A FRUSTRATED mother has claimed that she feels as though Universal Credit has got her “over a barrel.”
Lauren Florence, a single mum from the UK, confirmed that she wasn’t paid for one month of her son’s nursery fees, but now after complaining, has been told that she needs to “be respectful.”
Posting on social media, the working mother, who has a son named Max, expressed her frustrations at her situation, leaving many totally stunned.
The brunette acknowledged that she only claims for the childcare element of Universal Credit, whereby she normally gets up to 85% of her childcare costs paid back to her.
Every month, Lauren pays her nursery bill and then uploads the documents straight onto Universal Credit straight after.
While previously Lauren had “never” had any problems with the process, she recognised that this all changed in April.
Read more on Universal Credit
She explained: “I’ve never had any issues until the month of April when I did my evidence, I uploaded it and they came back straight away and said, ‘actually, that’s not good enough evidence.’”
Lauren confirmed that the evidence she had uploaded was her nursery bill and her bank statements, to which she went back to Universal Credit and confirmed that she was “physically” unable to get any more evidence.
To this, Lauren was told “don’t worry about it, we can see that you’ve done it – that’s fine.”
However, the content creator then confirmed that weeks later, when she should have been paid her benefits, she wasn’t.
She continued: “Anyway, it comes to my payment this month – no payment, I message them in the journal and they’re like, ‘you didn’t upload your evidence in time, so you’re not getting a payment.’”
Lauren revealed that she was then told to go to a “decision maker,” to fix the issue.
To this, she explained: “When I put in my journal that I’m now really short on money and I’ve now got to pay my next nursery bill and it’s late and I need them to pay my last nursery bill, they put in the comments, ‘please be respectful.’”
Stunned by the blunt response, Lauren shared: “I haven’t sworn, I haven’t had an attitude, I’ve just said I need the money to pay for my next nursery bill and now they’re saying it can take up to three months for a decision maker.”
I’m quite a lot of money down for something that I don’t know how to fix
Lauren Florence
Unsure on what to do next, the mother asked people to share their advice, which she acknowledged would be “greatly appreciated.”
The confused mum then expressed: “I don’t know what to do – I’m quite a lot of money down for something that I don’t know how to fix.”
Where to find parental support
NSPCC – Offers support for parents, from helping to get babies to sleep, bonding with your baby, managing family life, dealing with bullying and even parental mental health.
Action For Children – Offers a parenting programme “to help parents and children bond, learn, or overcome difficulties”.
Family Lives – Call free on 0808 800 2222 for emotional support, information, advice and guidance on any aspect of parenting and family life.
Social media users react
Lauren’s TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @mumlifewithmax, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 70,400 views.
And it’s clear that Lauren isn’t the only mother to have had issues receiving her benefits, as numerous other parents raced to the comments to share their similar experiences.
One person said: “Universal Credit is not fit for purpose. It doesn’t pay single parents to work. If I work more than 16 hours a week I’m worse off!”
Still owe me £1,100 from last August
TikTok user
Another added: “Same, I upload 4/5 pieces of evidence each time and they still question it some times. It’s enough to put me off claiming for it.”
A third commented: “I’ve seen a few people saying the same, they’ve gone really fussy with childcare.”
Meanwhile, someone else chimed in: “Yep I had problems. I gave my invoice in and they were being really hard at accepting it. Almost like they don’t want to help.”
Not only this, but one furious mother claimed: “Still owe me £1,100 from last August.”
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