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.

So I am not caring for my two dc that have Autism then? I would be if I was not disabled, but because I am, I'm not their carer?? How does that one work then?

I am registered disabled with uncontrolled epilepsy. I can have 50+ seizures a year. I am not fit for FT work, according to my Neuro. So I am unable to find work that pays enough to support me. I already HAD 3 dc before my diagnosis - in fact, my third was only two weeks old when I had my first seizure.

If I am not caring for them, as I am disabled - then who the bloody hell is?! It IS possible to be a carer and to be disabled at the same time. As my Neuro refuses to sign me as fit for FT work, I would still be unable to support myself without benefits even if I wasn't also a carer.

I can't believe that some posters on here think that if you are disabled, that it is an impossibility to have dc that ALSO have disabilities.

So, in summation: I was working FT, as was my Ex-P. We had 3 dc, no TC's etc. (I was the main wage earner). I was on Mat leave with my 3rd dc. I was diagnosed with a disability that prevented me from going back to my employment at the time (profession barred by law to anyone who has suffered a seizure after the age of 5yo), and less than 4 weeks later, so was my DD. What then?

I don't get any disability benefits for either me OR my DD - but because I am too disabled for FT work, I cannot claim carers allowance. I am unable to even work PT (which medically I could manage), due to my caring responsibilities. Yet I am too disabled to gain employment that could support us.

Ah, how can I even ARGUE this one with people who have NO IDEA what it like to be a disabled carer. Do any of you argue that I am not a disabled carer?? I have uncontrolled epilepsy and am being investigated for Fibromyalgia at the moment, my DD has asd, is partially deaf, has hypermobility syndrome, has learning difficulties and has two leaky heart valves that will require open-heart surgery in the fairly near future.

Does the fact that my DD has disabilities make me any LESS disabled? Does the fact that I have a disability make me any less of a carer for my disabled DD? If the answer to both those questions is NO, then I AM a disabled carer.

Of course it doesn't. Some people seem to be dealt a dreadful hand and I am sure most of us feel very sorry for them. It must make life very hard.

If you could generate work on line (try peopleperhour.com) which earned you more per hour than you'd pay someone else to look after your daughters (if you could find someone to do that) that might be one route out of how things are. I wrote 30 books. I could probably have done that even with epilepsy at home behind a PC, but not whilst looking after small children of course.

BoffinMum - The only ASD support group in my town is over an hour away by bus, a journey that with all my DC with me costs nearly £12. I can't afford to go more than once every 6 months when I have saved up. And I have 2 dc with asd.

Yeah, life on benefits is the life of fucking Riley, isn't it? I can't even afford to get my DC to the closest library, which costs me £10 bus fare to get to. They stopped the mobile library service 3 years ago.

I have holes in my shoes which let in water, they cost me £15 two years ago. I can't afford a new pair, as rightly, I prioritise buying my DC's clothes and shoes above my own.

I wish a life on benefits was as cushy as you all seem to think it is. The only reason I have the internet is because my UNCLE pays the dongle bill for me, because MY DD has to submit 90% of her homework online, is not allowed to print out from the school computers without being charged £1 per sheet now, and that is if she can even get a free school computer before her homework is due in, without adding on the fact that she needs my help due to her SN. I still have to pay my gas, electric and water bill out of my benefits, as well as my bus fare costs to get my DS's to school, I have to pay for all the dc's school uniform (no grants for that here), all their shoes etc.

I wish I didn't have a disability that prevented me from working FT (or even holding a driving license - it would cost me less to run a car than I spend on bus fares each month, as we have to pay for all dc over 5yo here). I wish DD didn't have numerous disabilities. But that is real life for some people.

Before I was diagnosed with epilepsy, as a very junior employee in the field I was in, I earnt more than double what I get with ALL my benefits combined right now. If I was still able to work there now, 8 years later - I would be getting at least quadruple the income I currently receive in benefits. Yet some of you seem to think that I have made a 'lifestyle choice' to be unemployed and on benefits. HA! I'd have to have the IQ of a squashed hedgehog to think that I am better off on benefits than I would be had I been able to spend the last 8 years working in a career that is quite highly paid.

