benefits - can anyone advise?

[namechangerrr]

hi i am a regulare but have name changed for this. i was wondering if anyone would e able to help me here. i have seen on the news about benfits being cut/capped but cant seem to find any exact figures.

was wondering if anyone could be able to help me and see if my benefit will be capped or cut, so that i can be prepared for this.

i recieve weekly:
£135 child tax credit
£48 cb
£65 incone support
£145 hb
£12 ctb

i no this seems like a huge amount when written like this but in reality it isnt. once i have paid gas, elec, water rates (£28 per week!), tv licence etc there is not much left for food/nappies.

i would be very grateful if anyone could help. i am not intending to be on benefit forever and i do want to better myself for myself and my children.

I didn't say I deserved a new wardrobe. I needed a wardrobe, HA places are unfurnished. I'm surprised at you Eleanor TBH. I thought you had a better understanding of the issues than that going by previous threads you've been on.

spikeycow I stand by my comment that I am shocked at people feeling "entitled" to nice furniture at the expense of the tax payer.

If you feel that my view is so shocking that you seriously "hope to god" my children and I end up without a pot to piss in then you are fucked up.

No one this thread (unless I have missed something dramatic) is begrudging a woman and her children a roof over their head, clothes and warmth but yes I will begrudge anyone on £20k+ a year benefits their "nice furniture".

Im a single parent working part time ( 20hrs)

When i first became a single parent i worked full time. It was a disaster. Working full time, with a baby, with no other suport network or help pretty much led to me having a breakdown. I was exhausted to the point that i could not function.

I was unaware of the benefits i could have claimed. I thought benefits were wrong and tbh i did not want the label of being a benefit claimer.

However, after being very very ill with exhuastion i had no choice and decided to work part time. To my surprise, financially there was not much difference to me working part time to full time.

However, the downside by this is i am now trapped. Work offered me more hours, which i had to turn down as i would actually be worse off. That is madness.

So,i can totally understand why benefits need to be looked at.

However, benefits are there to cover exacally the situations that the OP is in. She has not set the levels, the govt has, and it is to cover the costs of rents etc... rents/mortages are ridiclous. Food has gone up, petrol, gas etc.. they have all increased massivly. The govt set the limits accordiing to these figures.

I also agree with expat. Really the state should not pick up the tab, but rather the missing parent. However, at the momment the CSA say what, 15% of their wages. Whats that going to cover? you cant say that the resident parent is only paying 15% or the state is paying 15%.

Anyway - lots of waffling. OP, please ignore the bad posts. As an ex army wife myself i want to say well done to you. Also, re the cooker, washing machine and carpets, and anything else you might need... please contact the royal british legion in your area. They will be able to help you with these items. They have helped me and i know several other ex army wifes they have also helped. PM me if you would like any more info.

YOU are fucked up to comment when you have never been in the situation. You have no empathy and sound vile.
And I never said nice furniture. I went to Brighthouse because I didn't have money even for second hand stuff outright. People who haven't been there shouldn't comment. You must think homeless people are total shit if you think they should live with nothing permanently. NASTY

I like that idea, too, Stewies.

The state of TX does the same thing.

They also throw feckless non-paying parents into jail first and then prison. TX State prison. A bad place to be.

Child support there is given the same protection under the law as taxes.

You don't pay, you get prosecuted as a criminal.

The state has power to garner your wages, too, so you pay up.

That way, benefits are calculated taking into consideration the maintenance, because the NRP has to pay up.

Similarly, my folks know a man who just spent 3 years in a Michigan State Prison.

His crime?

Back child support/failure to pay.

A person who doesn't pay for their offspring and abandons them to the mercy of the state is a criminal.

It's not perfect, but it does make a lot of people think twice about how many children they create when they know they can't leave no strings attached when things go awry with the partner.

Op ..send your youngest up a chimney ..sell your furniture and sit on orange boxes ..buy cheap white bread ..then the 'tax payer' will be happy

I'd probably better not comment on this thread, because the idea of someone with 1 kid more than us getting £1600 a month for doing SFA whilst my H and I both work, both been to uni, struggled in our careers, and I went back to work full time after 3 MONTHS off work, well. I'd better be quiet I think.

So you have been in poverty for 5 years and you really think that means you ought to get "nice furniture"? Really?

I would imagine the vast majoity of people in this country would like "nice furniture" if only they could afford it. Most can't. How can you expect people who cannot afford their own "nice furniture" to subsidise yours?

How is £1600 a month just above absolute poverty ?

Well I thought my children did deserve a better standard of living after being homeless for 5 years.
Didn't realise we were just over entitled scum, I apologise.
Am now flouncing from this thread for a second time. Nobody else mention me please, I don't want to come back

Nancy you don't get it. I didn't expect "nice" furniture. I only had the money to pay it weekly. That's an easy concept.

£1600 a month near the poverty line? Scraping by? Unless you're in London, WTF? Clueless, totally and utterly clueless.

Step away spikey

SGM I agree people really should direct their outrage at the right people

spikeycow if that last post was directed at me you are starting to sound derranged.

Where on earth have I said homeless people should have nothing? I have quite explicitly stated that of course people who cannot provided for themselves should have housing, clothing food and warmth. That incidentally is not a definitive list.

What they should not have, as a matter of course, is the ability to have a house furnished to their exacting standards.