Universal Credit, what was to point in claiming.

Universal Credit, does this benefit actually make people rich.

People who are in receipt of benefits are often criticised as being lazy and getting something for nothing. Do you realise just how hard getting any money if you are self employed is?

I am only going into detail here, as nobody can actually identify those concerned. Lets call the couple Sophie (S) and Jack (J)

S & J have had a bad couple of months as their main supplier had a RTA and was imprisoned. His business was closed and S & J were not only left without the stock he was bringing next day, but the money already paid for the goods. He had been selling them for over 2 years and as such S & J felt they could trust him, otherwise they'd have never paid up front for the stock.

S & J hadn't been rich from our self employment, but were making enough to live each month and pay our way. S decided to enquire if they were eligible for support from the government, and was told they qualified.

For the income period concerned before expenses we had an income of £610, as I said S & J had a bad month. After allowable expenses this went down to £200, S & J have had to replace stock which did sell along with that which is as far as I am aware stranded in a police evidence storage facility.

S is in receipt of a small pension, survivors benefit from her late husbands occupational pension, paid into for many years, and receives less than £720 per month.

S & J submitted a claim for universal credit, and received a message from DWP saying the payment had been uploaded to our portal and would be in their account on 1st May,

Now S expected this to be reduced because of the income above, so wasn't expecting the full £614, but certainly wasn't expecting to see Zero. So this means S & J have an income of £920 to carry them through the next month. Don't forget, as like everyone else they have a mortgage, council tax, utilities etc to pay.

 After our bills S & J are left with less than £200 for the month. Luckily they have a full fridge/freezer and a cupboard of dried goods, also able to cook from scratch and make a lot from next to nothing, or how else are S & J going to survive, as this certainly isn't living.

It also makes me think, what would they have received if S had just closed down the business and said she was part time employed and J self employed

Our starting line would have been £614, would they have taken all of this away as my pension was still approximately £106 above this, or would they as with income allowed me to earn approximately £694 before reducing our claim. If this were the case they would only have taken just over £14 off the amount claimed and even if the took £110 of the £200 from the self employed bit.

What makes me really angry is at 63 S should have received her state pension 3 years ago and while yes, this isn't a fortune, but total pension of after tax of just over £1540 and that's without any income. So even if you look at the money after allowable expenses they would not have had any worries at all. Just under £1k a month after bills would be great. Even without the income its £800 so living on just a pension would have been fine, well at least for them. They wouldn't have been rich it but is at least living and not surviving as they are now.

Pensioners also make me scream, yes, those who are on their own, without an occupational pension, so living on their state pension alone, do not have a lot of money.

But I have just worked it out, when we both received our pension our income would have been just over £1850 a month. With my husbands pension from his occupation this would have gone up to around £3k and they say pensioners are poor, that's without my occupational pension and that won't be a lot, but it could be in the range of £200 a month, so enough to mean I pay tax.