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

Ah yes, let’s blame the Labour government of less than two years and not the failed austerity, Brexit lies and economic mismanagement of the party in power for the previous 14 years. Because OBVIOUSLY it’s the VAT on school fees that’s the issue.

Not enough.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 fuck me, absolute wierdo 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I assumed parody too.

I’d hazard a guess that most people on benefits are vulnerable - physically or mentally. I don’t think this is winning. It’s a sad situation all round.

Exactly. £200 is some peoples monthly food budget.

Being on benefits is not winning. What a ridiclous thing to say

What’s that got to do with a thread about living standards?

Who are you to tell her what she should and should not speak up about. Pipe down you loony.

I know, i gave a rough, lost my personal allowance and also pay some at 48%.

Overall it works out roughly total 40%

Depends on what benefits you get and if your in social housing or private

if your a single person with no ill health it’s around £100 week
plus rent but depending on where you live your benefit for rent may not be enough

if your ill or can’t work & get the highest amount of pip and you were transferred over from legacy benefits and you have social housing it’s a decent amount
if your coming over from the old style ESA system

a single person no kids

legacy benefits from ESA support group is around 1k a month
PIP is 700. If you have the highest rates

rent if you have HA / council Is say 440

so your already getting 2140 a month in LCWRA & PIP/ legacy benefits and rent

minus of the rent and your down to
1700 a month
council tax most areas you can get 100 percent reduction if your not working

so in your pocket each month is roughly 425 a week made up from LCWRA & PIP if you transferred over from the old legacy benefit

no rent to pay as you get that paid
no council tax as you get a reduction
free prescription

you might have to pay the room tax though which could be anything from around 60 -100 a month

If your just on UC and in the LCWRA group and have no transitional protection on your claim your roughly down by around 50 a week or 200 a month

if you have kids you can add roughly a further 280 a month on

And if those kids have any disabilities and you get DLA that another 400 -700 a month

Which they pay tax on.

@Mightneedencouraged I don't really care what you think is reasonable and nor will anyone else. Some people get a thrill from self denial but most do not.

It's not self denial. My pleasure comes in the comfort and stability of being mortgage free (from saving like crazy and paying the mortgage off) and not ever having to worry about the bills regardless of how high.

It's not Labour's fault the Tories wrecked the economy over 14 years. They do it every time people are stupid enough to keep voting them into power and Labour are left to clear up their mess, getting nothing but abuse for it.

Yes, us.

2x kids, 2x FT jobs and DH takes a couple of casual shifts in bar when he can. Definitely not even close to six figures 🙄

We’re in an expensive area of the country and toed down here. We’re not saving a penny at the moment and perilously close to the overdraft limit every month. I’m feeling very uneasy about the future.

We stay in a pocket of glasgow thats quite desirable ( for schooling) although our house is very normal and small, was a 3 bed semi now a 4 bed, no utility room ( that is the dream lol) or garage.

Are you having a laugh???

That is a huge amount of money each month and unless you have a £4k mortgage, you should live very, very well on that and also be able to save.

I take home around £4300 and have a £600 mortgage and am still able to put around £1.5k a month away in savings. I am very lucky to be in this position as a single parent and I do feel loaded.

Welcome to the new 1980s

Yeah i think it works out about 40% total as i lost my personal allowance some time last year.

Both mr and my husband earn just under £30k ea h. We live in Scotland so our house is cheaper but still our mortgage rate went up last year, council tax has gone up £350 a year, we have to replace large household appliance, we had a car accident which means we had to pay an excess abc our insurance had gone up.

we used to be able to safe a lot each month, would maybe go out for a meal here and there, go away for overnight trips and have a holiday. Now it feels like we just work and exist. I never used to check prices when doing a food shop and that was on a much lower income.

We are childless and actually now I’m starting to feel glad as we don’t turn have the added cost of another human and only have ourselves to support. Although it also means we get nothing extra , no UC or child benefit etc.its the average person like us who bears the cost of this and really feels it cut deep .

When the support does come through it will just be for people on benefits. Sod the rest of us.

The top 10% of earners aren't even in the same galaxy as the wealthiest 10% of people.

It would take someone earning £100,000 a year 36,000 years to earn what James Dyson made in a year. Yet James Dyson had an effective tax rate of c3.6%.

That's what needs to be addressed. Not people on £100k, £200k or even £500k pa.

I'm honestly fed up of the 'if you tax billionaires they'll leave' line as an argument against wealth taxes. It's just so ignorant I'm surprised people aren't embarrassed to say it.

There is no such thing as 'a wealth tax'. It's a concept that we should tax wealth and assets more or equally as we do work. There are lots of different ways to do this, for example changes to how we tax dividends, assets, shares, adding an exit tax for people who DO leave. Are people arguing against wealth taxes really saying we shouldn't change how we tax wealth or assets at all?

That’s eye watering. I always thought property in Scotland was cheaper than elsewhere, but my two bedroom cottage is worth more than your 4 bedroom!

How is someone in constant pain and bed bound winning? Hospital treatment is almost impossible to obtain. And the only way you can increase your income is benefit raises.

@ThatCoolGoose I don’t think it’s necessary I have clearly stated they are luxuries so maybe read what I have said before jumping down my throat. But I am allowed to fed up of working and each year my money going less far than it did the year before. I am lucky that I can pay my bills and essentials but I do miss being able to also afford little luxuries that make life more fun and I am not going to apologise for that