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.

So, why don't those who earn less or as much as people on benefits give up work and claim benefits? Seriously, why don't you?

In fairness I think the vast majority of people who have been negative on this thread have directed that at the system and not at the OP.

"why don't those who earn less or as much as people on benefits give up work and claim benefits"

Because whilst I was growing up, I heard stories about my mother's art ability, one which her teachers wanted to push her for university for. And she couldn't. Growing up in a working class 1950s household where NO ONE has ever considered going above their station, or any idea of how a university system works - these were totally alien ideas to previous generations in my family. So they instilled a message like a mantra: "Do better than us. Get out of here. Make something of yourself. Be able to buy your own home."

Repeat that mantra every day for 10 years, and you have a woman like me - who would rather eat cardboard than go into debt, who would make the best of her life than TAKE from a creaking system - I expect the welfare state to be there when I need it if I am ill, I want it to support my little ones, BUT I don't think it's morally acceptable for people within it to benefit so much more than the shop assistants, care workers and bar staff I see putting in their full working week and STILL ending up with so much less.

In one word - PRIDE in yourself.

So, why don't those who earn less or as much as people on benefits give up work and claim benefits? Seriously, why don't you?

truthfully ? I wish I had, no word of a lie if i'd have realised how things were going to turn out over the past ten years I would have stayed at home, rented a 3 bedroomed flat, played with my girls, walked them to school, not had them abused by the nanny i paid whilst working and got DH to work at Tesco's.

He'd have seen more of his children, I would be less stressed, the girls less traumatised and we'd be no worse off for it.

spotty presumably because a job, even if it pays less than benfits, provides the opportunity to change ones financial position, a greater likelihood of longterm financial security, self worth and stimulation etc.

However, even bearing in mind all the additional benefits that come with a job it is difficult to understand why it is possible for someone to earn more in benefits than they would on even min wage with tax credits etc. Surely we have to have a system where the more you work the better off you are? Or AIBU?

Talking about a while ago, not now (my salary is pretty OK these days) I went to work for little if any financial gain because work gives me self-respect.

More importantly though, it was a stepping stone towards a better job in the future, and ultimately a better life with far greater choices available to me than being on benefits could ever offer. I get the impression that the OP will make a similar move.

While people cannot work, for whatever reason, they deserve not to live in poverty.

actually....i get more in benefits than the OP and i said,way back up thread that i agree....its wrong

alot is wrong

m inimum wage is wrong
job losses is wrong
there are NO jobs here...i cant even do voluntary work because there are too many volunteers. it costs money to put people in voluntary work

So, basically, it's because being on benefits is a bit shit? You'd lose your house if you have one (which hopefully is an asset or will be and therefore security for you in the future), you'd lose your earning potential in a career you've worked hard for and you'd have no pride or self esteem because you were brought up to believe in yourself.

Excellent.

ok,please can someone who thinks the amount the OP is recieving is far to generous please tell me and other posters what THEY think is a reasonable amount in THEIR own personal view

Comeone on theres a few that have an idea in there head,remember its for 1 adult and 3 kids,no chance of any maintanance and the home is rented

why no chance of maintenence?

well thats to easy to say ex gives so much,alot of sp dont get any maintance on benefits,so thought it would be easier if other incomes just state were taken into account

Every-one complaining the op gets more than them and they work yada yada yada have you noticed that the op included CTC and CB, which you also get and if you don't, you should.

I didn't say people on benefits were shit I said a life on benefits is shit. Which it is for the most people which is why it's better to work if you can. I just get tired of comments about people wondering why they bother or thinking they should divorce their partner or saying how people on benefits should spend their money and what furniture they should have. Because they can do that as a taxpayer.

The reasons you all gave are very good reasons why it's crap to be on benefits. If work doesn't pay that's not the fault of those on benefits. I don't see why my asking why people don't claim is childish? And I don't see how my pointing out the positives of working as opposed to not working warrants me being called a prick.

I haven't resorted to name calling have I?

I don't understand how some posters compare their short-term income with others, but can conveniently wipe away the benefits that their situation brings.

TheSecondComing, your situation is no different to someone who is in exactly the same circumstances without a mortgage, other than the fact that they would get Housing Benefit. HOWEVER, at the end of your mortgage, you will have a house. They will not. You could sell your house and rent, that is your option.

To whoever it was that suggested "52k is £2300" - it simply isn't. To then go on and say "But it is after company car tax and pension..." - well of course. You are benefiting from a pension for old age and a car. Not the same at all.

If someone said £100,000 is £2300 pm, when you take into account the pension, shares, company car tax, childcare vouchers, computer scheme, mobile phone scheme,....that is clearly not the case. It is £2300 plus the value of those non-cash benefits.

For a person on £37000 pa, they would get £2300 then have to pay out for the pension, shares, company car tax, childcare vouchers.... a huge difference.

spotty you dont always lose your home if your on benefits

i used to get so hacked of when because i was bringing my kids up on my own and didnt work people used to say to me :is your house rented/council: as if thats whats expected,single parent on benefits dosent work renting,think its insulting to them that do rent whether out of choice or circumstance,mind you loved seeing their face when i said i owned it

i suppose they then thought i was on some form of fiddle,you cant win