Universal credit and savings/capital

quintwins

mum_to_many wrote: »

I would say you would be hit by this as well,

Thank you.

princessdon wrote: »

Savings will be considered, also if you don't work (only your OH) then depending on children, disabilities, there may be implications for you as a partner.

Yes we know about the savings, we plan to build our house in drips and drabs but your the main bulk you can ear mark money under UC for house deposits or home improvements for 6 months so we think we'll be ok, we are hoping to have a plot and have started work by 2014 anyway or even better have an increased income and no need for tax credits, or both

By implications do you mean the hrs limit? our youngest is under 5 and i have a part time job aswell as my husband working so i think for the time being we are ok.

mum_to_many

nannytone wrote: »

if you had bought a house and was living in it, there wouldnt be an issue.

having the land is really no different to having 20k in the bank. its an asset that you can realise that wont leave you without a home.
if you had bought shares with the money, it would be the same.
just because you chose to buy land really makes no difference ... it is an asset not a home!

Thank you for answering the question in a factual way,

evenasus

zoominatorone wrote: »

income from fostering 2 children must be in the hundreds of pounds a week tho isn't it?

It certainly is.

I found a case study example on ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2011/jan/17/edinburgh-foster-caring-pay-rates-myths

Foster care

Linda is a foster carer who looks after Billy, 5, and Andrew, 14. They both live with Linda and her family full time. Linda gets a weekly allowance and fee for each of the boys. As the two boys are different ages, with different demands, this is reflected in the allowances and fees.

For the care of Billy, she is entitled to an allowance of £113.46, which covers maintenance, his clothing and his pocket money. She also receives £151.36 as a weekly fee for Billy. For the care of Andrew she receives an allowance of £145.19 and a £189.21 weekly fee.

In total, Linda receives £600.22 per week for caring for the two boys.

Blue22

mum_to_many wrote: »

I'm sorry if it came across as that, my husband works full time, I have had 3 lots of social workers through the house this week, as its half term (which my children also point out when I say we can't go off as xxxx is coming) I work very hard at what I do and am given very positive feedback by all I work with. I get upset when people make negative comments about foster carers, we are not all money grabbing and don't care about the children. I am all for working, and always have from when I was around 11. The land is all we have, no house. A high proportion of wtc is paid to people who have their house, but I was slated for having a field. I was only asking as I wanted to be clear so no mistakes when/if the universal forms need filling in.:)

I can't believe how many spiteful, critical replies you have had and how little value everyone else has put on your 'job' as a full time foster carer. I would imagine that your household is contributing an awful lot more to the treasury and to society than any of those critics do and their opinions seem to be based on ignorance of what foster carers do and how much money they receive.

For what its worth, I have great respect for you for doing such a worthwhile job. I also think it very unfair that a small piece of land would prevent you being able to claim UC.

As for everyone having such a problem with your children's horses, again it's just posters showing their ignorance. To my mind both you and your husband work hard so why shouldn't your children have some hobby or interest. As you pointed out it is not necessarily any more expensive than lots of other children's hobbies from both working and workless families. And if any children deserve a hobby its children like yours, who share their home and their parents with others!

Keep up the good work and try to ignore the critics

FBaby

Blue22 wrote: »

To my mind both you and your husband work hard so why shouldn't your children have some hobby or interest. As you pointed out it is not necessarily any more expensive than lots of other children's hobbies from both working and workless families. And if any children deserve a hobby its children like yours, who share their home and their parents with others!

Both my partner and I work hard to, very hard. I worked hard, full time in a stressful job when I was single and my kids were 2 and 4. By daughter became infatuated with horses, but guess what, even though I work very hard, I can't afford to get her a horse (not even riding lessons!). I think that is common to most people who would be entitled to tax credits.

It IS an expensive hobby because it costs OP not to be able to use £20K AND not to be able to claim universal credit. It is therefore a very expensive hobby that very few can actually afford.

No-one has been critical about her fostering children. People have pointed out that she doesn't do it for free and will get already significant funds from the State for it. We need more people like OP doing it, but it doesn't mean that it opens the door to being able to afford hobbies that most other families can't afford, especially when this is not a hobby for the foster children but her own children.

edeneve

FBaby wrote: »

Both my partner and I work hard to, very hard. I worked hard, full time in a stressful job when I was single and my kids were 2 and 4. By daughter became infatuated with horses, but guess what, even though I work very hard, I can't afford to get her a horse (not even riding lessons!). I think that is common to most people who would be entitled to tax credits.

It IS an expensive hobby because it costs OP not to be able to use £20K AND not to be able to claim universal credit. It is therefore a very expensive hobby that very few can actually afford.

No-one has been critical about her fostering children. People have pointed out that she doesn't do it for free and will get already significant funds from the State for it. We need more people like OP doing it, but it doesn't mean that it opens the door to being able to afford hobbies that most other families can't afford, especially when this is not a hobby for the foster children but her own children.

Here here Fbaby.....that is my point exactly...I stated I admire foster parents as it is a challenging job. Initially I was critical as the OP stated extra work wasn't an option at all as busy as FT foster carers but hadn't stated her husband was working. My point was I know the foster caring system and know it is normal that one at least parent works so was shocked to hear extra work was not an option.

But...the point is I work hard, I raise my kids single handed and no way could I afford even horse riding lessons for the kids, let alone save up enough money for a house or piece of land. If I had 20K sitting in bank then I would accept that I would have to live off it, not be able to keep it and claim benefits. All types of benefits are meant to cover the 'basics' and horses are not by any stretch of imagination the basics. Anyhows with income coming in for fostering, which would total around £500-600 per week alone and no rent to pay by any stretch of the imagination can the OP say they cant afford to manage without tax credits is beyond me and that is without her hubbies wage on top! My bills apart from rent are only £300 per month (no extras for sky just basics) so why are they claiming they wouldn't be able to manage without tax credits....think that is why people are being critical because they are in a better position than most are but don't see it.

mum_to_many

This is my last post, I have got the answer to my question so thank you. I at no point have said I wouldn't be able to manage, I have not said what my husband does or how much he earns, I will however still maintain the horses did cost less than a lot of dogs, and I do not spend money on them, I thought people had choices, we choose not to go to the cinema/pub holidays etc to give our children (and the others) ONE thing which they enjoy. I didn't pay £20,000 for the land it was bought over 10 years ago, I am just roughly estimating. So maybe it wouldn't even be that now with the recession, and then all this would have been pointless.

FBaby

You don't get it. Dogs don't require £20k worth of field to keep. That is not comparable. You still have the same choices as you had before, as any family has, you just won't get the tax credits for it and therefore will have to assess where else you can make the difference up if it means so much to you and family.

paddedjohn

zoominatorone wrote: »

income from fostering 2 children must be in the hundreds of pounds a week tho isn't it?

There was an ad in the paper last week offering "£400-£600 per week for foster carers" seems like a nice job if you can get it.

princessdon

I don't know what your oh does, but if he is self employed on a low income then have a read on universal credits.

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/ucpbn-8-foster-carers.pdf