Bloody W**NKing Tax credits! Or Government should I say

[Hai1988]

Just had my new tax credits award and have just found out that my DH's Working tax credits are being stopped as he has already had his lot for this year, £800!!!

My DH does not have a very well payed job at all and after rent and bills we have f**K all left and the weekly income of £140 really helped that is now just over £50.

So angry We need that extra £80 a week, I know it may not sound much to some but it did make a big difference to out life's.

Who ever voted Tory I hope your happy with yourselves that now so many family's are probably gonna struggle now.

Sorry not really an aibu but really needed to vent and wondered if anyone else is suffering with tax credits this year because of the dam government.

Want that type of job? work hard and try to make more than 15p/h

Yes that what people do right now, the get futher qualifications to make their £15 p/h!

I started working at 13 at weekends and evening- I did waitressing, saturday girl, cleaning, babysitting, shop work etc for NMW.

Even at 13 years of age I could understand why I should not be paid £15 p/h.

For those of you who seem to think £15 an hours as a legal minimum is the answer you have answered the economic effect this would have for the UK.

Labour costs are sky high in this country compared to others, it would obviously make us even less competitive as a country and more jobs would be lost as business would fold.

Thirdly just using very basic laws of economics, wages are set on pure supply and demand basis. Lets look at an example.

A very small start up company wants to hire someone and is does not have the revenue to pay more than say £18K. A person would be happy to take that job because lets say he has been unemployed for a while and will learn new skills on the job that could lead to a better job. But because (your idea) the government doesn't allow wages less than say £25K the person stays on the dole and the company can't expand! It's simple supply and demand and messing with these natural laws would cause any country to fall into economic ruin!

And £15 p/h equates to excess of £30k a year!

For example teachers, nurses and midwifes who earn less than this would just walk. Why should they then get paid less than a shelf stacker for instance?

What would we do without these people? But apparently they should not be entitled to an equally ratio raise and quietly accept it!

The thinking behind this is so unrealistic.

So if you are not in favour of higher wages for shelf stackers etc
and you don't think MW workers should get any financial help ,what is the answer?

I understand it would be nice in a utopian world to pay everyone say #15 per hour minimum but unfortunately paying people that amount will have knock on negative effects for everyone including the people who it's meant to help. There would be mass unemployment, companies would mass exodus from the UK to stay afloat in a global market. There would be massive inflation and then that #15 would be back worth nothing.

Why can't you see that people can't just pay a wage because it would give everyone a good standard of living. Unfortunately life isn't fair some people earn loads some don't.

It's almost like saying lets just print money and save the world. You can't just legislate to make everyone comfortably off otherwise don't you think any government worldwide would have done it.

These simplistic ideas just show how complex economics is?

Well then ...as long as the min wage stays at the level its at...

we will always be having these discussions, and the Government will have to top up the min wage workers.

At the moment I am in the US I have been thinking in $$ ,and I take that on board.

Can anyone think of a P/h wage that would be workable for all?

Well I didnt actually say they shouldnt get any help.

What absoultey vexes me is this

"Nobody else needs their wage to be increased"

If you want one group to have a pay rise you have to treat all fairly in terms of payrise do you not think?

yes usual,I would love to know :)

No cocco, the MW is too low.

Whatever happens with other jobs is not really important right now.

Something needs to change for those struggling.

No I don't actually ,some people get paid far to much ..bankers bonuses anyone?

People on here bang on about living within their means .Is that just the poor people?

The issue is people are seeing this from an emotional point of view that entangles morals and worth to society.

However microflight is right- whilst the idea everyone who works could be self reliant is utopian, simple economic factors render this unworkable currently.

The only real answer is cost of living is someone how reduced.

It is not about anyone being less worth of a person- our economic system relies on supply and demand.

When I was younger I simply couldnt understand why we just didnt print more money to give to say those in the third world- put by printing an unlimited amount of money we are actually making it worthless.

And not understanbding why some people get paid more is failing to understand that is because they actually increase the wealth of an employer.

