Simply insufficient funds to manage
The standard monthly rate for a married couple without children is currently £596.58 (as of June 2021) per month. This falls far below what most people think is the minimum amount needed to live acceptably in the UK. Every year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) publishes a Minimum Income Standard (MIS). The MIS is calculated from research into how much money the general public believes you need to survive. For 2020, it calculated that a married couple would need £1908 per month, to survive. This is almost four times the default amount paid by Universal Credit.
If you a private tenant then the chances are that the whole amount of benefit you receive simply won’t even cover your rent, never mind supporting a minimum standard of living for themselves and their families.
The government incentive
The government state that you “would be better off in work” than on UC, this sounds fairly obvious, however, 2/3rds of all the money you would earn would come off your UC, to investigate just how much better off you would be a table has been created below.
Criteria
A couple, both over 25, rent a house in Spalding, Lincolnshire, Band C
They are both unemployed, no children, pets, car or hobbies
|
Detail |
Both not working | Works 40 hrs/week | Works 60 hrs/week |
|
Income Universal Credit Wage – (4wks/mth at £9.13/hr) |
596.58 |
1460.80 |
2190.75 |
|
Expenditure Council tax charge PAYE tax National Insurance Rent Utilities Food |
50.26 0 0 650.00 100.00 250.00 |
137.42 82.65 79.61 650.00 100.00 250.00 |
137.42 228.65 167.21 650.00 100.00 250.00 |
| Leftover per month | -£453.68 | 161.12 | 657.47 |
| Better off by
|
n/a | £3.84 per hour | £6.94 per hour |
The situations above highlight two simple facts
1 – If do not have a full-time job then there is very little chance of having enough money to survive
2 – Working extra hours makes a significant difference to the “better off by” hourly rate
Websites used to calculate the figures used in the tables above
www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk
www.cambridge.gov.uk
www.mycounciltax.org.uk
www.gov.uk/universal-credit
Refusal of claims
Many claims for Universal Credit are incorrectly rejected which can leave people in dire financial need without any support.
2.22