to be fed up of George sodding Osbourne and his Knobbish Ideas

[avivabeaver]

The economy is proving harder to fix than he first thought

Solution- suggest cutting £10bn from the benefits budget and "limit the number of children people can claim for". So- are you supposed to choose your 2 favourite and just feed them then? Or what?

My husband works at least 50 hours a week and we are living of 16k!!
Its bloody hard but if he hadn't set up a business we would have lost the house I am sure of it. we would have got some benefits etc but I would imagine it would be less than 16k & as we have a mortgage I doubt we would get housing.
Dh has just walked through the door after starting work at 06:30am!
we work really hard to support ourselves & tax credits helps us buy food etc, we don't have luxury's & we certainly don't have the money for flat screen tv's lol

I agree that there will be riots when people realise what is being done to them.

Ironically, I think a lot of the people who have will be furious are the ones who froth about scroungers.

purple it is entirely unworkable I agree. it is sheer lunacy. But it will be policy.

The scariest thing I have read yet is Universal Jobmatch. An online job service which will 'match' vacancies to available scroungers. You will be required to submit applications, CVs, etc online for scrutiny.

The one thing I really see going totally wrong here (apart from the IT system and the obvious data protection issues) is that JobCentrePlus staff are usually either incompetent or so overworked they can't see.

I frankly doubt they are going to bother actually checking the returns. A good bullshitter will be able to make stuff up. An honest person who is trying to genuinely do their best and admits to having issues finding anything to apply for, or god forbid a person who cannot get online, will get shafted.

The returns will provide a whole raft of reasons to sanction people, etc.

Yes a lot of people who currently claim tax credits will be incandescent when the government either withdraws them or expects them to perform workfare for them.

Ironically, I think a lot of the people who have will be furious are the ones who froth about scroungers. Yes Frothy, I totally agree

Monkey, please read the link I mentioned. Your dh will need to take home min wage every week before being penalised. Also if you need to buy goods, equip, tools etc/ business expenses I'm not sure but I think you can't use these against income. For e.g earned £150 but spent £40 on equip you are now under the min wage of £126 so you have no benefit this week.
You also have to supply accounts online monthly not annually and the same applies as mentioned above. If you are not working 35 hours (which job centre staff agree are acceptable), no benefit that week, and all the job centre meetings, workfare applies to self employed too.

morethan from what I have gleamed we will be affected by the changes. my dh works over 45/50hours a week but our wages are under the minimum amount.
I can't believe we helped ourselves and are set to still be penalized by the government. Unless you are stinking rich they just don't want to know.

Everything frothyOM said. I knew they would be out for single parents before they took power.

Cameron and his chums have never worked half as hard as most single parents do week in week out. I will stop there as I will just swear and get deleted, and anyway I need my dinner and a shower (y'know as I can't do that in the day as I'm at work then taking the dc's to swimming lessons). . And my dinner is leftover roast from sunday.

But I'm joining the labour party, I've had enough. They might not be perfect but I think they have a better idea of the real world than the Tories.

Monkey.

Really sorry to be the word of doom, but at least you know now. Of little consequence I know.
I do hope it isn't too bad for you, keep an eye open for my future posts as we are in the same sit as yourself. As we get the uc first I will probably be posting about it soon.

They are claiming to be the party of strivers.

It's scary how many people don't pay attention to anything more than the soundbites.

There will be people in the same boat as morethan and monkeys voting tory because they think they will help them and sort out the scroungers. You couldn't make it up.

Frothy.

Couldn't agree more. I have never personally had this attitude but I likewise know many.
I didn't vote for this government as I have lived through conservative governments in the past, this isn't a coalition.

Yes, you would think from the sound bites that benefits only go to unemployed people.

You would also think from the sound bites that everyone receiving benefits is a lazy scrounger with numerous kids, which they had purely to get more money and a bigger house, which they fill with plasma TV screens. They sit around watching their enormous TVs, drinking and smoking, and occasionally go out and buy expensive clothes. When they aren't doing this they are off on frequent holidays. They live a lifestyle that no normal, hardworking family (because singles are irrelevant, as are single parents) could ever afford, and therefore you should hate them and support all welfare cuts! And don't worry about the genuinely ill and disabled people because there aren't many of them, most fall into the above category. The ones who are genuine will be fine but we are cutting all their benefits anyway

Sound about right? What really horrifies me isn't that the Tories are saying it, because to be honest that is to expected, but that so many people are buying it. The level of vitriol directed at people on benefits at the moment is horrifying, and most people don't even wait to find out whether people are in the 'deserving' or 'undeserving' category anyway - they just attack them either way. If it is finally pointed out to them that some disabilities are unseen they say things like 'Oh well of course I don't mean them, that's different. Although there is so much fraud and some people have so much paid for...' It's a lynch mob mentality, and quite frankly it is scary.

