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Should I feel guilty for being on universal credit

Dougliffe98
1 month ago

Hello. This is my first time posting on this site so hope it goes well. 

So, for context, I've been living most of my life with ASD and I managed to slog along and graduate from uni in Cyber Security. Before I went to uni, my family moved to the Forest of Dean, in a house in the middle of nowhere (the type of place that makes it hard to travel without a car) and ever since graduating, I've had to move back here to find post-graduate work.

I've applied for almost 100 post graduate jobs, and despite getting very close after a couple of interviews, I'm still not employed. The reason is usually due to a candidate being more qualified, due to the fact that I had a hard time doing an internship during university, and have no practical experience in the working world. I also tried applying for some part time work based on things I did part time during uni (bar / hotel work), etc and again, no dice. I don't know why it's waay harder to find work that I've already done, but there you go.

So I decided to take out universal credit; I know I sound like a scrounger, but at this point, I don't really care. I have been applying for jobs pretty much every day (including basic admin work) and no luck, though my work coach says that I have been putting the effort in and then some.  I need to have some leisure, in order to not get cabin fever in this house and everything is so expensive these days. I've even had to fork out some money on hotels, due to trains constantly being cancelled (the railway line that takes me to  where I live is prone to landslides).

To avoid any stigma surrounding this, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Parents
  • 30 days ago

    For a long time my work was very low paid and I could have claimed Universal Credit but I didn't look into it due to similar feelings like I was taking it away from someone else. There are the haves and the have nots. If you have not, you shouldn't feel guilt about claiming support. If you don't have enough to get by comfortably and live life, you also shouldn't feel guilty for taking support. If you have loads and take take take and avoid paying tax and act like a greedy dragon, that's a different issue. But saving a little cushion for the times with no money is also nothing to be ashamed of. 

    Try to be kind to yourself. I'm glad you're recognising your needs for leisure. It sounds like you're doing everything you can on the employment front. I hope your work coach is also guiding you toward support to help you in your efforts.

Reply
  • 30 days ago

    For a long time my work was very low paid and I could have claimed Universal Credit but I didn't look into it due to similar feelings like I was taking it away from someone else. There are the haves and the have nots. If you have not, you shouldn't feel guilt about claiming support. If you don't have enough to get by comfortably and live life, you also shouldn't feel guilty for taking support. If you have loads and take take take and avoid paying tax and act like a greedy dragon, that's a different issue. But saving a little cushion for the times with no money is also nothing to be ashamed of. 

    Try to be kind to yourself. I'm glad you're recognising your needs for leisure. It sounds like you're doing everything you can on the employment front. I hope your work coach is also guiding you toward support to help you in your efforts.

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