David Cameron welfare reforms-no family will receive more than £25,000 a year.

[Hammy02]

Good idea? I think so. I can't believe a single family receives this much already in benefits. It is about the same as the average income so it would be ridiculous for any one family to have more in benefits than someone that works?

The govt is wrong to clear massive areas of poor people. They should at least provide affordable housing in all areas. So if you can no longer afford your current home you don't have to move a long way from you family, your work, your entire support network. Imagine your husband dies and then you have to do that. How is that not cruel and immoral? How are ghettos based on social class the way forward ?

I would be royally screwed if I am capped my Hb and my council tax alone is just under £300 a week and while they say that leave me with £200 a week thats to feed clothe 5 of us pay all bills oh and the small matter of drop in the LHa rate whoch will see me paying £50 a week towards my rent ( rent is not as dear as some it is £1200 a month for a 4 bed bungalow right now i pay £25 a week towards it

.so thats £150 left out of his cap .thats before eletric and water oh and i have oil fired heating to and oil is going up .Ds 3 gets dla and i will due to spinal injury once another month is up yet if he changes his mind and caps me well

Yet we are on council list as i need adapted property yet they said sorry can not help we have nothing all our adapted propertys are 2 beds and you have to have 4 so we have nothing and we do not do adaptions in private rented so carry on crawling into your bathroom and sitting on floor of shower .and while we understand your situation is akwards look theres a 4 bed town house for £1100 a month duh house with 2 flights of stairs inside and 3 steps to get into house really suitable for a wheelchair user

Can I ask why you need 5 bedrooms?

Teddy in reply to your question - wheelchairs costing £2-3 grand, cars costing way over a normal cost foe the adaptions; trips to hospitals costing petrol car park fees etc - at least one a week - special food, extra heating extra electricity costs specialist clothing incontinence pads, extra washing, adaptive housing, hoists, slings, maybe communication aids costing a min £1000 some up to £5000 - just to have a voice, specialist beds, standing frame, walker, specialist trike, And that's off the top of my head .....

Thehuman I have 3 kids(mixed sex),do you need 4 bedrooms?

Could you not move?Snorbs could you not move,apply for work across the country.We've done that,would have to do that,have a plan if we have to?

Before I get pounced on they're genuine questions.I'm just curious as I have very few friends in 4 bed houses and as I said before we couldn't afford the SE.

teddy ruxpin

first biggest expense we have is housing costs .I am struggling and it is getting worse with the lha rates dropping see my above post for more information .Then theres the fact public transport is not always accesiable so if you can not drive your left with taxis and do not forget a train journey requires 24 hrs notice .Then there is all the hospital appointments you have to attend. for kids with challenging behaviour they can quite often break things that need replacing

I am doubly incontinent so you can imagine just what that does to my water bills , and my eletric bills and also clothes are runied far easier .I do not and can not move around much so i do feel cold come winter .The nhs chair is over and crap basically it weighs in at 26kilos which is no good when you have to push yourself about all day in that .I had to buy a secondhand lightweight chair just so i can move around better.

Like a lot i did not plan on being single parent .had my kids when i was married and xh worked f/t and i did p/t .but my xh could not cope when ds3 the youngest wa sborn disabled ,cue me single parent of 4 kids and full time carer for ds3 .3 months ago I endeed up in a wheelchair full time due to spinal cord injury and now have to juggle my needs alongside with ds3 and my other dc .yet this cap if comes in .I will ahve £150 a week to pay all my bills feed clothe 5 of us .Oil tanks are not cheap

twilight I'm pretty shocked at some of the expenses you mentioned. I assumed some of them such as hoists and wheelchairs and especially incontinence pads would be provided on the NHS

mila

yes i have 4 dc .Ds1 and ds2 who are 17 and 14 share .Dd is 8 and ds3 is almost 6 but due to his sn he has to have his own bedroom .Let alone council said no 3 beds as 18 months anyway dd and ds3 would not be able to share anyway .
But moot point as they do not have any 3 bed adapted either.I crawl into my bathroom .In my hall I get out my wheelchair and drag myself into my bathroom then drag into a shower and sit on the floor of shower to have a wash and then repeat in reverse to get out the bathroom

move where though? right now i recievie no help from ss or any other agencys the only support I have is my mum and stepdad 5 miles up the road.Ds3 is in a special unit and if move out of county he loses that and i ahve to fight Lea all over again for a new statement ind a school that is suitable .

teddy..... nope

I know several people whose total benefits amount to £34K tax free.

This includes housing benefit and property tax payments.

