Are other full-time working families finding there is nothing left?

When I rule the world, I will tax every. single. person who has an income of more than (at present) £12,570, regardless where the income comes from.

Yes & scrap NI & just have 1 tax.

It’s fuelled by increase in taxes to increase benefits and the endless entitlement shown by the recipients in threads like these. It’s not going away until it is corrected.

The level of resentment is fueled by the media which is fueled by politicians a few months ago it was all about pip now its all about uc give it a few months and it will be all about pensions

Maybe it passed me by but I don't remember this level of resentment towards those on benefits. I think it is fuelled by a feeling that there are an increasing number of people on benefits that do not need to be. Many people have mental health issues but continue working (myself included) and feel unfairly treated. I do know people that are unable to leave the house due to mental health but equally I know of people that lead a normal life while not working at all! The most galling thing is when people are already on benefits with no intention of working and then go on to have children! Who do they think is going to pay for them?! And no - I don't have children myself for the reason I'm not mentally resilient enough to have them.

Imagine the worry of having to pay all your bills and housing costs alongside the worry of refundancy. Makes benefits and social housing seem like luxury living. Guaranteed monthly income and low to no housing costs.

What I find funny about this (I assume you're laughing at the person cutting down on "luxuries", apologies if not)... If people don't go to the theatre the theatres close down. The actors and ticket sellers and popcorn queue people are out of work. The venue closes down and is another mothball on the grim high street. This is all a big problem for everyone even if you sneer at other people's restrictions.

The coffee guy on my local high street gets £5 a day from my husband and I because it's amazing, a nice pick me up and we like supporting a small business. I'd give up lunch before that coffee.

You are saying you fully agree there’s nothing left… you must be putting alot into your pensions and savings if you say your mortgage is low and you can only afford a weekend in Chester on 200k+!!!!

Sorry but i don’t think you come into the category of having nothing left.

I wouldnt rely on the ONS.

It doesnt tally with what I see.

I see children in poverty, families struggling to make ends meet, more so now less qualify for free school meals and prescriptions.

If you are low skilled you are stuck, not through lack of trying, but stuck because you haven't got the qualifications or experiences to make a huge jump in earnings to pull you out of benefits.

Life for these families is a struggle.

It is sad that families who have mid to high earners are now saying thdy struggle too

Not sure why ppl turn it into a competition. Those on benefits are struggling too and they have been for much longer. No idea why people hate on them.

Yes there are a minority that might be playing the system but it is so much harder to do now. It wasnt on tax credits. There are minorities that avoid tax and paying their way higher up the ladder too. Funny how less people direct their anger at them and come down on the ones who earn so little.

If they're renting (because theyre disabled and unable to work), the boiler and house repairs woll be paid for by the LL. Presumably most peole too disabled to work would also qualify for a motability car?

I think the point is that you're lucky to be home at 5.30pm. I work FT and if I'm in the office I am out from 7am to 7pm.

I'm not angry, i'm saying the policy is wrong. The benefit bill could be massively reduced by that threshold not being in place.

If you don't have a job and something happens to your house or your car then it stays unfixed or broke until you do have a job quite frankly. Why is anyone thinking it's okay that they receive benefits when they have thousands of pounds in the bank. If you have money, you should not be going to the state for money, it's as simple as that.

The original post was asking people how they are managing with the cost of living and my point was that many people are struggling to save due to the cost of living that are working, yet the UK government allow people to have up to 16k in the bank who are on benefits, it's wrong. Maybe if they reduced it they would be able to increase the tax thresholds and then everyone who works would have more money.

WW2 lasted 6 years, rationing another ?10?

The potato famine lasted ?7 years . that comes to mind as the rich had food and wouldn’t share. Something never change

You have chosen to have 3 children! You’ve made choices! You could choose not to work but you have not made that choice.

A cleaner and takeaways because you’re too tired to clean and cook 😂 and this is somehow unjust!!

I’m a single parent, got in at 17:30 yesterday, cooked a roast chicken for me and my DD, tidied up while it was cooking and DD did some school work at the kitchen table. Tidied up after dinner. Sat down at 20:00. I could have moaned about being out of the house since 07:30 and got a takeaway because I was too tired to cook and I could pay for a cleaner because I’m too tired to clean but I don’t as I have made my choices and it’s no one else’s fault or responsibility as to what those choices are.

This is false. If you quit a job for no reason and refuse to work you are not entitled to anything
On UC you can only not work if your child is under 3.
You either need to be very poorly, caring for someone a lot, or have a qualifying disability to not work.

The old system tax credits was the last time people could just not work and also cheat the system as it was paid in basic guesswork over a year and then "checked" after the year.

UC is tied to yoir national insurance number so you cannot lie about how much you are earning or not earning and you cannot qualify for things like prescriptions or free school meals by lying.

You cannot choose to not work and get UC.

And each year the work threshold for couples and single people go up meaning you have to earn more to qualify for a top up

I wouldnt rely on the ONS.

It doesnt tally with what I see.

I see children in poverty, families struggling to make ends meet, more so now less qualify for free school meals and prescriptions.

If you are low skilled you are stuck, not through lack of trying, but stuck because you haven't got the qualifications or experiences to make a huge jump in earnings to pull you out of benefits.

Life for these families is a struggle.

It is sad that families who have mid to high earners are now saying thdy struggle too

Not sure why ppl turn it into a competition. Those on benefits are struggling too and they have been for much longer. No idea why people hate on them.

Yes there are a minority that might be playing the system but it is so much harder to do now. It wasnt on tax credits. There are minorities that avoid tax and paying their way higher up the ladder too. Funny how less people direct their anger at them and come down on the ones who earn so little.

If you want to lower your tax bill, you salary sacrifice from your gross income (and employers contribute as well this varies on the generosity of their pension scheme but it’s a percentage of your salary) - you sacrifice some of your gross salary into the company pension scheme tax free so you are only taxed on the remainder salary. Up to £60k - meaning you can’t put in more per year tax free.

That pension pot increases and you can draw from it from the age of 57. You then might have to pay some tax as usual income tax.

But it’s a very useful way to save tax efficiently and when you save enough for your lifestyle you can retire on this income up to 10 years before state pension age. And then get your state pension additional.

All I can say is, it doesn't last forever. The cloud will lift, just hang on in there

It’s been years though

I think you are quoting the wrong person re the savings. I’m not bothered about that at all but was just trying to clarify the figures from all of your assertions as they don’t meet what the ONS reports