to be worried about Universal Credit

[idiuntno57]

I am in the lucky position of not needing to claim this but I am so worried about its implementation.

Its coming in in the Autumn and is going to be an online only, monthly, postdated payment. It will be paid to one adult in the family unit.

All well and did if you are god at managing your money, internet literate and in a stable relationship. But in the real world....

How are the most vulnerable in society going to have a chance with this?

Already the council tax changes are coming in and as far as I understand people are confused and shell shocked by it. UC is much bigger and no one is prepared.

Its when u dont get given set num of hours each week say one week you get offered 40 hours work next week none its the worst form of work imo both do and I have them it means u have diffculty in budgeting if you a good wage one week you are scared to spend the money unless on bills incase no work rhe next week

My dp and me get told shifts that day so we are on standby monday to sunday

Zero hours contracts are those which do not guarantee any hours weekly. You are called upon when needed and are absolutely useless for qualifying for WTC as you need to be able to say you are working for a certain number of hours for at least five weeks. Which if you are on zero hours, you can't.

The genuinly disabled ARE already having the rug pulled out from under their feet, living proof here.

its disgusting.

and this coming from the PM who had a disabled child (of course they had the nannies and carers) and the previous PM too with same .

Hmm, so basically what I was working then really...job was advertised at 20 hours a week but in reality, in the Winter (though I wasn't told this at interview) it regularly dropped below 12 hours....I ended up going to my Dr. because I was having health problems anyway and got signed off...I simply couldn't have afforded to keep working through the winter and still be there for my DC after school hours...

www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/03/george-osbornes-economic-policy-based-lies

From same link.

The OBR hints at these irregularities in their executive summary: ?The labour market continues to surprise on the upside, despite the continued weakness of GDP growth.? As a former civil servant, I would be tempted to read that as ?there is something really dodgy about these figures?. Then, at para. 3.108, which talks about ?people employed in government supported training and employment programmes? comes the confirmation: ?Of the total increase in employment in 2012, compared to 2011, around 14 per cent reflects increased participation in those programmes.?

People on unpaid internships, training schemes, apprenticeships and workfare schemes, are counted as employed. One hundred and forty thousand of them are part of the Government?s job creation success story.

The World needs a debt write down. Root and branch reform of all financial markets.

It could be done, no Government is brave enough to do it.

This is a depression, we can,t starve our way out of this.

what do you mean ThePathan?

The World needs a debt write down. how do you do that when you have structural deficit? i.e. even if a new UK boom started tomorrow, we would still spend more than we receive in taxes & need to borrow.

that's like a bankrupt asking for a new loan as they still have greater costs than income. who would lend the bankrupt further funds?

If people thought Labour had any answers to the problems the country faces the Tories, LD's wouldn't be in government now. The point is Labour didn't have any answers. (Though I voted for them at the last election but won't be at the next) And the more Labour go on about getting the country working and all this borrowing is just totally madness. Labour nearly bankrupted this country and that was after a boom time. Wasn't it Gordon Brown who said no more boom and bust and that's exactly what we got. Pathetic!

So to all those on welfare we get that you dont want the working familes to stop paying for you via the goverment but its gonna happen. So are you simply gonna moan on here till your benfits get stop what are the plans ????

I really want to know btw what peoples plans are i know my mate has a appiotment at the town hall in 2 weeks to kick off a childminding venture.

You Are not gonna get the money back the changes are happning and even if red ed gets his claws on the counrty they have said they wont reverse the changes

oh and the real Depression of the 1920's saw around 25% unemployment, no NHS, no welfare.

Hmm. When will I come off benefits?

I dunno.

Probably when my three disabled children no longer need me to meet their care needs. So not for the foreseeable, and for one probably never.

I suppose I could just chuck them all in residential care at a cost of £9 grand a week. I sure as fuck don't take that amount in benefits by the way so I'm saving the sacred taxpayer pound. Of course same said taxpayers expect me to be in sackcloth and ashes for claiming said benefits.

Still wondering quite how to get through a month without the Carers allowance, income support (£58 a week isn't enough to live on, whod've thunk it eh?) and tax credits. Perhaps I should use the DLA continence products budget? Or cancel therapies paid from the DLA budget? Or not go to hospital appointments and use the fuel budget for that?