Anyone want to swap with me?

Xenia - I am going to look at that website, but can you just tell me where I find someone who is prepared to look after a 13yo with asd, when even a qualified SN childminder gave notice after ONE DAY? And just how I would earn enough to cover the costs if I did find anyone willing to look after DD?

hunty

double check about the carers thing .I get Carers for ds3 as well as being disabled .I know of a case where 2 people get DLA and then get carers for each other .

and yes I understand that people dont understand you cna be both .am sick of getting asked well who looks after carers for ds3 erm that would be as well as looking after my other 3dc

Though not sure if its becuase I do not get incapctiy or ESA .( when did the sums teh carers and IS plus the disability premium worked same as ESA and far less stressfull as regards to regular medicals

Agree with the previous post HuntyCat, I am a LP with disabilities and I get Carers for DD who is HFA but also get DLA for myself too. I think the system can't deal with ESA for those who get Carer's but I get income support instead of ESA - same as THC above, it's easier to get IS as a Carer than to deal with ESA medicals, and the money is just the same.

My disability needs are different from yours but I also get a disability Freedom pass as well which you should ask about - I live in London and get free travel on all tubes and buses. It's automatically given for those on HRM DLA but even though I only get LRM, my consultant signed off the forms because it was deemed necessary for me to be able to get to medical appointments. DD gets free travel everywhere as it's free for all children in London, I do feel for you as I've found bus fares so expensive when I've travelled in other counties.

You sound like you're in quite an isolated part of the country and I think that makes a big impact on quality of life - there is quite a lot for us to do within walking distance here and free facilities etc, so although we're cash poor I think there are still a lot of support groups and opportunities for DD here.

It's the fact that you can't claim ESA and CA that's the problem - and when the new Universal Credit comes in, you won't be able to claim CA as well as the portion of UC for being disabled - and even though you can on DLA, you won't be able to from 2013 when PIP replaces DLA. Not that I qualify for DLA anymore - I 'only' average one seizure a week, not the 14 a week you NOW need in order to get DLA...

Seriously.

Not in London - I can get a bus pass for myself BUT I cannot use it before 9.30am. Seeing as two of my bus journeys in a day are before 9.30am, and I can get an all-day ticket for the same price as those two journeys cost me - it doesn't save me a penny. Because obviously disabled people that are entitled to a free bus pass shouldn't be taking up a seat on a rush-hour bus. Yet I HAVE to catch a rush-hour bus, to get my ds's to school.

And, believe it or not - I'm on a fairly large estate in a town that is big enough to be a city. It just costs a bloody lot to pay bus fare for 3 dc over 5yo as well as an adult. And on my estate, they built the whole estate without even putting in a corner shop - it is the same distance to my DS's school as it is to the supermarket, which is my closest shop.

The support groups though, are usually run on other estates, where there are actually halls to HOLD the groups in. All of which require at least an hour on the bus - doesn't mean it's a HUGE distance, it would only take 20 minutes in the car, but buses take a heck of a lot longer. And if you have to wait for a connection, well...

The ASD support group is run an hour's bus ride away. The Epilepsy Action support group runs 7.30pm - 9pm...but the last bus from that estate leaves at 8.50pm - and there is no connection back to my estate from the town centre! Apparently they expect everyone with epilepsy that attends to be driven there and back by their partners...

I go to groups run by Surestart, but there is a high chance that my local centre is going to be closed down soon. But that's a different thread.

Hunty I wish you were local, I'd have managed to help with your child. It grates that my lease does not allow to me to childmind as I'd love to at least have a few kids extra (DH would just shuffle his hours for our own). No go though. Plus ds1 has such a rep that it follows me about.

I have thought about writing though- have had stuff published before. If I can't find work when DH graduatesand DS4 starts school it's an avenue on my list. I'm just so terrible at self selling that it would almost certainly get nowhere.

Peachy - I wish you were local too - it would be lovely to have someone close by that understands what it is like to have more than one dc with Autism. Both of whom have totally different places on the spectrum, with totally different care needs, pulling you in different directions all the time, leaving you feeling like if you do the right thing for one, you are doing the wrong thing for the other.