They didn't mean them... that's different...

Only in the eyes of the government it isn't. People with disabilities and their carers are the most feckless scroungers of the lot, apparently.

And I don't see Labour as doing any differently. ATOS anyone?

Aww shit Glitterknickaz I was hoping to cut my hours down to 17 a day, that makes me even more feckless and scrounger like doesn't it, damnit Janet!

I have started a new thread about uc on AIBU just as this will be full soon and the title includes uc/tax credit.
The more people that see these posts the better, at least if nothing else they can prepare themselves.

Oh I know. 24/7 is sooo fucking lazy!!!

thank you morethan The government were probably hoping this would go ahead under the radar!! so much for Torys promoting businesses etc. I would never vote them either having gone through a Tory recession which ment my father had to work abroad, we would have lost everything if it wasn't for good old Euro Disney giving my dad work!

Lets just be done with it and bring back the workhouse now. The government should stop pretending it gives a fuck about the poorest in society and we'll all know where we stand.

i'm concerned about the loss of housing benefit for under 25s. I rent and my DC is at uni, i still qualify for the LHA for a 2 bed flat as DC maintains a home address here- and stays here during hols etc. I work so HB isn't full amount but without it i'd be destitute as i'm a low paid worker. I am trying to get extra hours work but no luck so far and under the rules 85% of every £ I earn is taken away anyway to contribute towards council tax benefit and HB . As soon as DC moves away permanently my LHA will only cover a 1 bed property so I will have to move somewhere smaller. If DC then loses their job or can't find employment after uni then under these new regulations they will be expected to come and live with either me or their dad again (Dad has new family and no room in his place). I'll have to move again back to a bigger place or one of us will be sleeping in the lounge without a room of our own. The stress of thinking about it is already upsetting me. Also DC is in a creative industry and needs to be living in a large city to get work/internships etc. DC is prepared to other things whilst waiting to get foot in the door- they currently work in a supermarket but what if it isn't quite enough money to cover rent/ bills?

Also what about children who are estranged from their family or have no family? I left home at 17 due to family conflict and lived with a BF. I was lucky because without him i'd have had to rely on some HB from time to time when my work dried up- i had the odd weeks when i was out of work. Some families won't take their kids back in. What about those who have other issues- mental health problems?

The housing situation will never improve until we have more affordable housing- to rent and to buy. If there was more investment in that then long term there would be less HB being paid out, but that would mean the rich landlords would lose some income so can't see this government ever tackling that.

After my utility bills and council tax are paid i have £40pw left over for everything. I don't smoke, no car, no tv, no debts i'm paying off. I'm just another 'scrounger' raking it in! What a joke. Take us all out and shoot us right now. This government are sick , out of touch with what most people's lives are really like and helping to line their friends and backers pockets by robbing from those most in need.

Just to clarify for those who think anyone who gets benefits has an easy life. I work 22 hours pw in a council job, wages are ok, slightly more than in retail, but not enough hours- i'd love to work more even though most of my money will be taken away to recoup the BH and CTB i get (85% is taken away). Extra hours are unlikely as we've suffered cuts to the service. I am looking for extra work elsewhere but it has to fit in with what i currently do so not easy and unemployment is still v. high where I live.

After my utility bills and council tax are paid i have £40pw left over for everything. I don't smoke, no car, no tv, no debts i'm paying off. I'm just another 'scrounger' raking it in!

We need to have cheaper housing in the country. Cheaper public transport and lower utility bills.

i have 1 child

its not really possible to look for work 35 hours pw, for one thing there aren't that many jobs out there- its that simple . I've been unemployed and its soul destroying and can send you into a deep depression . Spending hours perfecting your Cv for each job, hours filling out the perfect application from and then getting rejected yet again does that to you.

What i think would be a good idea is making anyone on JSA who is not on contributions based do some actual community work- probably around 8 hours pw . They have enough time then to still look for work. Nothing punishment like but looking at where cuts have hit or charity work. I continued doing 1 day a week in a charity shop throughout my period of unemployment, it helped me keep sane and ultimately led to my current job as I developed some new skills that my current employers were looking for. The crucial thing is that any work undertaken cannot be depriving another person of paid work or it is counter productive. Helping unemployed people feel they still fit into society and have a useful role to play will help reduce risk of depression, it helps them stay in touch with other people, being unemployed can be very isolating. For those few who like the lifestyle of being unemployed it will ensure they have to contribute towards society and may even help them see the value of doing work.

blue bird - what about DC's father? Understand if you are a widow, but otherwise why should the state make up the shortfall?

Niceguy2 you took the words right out of my mouth (and put them much better than I could have too!)