It's not even a phased introduction either, which would lessen the pinch. Going to 2 weeks, then three on two weeks' money, then four for example would still be hard but more manageable.

When I did work (which I did until the severity of the kids' disabilities became apparent) I was well able to budget monthly. That has no fear for me. What I am worried about however is going four weeks with nothing coming in.

Viviennemary i know they just keep moaning on about same old tories but when they are pressed about what they would cut still no detail all they can talk about os borrowing more money sound like there stuck in the payday lone cycle lol

Also they have admitted they would not be reversing any of the cuts that have already been made

penelope everyone on her agrees that benefits are for the needy and vulnerable so you can out away the sackcloth

To say that some people do well on benefits is assuming all claimants start from the same point.

If you lose your job you still have to service the phone contracts, the cc debt, the HP on one or maybe even two cars. Bills dont just magically disappear.

DP and I have both been very frugal so we dont have these bills. We drive a car given to us by DPs parents. We havent got cc debt or catalogues to pay off.

But then when people see us buying tickets to a concert or getting broadband, they claim benefits are too high. No they arent. We are lucky. But our frugality isnt rewarded, its sneered at.

We can afford to heat our home usually, but this snow caught us unawares, after we had already budgeted that money to help with our house move. So right now we are cold. Some people are cold all the time.

No true, Annabel.
Just this week I've been told I shouldn't spend money when I have my respite, I should have sustenance only.

You'd think I go on the lash drinking litres of vodka. No. One drink in my local for 2 hours per week.

The taxpayer is resentful of this. I should be on tap water.

Domjolly, quite frankly - how dare you? I worked and still qualified for benefits. If I'd been able to work 40 hours a week - and I tried but couldn't get a job) I'd have STILL qualified for benefits....working and on benefits...not everyone on benefits don't work and those that don't work may have very very good reasons why they are not working. Also, I paid into the system for over 10 years, barely every used the NHS, only claimed jobseekers for 2 weeks in that time - I fell on hard times...but I still worked.

If you lose your job you still have to service the phone contracts, the cc debt, the HP on one or maybe even two cars. Bills dont just magically disappear.

but they don't magically appear either - e.g don't sign up for an expensive mobile that you pay for over 2 years. I think MoneysavingExpert is great and helps people, even those with dire finances, get in control.

"I really want to know btw what peoples plans are"

well unfortunately for you, you aren't entitled to know that information.

Whats our plan?

DP has the earning potential of starting on around £19-21k. He was on £21k when he lost his job. He gets a job and we are fine. But jobs are few and far between.

I have applolied for around 50 jobs and not had a single response. Probably for the best as I would have to leave when DP gets work anyway.

People arent just sitting around doing nothing.

A friend of mine is currently awaiting redundancy. Company in administration so it's a matter of time.

Got offered a job. Turned it down on the basis that they want to hang around for their payout. They're not worried if thry do't get offered anything for a bit as they will 'take out some of what they have put in'.

Only the payout will be over many benefit thresholds. I think they will get a rude shock (no dependents). They will be expected to use their payout first before they get any help.

You really have to be on the bones of your arse to get any help.

I think many people posting here are similarly deluded.

WHYOHWHYOHWHY is everyone bashing benefit claimants?

We need to look at reforming the system to ensure that people don't 'choose' to get pregnant, 'waste their life away in an entitlement culture' and other fairly spurious statements.

In my opinion creating abject poverty and misery by switching to a system which assumes so much is just a car crash waiting to happen.

Also (and I have said it before) benefit claimants are easy kill for politicians. We're focusing on the wrong people here and it brings out the most unpleasant side of some posters.

Civilized - PAH

Some of you should be ashamed of yourselves

trustissues75 its not a matter of how long you paid in blah blah blah its about come april 1st things are a changing what are people plans everyone can moan on here call right wing scrum, all you like but what are peoples plans

but they don't magically appear either - e.g don't sign up for an expensive mobile that you pay for over 2 years. I think MoneysavingExpert is great and helps people, even those with dire finances, get in control.

So people in work now cant buy things? Or have a contract phone. Really?

Well then, all those salesmen/women will be unemployed. All the car salespeople, all the admin staff.

We need people to buy things.