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.

[anastaisia]

Gingerbread say this about maintenance

"Will child maintenance payments affect universal credit?

No, this is not changing. Any child maintenance payments that you receive will not affect the amount of universal credit that you are entitled to."

[AudrinaAdare]

bubbles because DLA is paid on the basis of care needs which require extra funds. A parent who has lost the use of their limbs due to a R.T.A may well receive DLA and also Carers Allowance for their child who has suffered severe brain damage and is in intensive care. It's an extreme example I know, but it could happen to any one of us. It only takes one fuckwit.

[Wowserz129]

Child maintenance is not going to be affected when universal credit comes in.

I think that the majority of people who claim, do so because they need the money to live not to spend on plasmas. I will never judge someone for being on benefits.

I think some people have a false idea if what being on benefits is like and how easy it is to go from being independently financially stable to needing help to live. Quite sad really.

[Brycie]

If no one is getting it then the cap isn't a problem.

[lisad123]

Bubbles because DLA is based on care needs rather than carers need. So I could have no legs and require DLA to help me get out and about, ect but my dd autsim doesn't require me to be physically able to carry her but to teach and talk her though the troubles of living with a social disability, ensure she has all the equipment she needs, manage her behaviour and be her voice. Does that make sense?

[AudrinaAdare]

You put it better than I did lisad123

[Bogeyface]

ihearsounds
I have checked, do you think it wasn't the first thing I did when I found out that my husband, who hasnt been out of work in 33 years, was out of a job? It wont be anywhere near £500 a week.

And tbh, what if it was? 33 years paying tax and NI, seeing the doctor once in the last 8 years, paying for dental and eye treatment, etc means he is perfectly entitled to claim for him and his family doesnt it? I have worked too, and we are both now seeking work.

If we need it and we have "earned" it, then why do you begrudge us?

[CurrentBun]

I have unfortunately known of two people fiddling benefits. I reported one, or should I say tried to but no one seemed to be interested. It's a complete joke.

[garlicbaguette]

I've only read the first page as I should be asleep but, bloody hell, ethelb, where do you live? Ours is £91 a week for a 1-bed and that's going down in April!

[garlicbaguette]

OK, you live in a v. expensive part of London. Have you checked whether you could actually find a 1-bed flat to rent in your district for £385 or £250 a week (whichever it actually is)?

The campaigning groups are pointing out that, as HB goes down, Londoners are being squeezed out to the far edges of town. Meaning they can't get to their jobs if they have them - bear in mind that most HB claimants are working and, if they're in need of a rent subsidy, they're not earning enough for a 5-zone commute or the childcare to cover it. Some think it's a deliberate policy to rid the city of riff-raff ... so you'd better get a job or get packing

[garlicbaguette]

Having said which, I'm very much with those who say the real problem is wages that are so low, the state has to prop them up. I get ESA (WRAG), HB and CTB. It's not much because I live in a depressed area - I moved here from London because it's cheaper! However, I'd need to earn around £22k to be as poor as I am now after tax. As this is a depressed area, there are very few jobs paying above minimum wage. So it's a trap wherever you live :(

[garlicbaguette]

... point being, this is the least the government says I need to live on (and, believe me, they're not being generous) but it's practically impossible to earn it. So that's what's wrong, fundamentally.

Finally going to bed! Sorry for multiple posts.

[janey68]

I completely agree that the real problem here is low wages. The lowest waged job should enable the worker to be significantly better off than they would be if they didn't work. The key word there is significant. If when all the extras such as free prescriptions, dental care, school meals are factored in, someone is only about £20 a month better off, what incentive is there to work? And this applies most in low skilled, low status jobs, Because frankly, the cash in your hand is probably the only motivator to work. If you are in a professional career, you are probably driven as much by the intellectual stimulation, the job satisfaction and other factors, and these aspects help get you through the times when you're training and early in your career when wages aren't great. In a menial job you're less likely to have these motivators.

On another note, I absolutely fail to understand the 'logic' of the small number of posters who piped up with 'but it's the landlord who gets the £500 rent not the benefits recipient'. Eh? The recipient is able to live in the property which the HB pays for. It's no different to being given the cash and then having to pay it out in rent. It's like me bleating 'but the bank gets £800 a month, and the council gets £200 per month, not me!' - yes, they do, but I have to earn that money first.

