Why people choose not to work and how are people coping with the COL crisis?

[MsMH]

I hope this doesn't come across as judgemental but I'm genuinely curious.
What are people's reasons for not working and being on universal credit instead? Is it even a choice and how are they coping with the cost of living crisis?
I'm not well off myself and work part time 3 days a week. My partner works full time at a university and we have a little boy who goes to nursery 2 days a week. We're only just making enough to stay afloat but struggling to save anything. I don't know how we would cope if one of us loses our jobs.

No, it isn’t true.

No it’s not true.

I wonder where people get this idea that anyone can ditch their job, claim UC and go about their day. If you have no dependent’s and no disability/health condition to prevent you from working then the monthly entitlement will be barely anything.

Especially for those that live bu themselves or in a house share. It’s ALWAYS better to work especially in those circumstances

I was out of work 3 years and went back part time in july. Im thinking of stopping again tbh. Im a single parent to 2 kids the youngets of whom is 3 and is disabled. I had no commitment under UC to work i chose to go back. But i am exhausted stressed and spread way too thin. Appts and periods.of illness are a nightmare and he could need brain surgery at any time. Hes at nursery mornings which is when i work. Other than that he is with me every minute. We have no help. He starts school august 2025 and i have zero idea how i will work then as he cant go to regular childcare.

A certain number of the 'non working' will be like this neighbour. As a lifelong taxpayer, if I had a neighbour like that that I'd report them.

I can't work currently due to my health, but I'm not ill enough to claim any sickness benefit. I get UC for 1 child. I privately rent our home. I get £1478 pcm.

If I worked 35 hours per week at the living wage of £10.42 I would still get £911pcm in UC meaning I'd be better off by £784 every month.

So no. Its not true that you can get more than the living wage by claiming benefits.

God I wish I was well enough to work again.

All these people saying it doesn't pay as well as minimum wage obviously don't live in the real world.
It's demonstrably true whatever system you believe prevents it. You don't have to look far to see single people or couples living their lives without jobs.
There are obviously known loop holes in order to
make yourself eligible for a large sum.

I have 2 asd children one in mainstream who won't do any after school activities not that it matters because my youngest now goes to school on a SEN setting and gets transport provision from LA and has to be dropped at home usually at 15:05 then I have to go and pick oldest up from school all be it I'm late every day but he waits and school know I have to be home. I refuse to work weekends and notcsee my children much and I can not find a job 9:30 - 14:30 mon to Fri.

My DH works 68 miles away and leaves the house at 4:45am getting home approx 18:30 and most evening jobs need people in before then, he travels by taxi, train & bus every day so even if I could get a job in evenings it's unreliable because train services just are now.

We dont get any UC and I get child benefit that is all. DH spends over 900 a month to get to work which makes it pointless even going as we have no disposable income because it gets spent on going to work. It's hard, I'd love to go to work, I've always worked but I just couldn't any more. Sometimes I get frustrated and think of asking him to get a lesser paid job closer to home but he hands down won't. It does cause arguments but it is what it is and we do what we can. When he has week holidays booked its always a bonus because we have a week of no spending on travel to work.

I'd love to work but I just can't right now, 2 children in different LA schools aswell so most school holidays are at different times.

Not everyone who claims UC do it because they want to or cba working. I got it and worked when me and dh weren't together but his income which isn't massive is just above the threshold like couple of hundred & if we could have it we would certainly apply

I lost my job and had to get full UC.

I would get £1010 per month.
Then I would get £25 a week child benefit.
So total £1110 for myself and DC.

My rent and council tax came to £550.
That left me with £560 a month (£140 a week) which sounds like a lot but when that’s all you’re getting, it really isn’t.

That was to pay for food, toiletries, electric, gas, water, petrol, car insurance etc that’s not including things like clothes, shoes, school trips, car repairs, MOT etc.

I am far better off in work and so is everyone else, even on NMW.

We are very fortunate to have a benefits system but no one would choose to get benefits and not work, unless there were other issues.

I get UC as a carer with no work commitments. I haven't worked since my disabled DS was born (he is an adult now). He gets PIP and UC on a separate claim although he lives at home, and I also get PIP for some health conditions. Our income meets our needs and it's a higher level than the basic UC amount. Costs have gone up but our benefits have increased too, and we get other support like a travel pass and COL payments. I could get more money being in work but it's not worth the extra stress for me, and I value being able to manage my time as I see fit. I do need time to myself as being a full-tume carer is demanding. I think if I had a job to juggle then I'd have no time left for me.

