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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think benefits are pretty LOW actually. How much do you get?

194 replies

ItsGraceActually · 10/08/2010 18:08

I'm on ESA (used to be 'sick benefit'). I get £90 a week, plus my rent (£400/month) and council tax (£100/month).

With my £90 a week, I pay for heating - it's an all-electric house on a pre-pay meter; water rates; phone, internet, mobile, etc; TV licence; everything else.

I can't afford to run a car or, indeed, use public transport. I smoke, which I pay for with 'permitted work' (about £20/week) from home. I NEVER go out, except for one coffee a fortnight. I don't know how I'm going to afford heating in the winter.

I am extremely grateful for the welfare system, don't get me wrong! I feel fine about claiming: I paid in for 30 years, in the belief that anyone who needs it can get it.
Just now and again, there's one thread too many in here about people on a "welfare lifestyle" Hmm, living it up on benefits. Chance'd be a fine thing ...

OP posts:
knickers0nmyhead · 10/08/2010 21:15

oh I will be bloody ringing them first thing in the morning.

Thanks for the number.

mumbar · 10/08/2010 21:20

And I think it's not always the amount you get in wages, benefits etc but thats its all reletive with what you have to pay out in mortgage, rent, council tax and childcare.

slugz · 10/08/2010 21:25

I have no reason to doubt anything that anyone's said on here, but it really does baffle me why everyone else has always seemed to have struggled financially more than me.
I have had immense struggles with social services/councils/bureacratic idiots over the years, but the one thing that has never been a real problem is personal finance.
My first husband had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and we had to live separately for 5 years (he had to stay in residential care because it was impossible to sort out adapted accommodation and care), therefore I had to claim as a single parent (only one child) and could manage quite easily including running a car. My husband's disability had no affect on my claim because all disability money had to go to the home he was in. They actually left him with so little personal money that I would have to subsidise him for toiletries and phone bills from my single mum benefit.
I have subsequently claimed as a family (once we lived together) and then changed to the tax credit system when I started work, which has definitely made me better off, but I still wouldn't say that in previous times I could ever be classed as poor.

listenandlearn · 10/08/2010 21:26

i also think it has alot to do with what sought of support you get from others

my parents never offer money or say lend me money etc (but i would never ask / expect)unless i was really desperate and i mean really

But they are taking the two elder boys on holiday to spain soon for a week,which i couldnt do,and the odd day out here and there over the year

i prefer it this way as they dont miss out and although i am dependent on the state im independent within my family and have never recieved maintance of childrens father,i budget carefully £10 a week for xmas/birthdays and if i have money left over pay extra on water bill etc,grow own veg etc,but i do manage to go out couple times a month but have no intrest in the latest gadgets etc,though like quality clothes for kids but get them ebay,carboots,outlet stores

can be done but u have to budget and not be materialistic,im not and a good job to,but i know some that waste money eg £20-30 on takeaways a week which i couldnt

EnglandAllenPoe · 10/08/2010 21:30

£900??!!! How on earth did they expect you pay that?

erm..they wanted it by the end of the tax year. we managed (i had saved over Xmas with a view to getting the fence fixed..fence still broken). I have developed a fondness for value noodles as a consequence (at 10p, you can't go wrong)

I am grateful for what the state gives us, as it is enough. it's just that oh-so-easily we could be put in the position where it wasn't....

e.g no car = no easy trips to cheapest supermarket
no credit = utilities on expensive meter instead of cheaper quarterly/monthly billing
(£15 pw for water? you what?)

ItsGraceActually · 10/08/2010 21:46

knickers, hurrah, this thread's done some good Grin That's a HUUUGE difference! when you get your backdate, it'll be over a grand, won't it?

OP posts:
knickers0nmyhead · 10/08/2010 21:50

Oh, it has just caused a very huge stink up, but that is an entirely differnet thread altogether Grin

ItsGraceActually · 10/08/2010 21:56

You're right, EAP, it is enough - it's just enough. As we've all found, there's no 'give' whatsoever for unexpected needs. A washing-machine repair (tip: It's cheaper to buy a 'new' second-hand one) can put you back on plain pasta for months ...

I'm shocked by the £4bn unclaimed tax credits! I got Working Tax Credit for a while, a few years back - it was a life-saver; also opens the door to other benefits so anybody on a stupidly low wage should check their entitlements. People in work are supposed to better off (even if it's only a bit) than those on benefits.

OP posts:
WidowWadman · 10/08/2010 22:13

So you get 90 quid a week and live rent free. That's more than a lot of people have who work, after deducting rent and childcare costs.

knickers0nmyhead · 10/08/2010 22:16

lovely widow.

SirBoobAlot · 10/08/2010 22:26

Knickers I spoke to them last week, and the guy was astonished that I hadn't called earlier, and called my mother stupid for telling me not to. Made my day Grin Have been told the paper work will take up to ten days to get to me, then about three weeks to process the claim.

Hope that helps you a little.

