Cut benefits before increasing council tax

I have. in fact I still do and as such I don't get on well in jobs, and I've tried and tried but they have on numerous occasions threatened to ruin or end my life due to it.

I had no choice but to persevere. Now I am freelance and it's much better, but I still need benefits to top up my income.

I could probably be on PIP but I'm not, I'm on UC.

I didn't say the OP should be affected unless the average band tax is more than she currently pays.

I'm talking about those who own castles, palaces, 10 bedroom houses.

You couldn’t make this up.
The OP might as well have said “I live in a house worth well over half a million - I can’t really afford it though. So when council tax goes up I’ll be screwed.
So, I think people on benefits, especially the disabled, should not be able to have Motability cars. Then I’ll be ok”.

Sadly for the OP if Motability cars were cancelled tomorrow it wouldn’t make her any better off. The PIP component which pays for a Motability car would still be paid. However, because so many cars on the road are Motability then a huge number of jobs would vanish. Every job on the scheme would go, thousands of garages would have to lay off admin, cleaners, salesmen and mechanics. People involved in the building of cars, those involved in importing cars. People involved with the insurance, Kwik fit forvthe tyres and the RAC.
Car manufacturers use the motability scheme to ‘offload’ cars they are struggling to sell and to launch new cars to get them seen on the roads. There’s a choice -not every manufacturer is on the scheme and those that are do not have all of their cars on the scheme. There’s also, unless you get a small car, a rather large ‘up front’ cash payment which can’t be spread and has to be paid upfront. This can be £1500 or £8000. You don’t get this back and three years later you have the same payment to make for a new car. Some of the necessary modifications have to be paid for too.
Most disabled people who need equipment have no option but to choose a car with an upfront payment. My husbands wheelchair and rollator wouldn’t fit in a fiesta.
It’s really nice to blame disabled people for the state of the countries finances .
How terribly metropolitan of you @Bonde .

100% true. It is ridiculously difficult to claim benefits, and moreso if they are for mental health reasons.
I suffer from PTSD and psychosis and have decent medical evidence to prove that and it is still insanely hard to go through the process and prove my point.
I expect to provide this, and describe my symptoms clearly, but there is alot more to the process and the system is genuinely unfair.
If it's difiicult enough for me to have recognition in these terms, mere low level anxiety that doesn't affect your life in a big and limiting way will not make its way through the point scoring and assessments.

No one has any idea what houses will be worth in 20 years time but it is incredibly unlikely that you will see anything like the asset price inflation, in real terms, that the person who bought 30 years ago enjoyed.
My sympathy is all with the person who has just been forced to borrow heavily to buy a home, who has been forced to take on a huge mortgage and then is told about an increase in tax in addition to their large monthly repayments. The person who bought 30 years ago is fortunate, both because they were able to buy for a much more affordable price and because they will now have paid off their mortgage and have a valuable asset. They have lots of choices, the person with the huge debt and v possibly children to raise has a lot less.

You can’t buy a car on the motorbility scheme and this is coming from someone that drives a punto.

cutting benefits would leave more people that cannot work on the street would you like that? I work 20 hours per week all that I can afford and still claim benefits. Someone else I know works 40 hours per weeks still claims benefits because she’s entitled to it as support to function with the living costs. All you lot that are hating on people who have to claim have issues. We all can’t work 90k a year jobs to suffice this no matter what you think. I also don’t want to send my child to childcare like she was until the age of 3 and have to pay £££ however again I was entitled to the 85% childcare fee back scheme… so you’re argument is poor and always attacking the benefits through pure hate that they are allowed and entitled to it.

in an ideal world we’d all earn 70k plus in a two parent household being able to pay childcare by yourself and everything that comes but it isn’t possible.

I know that of course. But it also doesn't mean that it's not the case that everyone with anxiety (as a standalone issue) wouldn't be better off in work, and this is the focus of this discussion.

I do know people who claim PIP for this and I do not think they need it. They could perfectly functionally work. I also know those who claim it and definitely need it.

I do know what level it has to be at to claim PIP. I do think it's open to abuse.

Would you cut any benefits in an ideal world, if so where from? Or wouldn't you?

