Universal Credit
- Thread starter SwingsitlikeHogan
- Start date
D
Deleted member 21784
Guest
Your forgot it was the year before as well. So been going on for nearly 3 years but every time it's been lack of support from government at fault instead of any self reflection ??
I'm torn on this. This year's one is caused by a once in a lifetime proper global pandamic
However could have switched to another job sooner
I feel for him though if he decides now is enough going to be even harder for jobs
Wolf
Well-known member
As I said in my initial post i have sympathy as UC isn't great, but problem is once again its been highlighted that the issue here is the government, when in fact it really isn't. Acknowledged he didn't seek other means of income and feels changes should be made to suit him when that's not how it works nor should work. Plus it's the companies responsibility to pay him or as a self employed man its his own to chase invoiced payments. Absolutely nothing to do with UC or government.
It is not an easy time and I wish him well but time has to come when self reflection and change happens inwardly instead of always a woe is me attitude where its always someone else's fault ??
Jamesbrown
Head Pro
plenty of jobs out there. Always has been. Just nobody wants to do them as they’re perceived beneath them.
I’ve had 13 jobs at 31. Never been out of work for more than a couple of weeks.
I even ended up working in a pudding factory in the day and a Wetherspoons at night when I got laid off once.
I’ve had 13 jobs at 31. Never been out of work for more than a couple of weeks.
I even ended up working in a pudding factory in the day and a Wetherspoons at night when I got laid off once.
chrisd
Major Champion
Same here. I started work in 1967 and have been through all sorts of recessions, 3 day week, power outages, mortgage rate rollercoasters etc etc . If fact the last few years, up to the Coronavirus, it's been the longest period that I can remember without a recession
Wolf
Well-known member
Such a true statement towards so many in society today. Not long after we moved to Lincolnshire I got made redundant, figured I could go back self employed until found something I wanted to really do but knew would take me months to set up client base. As a result I worked in KnowHow as a general bod picking items in the warehouse 4 days a week on 12 hr shifts for national living wage. Then spent the other 3 days working self employed personal training till I got solid work again. Hours were long, boring and job was so dull, but it kept my bills being paid and food in kids bellies.
My mother in law on flip side got sacked last October for doing something she shouldn't have done at work , hasn't tried to get work since because why should she work in a shop, factory or cleaning and done nothing but blame government for not helping her get a job she isn't qualified for in any other field. But is happy to take the UC payments instead.
Bunkermagnet
Journeyman Pro
Perhaps there above is the rub. The benefit system has been abused by for those capable of not needing it and capable of doing most work.
Wolf
Well-known member
Oh indeed there is a huge problem with it, but that's not just UC. It was the same for years before that with JSA, housing and council tax benefits. That is not a new phenomenon sadly and was one the reasons UC was brought in to replace its predecessors but you'll always get the few ruin it for the many truly in need
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Lots of really nice sympathetic folks on here...pretty sad really when many if not most of us enjoy the fruits of the labours of those slogging away in the performing arts sector.
My son and many like him are just looking for a bit of fairness and understanding in the current circumstances - when the source of all income for many companies and those employed in the sector was shut down by the government with one day warning. He just needs the government to recognise in the UC system that money earned before lockdown need not count against UC entitlement - it can be classified as savings.
If that is unacceptable to some here then they should be calling for the £6k allowance on savings to be scrapped, and then tapering down on savings up to £16k to be scrapped also.
My son and many like him are just looking for a bit of fairness and understanding in the current circumstances - when the source of all income for many companies and those employed in the sector was shut down by the government with one day warning. He just needs the government to recognise in the UC system that money earned before lockdown need not count against UC entitlement - it can be classified as savings.
If that is unacceptable to some here then they should be calling for the £6k allowance on savings to be scrapped, and then tapering down on savings up to £16k to be scrapped also.
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SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
As much as i am grateful for words of sympathy - and I truly am given the cynicism and heartlessness of a lot of the posts - this is nothing to do with the nature of my sons employment and it's uncertainty. Much if not most work in the performing arts sector is no different from my son's work and the sector could not realistically operate any other way. And it is not a complaint about UC as it operates in a normal economic and jobs environment.
This is about work done and not paid in the context of a global pandemic and a complete shut down by the government of the performing arts sector. Then pull in the fact that you can have up to £6k in savings when you register for UC without that being taken into account - and you can hopefully see the unfairness of it.
