Who really gets £500+ weekly state benefits?

[vivizone]

I find this shit so hard to believe. Reading the media, you would think this was a common figure on life on benefits.

Yesterday and today's Metro newspaper - people writing in saying they agree with the cap of £500 and why should people be sat on their arse and be rewarded by £500 per week. . Why should they earn £200 per week working and people are getting £500 a week doing nothing.

Seriously, who gets this £500 per week that is being peddled out of the media? I spent 7 months out of work after redundancy and I could not live on the pittance I received for me and my children. I do not know how people do it. I really don't. I had a decent redundancy package and that was the only way I could make it.

How many people do you know (forget the newspaper stories) that are RECEIVING £500 or more every week? I thought so.

How come if life is/was that cushy on benefits, not enough people are/were packing in their jobs to join a life of riley?

We have been had. Life on benefits is HARD and DEMORALISING. I have tried it and I can tell you you get PEANUTS.

The reason why stories run on people living in million dollar homes/getting thousands a week in benefits is because it is RARE. It is SO rare, that it gets reported on.

[Ajaney]

I work part time for a council in systems and admin support for Benefits and taxation department.

A couple of weeks back, we sent out letters to a small number of claimants advising them that they would be receiving less money from April. A few would be losing close to £200 per week.

The area is not really expensive, a 3 bed property in reasonable area around £500 a month.

The £500 a week cap is to include out of work benefits, tax credits and housing benefit but not disability or child benefit as far as I understand (I don't assess claims so am trained up on the rules). Child maintenance is also exempt now if i remember rightly.

There has been coverage in the papers on how this will lead to people on benefits in London or expensive areas being relocated to 'cheaper' areas and that London councils have been in touch with other councils to see about getting housing stock but I have no idea if this is true or just 'Daily Mail dreaming'.

[AudrinaAdare]

Perhaps my DS should earn his DLA. He is astoundingly good at being wide awake in the small hours and loves animals so there might be some sort of farm work he could be doing instead of attending infant school...

[babyinsane]

We get just over £630pw for one adult and one child, but that includes DLA (HRC+LRM) x2, for me and DD, plus Carer's Allowance for me. I get IS, HB, CTB, CTC (with severe disability premium) and of course CB. Our HB is actually quite low, £95pw as it's just a 2 bed in a council block in London. We get FSM and I have a Freedom Pass which I haven't included in the figures.

We won't be affected by the cap of course, because we get disability benefits. Our outgoings are high because we need taxi fares, private therapies, special foods, have to pay for 1:1 for activities etc, the cost of being disabled and having a disabled child are very high. But I do have enough cash to live comfortably.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Disability benefits shouldn't even be counted when there is a 'totting up' going on, they are a totally separate thing.

Just to pick up one point Nora I thought that maintenance was discounted for tax credit/IS/HB purposes? Because it is for the children not support for the resident parent.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

If somebody is going to list a huge heap of benefits I do wish they would also point out that some require you to be over 65, some don't exist,some are only paid for ONE child and some require you to be significantly disabled.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Maintainance is disregarded unless its a sum larger than the csa deal with. But it would not be deducted from savings.

[AudrinaAdare]

Maintenance was counted as income when I was a lone parent and it was deducted from the income support which was, according to the government, "the minimum the adult needs to live on"

Luckily this didn't happen to me because XH successfully dodged the CSA for years, but some families were constantly mucked around and left short.

The system changed due to the hardship that families found themselves in because of people like him. It is due to change yet again when lone parents are charged a flat fee and a percentage of the money gathered by the CSA. Why they don't charge the absent parent who refuses to cooperate or contribute in ANY way, I don't know.

[babyinsane]

I think they will be counting child maintenance again when Universal Credit comes in. That won't affect me personally as I don't receive any from ExP, it would be a pittance anyway so it's not worth chasing him for it.

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

i honestly couldn't tell you the weekly income of even 1 person i know. not even my mum or sister or best friend. yet post a thread on MN and you can get strangers from all over the country to post the exact details of their income for all to judge. and then you get the first lot feeling they have to justify it aswell. always amazes me how easy it is.