You might not think that is fair but that is again the bottom line of supply and demand.

"Whatever happens with other jobs is not really important right now"

That is both extremely selfish and naive.

microfight, I also suspect what a lot of posters don't get (or, rather, want to admit) is that in the capitalist structure we have at hand, there must always be an underclass of struggling proles to make the thing function.

The ramifications of giving everyone a living wage (give the cleaners £15ph, then her supervisor will need to be on £18ph, and so on, until the inflation issue rears its ugly head) are quite significant, even though I've argued for the introduction of a higher NMW myself.

It's interesting to see that anti-feminists cite the introduction of the paid professional female workforce (as opposed to lower skilled jobs or unpaid labour which women have always done, historically) as, essentially, allowing employers to get "2 able bodied workers for the price of 1", and the reason why some parties jumped on the "support women workers" bandwagon was to influence things in the way household income has progressed.

When my dad was a new dad in the 1950s and early 1960s, he could afford to support my mum being a SAHM for many years on his income alone. Surely, there was less luxuries, but we certainly didn't need mum's theoretical income to pay for food, council tax, basic basic bills which there's no way you can afford to do even if you're just above NMW as a man with a SAHP without government help.

Essentially what's happened is that the old model of 1 fulltime worker can pay for the basic household running costs (and perhaps some "pin money" from a working wife as extra...) no longer applies in the UK. Ho hum.

Exactly, the cost of living is the same for someone on MW or someone on £15ph

I would argue that some people on MW are worth far more to society than some fat cat banker

For the person who asked if i would do cleaning job, the anwser is yes and I did untill april this year when I was let go as I was no longer needed. It was 9-1, 3 days week and I loved it was so gutted when I got "let go"

I think the problem is the wages, the cost of living is constantly rising but the wages are not, how is this right!

Some of the ideas on here about giving pay increases to some and not others is naive to say the least. I really don't think some people on here have the slightest clue of the implications of their ideas.

"Whatever happens with other jobs is not really important right now"

coco in my ideal world, the Government would have lots of $$ to top up MW as they wouldn't be using it on CTC and WTC and HB etc...

Maybe I still have a childish approach ?

I just don't see the adults in charge doing much better.

Not everyone currently on 30k is a banker.
Again its confusing morals and ethics with tangiable economics.

Those who generate wealth will be paid more. That is a fact.

For it's worth I do think it's sad we are in postion where many people cannot afford to be a SAHP's and I wish it wasn't like this.

Yes, usual it is just poor people. Bankers and MP's can do what they like, make a huge mess, but state money will continue to fund them.

Perhaps £15 p/h is too high, but £8 is not. If properly subsidised childcare was available more people could work without their entire wage being sucked into nursery fees.

How do countries like Denmark manage? Cost of living is expensive, but wages seem higher than here and there is very good state subsidised child care.

I really hate benefit bashing threads like this, it never ends well and always makes people look like twats (the bashers that is).

For all of you who say people should work harder to earn more in better paid jobs, dont you see that someone has to do these jobs?

I don't think the MW is more important than other wages/jobs coco

given that many here think there will always have to be a "low paid underclass" on that premise there will always be those that want more than 15p/h.

It not actually a great deal,especially when there is no Government assistance.

fgaaah

Wise words. I nearly suggested that those who want higher wages should perhaps move to a socialist country!

The ideal solution is cost of living comes down.

karmabeliever Denmark also has one of the lowest disparities between low earners and high earners in the Western world. I've read something to do with attitudes towards promotion, overtime, materialism, in Denmark VS. the UK recently, but I'll be damned if I can't remember what it was! I suspect it was the Guardian or something The basic thrust of the journalist's angle was that they have a much healthier attitude towards money and less "rich vs poor" issues such as crime, it was a pretty shocking indictment of the UK economic structure TBH (which obviously isn't that much different when you compare to e.g. China). if anyone knows the article I'm talking about, feel free to link!