I feel like my hands are tied though - I could easily make cakes to sell, but the problem is that the cost of materials, tools and labour would come to MORE per proper cake than I am 'allowed' to earn each week. As you are only allowed to earn up to £20 a week. If I made two cakes one week, then none for 4 weeks, it would totally muff up my IS. Not allowed to try to start a simple business from home in the hope of getting myself off benefits in a few years, because I might earn more than £20 once in a blue moon.

Hey, Peachy - your DS1's 'rep' wouldn't bother me - I have a 13yo who is similar, also cannot be left alone in a room with her brothers. Ever.

What is this 'peopleperhour' website that Xenia keeps promoting on various threads - and is she advertising herself on MN?

I could come on here and say 'Have you ever thought of looking at My Website because for every 'hit' I get an extra piece of income/stat to delude advertisers with' - but I don't and I wouldn't because that would be Against The Rules, surely?

Well, I had a look, and it seems to me to be a freelancers job advertising website. Most of the jobs required either knowledge of Web design, Excel knowledge (WTF is Excel?), or a home telephone line. Although the one asking for a 30-page erotic story was, erm, novel!

hunty .I have feeling i know exactly which estate your on and there really is nothing there and that area of Essex is expensive for buses.and not always accessible either ( Hello in this case Brightlingsea I mean you , that was joke no accessible buses unless its a Sunday then we had 1 every 2 hours and that's for town over 10 thousand people ) and Xenia before you say well why did you not complain people did

and yes Essex is a 9.30 rule im fortunate in Herts. that we can use ours any time as long as we start the journey in herts

Hunty yes im dreading the pip thing as I can be disabled or be a carer not both .So being disabled is life long .So the government going to do even better by not paying me to be a carer they will get it for Free .
Am sure the extra £55 they save will make a real difference to the budget

Hunty if you are ever over our way you are welcome to come and spend a few days you know.

YY to making cakes etc-I could do that with my eyes closed- also jams, chutneys etc- it's what family sk me to do for them at Christmas. Can I afford to get the kitchen properly set up? Nope. Would LL's incurance allow it anyway? nope. I can't rent kitchen time becuase I don't have the cash...

it's really quite a vicious circle and the proposal that people on JSA will get start up funds after 6 months but everyone else not furtehr discriminates people who have been or are carers etc.

I read that Universal Credit will enable someone receiving benefits to work/make money and keep more of their benefits.

On the face of it, it that sounds good. Will it practically work?

TheHumanCatapult - I think I knew you under a different name, I've worked out who you were now! .

YY, nothing actually HERE, not allowed to LEAVE this estate due to a Prohibited Steps Order.

Oh yes, of COURSE the whole £55 a week that the Government will save by not paying any carers that happen to also have a disability themselves is going to save the entire economy...

Tilly - It will only work if you take a job with regular hours and pay, like a 10hr a week cleaning job. If you want to do something with a variable income (Like cake decorating), it won't work, because they will STILL take the money off you each week, even if you haven't earnt anything. So, as now, there will just be no point in TAKING or DOING any job that doesn't result in a FIXED income.

If you want to know why a lot of people that are unemployed are still unemployed - it is because all they can find are

1. Jobs for 15 hrs a week, which don't allow them to claim TC's and get off IS/JSA.

2. Zero-hour contracts, where one week they may earn nothing - well, you can't do that if you have dc to feed, can you?

3. Employers INSIST on you being flexible - which childcare just ISN'T.

When those problems are solved - I'm quite sure that a lot of people who currently WANT to work but can't, WILL.