Bring back the workhouses

I don't think many posters here felt it was empathy you were lacking .....

You’ve never had crippling anxiety then…..

Reverse that. So low paid workers deserve to be practically homeless and relying on food banks as long as the chosen few are OK.

Ideally no one should be suffering but at the moment benefits claimants have a better lifestyle than many low paid. That is not acceptable. Even by saying that you are branded "unkind".

Opinion appears to be changing but the IMF will sort out the situation and ultimately to the detriment if everyone.

The Government are Fabians check out fabian society the are trying to follow the one world government playbook make everyone poor rather like communism. They care not for wealth (apart for themselves). Blair started the push, and is behind starmer. The country allowing open borders, treating them well and with leniency...unsettling the population... its being played out the same across europe, australia, canada and, until Trump, in USA. Remember Klaus Scwab of the World Economic Forum quoted as saying "you will own nothing, but be happy" google it all. This is why we are gradually unable to afford housing, have to cut back endlessly. Homeowners will lose houses , farms close etc watch lots of news channels hunt around on these topics. Get following it all. Are we happy enough yet....sadly not i fear !!

Yes, of course it's grossly unfair. I doubt they will do anything about it though despite the unfairness.

Council tax bands were set in the 1990’s.

I feel for people who may have bought their house 30 years ago but with property price increases may now find themselves in a 500K property which they may then have to pay tax on, their council tax will already be higher anyway. People assume someone in a 500k house chose to have a mortgage that big whereas the house may already be paid off and now cannot afford to live in it. In 20 years time my house may be worth 500k and I am by no means wealthy. Thankfully this government wont get a second term

I'm sorry that you are worried by all the leaks in the press, @Bonde. It's been unhelpful to say the least!
The reality is that they will both try to increase taxes and cut spending because they are rightly worried about the bond markets responding really badly. We've already had several shocks but no breakdown quite yet. Unfortunately, if you only have £0-200 left over after essential bills (assuming you mean food and essential travel too), you have stretched yourself too much to buy. Housing in London and many other places is far too high so you have my sympathy.
If Labour do persist with increasing taxes on property, they should revalue all property and introduce a lot more bands at the higher end so that people pay in proportion to the actual value, not a relic from 35 years ago.

@Bonde why are you starting a thread involving disability benefits when you know fuck all about them?
I know someone with severe arthritis that has to take very strong prescription medication for it with unpleasant side effects.
She's had her mobility car removed from her without explanation and she is struggling to take her two children to school.
Don't talk crap.

Your anecdotal personal experience doesn't prove that everyone with anxiety would be ok if they were just forced to get on with it. You clearly have no idea of how debilitating an anxiety disorder needs to be to get awarded PIP.

There is a world of difference between the social anxiety you describe of not being able to talk to people without going red and the kind where you are so anxious that the only way out you can see is to kill yourself. Or being so anxious that you believe you must be an absolutely terrible person and you can't move from your bed. Or being so anxious that you need reassurance to even make yourself a meal. There is nothing intangible about any of that.

My house is only Band C and yet is £2100 per year. It just isn't really comparable across the country. The value of the house is about £350K.

I think council tax could be fairer. It doesn’t seem right that some in a 30 roomed mansion would be paying the same as a some one had bust a gut to buy a house (probably still very nice, but not at all mansion like) at the bottom of band H.

However, you are very unreasonable for your judgement on disabled people

iIs the fact that Op doesn't wan to have her taxes raised - she wants disability benefits cut to make their lives harder - sticks in my throat and makes me want Op to have an very uncomfortable bed for a good while

The person on mobility scheme is paying for it out of their PIP. Not getting a free car.

If the government were to cut my incredibly meagre benefits I'd literally have such a low quality of life that I would rather be on a psych ward. In fact I'd be so distressed I'd probably need one. And that would cost them a lot more!

Maybe these people you speak of can spend a few pounds a week less on their cans of lager, smokes or whatever vice the lower classes indulge in these days. It all goes a long way when added up throughout the month.

The op is in a 2.5 bed house, it’s not massive at all.

I remember renting (with friends)a massive, two storey, three.bed, three bathroom warehouse conversion flat in inner London, which our landlord must have paid £500k for over15 years ago and that was Band E