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SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Excellent - but in today's jobs and economic climate I suggest it is not going to be as easy as you found it. Besides. Not the point of the thread. btw - he's already been investigating what he can move into and jobs available in north Sheffield. He is getting minimal help from his UC advisor on training schemes he might register for or jobs he can apply for - and that is part of their job. But he can continue to press, investigate and look himself.
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SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
...and when you are not playing the system or doing jobs on the side?
Just to dispel any misconceptions about the generosity of the system...UC works out for my lad and his partner as about £225/month after rent, Council Tax, Water, Gas and Electricity, broadband, phone and other bills are paid. And out of that he has to put fuel in a car to get about...as well as food, drinks and all personal and household basics (he doesn't drink but does smoke). Now as much as some might think, that doesn't actually fund much of a lavish lifestyle for the scroungers. So you can see how important to him is the £1000 he is owed by his employer that the UC system seems intent on keeping.
Neilds
Assistant Pro
If he had been paid on time, he would probably not have been entitled to UC. As he wasn’t paid he would have got UC from the outset and now he has been paid he has a pause in his entitlement and payment will resume next month. In short, he has probably been paid the same amount as in the first case so is actually no worse off.
D
Deleted member 21784
Guest
chellie
Tour Winner
Aldi want staff https://www.aldirecruitment.co.uk/apply/
So it's another moan at the government instead. I had someone I know on tour, or supposedly, and had played one gig when the pug got pulled. He knew it was coming but effectively had to commit to fulfilling every gig as the promoters and insurance would have had him over a barrel if he had pulled out prior to any government instruction. He knew it was coming but had nothing he could do but pay the band and staff for the dates in full and take the hit. The backstage (roadies/sound guys had already taken precautions and sought alternative arrangements in supermarkets/delivering etc.
When you first put this post up you said £250/month. Downgraded to improve your argument?
He has £225 a month after all bills are paid... so worth over £1000 a month without having to pay tax and NI, and you’re whining? And you’re whining that the govt aren’t providing him with a training course for his next chosen career?
Ah, the ‘entitled’ argument, and it’s always someone else’s fault....
Jamesbrown
Head Pro
Dig in your pockets, £1600. send your lad on a locksmith course. Within a week he can easily charge £50 (reasonable price) a pop and pretend the cylinders knackered, snap the cylinder and replace. Easy money. Even I’m considering it on top of my normal job.
Slab
Occasional Tour Caddy
This really is not about “… work done and not paid in the context of a global pandemic and a complete shut down by the government of the performing arts sector”
This is about income received after making a claim for UC… end of story
There are millions of different 'circumstances' people find themselves in, the UC system cannot change to take them all into account as they arise
He applied, was assessed and awarded a UC of x amount based on the info he gave about his financial & personal position. Now he will get some money that may/will temporarily reduce the UC, then UC will change again when its ‘spent’
Through poor self management, bad luck or some other circumstance, he did not get one or more invoices paid in a timely manner and that’s a shame it really is, but it does not necessitate a review or restructure of the benefit system, sorry if that’s not the support you want for his predicament but cant you see that if they do this one little thing for him, then when someone else has an equally/more deserving case tomorrow then they must do for them too and the next day and the next?
HowlingGale
Head Pro
Seriously perplexed about the comments that 'boomers' have had it good with their gold plated pensions, buying houses for nothing and they're now worth millions etc.
For the VAST majority of people this is simply not true. Using the 'boomers' amongst my family and friends as an example the only ones who have gold plated pensions and have huge equity in expensive houses are the ones who had a really good job that paid well. Much like the 'millenials' nowadays who seem to have it all. It's only the ones who have a good job that pays well.
Most normal folk of whatever generation have/had modest incomes or modest pension that affords them some luxuries but it certainly is not what the 'millennials' would have you believe.
If your parents have lots of money tied up in house equity they are very lucky and are an exception and it is something many, many people can only dream of.
For the VAST majority of people this is simply not true. Using the 'boomers' amongst my family and friends as an example the only ones who have gold plated pensions and have huge equity in expensive houses are the ones who had a really good job that paid well. Much like the 'millenials' nowadays who seem to have it all. It's only the ones who have a good job that pays well.
Most normal folk of whatever generation have/had modest incomes or modest pension that affords them some luxuries but it certainly is not what the 'millennials' would have you believe.
If your parents have lots of money tied up in house equity they are very lucky and are an exception and it is something many, many people can only dream of.
