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POSKETT AT THE VALLEY

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2010
1,351
Isle of Wight
A mother of three was featured who earns 45k a year. In addition to this she receives 3k yes 3k a month in Universal Credit and still finds it difficult to get by.

My son and his partner work all hours running a gym whilst bringing up a one year old daughter and don’t have it easy financially.

They often say they would be better off on benefits. Having worked all my life I would previously have advised them to do the same but I’m rapidly changing my mind.

What kind of a nation are we living in.
 




Eeyore

Eeyore

Munching grass in Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
28,515
What's the breakdown ? 3k a month is over the benefits cap before income is taken into consideration.
 




stewart12

stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
2,202
Unless you're on top rate PIP alongside being signed off work on UC, eg you are disabled and medically unable to work it's very very unlikely that you'd be "better off on benefits"
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,488
dont. made me furious, how it was presented as a poor me case, when clearly able to make a lot of choices for her advantage and living pretty well considering how some have to scrape by. hope the DWP are having a look tomorrow morning, getting way more than the welfare cap supposed to be.
 






kevo

kevo

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2008
10,294
POSKETT AT THE VALLEY said:
A mother of three was featured who earns 45k a year. In addition to this she receives 3k yes 3k a month in Universal Credit and still finds it difficult to get by.

My son and his partner work all hours running a gym whilst bringing up a one year old daughter and don’t have it easy financially.

They often say they would be better off on benefits. Having worked all my life I would previously have advised them to do the same but I’m rapidly changing my mind.

What kind of a nation are we living in.
Click to expand...

Impossible for that to happen - if she earns £45k, she would get next to nothing.

1748386234739.png
 


stewart12

stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
2,202
I can empathize with £45k not going very far if that's the only income in the household with 3 kids, depending on where she lives of course.

I used to do debt advice and would have a lot of single mothers (and a few single fathers), very very hard to do on one income and you'd be shocked at how many dads (particularly) get away without contributing a penny towards their kids upbringing
 




1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,594
kevo said:
Impossible for that to happen - if she earns £45k, she would get next to nothing.

View attachment 202842
Click to expand...
Ssshhh! Don't let facts stop their fun.

I'm waiting for a full house on my bingo card.

Get ready for :

Huge TV

Sky dish

Smokes

Can afford to go to the pub.
 


kevo

kevo

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2008
10,294
I wish journos - just like very, very occasionally - would actually do a piece on billionaires' tax avoidance, which completely dwarfs, hundreds of times over, the amount lost through benefit fraud or overpayments.

I'm sure there are undeserving cases, but I bet no-one who has said 'Look at her, I might as well give up my job and live on benefits!' has actually done that. The reason is because they quickly realise it is impossible to live off benefits and have a decent quality of life.

I am curious about the OP's post though - how exactly can anyone claim UC when they earn £45K? Can we all claim it? As stated above, this is impossible according to what it says on the government websites. So I think it needs a bit of context.
 






beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,488
for context

lady says she has 45k a year job, take home 2800 p/m, then 3000 p/m UC and 240 p/m child credit. spends 2k pcm rent, 2.6k pcm nursery. 1 bed flat and 3 children
supposedly Universal credit isnt enough. her own words needs job of 95k to cover her living.

they said they weren't there for how she end up in these circumstances, rather lightly dismissing where at least some discussion should start, jump straight to what will government do to provide.
 




Change at Barnham

Change at Barnham

Well-known member
Aug 6, 2011
5,937
Bognor Regis
beorhthelm said:
lady says she has 45k a year job, take home 2800 p/m, then 3000 p/m UC and 240 p/m child credit. spends 2k pcm rent, 2.6k pcm nursery. 1 bed flat and 3 children
supposedly Universal credit isnt enough. her own words needs job of 95k to cover her living.
Click to expand...
If these figures are correct (I haven't checked) it looks like the system is wrong due to unaffordable rent and unaffordable nursery costs.
£2000 rent per month, plus £2600 per month nursery equals £55200 per annum.
No wonder the woman needs some financial help.

