A mother and her son who both claim Universal Credit have spoken about their struggles to make ends meet.
Scott and Lorraine Pymer, from Bransholme, Hull, were both at the Job Centre on Ferensway for a Universal Credit appointment when they spoke to Hull Live about their experiences.
Mr Pymer, 19, recently left college with a top engineering qualification - but has since struggled to find a job.
READ MORE - Mum's love of fashion leads to booming business empire set up in council house
Mrs Pymer, who works part time but receives a Universal Credit top up, said she currently had to support them both with her earnings.
Their comments come after the £20 a week uplift was axed about a month ago at the start of October.
The end of the uplift was the biggest cut to benefits in the history of the welfare system, leaving claimants more than £1,000 a year worse off.
The Chancellor announced in his recent Budget speech the taper rate for Universal Credit work payments would be lowered from 63p a pound for every hour worked to 55p - something that would benefit workers such as Mrs Pymer.
Mr Pymer said he left college last year with A Levels in maths and physics and a distinction in engineering and still hoped to get into the profession.
But he added the only jobs he had so far been able to find were factory ones while just about getting by financially.
The 19-year-old said: “I’ve had a few odd jobs since I left college and I’ve been on the scheme for about two or three weeks,
“A lot of the jobs on offer have been factory work recently but ideally I’d like to be in an office.
“But when I look on the jobs sites all I can find is factory work.
“My experience with going to the Job Centre’s been good, it’s helped me a lot with knowing how to look for work.
“Financially I’m just about managing to make ends meet.
“I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll find work eventually but I never expected to have to go through the benefits system and I was a bit apprehensive at first.
“Overall it’s more or less what I expected.”
Mrs Pymer said she remained confident that things would pick up for her and her son despite him having no luck finding work so far.
She said: “I work part time but I get my pay topped up by Universal Credit.
“They take 63p off my Universal Credit payments for every pound I earn in wages, but I think they’re lowering that to 55p soon.
“But I’ve already felt the effect of the £20 a week being taken off.
“Scott hasn’t had his first payment yet either so it’s tough at the moment trying to support us both.
“I do think things will improve for us, I’m confident Scott will find something but I don’t like that he has to come here.“
Sam Allam, 24, another Universal Credit claimant attending his first appointment, told Hull Live he was left with no other option after struggling to find work since he was made redundant a year ago.
He said: “I was a primary school teacher but I was made redundant about a year ago because of lockdown.
“I got another job afterwards but I had to leave that because of my mental health.
“I’ve struggled to find anything else since, so this is the only option I have left. It’s not something I’ve ever had to do before, I don’t really know what to expect.
“I’m not really sure how it all works, but hopefully I won’t struggle too much.”