@Chickenpie35 do you get DLA for the children and Carers Allowance for you?
If not - put in a claim.

It's demonstrably not true

If I worked 35 hours at NMW I would get the same as I do as an unemployed single parent on UC.

But I would still get UC on top of that. I would be better off.

At the min just for the youngest, eldest has not long had enough evidence as only recently been put forward for assessment but currently filling in the form for DLA. HR care component only at min saved the youngest for a safe space bed and new room but going forward it will be used more daily/for living. I had convinced myself it was his money and he can have all these things now but now his room is almost complete I've seen the light and accepted that it's living allowance not buy special things that he doesn't need or save because it's his allowance so will be big help.

I got carers allowance for a bit but went back to uni and apparently I can't go to uni and be a carer but I am a parent carer before anything else so I'm going to leave and try again in the future 🙃

Thank you for asking and checking I had claimed.

So using a website such as entitled to, could you give us an example if someone getting more than MW thanks to ‘loopholes’?

Note loopholes are supposed to be legal. So no lying, making up issues etc…allowed.

@jaloen as it’s only right for you to get ‘more’.
You are a career. That’s a 24/7 job in itself even if it’s rarely recognised as such.
You are disabled. That’s what PIP is. A support to meet the higher needs of disabled people.

im pretty sure that’s not the case that the OP is thinking about…. Or maybe I should say what she THINKS are the cases she sees around her.

OP many people are working and are on UC.
Some of those people are being screwed by employers paying very low wages because the system allows them to so taxpayers are subsidising those employers.
It's neither fair to the employees or the taxpayers, but how we get away from this I don't know 😕.
Another hangover from the last Labour government that has been allowed to continue under the Conservatives. 😞

@MsMH I wonder are the people you know actually saying they "live off Universal Credits" or do they say "I receive benefits"?
I am not entitled to UC as my husband earns too much (but a fairly modest wage).
I receive Child Benefit, Carers Allowance and my daughter gets DLA which as she is a child obviously goes to my bank account.
In theory one third of our family income comes from the "benefits" I receive.
So someone could say that I personally (as in what goes into my bank account) is "living off benefits" - but it's not UC.
Living off UC and recieving Benefits is actually very different things.

Pretty sure you’ll be getting your house paid for though?

If you think he's on the fiddle report him.

This is not true.

People pay rent or mortgage out of their awarded benefits.

@CameleonAreFightingBack in my area of work the majority of our clients are in social housing already and therefore in most cases all of their rent is covered by housing benefit or the rent element unless they've got the additional bedroom to contribute towards.

Private rents aren't as high here either and because I work in homelessness our local council is often involved to prevent vulnerable adults and families from staying on the streets. We have access to DHP, we can apply to stop the bedroom tax, if they're housed under the homeless duty then usually housing benefit covers even high costs of rent. Our council also has a list of "trusted landlords" who they have a kind of partnership with to make allowances for deposits etc.

My own situation, I would "get all of my rent paid for" as I previously stated if I were to be unemployed 🤷🏼‍♀️ fact

I don't know who that's aimed at, but I pay my rent out of my UC. It's more than 50% of my total income.
You could argue that my landlord has had their house paid for via my rent!

Some get more than that.

It's a controversial issue as there are many people claiming in work benefits and are only just staying afloat. I work with some of these families and help them access food banks and various charities to help. However, there are also families who are one step behind these people and have managed to get ‘on the sick’, depression and anxiety and any addiction issues or previous issues enable this. My own brother, cousin and stepdaughter have all done this. To be fair my cousin is unemployable due to drinking. But it does grate on others around them who think ‘why bother’. The level of poverty is very fine and when you're only just above it, its so disheartening. This is why many hard working working class communities have been voting Tory as they are annoyed by what they perceive as ‘handouts’.

Of course these people aren't going to work in a dead end job in zero hours contracts to barely make ends meet! They are doing ok with the benefits they receive and having time to themselves. A number of these will do cash in hand jobs. You must know of people who cut hair, valet cars, shift ‘goods’, do handyman jobs for cash? Very common in deprived areas like the area I work in.

I don’t work but don’t claim benefits. Our child has additional needs and so I need to be around. Luckily DH earns well and I have other income sources from a property that I rent out, early inheritance and good savings when I was able to work.