ItsGraceActually · 10/08/2010 22:29

widow -
A] I don't have children. I understand there are benefits to having children that "money can't buy" but everybody has the choice to not have them.
B] Every parent in the land gets child benefit. Nobody asked me whether I'd be willing to subsidise other people who, unlike me, have kids, but I've never complained about it.
C] Your second statement is just plain wrong, unless their childcare costs are greater than the subsidies available. There's no way a SAHP (or working with one child in subsidised childcare) would get less money than me, working or not.

OP posts:
ItsGraceActually · 10/08/2010 22:32

garbled [C] due to multiple deletions Blush
deletions well advised, though Wink

OP posts:
bronze · 10/08/2010 22:36
Grin knickers ring them tomorrow. It will be good to hear that lifes become easier because of a thread on mn
JaneS · 10/08/2010 22:56

I don't think benefits (as described here) sound like 'subsistence level' - thank goodness. It would be obscene to live in a developed country that produces so much waste, and to allow some of the population just barely enough to survive.

werewolf · 10/08/2010 23:25

To those struggling to pay water bills - I know Severn Trent runs a charity, where you can apply for a grant if you're unable to pay your water bill.

Severn Trent Trust Fund

I imagine other water companies might do the same?

ItsGraceActually · 11/08/2010 00:15

Good call, werewolf. I know Anglian do this, too. The CAB told me Welsh Water don't. If you're on benefits and have 3+ children, there is some form of mandatory assistance - experts, anyone?

Google for "water bills charitable trust" UK

OP posts:
SanctiMoanyArse · 11/08/2010 07:45

slugz

I think a lot of it comes dfown to whether you ahve any debts to cover and the elvel of rent you face.

crazykat · 11/08/2010 08:06

We're lucky we get CTC, DH works full time in a physical job that is barely above minimum wage. It still only just covers basic bills, child maintainence for DSD and the stupid debt he got into before we met and he was off work due to an operation and had to live off credit (completely his own fault but it's being paid back v.slowly).

What gets me is that when you pay child maintainence it isn't taken into account for things such as tax credits/HB etc, so we have less money to live off. Neither is the fact that every weekend we have an extra person to feed/clothe. But thats probably a whole different thread.

ccpccp · 11/08/2010 09:32

The number of people claiming disability rose 50% under Labour.

Better dust off those crutches folks! Practice the hobbling walk :) These new ConDem nurses can smell BS a mile away.

IsGrace - you sound like a genuine claimant. Heres an extra 50 quid a week that we reclaimed from single mums who lied about not living with their partners. Thanks for paying into the system for so many years. Most dont you know, yet still think the taxpayer owes them a 'wage'.

JaneS · 11/08/2010 10:45

Thanks is rubbish ccp. Does it not occur to you that more people claiming disability benefits might be the result of better information on what's available, better provision, better recognition of crippling illnesses?

SanctiMoanyArse · 11/08/2010 11:02

ccpccp you ahve no idea how the system works do you?

In order to get disability you have a huge form and to give evidence of a lot of medical issues.

Unless oyu eman IB? Which is being clamped down hugely on anyway.

I ahd to appeal to get DLA for ds3, he attends an SNU and will never have independence. That's really common.

If disabilty claims rose that's partly as a result of care in the community (a Tory initiative) emaning that mroe claims were eligible, and aprtly becuase diagnostic prodcedures and figures went up hugely in that period. In the early nineties Aspergers as a Dx didn;t even happen in the UK, ever- people just ahd shit lives as hermits in little bedsits before dying alone.

SanctiMoanyArse · 11/08/2010 11:13

Clearly cccpccp is a namechange

But whilst I can't locate the figures atm

I don't argue that IB is often cheated: that doesn't tkae away from the fraudulent claims but a system where a GP signs off in a 5 minute appt is clearly open to fraud.

However, the new system is throwing up issues as well- people with veraiable syndromes are suffering, and many cases are overrturned at tribual. NAS have info on this on their site, stating many with ASD have been refused by assessors based on a home visit, and there is also info C&P'd below.

But AFAIK DLA is not a benefit cvlaimed with hugely fraudulent numbers, it is far easier for the fruadsters to try other avenues! I know too many geneine claimants who can;t cope with the quite damaging forms (imagine trying to deal with a new diagnosis whilst breaking down their every need into minutes) and think it'#s pretty effectively run.

I don't have any issue with whatever screening they choose to implement as long as it allows us to rpesent additional information from professionals.

DS3 won;t have issues anyway, attends an SNUU etc- and it is for him I get carer's allowance.

DS1 though might struggle. The bullemia (fun in a ten year old boy Sad) aspect of his autism is clearly non visible depite being a huge issue. His autism is also complex- if as an example someone comes to our home or he attends a club he can hold it together, yet when they go he is incredibly aggressive and violkent, to both us, possessions and himself. Clearly he needs 24/7 sueprvision as a result. This is evident in his school statement of SN right now, as they ahve the same issues, but there is also a green apper about removoing statements (and hence the legal right of any child with any disability to gusranteed help to be educated).

Disabled campaigners have reacted with anger and concern to the government?s plans to reform disability living allowance (DLA), and introduce a new medical test for claimants.