It's easy to vilify people's situations, but at least the lady is trying to work.
p.s. I don't know the solution, but do know that it's a very hard problem to solve.
 




stewart12

stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
2,202
beorhthelm said:
for context

lady says she has 45k a year job, take home 2800 p/m, then 3000 p/m UC and 240 p/m child credit. spends 2k pcm rent, 2.6k pcm nursery. 1 bed flat and 3 children
supposedly Universal credit isnt enough. her own words needs job of 95k to cover her living.

they said they weren't there for how she end up in these circumstances, rather lightly dismissing where at least some discussion should start, jump straight to what will government do to provide.
Click to expand...

Just done a benefits calculator based on that information

She'd be entitled to £2047.23 a month in UC and £262.38 child benefit

Of the £2047.23 UC, £1450.02 is for housing (eg going to the landlord)

Those are approx figures, for example I don't know where she lives so just used a BN1 post code but you wouldn't be far off

The biggest issue she has is that she's taking home £2800 a month but spending £2600 a month in childcare. In that respect she may be better off reducing her hours for example so she can reduce those childcare costs. It's a tough balance for find for sure and it's important to factor in mental well-being as well.

At £45k a year she's probably working a job that carries some responsibility- it's not stress free work that's for sure and she's essentially doing that for the sake of £200 a month. Must be demoralizing
 




1066familyman

1066familyman

Radio User
Jan 15, 2008
15,594
kevo said:
I wish journos - just like very, very occasionally - would actually do a piece on billionaires' tax avoidance, which completely dwarfs, hundreds of times over, the amount lost through benefit fraud or overpayments.

I'm sure there are undeserving cases, but I bet no-one who has said 'Look at her, I might as well give up my job and live on benefits!' has actually done that. The reason is because they quickly realise it is impossible to live off benefits and have a decent quality of life.

I am curious about the OP's post though - how exactly can anyone claim UC when they earn £45K? Can we all claim it? As stated above, this is impossible according to what it says on the government websites. So I think it needs a bit of context.
Click to expand...
The headlines I'd like to see are:

'Private landlords/landladies are claiming billions in housing benefit, funded by taxpayers'.

That is the reality, and has been for years. Only now housing benefit is lumped in with universal credit.
 


ROSM

ROSM

Well-known member
Dec 26, 2005
7,658
Just far enough away from LDC
stewart12 said:
Just done a benefits calculator based on that information

She'd be entitled to £2047.23 a month in UC and £262.38 child benefit

Of the £2047.23 UC, £1450.02 is for housing (eg going to the landlord)

Those are approx figures, for example I don't know where she lives so just used a BN1 post code but you wouldn't be far off

The biggest issue she has is that she's taking home £2800 a month but spending £2600 a month in childcare. In that respect she may be better off reducing her hours for example so she can reduce those childcare costs. It's a tough balance for find for sure and it's important to factor in mental well-being as well.

At £45k a year she's probably working a job that carries some responsibility- it's not stress free work that's for sure and she's essentially doing that for the sake of £200 a month. Must be demoralizing
Click to expand...
Exactly, how easy would it have been to say stop working and saving all the childcare. But then when they're in education it's hard for her to get back on the employment cycle and she is putting tax back into the system too.

It frustrates me in this '280 character , 30 second attention span' world, just how much these debates are dumbed down and how easily people lap up the headlines but don't dig further into the details
 




Bakero

Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
15,741
Almería
kevo said:
I wish journos - just like very, very occasionally - would actually do a piece on billionaires' tax avoidance, which completely dwarfs, hundreds of times over, the amount lost through benefit fraud or overpayments.
Click to expand...

I'm currently reading Moneyland by Oliver Burroughs, which tells the story of how the super rich and kleptocrats hide their money with the help of the global financial system. Not the kind of thing the billionaire media magnates are keen on highlighting.
 


stewart12

stewart12

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2019
2,202
nicko31 said:
How much is the father chipping in?
Click to expand...
Obviously I don't know her particular details but what I can say from experience is that the amount of parents who get away with not contributing a penny to their kids is staggering. Sometimes it's a pride thing from the main care giver ("I just don't want anything to do with him") sometimes it might be fear but more often than not it's the, mostly, dad dodging the system and just refusing to give anything

Had one single mum who I helped who had got herself into a lot of debt. The father of her child just moved house every year or so and dodged all communication from the government. Hopefully it'll catch up with him eventually but that didn't help the mums situation in the here and now

As a dad I don't know how anyone can sleep at night knowing that their kid is living in poverty- bare cupboards, not being able to have the heating on etc and knowing that I could do something about it but won't
 


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