I believe that everyone receives the same amount of benefit to live on, for equal amount of people, assuming no special circumstances.

So in reality those receiving high amounts pay more rent and property tax, which doesn't benefit them in anyway.

The people that are in trouble are those that live here and earn £34K or less and pay tax. They cannot afford to live even though they are working.

MilaMae, yes I could move. I could move from one place where it's hard to find work to somewhere where it would likely be even harder.

In the process I would also be taking my DCs away from their school, their friends, and their mum. And that's assuming I could find the cash to pay for removal costs and rent deposits.

How would that be an improvement?

If the housing market hadn't made the cost of living unaffordable in the first place (both buying and renting) then the benefits bill would be lower.

Face facts a large portion of HB goes into private landlords' pockets.

teddy ruxin as adult with double incontienace I am entitled to 4 pads a day .so since I can not control my bowel or bladder .If i do not buy them i could wear one for bed one clean in he morning and well inbetween then i can only change myself twice according to them .Am very tempted to ask Dc to sit in his shit for 5 hrs as he has already used his quota of free pads.

nhs chair well if you read my post you will see what they offered me most basic of chairs and bearing in mind this chair is my legs .and is my only seat hence why i had to go out and buy a second hand better chair .I have no ramp to access in and out my property yet as its private they will not fund one so unless ds1 or ds2 is around to help I can not get out my house either so have been left with no choice other than to save and buy one myself

The reduction of the lha rates will not achieve the target of dropping private rents. Even if it's not a private landlord profiteering it's likely to be a buy to let landlord paying an exorbitant mortgage from the housing boom.

It won't sort the problem and it will lead to ghettoising of certain areas. Of course it will.

herbiatea .

Yes for now but I am expecting that to change .Can not trust Dc at all .I have been lucky ( if you can call breaking your back that ) as in i have to only wait 3 months before i can get help and get Dla mind in those 3 months my costs are through the roof.

Some poor souls are going to have to struggle for 6 months before they can apply for DLA very soon

nope your right Glitterknickaz my LL is not going to drop his rent , council can not help me at all .So I am going to have to cut back and pay the differance thats going to be even bigger for a property ,with a btahroom i can not use

Snorbs sorry I have little sympathy as along with 1000s of others we'd have to do just that as we'd actually be homeless due to being unable to pay the mortgage and out of the benefit system.

There are plenty of cheaper places to live than St Albans and plenty of places with work.

Life is shit,it's shit for all of us when redundancy strikes,not just those on benefits.You do what you have to do,you'll have to do what you have to do if you really can't survive on less than 25K.

Thehuman I'm shocked at your case.I presumed disability would be accounted for. So basically with all the capping they won't make allowances for disability top ups????I don't understand why this isn't being reported more widely.

humancatapult you mentioned expenses I hadn't even thought of that disabled people can have such as extra water and heat costs.
I do think disabled people should receive benefits on an individual basis as everyones needs are different and some people obviously will have more expenses than others (eg, someone who drives will spend less than someone who has to take taxis).
I still believe in most cases 25k is enough for a family to live on if they are not disabled or have special needs.
If benefits were cut for people who are perfectly capable of working more services and assistance could be made available for those who really need them.

we was told orginally Dla claiments will be exemped from the cap but with what Dc is now saying we may not be

oh and if you mean the LHA nope the rules are set .even the local Ha agrees that it is wrong that they can not help house me ,yet a normal 4 bed even if i could find one for £1000 a month will not be suitable .at least here ok i can not use the bathroom properley or go outside without help but I can get round indoors in my wheelchair as doors wide enough .If I bid on a 4 bed council house they can refuse as not suitable for me .( yet they have nothing ) and if i push it and get one they have no money to adapt

MilaMae, TeddyRuxpin, to my tremendous belief it has been identified that DLA claimants will be exempt from the cap. Massive relief.

Another thought on the LHA reduction, how could they not have considered that it would ghettoise areas, because if a working family cannot afford to live there, and a family on benefits therefore cannot afford to live there then who will?

It is literally driving the poor (in receipt of benefits or not) out. Housing costs really have caused a heck of a lot of this mess.

Herbietea, if you dont mind me asking, how long ago was it that your dh's ex got the CSA involved?...i've never known either party pay for their involvement before is why I ask, but i'm aware the rules change every so often.

milamae find me a 4 bed bungalow that is suitable for a wheelchair user that falls into the Lhs housing rate oh and Ll that will take hb and i may well consider moving .Though i am as independant as possible i do need help from my mum still with some tasks