Too Many Cuts...come join the #Frothers and have your say

And garlic yep- my BIL. Who is Mr Arch Tory.

£19,055 and £11,882. Combined is £30,937. Works out to £595/wk. WELL over the £365 a week limit for a couple. Sorry, No UC payable. They're fuckers.

And why is it called universal credit when it isn't universal?

OK so having an autistoc child-

there is no respite: we are classe as being an emergency cases but were refused on basis we won;t harm our boys: locally the criteria for respite or care (note care: as in we won;t be able to institutionalise them either) is that the main carer must be either harming the child or terminally ill.

So, I have four boys, all conceived with FT employment etc etc etc.

DS has HFA, he attends a Base for kids who have autism but academic ability. He is aggressive: and it is odd, it comes out of the blue- an example is that DH was walking along a road with him and ds2 and ds1 just pushed him in front of a car, for some perceived insult 12 months before. We also get days like today where he is in constant meltdown and has hit maybe 40, 50 times. There is no way he can be in a room without an adult if there are other children in it. he has lots of otehr stuff as wel such as eating disorders and I am going to have to re-shop as he did a binge raid last night. usually i wake to check he is in his room every 2 - 3 hours but I missed it last night, i do soemtimes through exhaustion. he settles about midnight.
He needs help withe very aspect of organisation, hygiene anbd basic things- such as wearing a jumper in this weather or avoiding teh foods he cannot eat.

DS2 has no diagnosis but school refer to him as borderline dyspraxic, borderline ADD. Nobody will take the referral on. He has no real attention span so needs constant reminders and prompting. if we were a different family i would be fighting for a dx for him but we are limited in what we can do.

DS3 has more severe autism, he attenmds a Primary base. He talks but not clearly and that goes if he is distressed (aged 8). He is loveable, sweet- and totally biddable, with no sense of security or safety, and he has severe and frequent absences not unlike epilepsy but that was ruled out. he is 'caught in the middle'- he can write but only if someone leans over him telling him each letter; he can complete a task only if somoene is with him 1-1 to tell him to keep on task. LEA wanted to send him to MS Comp with no help- not a hope! This is my next battle I guess.

DS4 is 3 but ahs clear traits of AS. he will I imagine get a dx although I have no expectation of him needing SEN input or anything as yet. he is fine as long as you keep to the same routine, never take a different route home or replace a coat or choose a jumper he does not like. He hates clothing and strips off at night, this is a PITA with ehating as he can't tolerate blankets either - can't tell he is cold in fact, quite common on the spectrum. Je won;t ever get DLA as he has missed the system but if he did then it would go on heating and smoothies, as smoothies are the only fruit and veg he will ingest (also spectrum-common). He eats choccy cereal in the morning with soya milk but only if the milk is the one with the giraffe on; ham sandwich cut widthways with orange juice and an alpro yoghurt for lunch. Dinner we serve what we eat adn he just refuses it. But we think it is important for him to wines variety. Until alst week he was still BF in order to keep his nutrients up but my meds now prohbit that.

Dh was a transport manager for TNT. he was amde redundant so started a small business and went to uni. He is working harder and harder to keep going and also has depression problems. I fear it will make him ill.

It will make him ill; it always does.

I am a carer obviously, plus a PT student studying autism. I tried to start my own business but everything got on top of me with the worry and I had a mini breakdown and on GP advice can't take anything on for at least a month. My meds amke me very ill indeed but I need them becuase otherwise I doubt I would have seen Christmas. I couldn;t cope with the worry about the boys and their futures and the annual rent renewal (private rented) and constant cuts any more. not with the exhaustion as well.

I think so, RuddyNorah. I don't think you will get ANY UC - but I'll double check. I've got to work out what you'd earn AFTER tax though.

Just quickly - UC will be paid monthly, too. So my childcare will be an eye-watering £1,989 a month, or £23,868 A YEAR.

WOW. Just WOW.

My housing costs are £521.56 a month (And I'm in a house rented from a Housing Association, it'd be a HELL of a lot more in private). Which is £6,259 a year.

So just for Rent and Childcare, my costs would be £30,127. Without Council Tax, Electric, Gas, Water and Food. All essentials. How the FUCK would we live on an 'average' wage without any top-ups??

I don't understand.

What do I need to read? We both work, him 35 hrs, earning about £25k, me working 20hrs, earning about £14k. Currently get minimum ctc £38 a month then child benefit for 2 kids. Am I supposed to be worried?

Hunty
How old are your DC and are they in full time childcare?

Must look up the German Kindergarten funding. I know they are state sponsored, but would be interesting to see how much per child.

WHAT, Peachy? People have suggested killing your DC??

Fuck me, we're further down the line of Nazism than we thought ...

(Another note for young readers: the Nazis gassed disabled people as well as Jews, Blacks and Gypsies.)

I will try to write a coherent post for the Blog later - but RL is intervening, I have to go and do some parenting!!

And I no longer get ANY disability benefits for myself, OR my 2 DC that have disabilities. I WAS getting an extra £600 a month from DLA before, last time I worked for any length of time!

Tx for last post, HC :)

No, Garlic's post should stay.

It is what many reading that would think, and it got us thinking outside of the benefits/scroungers box, which is the direction that the Government wants us to go.

It is ridiculous that a normal average wage will not pay for normal average lifestyle.

