to think benefits should be capped at minimum wage

[moogster1a]

A little idea that all benefits should be capped at a weeks worth of minimum wage; so 37 and half hours times whatever minimum wage is now ( £6 pounds odd ).
That way no one gets paid more for sitting at home than they would for going out to work.
Out of this, all rent prescriptions etc. should be paid, the same as most people in low paid jobs have to pay for everything.
it might also provide an incentive to go out to work to up your wages if you progress in a company.
Just think it would be a lot fairer.

Amberleaf I have 2 kids.

I've since looked at the "do I qualify" for tax credits and we'd get £40 a month if I claimed that. Still less than £100!

DH did the calculations using the DWP facts and figures. His net pay is quite a bit less than his gross because of student loan repayments, pension and his travel card repayments which are all quite high, on top of NI and Income Tax.

He did include CTB and HB in our benefits total because that's money that currently comes out of his salary that would still need to be paid.

The reality is that he won't take VR and we won't be on benefits. But it's frustrating all the same.

Just annoying that's all. Don't really think it should be a race to the bottom debate to see who is worse off. It's shit if you're unemployed and on benefits, it's shit if you're working and worse off than you would be on benefits, it's shit that some people take the piss and make the situation worse for all concerned.

Zukie, that's fair enough and you seem like a determined person who will make the best of it. You need that safety net right now. Yes it is difficult but you are coping. This seems very different from the earlier poster with a husband on a good wage, but who would be better off simply doing nothing at all. This is what needs addressing, not situations like yours.

zukie our bed's broken too. Propped up at one end with some wood and a box! We can't afford to replace ours either!

Are there any community activities, choirs and such nearby you that you could go to? Choirs/singing are brilliant for depression and anxiety.

insertcleverusernamehere - the point in me going self emplyed and setting up a LTD was so that I could become a millionaire. if my company takes off and i employ 300, 3000 people. each person is earning at the very least NMW, then why should i not take £1m, £10m or even £100m? After all i would of created shit loads of jobs, paid more company tax, VAT, Employee contributins etc then you could possibly imagine.

''Just annoying that's all. Don't really think it should be a race to the bottom debate to see who is worse off. It's shit if you're unemployed and on benefits, it's shit if you're working and worse off than you would be on benefits, it's shit that some people take the piss and make the situation worse for all concerned.''

You have a tidy way of summarising things!

well its the legal llimit and as a company to run i would be stupid to pay more - hand on no i wouldnt becasuse in order to be the best company and get the best employees you would be stupid not to offer a competitive salary and also a company with 300 employees will have PLENTY of career progression.

So you aree then that Bob Diamond is entitled to his money.

Taking childcare out of the equation, full time work on NMW is financially more financially beneficial. I just did a calculation on entitledto, and in FT work at NMW with no childcare cots, I'd be £100 better off than I am on income support now. In part time (24 hours) work on NMW with childcare costs, I'd be about £50 a week better off. You still get tax credits, housing/council tax benefit, free prescription etc on this income, the only thing you lose is free school meals and healthy start vouchers, neither of which I claim atm anyway.

The killer is the cost of full time childcare. When I was working full time on NMW as a lone parent with 3 DCs, my childcare cost me £450 pw. The most you can get back from tax credits is £210. In full time work, with childcare costs, I would be £60 pw worse off. I think more help with childcare costs is where the solution lies, along with the increase of the NMW.

Why are some of you so determined to see unemployment, low pay + benefits, poverty as a choice? There is a recession, high unemployment, no jobs But you seem to want to punish people for a situation they can't control. Why?

JuliaScurr - smoe screen and an excuse used by many lazy people in order not to work.

As i said earlier, i run a recruitment company and have 100's of new jobs weekly arrive and not all skilled work. People on benefits choose not to take the jobs as it would make them worse off. I gave an example earlier about an incident that happended this week. Guy offered a job paying £21k, he turned to job down as it as too much work and would rafer stay on benefits. he only went to the interview to tick his JSA box.

there arent 'no jobs'. there are 400,000 vacancies

There are over 2 million unemployed. Now, I'm no mathematician, but..

I am another one whose bed is broken.
Our oven is being held together by tape
Our carpets are threadbare
Our shower is broken
Our boiler is on its very last legs
Our car is just running-one more break down before xmas will finish us off

For the privalege of living like this my dh works 50 plus hours a week.

Julia, I don't think anyone wants to 'punish'. We are saying that people on benefits should not expect an equivalent lifestyle to people working full time. It simply isn't fair. Can't you see that?

northernwreck - so take the jobs off anyone who is not British and how many jobs would that then release?

Also its easy to create menial jobs that people should work doing in order to receive the JSA type benefits, even if its cleaning graffiti, cleaning parks, cleaning rivers etc.

Mr. Spoc, in my opinion refusing that job should affect his future benefits.

Mr Spoc why do you deal with jobs that offer less money/security than benefits? Is this ethical?

julia-yes you are right that it can be very hard to get a job. I have friends who they or their partner have lost their jobs.

But at least they are trying. There are many people who dont even try-benefits are a way of life to them. There is no point trying to deny this-it is going on all around us and is why the government are finally trying to sort the benefits culture out.

JuliaScurr, have you sent your children to a nursery? Did they pay most staff nmw? Was it ethical of you to take advantage of them like that?

JuliaScurr - that is a recent phenomena though. My DH used to process benefit claims for HB from people who had been claiming JSA (and whatever it was called previously) for over 10 years.

Zukie - our bed gave up the ghost at the corner where the frame joins. DH sat on the edge of the bed and it broke! Cue lots of laughing at his expense about breaking the bed! (to cover our at the fact that we now have a broken bed)

Zukie - in some areas there are music leaders providing music making/singing opportunities specifically for people with MH issues who find large groups intimidating. Is that something you could ask your therapist about? Only because there is a lot of evidence and research into the benefits of singing.