From 2013, all existing working-age claimants will be reassessed using the new test, which will also apply to all new DLA claimants, while the government also looks set to tighten eligibility criteria as part of plans to slash the welfare budget.

Announcing the plans as part of his emergency budget on Tuesday, the chancellor, George Osborne, said the costs of DLA had quadrupled to more than £11 billion, making it ?one of the largest items of government spending?.

He said the new assessment would allow the government to ?continue to afford paying this important benefit to those with the greatest needs, while significantly improving incentives to work for others?.

London?s new Deaf and disabled people?s organisation said disabled people would be ?hit hard? by the plans.

Anne Kane, policy manager for Inclusion London, said the changes would ?intensify the poverty and disadvantage facing disabled people?, while the impact would be increased by other changes announced in the budget, including huge reductions in public spending, an increase in VAT to 20 per cent and cuts to other benefits.

She said it was clear the government intended to ensure that fewer people qualified for DLA.

Kane said DLA was intended to contribute to ? but not cover ? the extra costs of disability, and was ?already subject to stringent qualifications?.

She said: ?Already disabled people are twice as likely to live in poverty as non-disabled people. Today?s budget will make this worse.?

The National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL) said the chancellor?s argument that DLA prevented people working was ?bizarre? and ?ridiculous?.

Sue Bott, NCIL?s director, said she feared that people with hidden impairments ?may well be the ones who end up paying for all this? because they would find it harder to prove they were disabled.

She suggested that the number of people claiming DLA might have risen because there was now less stigma attached to being a disabled person.

And she said the move to reassess current claimants would ?cost a fortune?, including the cost of the ?inevitable? appeals.

Bott said: ?We need to be making our points about the impact that DLA has on individual disabled people?s lives and how important it is. We need to do a bit of educating.?

RADAR criticised the announcement of ?yet another assessment regime?, and said that making it harder to claim DLA was ?not the way to encourage people into the job market?.

Liz Sayce, RADAR?s chief executive, said DLA had ?no connection with employment whatsoever?.

She added: ?We will continue to campaign for one point of entry and assessment for all benefits and related support for disabled people ? we want to make the anxiety introduced by multiple assessments history.?

Disability Alliance (DA), the disability poverty charity, said the budget and previous government announcements ?raise the spectre of grinding poverty and increased social isolation for disabled people and their families?.

DA said the government?s austerity package risked ?a significant assault on support for disabled people?, who were ?being hit fastest, hardest and will suffer longest from the impact of the new government?s reaction to the nation?s finances?.

Vanessa Stanislas, DA?s chief executive, added: ?The government must tackle the budget deficit, but Disability Alliance is deeply concerned that ?tough action? has not been spread evenly across government and society.

?Instead, today?s cuts will be felt by our most disadvantaged citizens who are not responsible for the banking crisis but will now suffer its harshest consequences.?

Adrian Whyatt, chair of Neurodiversity International and co-chair of the Autistic Rights Movement UK, accused the government of deliberately attacking disabled people, particularly those with invisible impairments.

He pointed to research by the National Autistic Society which found more than 30 per cent of adults with autism had ?no income at all? from benefits or employment ?because of the practically total inaccessibility of the job market and the benefits system to them?.

He said the budget would make the situation ?even worse? and that the government had now ?lost all legitimacy? among disabled people, particularly those with invisible impairments.

He said: ?Why should poor, sick and disabled people pay for the ?banksters? and corrupt politicians, consultants and cronies and the mess they have made of the world??

The Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) ? a coalition of disability and welfare advice organisations ? said it believed the budget would have a ?disproportionate impact on disabled people?.

The DBC said the DLA changes would increase the number of disabled people living in poverty, while the new test would create ?additional stress and anxiety? for claimants, and lead to unnecessary bureaucracy and increased costs through the new assessments and appeals.

The DBC said it was also concerned about the chancellor?s decision to uprate benefits annually in line with rises in consumer prices instead of retail prices ? which the chancellor said would cut more than £6 billion a year from the benefits budget by 2015.

The DBC said it was worried that ?priority has been given to saving money over ensuring sufficient support for disabled people

ccpccp · 11/08/2010 11:23

It clearly isnt rubbish Dragon as its what the government believes. Thus the reassessment of disability claimants.

Note this reassessment started under Labour, because even THEY knew disability had become a gravy train for many.

The level of disability in a region is often proportional to the number of unemployed in that region. So the fewer jobs a region has, the more disabled its workforce is. An odd coincidence?

Or maybe your think 'chronic headaches' or a bad back is reason enough to be kept by the tax payer for the rest of a persons life?

SanctiMoanyArse · 11/08/2010 11:26

ccpccp can you clarify whether you eman DLA or incapacity benefit, the latter being the one that keeps people out of work and which labour started the reassessment of indeed?

Something that needed doing, although that has actively caused issues for some of the more severely affected people (eg people with autism- yes I know I go on about them but that's my world so understandable).

IB needed to be addressed forr certain,, albeit a little more humanely (maybe using the DLA assessment model)

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