Little known extras on UC

[ruffneck23]

I thought I would post this thread as it might help some people on UC and invite others to to add.

I'm coming off UC tomorrow and they have actually been very helpful when I have been on (apart from the pittance you get especially with the uplift being well, de up lifted)

In the last few weeks I got them to pay for 2 exams at a cost of £90 each, and got a job centre plus discount rail card, this essentially gives me 3 months travel anywhere for a 50% reduction, It cost me nothing but 2 passport photos and a trip to the job centre.
Just a quick edit re hitmouse posts , I told them I was rubbish with money so had fortnightly payments from the off.
Something they don't advertise, they did say they don't help everyone with exam costs but I proved it was genuinely needed to help me get a job (and it did)

Anyone else know of any other things you can get off them? as you may as well get as much as possible from them if you can.

 

[hitmouse]

Dunno how much help they are, especially to the specific question, but these might have some relevance:

Resources – Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty

Stuff the DWP (don’t want us to know about Universal Credit) – Liverpool Solidarity Federation

liverpoolsf.org

Universal Credit

Universal Credit (UC) is a means-tested benefit for everyone of working age – those who are unemployed, those who are unable to work, and those who are in work but not earning much. It is replacing…

scottishunemployedworkers.net

Know Your Rights

Printable booklets: colour 18-08-20 Know Your Rights booklet ; black and white 18-08-20 Know Your Rights b and w booklet; colour for areas without UC Full Service 18-08-22 Know Your Rights (not UC …

scottishunemployedworkers.net

 

[MrSki]

Can you claim for a camera?

 

[Epona]

Can you claim for a camera?

You aren't even supposed to need an ID card or passport to be able to claim UC (although when I went through it in 2019 without passport/driving license/Photo ID it was not easy and I had to go back in several times with other documents)

 

[MrSki]

You aren't even supposed to need an ID card or passport to be able to claim UC (although when I went through it in 2019 without one it was not easy and I had to go back in several times with other documents)

Yeah same here. Letter from Doctors, HMRC polling card & I even took my library card. Along with my old passport that passed away in 2006.

 

[Epona]

Yeah same here. Letter from Doctors, HMRC polling card & I even took my library card. Along with my old passport that passed away in 2006.

I had some difficulty because ID has been a problem for a long time for me (I was without even a bank account for over a decade and kind of off the grid in ID terms, I still don't have a passport or driving license and those credit score agencies are still unable to verify my existence) but I think I ended up providing a council tax bill in my married name, a mortgage statement for my current address in my maiden name, my birth certificate, my marriage certificate, and a gas statement in my married name at this address (on pre-payment card though).

I recall thinking at the time how the fuck do homeless people claim benefits? If it is that difficult for me to provide suitable documents to prove who I am, how the fuck do people in a worse situation than me manage it?

(And we never got any UC payments anyway, OH got 16 hours of casual agency work after about 5 weeks with no income and 1 week before we were due to get our backdated UC and they cancelled our entire joint claim over 16 hours work after 5 weeks with nothing - fucking bastards)

 

[MrSki]

Yeah & you need a smart phone & regular internet access. Where I live the library is not open every day so that would be a problem too. They certainly don't make it easy.

 

[Kev424242]

When I made my successful claim for UC, back in April 2020, it was done online and over the phone. The only ID I had was my birth certificate, and a 20 year old Medical card.

A year later they did a follow up ID check, by phone,which I passed. It consisted of 2 questions:- Name a previous address and any previous employee?

I stopped claiming shortly after, so don't know if they would have been more thorough when face-to-face contact resumed.

 

[Elpenor]

Can you claim for a camera?

I couldn’t do point 4 as there is no road sign for the road I live on, it does have a name, but it’s not used on some maps.

 

[weepiper]

I couldn’t do point 4 as there is no road sign for the road I live on, it does have a name, but it’s not used on some maps.

I couldn't do it because the street signs round here are all about 15 feet high on the first floor level walls. What a ridiculous requirement.

 

[equationgirl]

I couldn't do it because the street signs round here are all about 15 feet high on the first floor level walls. What a ridiculous requirement.

Same here, and although I live on the first floor I would have to Spiderman along to the corner to see the sign. If indeed it exists at the corner which I remain unconvinced about.

Think that's the same for most cities and built up areas, the signs are way off the ground.

 

[equationgirl]

Also if I had to do 3 with me in front of the door to the close, the number would be obscured by me. Proving, um, nothing other than I'm stood in front of a random open door.

 

[WouldBe]

Also if I had to do 3 with me in front of the door to the close, the number would be obscured by me. Proving, um, nothing other than I'm stood in front of a random open door.

My street sign is about 1/2 mile away.

 

[StoneRoad]

Pleased I don't have to jump those five hoops.

I don't have a photo ID ...

Our front door doesn't face the street and you can't (safely) get far enough away to show the whole building anyway - have the DWP wazzucks never heard of trees, hedges and fences ...?

And I've yet to find a street sign for the road I live on, which goes by different names depending on who you ask !

Our "local" paper is a weekly, published on a Friday and covers a huge area ...

 

[equationgirl]

I just checked and I think the only sign is on the opposite corner across the road. I wonder if the would accept a continuous video of me zooming in on the sig over the road, walking through the flat, out through the flat front door with no numbers, down the stairs and out through the close front door with a close up of the number then finishing with me in front of it.