As a final point, a typical family might be paying out £800 per month mortgage/ rent, £200 in council tax and £1000 childcare. That's £2000 per month, or £24000 per year before heating, food, transport, clothes, phone bill.... And it's £24k out of TAXED income so the overall earnings would need to be far higher simply to pay those basic bills. This is the REAL problem. Ordinary cannot afford to live and it's the people who dont qualify for any top ups or benefits who get screwed the most.

[Dawndonna]

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

[KittyFane1]

When my DH was made redundant a number of years ago he was entitled to £0 benefit of any kind because I worked. After my wage had paid the mortgage, council tax and basic bills we had £43 PW 'disposable' income between us to pay for food, transport etc. We seriously considered selling up at a loss because if we did that and left my job we would have been able to claim HB, JSA, water rates, council tax, FSM, free prescriptions etc etc.
This £500 is very easy to reach when you factor in all the benefits people can claim. Discounted swimming lessons, standby £5 theatre tickets.. I could go on. [bitter] :o

[GailTheGoldfish]

Mamamibbo (if you're still here, sorry, I went to bed! ) I was really just thinking of the people I know who claim DLA as well as being in employment - as it's not means tested they are entitled to it as is your son. If its there for him but you don't need it to supplement your family income why not claim it and save it up for him for when he comes out of education or moves out of home or whatever he wants to do in the future?

[KittyFane1]

In other words... some people live very nicely on hand outs.

[OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos]

I absolutely fail to understand the 'logic' of the small number of posters who piped up with 'but it's the landlord who gets the £500 rent not the benefits recipient'.

I agree, and I don't understand it either. It's as if people think the landlords are doing something wrong by providing people with a place to live and maintaining their properties. They forget that landlords are actually providing a service and have to do some work to be a landlord, and that they have to pay to maintain the home, and pay VAT on any maintenance they do as well as paying income tax on the money they earn for being a LL.

[rhondajean]

One of the other changes with universal credit is that all benefits including hb ( but not council tax reduction) will be paid directly to one member of the household. They then have to pay rent etc themselves.

The cap also dies not include child benefit btw.

And £500 week is £35k earning per year net ( straight from dwp)

[KittyFane1]

outraged I agree. I'm wondering if some people think that private landlords should reduce rents for people on benefits? Why should they? Jeez, free/reduced/subsidised bl*y everything.

[ariane5]

I used to get over 500 when I was a single parent but a lot of it was dla (4 dcs with genetic condition) . IS, HB, CTB, free school meals etc.

But then I got married and now we get nowhere near that amount and have to pay full rent, c tax etc and do not get free school meals. We are much much worse off now.

[ihearsounds]

I never said I begrudged anyone. I said many people in households in employment have a household income a lot less than 26k a year, but within their means. How is that begrudging anyone? The government says you need xx a week to live on, yet thousands of households currently working are taking home less than this including the little top up from tc and hb. I know when I was claiming, I had more disposable income than I do now.

The Cap does include CB and CTC but not DLA or WTC.
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_48_10.htm

[Asinine]

The problem is that people find it hard to put themselves in each other's shoes. High level benefits sound like a lot of money, but as others have said many families on these levels have serious problems, whether it's unemployment, disability, overcrowding, health (mental and physical) none of which add up to a great quality of life, however much money is involved.

I think there should be an annual compulsory lottery amongst government MPs each year, where the lucky winners and their family have to actually live on benefits in a typical estate and use public services like health and education for at least a month and be filmed.

Until there is a real prospect of the policy makers living the lives of poorer people, they will continue to lack understanding.

[OptimisticPessimist]

I think the reason people mention HB is because JSA/IS are supposed to be the bare minimum that people can live on - they should be left with that amount after housing costs. If someone (on full benefits) is living in an area of high rental prices then it can appear that they are receiving huge amounts in comparison to someone in the same circumstances but living in a cheaper area, but actually both families have the same amount to live on iyswim.

Housing benefit is already capped locally based on local rental prices, people receive an amount appropriate to the local rental market. When you introduce a standardised cap without taking into account the differences in rental prices, people will be left with lower than the minimum amount needed to live on after their rent is paid.

As edam said earlier, the problem lies in the private letting market and the selling off of social housing. Cutting housing benefit isn't really going to solve the root problem - most HB work or are disabled and won't even be affected (not to mention the many tenants who don't claim at all) so it's hardly going to have any sort of impact on rental prices.

[KittyFane1]

ihearsounds I begrudge people who have the same size family as me, who have the same level of mental and physical health as me and my family and are being given more (in money/ benefits) than we can earn in a full week. Yes, I begrudge them!!