[Lougle]

" Cozy9 Wed 21-Nov-12 22:15:56

I think the cap should be less than £500. And DLA should be included in it. "

The moment they do, a case will be brought against the Government for Disability Discrimination. You can't penalise individuals for income they get as a direct result of their disabiliy.

[AudrinaAdare]

Is that right that maintenance is also going to change under U.C? I didn't know that.

I had already worked out that it will cost me and DH about £20 per year to keep claiming the paltry £1.60 per week that XH pays for DD and thought it was still worth it. Perhaps then he might remember that he has a daughter who would love to speak to him twice a year when his mother sends presents and a card on his behalf

[Debs75]

If you or someone in your household gets DLA then the cap doesn't affect you.
If it did we would lose the equivalent of double our rent each week or roughly the same as a private rented 4 bed property in our area.

TBH I do agree that benefits are high but only in proportion to the fact wages are so low. When you take into account the sheer bloody expense of utilities and just about everything benefits only just cover essentials. Yes some people get holidays and plasma tv's bt they probably go without proper essentials to afford them. Not all benefit receivers do that I know but it does seem to be a common misconception

[fluffygal]

OH and I both work full time but OH is self employed and earning next to nothing at the moment, have mortgage, full council tax bill to pay. 5 kids between us. If you include childcare element of tax credits, we get just over 400 a week in TC and CB on top of that. I can see how it can be done, but not if you are not working. Take away our childcare element and it would drop dramatically (childcare is 1200 every 4 weeks, get 70% paid.so TC would drop to less then 200 a week).

[fluffygal]

Although actually with HB and CTB I can see how it can reach that amount if you aren't working.

[LDNmummy]

Yup, the rents in certain area's really are astounding.

[rhondajean]

Can I point out that I was on training regarding this this week and the £500 cap does NOT include the new council tax reduction as this will be administered by local authorities.

However in my locals authority area of approximately 52,000 households they estimate that 40 households will be affected. This is not a well off area by any means either. So the actual answer is, it's not really that common.

Btw the cap for a single person will be £350 per week so less even than that one bedroom flat at £381.

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

surely the one bedroom flat is £381 per month, not week?

[rhondajean]

Nope - check ethelb's pp up there^

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

[Bogeyface]

We just had to claim JSA as DH turned up at work to find himself made redundant with no notice, no pay nothing (follow our campaign for what we are owed on twitter @rileysscrewedus ) along with 100's of others.

We have 6 children and wont be getting anywhere near £500 a week, but we have a low mortgage. If we had to claim rent in our area, Midlands with much lower rents than the SE, then would probably be in that region. People forget the £500 a week or £26000a year doesnt actually mean £500 a week in cash. It means housing benefit, council tax benefit and JSE/Income support type benefits. If you live in London then £500 a week could just be the rent!

[Bogeyface]

surely the one bedroom flat is £381 per month, not week?

Not if you live in central London it isnt

[Bogeyface]

The reason that child support payments were disregarded was because many women (my cousin was one) had their income support calculated on what they needed AFTER maintenance was paid. Sadly, her ex and many others, didnt pay it so she was living on £12 per week for her and her child. It soon became clear that what should be paid by the absent parent was often not actually paid and that people were suffering quite badly as a result.

And they are bringing that arrangement back! But hey, who cares?! Aslong as the middle England Middle Class DM readers are paying for them!

[Bogeyface]

aren't paying for them

[bubbles1231]

How is it that someone can get DLA for themselves (because they need extra care/are unable to look after themselves ) and yet are able to then claim carers allowance to look after someone else? I don't understand. Surely if you require help to look after yourself, you're not able to take care of someone else? Or have I just mis-understood what the benefits are for?

[ihearsounds]

No it doesn't mean entirely in cash, but its still 26k a year including rent. Many people on low wages have an entire income (including tc etc) a lot less than this, but live within their means. Like I said further up, if I weren't working, I would get cash £348 a week, from this I would have to pay very little rent (around a tenner a week rates), utilities, food, clothing and toiletries for 5 of us.
Bogey, do a benefit check, you will be in for a shock at how close to £500 you are.