How do people survive on UC?

tomtom256

andygb said:

Which is then a direct route to becoming homeless.

Not always, nothing stopping anybody getting a property to rent before their property is sold. If selling a property, it can be disregarded as capital for benefit purposes.

Rubyroobs

There is some extra help for working people with a mortgage and children in the form of a higher work allowance but for unemployed people with a mortgage you are correct, there is little help unless you have mortgage protection insurance.

maisie_cat

At the start of this pandemic my sister thought she might lose her job, so we looked at what she could claim and her household spending. She lives in a 1 bed council flat so her rent and council tax would be covered. We looked at her outgoings and concluded that she would be okay. She has no car and her "bills" gas, electric, insurance, water etc are around £100 plus food & cat stuff another £100-150. Luckily she does have a small amount of savings and no debts, an old smartphone and she doesn't smoke, drink, gamble or have any other money sucking habits. She can cook and does batch cook making her meals cheaper & she grows some food on her balcony, those things make difference in terms of finances and mental health. We have a challenge to see who can make the cheapest nutritionally balanced meals, chickpeas are a common ingredient at 15p a serving!
My nephew's family get £1000 or so plus rent and council tax, school meals etc and they also live reasonably well.
I suspect things would be different if housing benefit didn't cover rent, either of them had debts to be serviced and expensive habits. 

KxMx

Even on UC not all councils will pay 100% Council Tax.
My local authority only pays 100% for pensioners.
UC, ESA, JSA, all are expected to pay something towards CT. 

calcotti

KxMx said:

Even on UC not all councils will pay 100% Council Tax.
My local authority only pays 100% for pensioners.
UC, ESA, JSA, all are expected to pay something towards CT. 

Indeed. All councils have to provide up to 100% CTR for pensioners because pension age claims are still covered by national rules. Very few councils offer 100% for working age claimants. Where I live out the four closest councils, one goes to 100% maximum, one stops at 80%, one stops at 72.5% and one goes to 90% for claimants on UC but stops at 78% for those not on UC.

kimwp

tacpot12 said:

Because the help available to home owners on UC is a loan, unless you have a short term issue, it's no help at all. If you have a long term issue, you need to sell your house.

Yes, I guess it basically means if you have an asset and run into financial difficulties, then you need to convert that asset to cash. At some point if you continue to have a low income and deplete that cash, you will then be in the same situation as a renter who is able to claim UC and UC rental help. I wonder if the nine months before help with an owned property can be claimed is to do with that being a reasonable amount of time to have found more income and/or sold your house, so it's effectively giving you a way to convert your property to cash, having encouraged you to do so by yourself.

JonVarnas

kimwp said:

Not a rhetoric question, genuinely how does a single person live on £400 ish a month? I think I could squeeze bills, food and annual expenses down to £400 a month, but that leaves nothing for rent/mortgage!

Is there something I'm missing?

It depends on your lifestyle. Outside of life's two biggest costs, privately renting and running a car, the cost of living is pretty cheap. For example, my expenses are:

• Gas + Electric £50-60 p/m
• Water £15-20 p/m
• Council Tax £18 p/m
• Mobile + Broadband £55 p/m

That's a total of £138-£153 p/m, leaving £164-179 p/m for food and the rest, which personally I don't think isn't bad for a single person. And with food there's no takeaways, I just usually eat stews, casseroles, porridge, i.e. stuff that is cheap and easy. I don't smoke or have Sky TV, rarely drink and get my goods and furniture secondhand from Facebook/Gumtree, etc. Clothes I miainly get in a sale from Matalan or Primark. I live in a Housing Association flat with a lifetime tenancy so I don't have to worry about being evicted. It's a no-frills lifestyle and certainly not everybody's cup of tea, but I've been homeless in the past so as long as I've got a roof over my head, food in my belly and an internet connection I'm content.

calcotti

Unlike those in social housing for someone renting in the private sector the help with rent is almost always less than the actual rent which means there is less for everything else.

kimwp

JonVarnas said:

kimwp said:

Not a rhetoric question, genuinely how does a single person live on £400 ish a month? I think I could squeeze bills, food and annual expenses down to £400 a month, but that leaves nothing for rent/mortgage!

Is there something I'm missing?

It depends on your lifestyle. Outside of life's two biggest costs, privately renting and running a car, the cost of living is pretty cheap. For example, my expenses are:

• Gas + Electric £50-60 p/m
• Water £15-20 p/m
• Council Tax £18 p/m
• Mobile + Broadband £55 p/m

That's a total of £138-£153 p/m, leaving £164-179 p/m for food and the rest, which personally I don't think isn't bad for a single person. And with food there's no takeaways, I just usually eat stews, casseroles, porridge, i.e. stuff that is cheap and easy. I don't smoke or have Sky TV, rarely drink and get my goods and furniture secondhand from Facebook/Gumtree, etc. Clothes I miainly get in a sale from Matalan or Primark. I live in a Housing Association flat with a lifetime tenancy so I don't have to worry about being evicted. It's a no-frills lifestyle and certainly not everybody's cup of tea, but I've been homeless in the past so as long as I've got a roof over my head, food in my belly and an internet connection I'm content.

My council tax is £124, so while otherwise my life and expanses are pretty comparable to yours apart from food and takeaways (currently £200 - which I could cut down to a Lidl over a third from Sainsbury organic and no takeaways), the council tax would take a big chunk of the UC payment (my council doesn't do reductions), barely leaving enough to cover that cut down food bill.

Numberwang_2

JonVarnas said:

kimwp said:

Not a rhetoric question, genuinely how does a single person live on £400 ish a month? I think I could squeeze bills, food and annual expenses down to £400 a month, but that leaves nothing for rent/mortgage!

Is there something I'm missing?

It depends on your lifestyle. Outside of life's two biggest costs, privately renting and running a car, the cost of living is pretty cheap. For example, my expenses are:

• Gas + Electric £50-60 p/m
• Water £15-20 p/m
• Council Tax £18 p/m
• Mobile + Broadband £55 p/m

That's a total of £138-£153 p/m, leaving £164-179 p/m for food and the rest, which personally I don't think isn't bad for a single person. And with food there's no takeaways, I just usually eat stews, casseroles, porridge, i.e. stuff that is cheap and easy. I don't smoke or have Sky TV, rarely drink and get my goods and furniture secondhand from Facebook/Gumtree, etc. Clothes I miainly get in a sale from Matalan or Primark. I live in a Housing Association flat with a lifetime tenancy so I don't have to worry about being evicted. It's a no-frills lifestyle and certainly not everybody's cup of tea, but I've been homeless in the past so as long as I've got a roof over my head, food in my belly and an internet connection I'm content.

Is that council tax correct? I pay £170 month.