Anyone else been this unlucky with UC?

lilbooboo

For years, i claimed Child Tax Credits. My husband works full time and i was bringing up 3 children. 2 years or so ago it all ended abruptly when they became UC. Applied for this, attended job centre interviews, only to be abruptly told 'we have stopped your claim'. Looking into it, it's because, even though we are classed as a low income family, (he's on 25k) he has a savings pot that just exceeds the 16k limit. We don't touch this, it's for when he retires ( in about 18 months now) so we've something to eke out alongside his pension. Ironically we haven't been able to afford to add anything to this pot for a couple of years at least now. Never had this with Child Tax Credits but UC are awful. I am looking for work but it's so hard to find anything after 20 years. So we now have his wage, a bit of child benefit for the younger 2, soon to be just the youngest, as the older one leaves college this month, and bits i get from occasional cleaning houses. I went to a job fair where i was told to do my Functional Skills Maths level 2, as my grade at school wasn't good enough when job seeking, so i am still working on this - failed the exam, took it again, awaiting results 🤞. I feel i am just scrolling sites like Indeed etc and its full of jobs i am not qualified to do at all. Also signed up with a few local agencies, to be told when i chased one up 'we're not looking for entry level people', agencies are a lot different to what they were 20 years ago. So are job centres, i remember the days (i am 47) when you could walk in and pick job vacancy cards off the walls, now they are just policed by UC. Does any of this seem fair?

Ayr_Rage

Yes it's fair, the line has to be drawn somewhere, the UK cannot afford the current welfare bill let alone more.

lilbooboo

Ok, was just wondering if others had found themselves in similar situations, that's why i was chatting about my job seeking journey as well and if there were other platforms/sites i have not looked at yet while i am looking

Grumpy_chap

Yes, that is what the rules are. Tax Credits did not consider capital and was sometimes manipulated as a result. UC considers capital and, as you are aware, once capital exceeds £16k, UC award is zero.

That is not "unfair" nor "unlucky" but simply how the rules have been purposely established by those that write the rules.

My Wife, older than you, also recently did Functional Skills Maths L2 and found there were jobs available. What support is the College providing where you studied? And / or your Work Coach?

If you are looking for work, are you eligible for nJSA?

lilbooboo

i will look into nJSA as i haven't heard of that, thank you. The maths was not done through a college but through a company called Realise, who were very good, i attended all the lectures through Teams then the exam board are called TQUK and i sat that in my nearby town. After my first fail, Realise assigned me with a one-to-one coach which was really good, although i still found the exam hard, (my fault, i am just terrible at maths and tests in general) i thought the support was brilliant. I don't have a work coach as this support ended when the UC claim did. I have pretty much been looking on my own.

sammyjammy

OP will not have entitlement to NJSA if they've not worked for 20 years.

lilbooboo

if its the same as what used to be jobseekers/dole then i might not do anyway because my husband works full-time. That was the case when i applied years ago before i got my first job. Yes it's been just over 20 years as i left my last job in 200. I do cleaning work as i am looking for permanent full-time work but it's cash in hand so wouldn't count.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020028#Comment_82020028

Unless they claimed NI credits as a Mother - very important job.

lilbooboo

yes i claimed them while i was getting the child tax credits. I just need to return to work sharpish now so i can get at least that many years work in before my retirement age, (plenty of years till that) otherwise they say you can't claim full state pension. Unfortunately, i dont have a private one except for a frozen works one from my job i had before 2005

sammyjammy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020061#Comment_82020061

No that still won't qualify them

strawb_shortcake

Have you had any help with your CV? I think there has been a huge shift in what CV's look like now compared to 20 years ago.

Presumably you've been a stay at home Mum the last 20 years? There's a lot of transferable skills of running a home and being a Mum and lots of strengths you can probably pull out to put in a CV.

My Husband has been able to get a lot of interviews for care work from Indeed, but I'd have thought either care work or cleaning there would be opportunities, shop work certainly locally to me seems quite non existent at the moment.

Have you thought about becoming a self employed cleaner. My friend started out last year and she's done quite well, demand doesn't seem to be dropping even with the cost of living.