No, Santa, I asked questions. I can't be expected to know everything about how a family with disabilities live. I have to ask. My questions are the same as most other people's would be.

Hunty, I hope you're going to publish more of your posts on the blog. You're really good at cutting through the mud.

Gallic - those people on £30k have either chosen to have one parent as a SAHP (which they won't necessarily be able to do under UC, unless their partner works 55 hrs a week at NMW or earns MORE than NMW), and if the second parent DOES work, and earns some of the money towards that £30K, then they will ALSO get help with childcare, provided they work more than 16hrs currently. A Lone Parent on NMW doesn't have the option of increasing their work hours to 55 a week, as they won't afford the childcare.

While I can see your point (sort of), the fact is that my childcare costs are WELL in excess of the £210 a week that Tax Credits pay. If you say I work 3 days a week, to make up the 20 hrs, I am paying 3x£108 for my yongest 3 dc = £324.00, and THEN I have to pay £15/hr for my 13yo DD's SN childminder - for 3 hrs a day, 3 times a week - so another £135.00 a week. So my Total childcare is £459.00 a WEEK. Of which only £210 would get paid.

Yes, I am soooooo well off...trying to find £249 a week for childcare out of £121 wages and £74 WTC...If people are genuinely jealous of that, then they need a fucking reality check!!

Garlic you are right about the disability thing: Dh and I have actually got apssports purely so we can piss off in a hurry should we need to.

How scary is that? He ahs a list of European countries that use his trade and we would have to run.

We've already ahd a relative suggesting my boys should be euthanased as they cost too much (in front of ds1 who has HFA and understands ever word), actually that was when I started to lose my grip a little I think.

@Peachy - I wasn't having a moan. I think we are very fortunate. I was using it more as an example because Hunty's maths example didn't include any disability benefits. People will look at those figures as Kate said, and think it's a lot of money when compared to my circumstances. When you make those circumstances personal, as Hunty has done in her blog, people realise the burden that the cuts will unleash.

Also, our expenses are minimal in some ways. You know, mortgage, fuel, water, etc. We manage to have small holidays in the UK and run two cars which I know is more than a lot of people manage. I would have no idea of what the extra financial burden would be for someone with a disabled child. Nappies? taxis? Respite care? I don't know how difficult it is to have an autistic child until Peachy explains.

FWIW I have worked in the benefits sector and follow current affairs. I am sympathetic and open-minded (I hope!) and maybe have a little more idea than Average Joe as to what is involved in claiming benefits and the effect it has on lives. I'm afraid a lot of people will just look at the figures unless you can make it more personal.

Well where I live (admittedly affluent London borough) a three bed flat (forget a house, you're looking at about £2100) is about £1400 per month = £16,800 and childcare for one child is £16,000.

So nearly £33,000 just for rent and childcare, never mind utilities, food, clothes or other essentials which is about £40000 gross income to be able to cover just those two outgoings.

Santa yes, or the people like me whose figures are comparitively tiny due to having older children and hence no childcare costs, and low housing cost compared to the SE

Should have formatted that - the final paragraph's from me, not B&W.

I agree, the problem is complex. Costs have risen while incomes fall. Things are now at the level where you actually need to be well-off to live what we call a decent life. The rich-poor divide has already happened; only the welfare system has been bridging the gap.

If we, as a country, accept that:
[a] Businesses must be able to operate profitably, and
[b] Our people must be able to live reasonably:

Then we must conduct some form of wealth distribution (from profitable -> unable to live decently). That's what the welfare system is intended for.

The ConDems are now saying they don't want the redistribution, therefore [b] is no longer a requirement. They're trying to overcome moral resistance to this cruelty, by portraying the poor as greedy parasites, clutching at the business owner's profits.

This from the Benefits & Work newsletter:

The coalition have stooped to new levels of viciousness this month.

They now propose to end exemption from employment and support allowance (ESA) medicals for people enduring the debilitating misery of chemotherapy. They also want to claw back mortgage interest payments from the estates of dead claimants.

In addition, credit checking agency Experian are to be used as ?bounty hunters? to go through claimants confidential financial records for evidence of fraud.

And the DWP have also teamed up with national charity Crimestoppers in a campaign which shows people with faces contorted with rage and fury ? and even raising a fist ? as they think about claimants they believe are committing fraud.

This is a deliberate alienation campaign. I wonder how long before we see films of rats running out of sewers, juxtaposed with images of disabled claimants? (Reference to Nazi anti-jewish advertisements, for those too young ... The campaigns worked, as we know.)

Three bed here in S E Wales is £595 pa although that's with a discount as we do maintenance.

If we move SSD insist it must be to a 4 bed as ds1 and ds3 have to have separate rooms. ATM ds3 sleeps in a converted dining room.

in fact i might even suggest you delete it.

oh and garlic - those families you say are living on 30k are able to minimise or erase childcare costs due to being a couple and can if dire straits emerge do shifts around each other.

i REALLY wish you hadn't made your post.

I know Kate: people see us with our boys and assume things were always tough for us.

Not at all true: we earned plenty when we had the smaller two. We were anticipating an income of around £50k PA by now, which in Wales is pretty amazing.

Then the genetics shat on us.

It's just so seld defeating, all this: two weeks ago looked at an office set up for me (DH ahs signed up for one) and met business advisor: one week ago had to stop looking on GP medical orders.