to be fucked off that while i cant afford to put my heating on...

[juicychops]

my sister and her husband who are on full benefits and pull job seekers the pair of them in their free house have had £25 per week for the last 2 weeks in 'cold weather' allowance and im sure will get it again next week too.

im single parent and work part time and as im not on benefits im not entitled to luxuries such as heating.

i have shitty storage heating which are too expensive for me to turn on plus i have an old un-insulated house with no double glazing so when ive had them on in the past the heat just escapes anyway. i only have the one on in ds's room so that he doesn't get ill like ive been all xmas.

my house is freezing and i have to wear layer upon layer of clothing when im here.

yet they get £50 FOR A FORTNIGHTS FREE HEATING!! so unfair. punished for having a job - again!!

No point in moaning juicy. All you'll get is shouted down.

Too many people are now reliant upon the benefits gravytrain. Any suggestion that it is perhaps a little unfair must be met with all out YABU's

Don't worry, it's all the rich's fault anyway!!

But op, you must receive some benefits?

Child benefit
Tax credits??

If you're p**d off about the fraud- report it.

Re: the storage heaters- can you move house, get an insulation grant, switch energy suppliers, get different heaters, learn to use them efficiently, live in 1 room whilst it's vv cold?

I don't think it's helpful to amke the on benefits/working distinction here- you are still claiming child benefit/tax credits and poss hb/ctb aren't you?

Contact your MP to say that low income workers should also be entitled to the CWP.

"Contact your MP to say that low income workers should also be entitled to the CWP"

and everyone else on benefits that currently don't get it???

Remember cold weather payments aren't given to EVERYONE on benefits.

And if heating this house only cost £25 a week in this cold weather I'll eat my hat - I've already decamped to the living room as the main bedroom is just too cold.

It's shit being on benefits, it's shit being on a low wage and struggling to find the money to heat your house.

the problem here seems to be the fraud though not the CWP . (if it's not already declared)

You do get child tax credit, and top ups to bring you up to an acceptable level in line with those whom you slag off. Thus you could afford it if you lived somewhere with a cheaper heating system.

yes i just love my gravy train

I used a lovely old fashioned gravy jug on Christmas day I remember my mum using the same one when I was little - it's a bloody wonder it's survived this long tbh

think it's Cornish Ware actually - might have been my Gran's before my mum had it actually.

hmmm - maybe I should keep it in the cupboard until DS3 is a little older.......would hate to be the one to break it !

yes but do you have a train shaped one? if not its not worth it!

nah - not a train shaped one - probably worthless - but it's kind of been around a long time.

Funnily enough the little glass cream jug, desert bowls and trifle (?) bowl are still firmly at the back of the cupboard

YANBU . . .at all.

I'm on benefits and get CWP as DS has a disability.

I have a single glazed rented house with drafty doors and windows, I have had warm front round and they are going to install loft insulation, new combi boiler, timer thermostat, and draft proofing for free - I don't know who's more pleased, me or my landlord!

From my POV I keep all of my outgoings as low as possible to budget for emergencies and extreme cold weather. We eat cheaply, have no sky, I rarely go out, no car, no home phone, no mounting debts, etc. We have had very very cold weather too and I would rather we ate smartprice beans on toast in a warm house than sat around cold.

Ooooh I am due 4 cold weather payments since 1st Nov, that's made my day that has!

You arent being unreasonable to be bitter about it, you know their personal circumstances and Im sure youre not saying all people on benefits dont deserve it.
However, Im just wondering if you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to as a single Mum. You really shouldnt be having to go without heating. You might be entitled to a grant to get your house insulated etc if youre that badly off.

You aren't BU to be angry about your BIL committing benefit fraud. If you are sure you right about that, do what other posters have suggested and report him.

However, you are BVU to complain about them being able to heat their house. It's not their fault that yours is drafty and badly insulated. Also, you must be in receipt of some benefits, certainly CB, and as a single parent working part time, you will also be entitled to WTC, CTC and HB if your house is rented. If you aren't claiming these, phone your local Citizens' Advice and ask how to go about it.

Report them then for fraud and the benefits will soon stop.

If you cant afford more heating then perhaps you can up your hours to full time to bring in more monety. However I suspect that working part time nets more benefits from the state hence why so many do so.

HappyMummy some of the benefits will stop - however they'll still be entitled to £10 a week income based JSA - and as they are obviously also eligble for CWP's they'll still get those.

@ riven

Firstly, shop them for working cash in hand. It's not fair on people who really need the money.

Secondly, get yourself a heater for one room and don't worry too much about the other rooms. We never had heating in the house I grew up in (other than a coal fire in the front room) and I didn't die of hypothermia, as most people didn't pre-central heating.

I understand your frustration, as it seems it's those people who work hard in low-paid jobs that always seem to struggle the most; earn too much to get benefits but not enough to have a great standard of living. Been there, done that and it's not fun. But you have to make the best of it. You could leave your job and live on benefits instead, but I don't think it will make you any happier.

I don't have central heating in my house. I use oil filled radiators, I find they keep the house warm enough. I also have a little fan heater [cost £10 from Sainsbury's ] which is great at heating up a cold room quickly.
I agree it is hard to find the money sometimes, but IMO it is essential when children live in the house.

We keep an oil heater on the landing and I am amazed by the heat it gives off, costs summat silly like 3p an hour to run too

OP, I really can see why you're annoyed. I am also guessing that you won't shop them for benefit fraud because few of us would do that to a relative.

It's never worth while stewing over what other people have. It will just eat you up. All you can do is try to make your own lot better and try out some of the suggestions on the thread.

Bariatric, I love that passage! Where did you find it?

We struggle to afford to heat our house. We have to switch the heating off in the evening just before the children go to bed and the bill is still over £100 per month. We are going to lose our cb from 2013 for apparently being wealthy so it isn't just people on low incomes that struggle. We are yet to find out the cost of the latest cold snap. My husband as an individual has a comparatively high income but income says nothing about a person's means. To understand means you have to look at household income, dependents, housing costs, geography, assets etc.

This op seems jealous, the truth is that the vast majority of people struggle and it isn't good enough just to moan about what you think someone else might had that might be slightly better than you but still not good enough. People need to stand together, it isn't right how low wages are in comparison with the cost of living and how unstable and unproductive modern employment is.

am I Bariatric???

if so chipmonkey - I've seen it before in a few places - if you google somehting along the lines of "Cambridge research spelling" you'll probably come up with several different versions of it.