily harsh.
I can bet that at least a few of them are from stay at home mums living very comfortably with a lovely husband, I hope the rug never gets pulled from under them as we read so much on here and that they dont end up on their own at the mercy of universal credit.

Original poster
Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 09:50

CornishTiger · 16/07/2023 08:28

2-3 times a week is excessive.

They expect you to work or earn the equivalent of 16hrs a week. If you are self employed are they applying the minimum income floor.

That’s what I thought. They have been on my case since my little boy was 9months old. I went back to work as soon as he was 9months and they’ve been on my case weekly since to get more hours. The lady who provides me the self employed work is happy to up my hours but it’s the childcare availability that is the problem

OP posts:
Original poster
Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 09:52

Overthebow · 16/07/2023 08:44

Sorry I don’t see it as much of an achievement to be honest. Most people I know worked a lot more hours than that from 9 or 10 months, single or not. I really don’t think 16 hours at age 3 is a big ask, especially as UC give help with childcare costs.

Show quote history

Thank you. I appreciate your comment. I feel like I’m doing the best I can with the very limited childcare I have. Luckily the lady I get my work from is really understanding and lets me work from home one shift so it eases the pressure a bit. I just feel like they are constantly on my case for some reason. I don’t know anyone else that has to go in the job centre 2-3 times a week

OP posts:
Original poster
Ad210318 · 16/07/2023 09:54

Lizzt2007 · 16/07/2023 08:31

If you're on uc then you've been entitled to 15 hours funded childcare for a year, and are now entitled to 30 hours. On top of that uc will pay 85% of any compulsory top up fees. The system is willing to help you but there are conditions attached to that help. Being asked to work 16 hours when childcare is supported for nearly double that is not unreasonable.

But the childcare is my issue. It’s almost non existent in my area. I could only get my son into nursery for 2 morning a week. That’s 3 hours, how am I meant to get to work and back to pick him up in 3 hours? There are no available childminders until 2024

OP posts:
Ep1cfail · 16/07/2023 10:05

How much do you earn. If you earn the equivalent of 16 hours at minimum wage they xhould leave you alone.