Also if you look on the online diary on universal credit if you need the advance at any time it’s one click of a button on your account. You do not need to call them.  If your struggling take it. It comes off at £90 a month for the full £1200 and comes out at source before you get your monthly payment. It helped me massively buy food for me and my child and the dog for the 5 weeks until the next pay out.

I’m feeling very anxious about going on universal credit. I did not give my proper “role”, though one that is not too dissimilar. I have another (much less stable) income route I put down too. I know I should go on it but I hate lying and the act of going on it also when I know I could be working.

It’s all just getting a bit much. I know UC is meant to be set up for people to help them but I hate that I feel the prejudice is so entrenched I shouldn’t even be honest about what I did for fear of repercussions or going on a list. It’s making me feel frightened and alone, and I’m so worried about it part of me feels like I should just cancel the UC and work on the sly. I won’t find out about what I get, if anything, until May. I don’t like the idea of the government probing into my accounts. I have no-one to talk to about it either