TheReal IF that works it is the only upside

truth is though that nobody knows yet:

the details are scratchy. Lord Freud wants a minimum couple hourly rate of 75 hours to qualify for the tax credits portion

PIP (associated) jas gone to print without ANY provision for Carer's Allowance- that would see it scrapped for anyone caring for a person over 16

Nothing for child over second (I support that to an extent if forward acting: retrospective seems unfair especially given a great many people claiming now never thought they would need to and made rational, careful child planning decisions)

The possible rules allowing carers to work less will end when the cared for child hits sixteen- causing MASSIVE problems if you dared to have a younger child, as you will still have to care AND can be made to work for anything you might claim for the younger child- the non-carer hours requirement will kick in. But then we all know disability is cured at 16 right

So yes there are upsides: my friend whose zero hour contract means some weeks she works 30 hours and some none will not have to wait 3 months for those zero hour weeks to be claimed for and end up relying on social fund / family.

OTOH there are more gaping loopholes that I suspect will be 'allowed' to slip by unnoticed.

Oh, shit, really, Peachy? So when DD is 16yo, I will not be caring for her any more? Will someone else be doing it for me?

Yet I will still have 3 other dc - DS1 will be 12yo when DD is 16, DS2 will be 10yo, and DS3 will be 3yo. And by then, they will have dropped the work from when your dc is 5yo to be 3yo. (as is the intention, depsite the fact that even a FT job doesn't cover chidcare)

DEEP joy.

And now, they are saying in the papers today that in order to make 18-24yo's be massaged out of the long term unemployment figures work, they will be PAYING companies like Tescos to take them on, and will be cutting Tax Credits to do so.

So the Government will be taking money from the poorest workers in the Country, in order to pay rich businessmen for being able to use cheap labour. And then there won't BE any jobs left for the poorest workers, who will then be forced to do Workfare, even if they have caring responsibilities.

Have I woken up in the Middle Ages with a return to Feudalism?

Same here for us Hunty: ds4 rather typically turns 12 (the cut off age for a child being an exemption) the same year ds3 turns 16.

However there is NO point in panicking: spreading the word, keeping abreast are you a follower of carers uk and care watch? tehya re good) and basically hunkering down is my plan: sooner or later Tory voters will get sick of tripping over mentally ill and disabled people and ask why it is happening. Or like alst time Phil Collin's profile will make a killing from it.

One or the other.

And yes to rest too.

Here if you are on JSA, DLA, ESA or under 24 you get priority at interviews.

Doesn't leave much in the way of pickings for everyone else really. If we are going to face the same penalties for being non employed, at least put us on a par with those on ESA and JSA (disability I understand). Otherwise it is pretty indefensible.

I have absolutely no commercial interest to advertise peopleperhour.com. I do a tiny bit of work from that site so I suppose my commercial interest would be in not telling people about it. However a lot of it is work people can do from home so it seems ideal for those who are housebound for one reason or another. You bid for work such as proof reading or in my case my specialist field or whatever. I was just mentioning it as one of things people can do from home although if you look after a child as well we all know that doesn't give much chance to do other things.

I have spent my life trying to think of ways to get paid and ways to work and some have worked and some not. I wrote 30 books. I am not saying anyone could but if you can sit a PC and spell as many people on here can that is certainly something else worth doing.

Those and selling by phone on commission are just three ideas. I am not suggesting I can find work for anyone but I do think one reason I've done reasonably well is by being quite position and when 9 / 10 thing go wrong continuing to persist with the one that is left.

Anyway given how little the state gives most people it's certainly worth trying alternative routes to work.

It's generally best to start with what you were originally doing as that is what people know and see what can be made out of that. there is a huge issue however with coming off benefits to earn a tiny sum and then get back on. The Government needs to tackle that better.

Huntycat - I get the thing with the bus pass and school. Usually I am lucky enough that FIL or DH does the morning school run, but if I do, I have to pay there and back, or just pay there and find an excuse to hang around school for half an hour.

The bus pass is a lifesaver in general, but the 9.30 thing is infuriating. How come you can get an exemption if YOU have a course to get to, but not to take a small child? Or am I meant to be putting my 4yo on the bus herself? Or walking the 2 miles uphill when I am still coming round from sleeping tablets? Or, maybe, they could magic up a place in one of the five nearer schools that we applied to on time?

Ah yes Xenia: what I was doing, an excellent job I would love to do again
they went banckrupt when the charity lost it's LA funding

Hunty here a good one to follow

So you go back to what your skills were and work from there. May be it's something that can be setup from home for example.