To be very scared at the details of the Universal tax credit?

[Feminine]

I had no idea.

I've been away from the UK, and just saw the actual proposals/rules on another thread.

Its bad right?

I imagine there is another thread on this so if there is, sorry ...I can't find it! :)

Gettingagrip - you've just ponited out something which I never thought of for some odd reason.

When the chages come in for UC and the hours needed to work for qualify them a lot of people will no longer meet the criteria for free NHS pescriptions.. so will I be right in thinking that those who can not longer afford the medication they need will not only prolong any illnesses but deteriorate further and making the pressure on what will be left of the NHS a lot worse than it already is and costing more in the long run?

Kal yes, that makes sense...you are right.

My Mum was left the family home in the settlement, and although she survived with a tiny payment from my Dad, the housing was sorted.

although why she decided to sell it for nothing in '87 is beyond me

Great point about NRP who are self-employed Dotty. Perhaps all of us with SE exs will suddenly see a huge rise in support payments. Perhaps not

The CSA computer system is not fit for purpose despite how many years in place? Will UC be administered centrally too? How much will it cost? One cock-up and ALL a family's benefits are screwed. Nightmare.

Wasn't just on about NRP DH works bloody long hours and if he was on minimun wage we'd be rolling in it but hey ho we manage ok with a little help.

molepom, from www.disabilityalliance.org/f55.htm

Passported benefits - It is intended that the passported benefits system will be reformed so as to gradually withdraw entitlements as earnings rise.

This, if I have right idea, is a good change.

As I understand it, it means free school meals and free prescriptions etc will no longer be all or nothing. It will be means tested. So the 'working poor' will get something towards these costs.

For self employed, if you're working at your business 35 hours a week then you aren't available for work. If they have any sense they'll give SE a time limit to turn a profit and a time limit for earning over the threshold.

FiremanPenny - What are the positives from the CSA changes?

Does anyone know the thresholds? And the amount of money we are talking.

Foe example if you are able to meet the required hours/earn the required money, what are amounts people are able to claim under UC?

What are the cut off points ie anyone that earns over X amount won't receive anything?

Atm if you earn over £40k you don't receive ctc is that right? And if you earn over 16k you don't get WTC? Is that right? I take it that will all change with UC so what are the new figures?

This is an important raised earlier by someone but has been unanswered.

Happymum I notice you have still not attempted to address the issue of 3 million unemployed. Where are all the feckless lazy scrounger parents supposed to get a job from?

If the Gov put up the national minimum wage it will have the effect of further increasing unemployment.

In the business I work for there are 5 employees, 3 of whom are part time. One of the full-time ones is an apprentice 19 year old on £2.60 per hour. He was taken on because he is very cheap. If the nmw went up one of the other part-timers would have to go. We've all had hours cut already and no rises for last 2 years. The business is hanging on by the skin of its teeth because of the recession downturn.

If I ask for my hours to go up I would be laughed at and if they were increased another worker would lose their job. I earn over the nmw so I may have to ask for more hours at lower rate. I will look for another job but I'm not terribly optimistic.

After 10+ years of TC I suspect many small businessses only survive because they could employ part-timers (6 million in UK at mo) who could work p-t because they received TC. In short I suspect there is a huge 'hidden' number of jobs that only exist because they were in effect subsidised by TC. We will see unemployment rise hugely over the next 2-3 years.

I think Alistair Darling had it right when he advised cutting the deficit slowly so as not to damage economy. This lot will have us all destitute.

These are the conditionality..... er... conditions Hookaduck

NMW for over 21 years old is £6.08. So 35 hours @ £6.08= £212.80 x 52 weeks=£11,065.60 per year. If you earn over that you will get the Universal Credit top up. Rates of top up will be similar to TC now I think (though quite a lot being frozen eg family 'element', lp element.

If you are a Lone parent

And your youngest child is UNDER 5yo - You will have no conditions placed on you.

And your youngest child is OVER 5yo - You will need to work 24 hrs/wk @ NMW to avoid Workfare. [ie income over £145.92]

And your youngest child is OVER 12yo - You will need to work 35 hrs/wk @ NMW to avoid Workfare.

If you are a Couple

And your youngest child is UNDER 5yo - ONE parent will need to work 35 hrs/wk @ NMW to avoid Workfare.

And your youngest child is OVER 5yo - ONE parent will need to work 35 hrs/wk @ NMW AND the other parent will need to work 24 hrs/wk @ NMW to avoid Workfare.

And your youngest child is OVER 12yo - BOTH parents will need to work 35 hrs/wk @ NMW to avoid Workfare.

And if you meet those conditions, where are the figures for how much you will be able to claim under UC?

