Universal Credit’s left me with £140-a-month to live off says working mum backing Sun campaign along with pal CBB star Nicola McLean
Sophie Bavington, 27, is a working parent living trapped in poverty of £140-a-month on Universal Credit
MUM-OF-TWO Sophie Bavington was left with £140-a-month to live on thanks to Universal Credit.
Forced to shell out £1,500 in rent to stay close to her daughter’s school, her £1,640 monthly Universal Credit was barely enough for her family of three to live on.
Sophie is just one thousands of working mums who feel they are being let down by the new Universal Credit benefits system, highlighted by The Sun’s Make Universal Credit Work campaign.
She struck up an unlikely friendship with model and Celebrity Big Brother star Nicola McLean, who’s backing our campaign, after getting chatting over Instagram.
Sophie, mum to daughters Kiki, 5, and Nellie, 2, was working in a gym earning £18k-a-year but had to give it up when Nellie developed severe asthma.
Her frequent breathing difficulties meant she was in and out of hospital.
With no council housing available where the family lived in west London, she was forced to find expensive private accommodation to stay close to her daughter’s school.
She signed on for Universal Credit in 2017 and started to receive £1,640 per month for her family-of-three.
‘I’m working but I’m trapped on UC’
Sophie says she feels trapped by the system. When she wasn’t working she couldn’t afford to live comfortably with her daughters.
Now by working part-time in an office admin role on around £12k a year, it’s hard to make it to all of Nellie’s medical appointments.
“The system doesn’t make sense,” she says. “With income support it was much easier to work flexibly for a living. This way they are forcing you back into work while making it difficult to juggle.
“And if you can’t pay childcare – which costs me £48-a-month – then you are stuffed.”
Are you on Universal Credit? Tell us your story! Email: universalcredit@the-sun.co.uk and join our
Nicola spent half Sophie’s monthly budget on a meal
Sophie’s struggle to make ends meet is only further highlighted by the life of 37-year-old model Nicola, who lives with footballer husband Tom and sons Rocky, 12, and Striker, 8.
Nicola admits that only this week she spent nearly half of Sophie’s monthly budget on a single meal for her family of four.
But after growing up on a London council estate with a single mum who also struggled to put food on the table, Nicola knows all too well how it feels to be trapped in poverty.
And when she learned of Sophie’s plight and the pair struck up a friendship on Instagram, Nicola became determined to join our campaign for change.
“The system is set up to make families fail and that makes me so angry. I’ve got to know Sophie well and she’s a fantastic mum, but seeing her struggle is heart-breaking,” says Nicola.
“I’m surrounded by nice things but I know what it’s like to live hand-to-mouth. When I grew up, we didn’t have a lot.
“I suffer from anxiety and I honestly think I wouldn’t be strong enough to be in Sophie’s position with kids.”
The Sun wants to Make Universal Credit Work
Universal Credit replaces six benefits with a single monthly payment
Universal Credit replaces six benefits with a single monthly payment. One million people are already receiving it and by the time the system is fully rolled out in 2023, nearly 7 million will be on it.
But there are big problems with the flagship new system – it takes 5 weeks to get the first payment and it could leave some families worse off by thousands of pounds a year.
And while working families can claim back up to 85% of their childcare costs, they must find the money to pay for childcare upfront – we’ve heard of families waiting up to 6 months for the money.
Working parents across the country told us they’ve been unable to take on more hours – or have even turned down better paid jobs or more hours because of the amount they get their benefits cut.
It’s time to Make Universal Credit work. We want the government to:
- Get paid faster: The government must slash the time Brits wait for their first Universal Credit payments from five to two weeks, helping stop 7 million from being pushed into debt.
- Keep more of what you earn: The work allowance should be increased and the taper rate should be slashed from from 63p to 50p, helping at least 4 million families.
- Don’t get punished for having a family: Parents should get the 85 per cent of the money they can claim for childcare upfront instead of being paid in arrears.
Together, these changes will help Make Universal Credit Work.
‘I feel so vulnerable’
Although it wasn’t easy financially on the previous benefits system either, Sophie says receiving housing benefit, weekly tax credits and income support every fortnight meant she was able to manage her money well.
“I got very good at budgeting,” she says.
“I knew what I was spending to the last penny. It helped that the money came in a bit at a time.”
All that changed with the introduction of Universal Credit in her area last year, which replaces individuals’ benefits with a single monthly payment.
As she switched onto the new system, Sophie got a single lump sum advance of £710 to tide her over for five weeks until her first full payment arrived. But because the advance is technically a loan, she has to repay it at £46-a-month.
Sophie is living on a knife edge. “I am terrified they will change the system again and I will be left with nothing,” she says. “You feel so vulnerable.”
“I’m finding it much harder to budget as that money had to last all month,” she says.
“I have never let myself go into debt but it would be very easy to do it.”
What to do if you have problems claiming Universal Credit
IF you’re experiencing trouble applying for your Universal Credit, or the payments just don’t cover costs, here are your options:
Apply for an advance – Claimants are able to get some cash within five days rather than waiting weeks for their first payment. But it’s a loan which means the repayments will be automatically deducted from your future Universal Credit pay out.
Alternative Payment Arrangements – If you’re falling behind on rent, you or your landlord may be able to apply for an APA which will get your payment sent directly to your landlord. You might also be able to change your payments to get them more frequently, or you can split the payments if you’re part of a couple.
Budgeting Advance – You may be able to get help from the government to help with emergency household costs of up to £348 if you’re single, £464 if you’re part of a couple or £812 if you have children. These are only in cases like your cooker breaking down or for help getting a job. You’ll have to repay the advance through your regular Universal Credit payments. You’ll still have to repay the loan, even if you stop claiming for Universal Credit.
Cut your Council Tax – You might be able to get a discount on your Council Tax or be entitled to Discretionary Housing Payments if your payments aren’t enough to cover your rent.
Foodbanks – If you’re really hard up and struggling to buy food and toiletries, you can find your local foodbank who will provide you with help for free. You can find your nearest one on the
Friends can’t afford to feed their kids
As well as learning all about how difficult life is for Sophie and the girls, Nicola says she’s seen the impact Universal Credit on lots more of her friends and family.
“I’ve looked after friends’ children for them as they’re forced to go back to work and they can’t pay childcare,” she says.
“I’ve got other friends who have gone to food banks as they can’t afford to feed their kids. It feels like we are going backwards – I can’t believe this is happening in 2018.”
Both Nicola and Sophie agree that The Sun’s campaign hasn’t come a moment too soon.
“It’s so timely and hopefully the government will sit up and listen to the way their decisions are impacting decent ordinary families,” says Nicola.
“I know of relationships breaking down because of the stress of Universal Credit.
“It is making it hard for families to survive and it is the children who will end up suffering the most. So what The Sun is doing to highlight this is amazing.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Sophie, who hopes that by the time Nellie goes to school things will have changed for the better.
“People are so judgemental – they tend to think the worst about anyone who is on benefits but while there have been people trying to manipulate the system I’ve always been a worker, and so are the people I know in similar situations,” she says.
“We’re just mums trying to do their best – but Universal Credit is making life so hard for us.”
A DWP spokesman said: “As part of Ms Bavington’s Universal Credit payment, she receives the maximum amount of support for housing each month.”