They wouldn't accept it, I bet.

 

[Epona]

In London a lot of signs with road names are high up on buildings (especially in areas with older buildings still standing), the only way you could take a photo with your right hand on the sign would carry a risk of death.

 

[WouldBe]

In London a lot of signs with road names are high up on buildings (especially in areas with older buildings still standing), the only way you could take a photo with your right hand on the sign would carry a risk of death.

Maybe that's what the bastards are hoping for.

 

[MrSki]

Not sure which thread this should be on but will leave it here & hope those that need it see it but please feel free to share if you think it is helpful on any other thread.

 

[bmd]

Six Universal Credit Benefits you can get that you might not know about. This article repeats some of what is said on this thread.

 

[weepiper]

If you're in Scotland and you have children under 16 you can get an extra £25 a week for each of them via the Scottish Child Payment. You have to apply via the Scottish government but UC is a qualifying benefit.

 

[Pickman's model]

In London a lot of signs with road names are high up on buildings (especially in areas with older buildings still standing), the only way you could take a photo with your right hand on the sign would carry a risk of death.

for example

 

[bmd]

for example
View attachment 359772

Not sure what's stopping anyone there? That looks like a perfectly serviceable ladder above the shop sign. Shin up the zone sign, edge across the shutters, reach up over the shop sign, climb up the 'ladder' and you're golden.

 

[bmd]

Not sure if this is exactly the right place for it but I've just got £157 out of them for interview clothes. I was refused £104 for a jacket as you don't need one for an interview, apparently. Who knew?! From Next because when she said Primark I started crying.


Shirt - £18 - Buy Navy Slim Fit Wool Donegal Suit: Jacket from the Next UK online shop

Tie - £16 - Buy Recycled Polyester Textured Tie With Tie Clip from the Next UK online shop

Trousers - £55 - Buy Navy Slim Fit Wool Donegal Suit: Jacket from the Next UK online shop

Shoes - £68 - Buy Mens Contrast Sole Leather Brogues from the Next UK online shop

Jacket - £104 - https://www.next.co.uk/g75337s13/T59165#T59165 (wouldn't let me have this.)

Total = £261:00 £157

In other news, Liz Truss spent over £4k on a shelf to hold her book.

 

[ruffneck23]

Not sure if this is exactly the right place for it but I've just got £157 out of them for interview clothes. I was refused £104 for a jacket as you don't need one for an interview, apparently. Who knew?! From Next because when she said Primark I started crying.


Shirt - £18 - Buy Navy Slim Fit Wool Donegal Suit: Jacket from the Next UK online shop

Tie - £16 - Buy Recycled Polyester Textured Tie With Tie Clip from the Next UK online shop

Trousers - £55 - Buy Navy Slim Fit Wool Donegal Suit: Jacket from the Next UK online shop

Shoes - £68 - Buy Mens Contrast Sole Leather Brogues from the Next UK online shop

Jacket - £104 - https://www.next.co.uk/g75337s13/T59165#T59165 (wouldn't let me have this.)

Total = £261:00 £157

In other news, Liz Truss spent over £4k on a shelf to hold her book.

Thanks for this , just been to the job centre and got a shirt , trousers , jacket and shoes from Next coming to about £159 all courtesy of UC...

 

[bmd]

Thanks for this , just been to the job centre and got a shirt , trousers , jacket and shoes from Next coming to about £159 all courtesy of UC...

Did you really get a jacket? Fuming! My work coach is one of those people who confidently announces all sorts of life rules that they've just made up. Like "you don't need a jacket for an interview!" They said the other day that I didn't need a passport for an identity check during the DBS process. I responded with the email address of the DBS checking person in that organisation and said that they were welcome to inform her of that fact and then I would cancel my request for £82.50 to replace mine. I got the £82.50.

I took my girl out for a steak dinner on the clothes money.

P.S. got a job! I've got a FACKIN JOB! Working with homeless people who inject drugs. COME ON! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[ruffneck23]

Yeah, I just asked for a suit, so ordered it as one..
Congrats on getting a job, hope it all works out for you.

 

[Pickman's model]

Thanks for this , just been to the job centre and got a shirt , trousers , jacket and shoes from Next coming to about £159 all courtesy of UC...

when i was on the dole i wanted to get some interview clothes (i had been on the dole about 3 years) but the scrote who was my 'adviser' was a wanker and refused to authorise

 

[savoloysam]

Always kick up a fuss if a job centre advisor is being deliberately obtuse. I used to work there years ago and it never failed when people demanded that extra mile.

 

[Glitter]

Wow! Next is good. I left 3 years ago and we had to use Matalan.

 

[ruffneck23]

when i was on the dole i wanted to get some interview clothes (i had been on the dole about 3 years) but the scrote who was my 'adviser' was a wanker and refused to authorise

I've had 3 job coaches since December the first one was amazing who I had from Sept (she got involved to sort the clothes out even after she had been moved to the 'youth' dept), sorted out job fairs, rails fares etc

The other one I saw once then he went off for weeks and I met my new one last week and he seems pretty useless tbh doesn't seem to know much about anything.

I want my original one back as she actually seemed to care.