Small one person businesses like mine are stuffed. Years and years ago there was an Enterprise something Scheme

hookaduck, this page says they don't have the amounts. Scroll down to How much is UC

have just skimmed the most recent post but just wanted to say re:prescriptions that if the current season ticket scheme remains in operation, you can get several meds for approx £7 per month. obv I appreciate that £7 per month is a lot if you are struggling, but still a saving on £7.40 ish per item.

happymummumyofone I'm a LP who works 18hrs a week (dc's are 5 & 3). I am currently costing the NHS a lot of money (far more than the piddling amount I pay in tax every month) as my body is cracking under the pressure. Luckily my GP and the hospital are testing me and doing what they can to keep me going, my GP thinks I'm burnt out and need to slow down but as a LP I can't stop working can I? The only good thing is that at this rate I'll be able to earn a fortune as a size zero model .

Really cost effective putting more pressure on LP's isn't it .

All SE people on here don't forget to add into that 24 /35 hrs pw a significant number of hours for the admin that goes with your business.

Telephone calls, marketing, book-keeping schlepping to & from the suppliers is all hours to include as work according to one of the other threads on here which eased my mind.

I do 20-25 hrs pw as I am at college one day a week plus one day (unpaid) teaching practice as part of the course.

I'm aiming to get off TC's as soon as I can, but it'll be a few years

I think that doesn't matter Bossy, it's the income that they are bothered about. I work 30+ hours a week and don't bring in anything like the minimum wage (at the moment). The number of hours doesn't seem to matter to them, it's hours and income.

Pickgo-that is the text that someone posted on a previous thread, but I can't find any real confirmation on any of the tax/govmt/poverty charity websites to back it up, so I am not sure the details are really finalised yet.
This is good, because now is the time to make a great big stink about it.

Write to your MP, talk you your local press, join the campaigns run by anti poverty and disabled rights charities.

I find it really hard to believe that the government is bringing in a policy whereby people will no longer be able to start a business from scratch.

Essentially, any small business can expect to make a loss in year one, break even in year two, and turn a small profit in year three.
That is normal. It's great if you start turning profit straight away, but even if you do, it wont be loads.

I saw a girl on telly a while back who had had a rough life:Teenage mum, got in with the wrong man, been to jail for drugs etc.

She came out, got her daughter back, and with the help of the Princes Trust started a cafe.

Within 5 years she was doing great, running a succsessful business, employing people and paying tax.

Under the new self employed rules, it would be impossible for a woman like her to do this.

So really, the only people able to become self employed or start a business will be people who already have a partner supporting them, or who have a lot of redundancy money etc.

Social mobility is bad already-this will just kill it stone dead.
Anyone getting the feeling they just want us to know our place??

The trouble is Northern, the law of unintended consequences kicks in with all the schemes dreamt up by these loons from Eton.

They 'fix' one thing and this causes another thing to pop up. They never ever look at the bigger picture.

And yes, the whole thing IS to get us to know our place.

Someone said further up (apologies, I forget who) that the rules state Lone Parents will only be expected to work within school hours. As far as I know this is already in place. That is what the LP advisor told me before my first "sign on", it's what he wrote on my card. Your man at the "signing on" desk however, doesn't care.

I was asked why I had only applied for one job that fortnight. I explained that i'd only found one that I could get childcare for. It made no difference, they took the first step towards a sanction anyway.

I'm in one of the worst areas of the country for unemployment. It is impossible for me to apply for three jobs a week, they don't exist.

I am very scared, yes.

TheLightPassenger I spend ££'s on prescription each month. Never knew about this season ticket scheme. Can you do a link?

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/1127.aspx prescription season ticket

We will save a small fortune, thanks for the link gettingagrip

Sorry if I'm asking something that's already been asked (haven't read whole thread )
I currently work 25 hours per week, it fits in perfectly with DS school hours e.t.c, he's 12 this year, it may be possible for me to get 30 hours when he go's to secondary, but not 35. I love my job and don't want to leave it, I'm already lucky to have the hours that I do, as most of my colleagues have to work early mornings, late evenings and weekends.
However, my hourly rate is well above NMW, and if I worked 30 hours, my wage would still be a good £25-£30 a week MORE than 35h x NMW, so basically, my question is (if anyone knows!) Would I still be expected to do workfare, even though I would be earning more than the required amount? Also if I had to, would it just be for five hours a week, would they let me fit it round my current job and DS?

If you work out how much you are expected to earn (35 x NMW) and you earn above that figure, then regardless of how many hours you work, you wouldn't be expected to do workfare.

That's the way I read it.

Read the last quarter of the thread as that seems to cover this bit

The thing about starting a business and going self-employed is that most people want their businesses to grow, so in the early years they work like stink, and put all their 'profits' back into said business.

This means that for years you can work for nothing, or as little as you can manage so that your new business will prosper.

Eventually you hope that the good times will come, from all that hard work and sacrifice. You drive a crap car, have no social life, look like a bag lady.....

Imagine then, working all those hours and not taking any money so that the business can grow, only to find that you then have to go and stack shelves for 'work experience' at Tescos?

And as I say, this is nothing in comparison to what many on here will have to suffer. I, at least, have a modicum of health, and my very elderly parent does not yet require full time care.

gettingagrip Bloody good post.

Well, there have been tons of bloody good posts on here - very useful stuff.