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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to think that some of you'd like to see Iain Duncan-Smith live on £53 per week for a year

301 replies

SDeuchars · 01/04/2013 20:30

If there are still spaces on the petition, please sign it.

OP posts:
wheredoistartmrs · 02/04/2013 19:37

A lot of people working live on less than that. It's a decent amount.

Latara · 02/04/2013 19:39

Zavi my life hurts enough thanks; i'm recovering from Depression with a nasty episode of Psychosis; luckily i can just about cope with part time hours now as an HCA but i've lost the Nursing career i loved and i have to rely on benefits to help pay the bills for the next few months at least.

It's very hard to work even part time hours when i still feel very paranoid at times but i don't want to be unemployed and on JSA or ESA.

I can't pay all my bills and would have to go to the Foodbank if my family weren't so kind.

I get my Part time wages; low rate DLA & some Working Tax Credits as a top-up but that doesn't add up to £53 a week left after paying bills - it adds up to -£0.

I live alone & have to pay for my Mortgage, Loan, Credit card, council tax etc etc etc.
I'd get a lodger but i'm too paranoid still so it would be bad for me and unfair on them. When i'm a bit better i will reconsider.
I can't afford to sell my home.

I hope this situation will be temporary and i can get my career back if i recover but it's not looking too good right now.

Latara · 02/04/2013 19:41

I wish i hadn't just posted that cos it's quite personal and it really does hurt to have lost my career - hopefully i will be able to work as an SN again one day but it's not possible for the next year or so at least.

PeneloPeePitstop · 02/04/2013 19:43

Not again.

You can kiss my arse.

SaskiaRembrandtVampireHunter · 02/04/2013 19:47

Latara I'm sorry you're in that situation, it must be awful :(

If you don't want to leave your post, report it to MNHQ and ask if they'll delete.

Latara · 02/04/2013 19:47

What does that mean??

PeneloPeePitstop · 02/04/2013 19:48

Not you, Latara. The vile fuckers Smile

Laska42 · 02/04/2013 19:50

Latara (((hug))) ...OK its corny and cheesy , but have a hug anyway..
(I dont think that last comment was meant for you) . I dont know what it means either , but possibly the poster will illuminate later

limitedperiodonly · 02/04/2013 19:58

Yes, have a hug latara.

I hate these people but they crawl all over these threads. Ignore. There aren't as many of them as I expected.

You'll be okay. I say that because I'm optimist and it has to be okay. Take care Smile

montage · 02/04/2013 20:07

The difference is between living on £53 a week when you have already spent a long time in poverty and are likely to continue to do so and living on £53 a week when you have been bolstered beforehand by a life of privilege and have no fear for your longterm future.

The difference is so vast as to render the experiment meaningless.

Although if he could be dropped on a desert island for at least a week I'd sign that petition. Give us all a break from his meaningless pronouncements.

foolonthehill · 02/04/2013 20:33

The numbers of People referred to our foodbank have tripled in the last year...these are people who have to meet very strict criteria of need...we are expecting this to more than double in the next few months. Sad SadReform by all means but make sure people can still live.

zwischenzug · 02/04/2013 20:57

Should have been done on the government petition site, waste of time trying to force an issue with an online petition on some random site wide open to fake signatures. Plenty of frothing Tory haters will have signed this multiple times.

Tiggles · 02/04/2013 21:03

After taking out rent and council tax and petrol for getting to work, but to include all bills, insurance etc, I have (since August last year) £100 a week to live on for a family of 5 -£60 from my job and £40 from child benefit. So working on the assumption that £53 is for a single person, I don't really see the issue.
I've always felt quite well off, sure I live off value products, but we have enough. From the tax year about to start we will be able to claim tax credits (DH was made redundant part way through last year so we weren't eligible) which will mean we are exceedingly well off.
If you have accumulated debt then I guess it would not be enough, maybe in London it's a problem? I am willing to be educated :)

Hopeforever · 02/04/2013 21:03

Signed and shared on Facebook.

Don't think he will

MsAverage · 02/04/2013 21:04

Hi all,

Could anybody explain to me how do people arrive to the £53 figure? I have totally no idea how the benefit system functions, can anybody enlighten me please?

So, the guy in question works. That mean that he earns at least minimal wage. £6.19 x 40 hours week x 52 weeks gives £12,875. Let's assume he is an honest citizen and pays his ~£1,821 tax and NI. So, he is left with £11,054.

What kind of support a guy with such income can receive from the state? From the council?

Many thanks,

ouryve · 02/04/2013 21:13

The guy in question runs a market stall. He earns whatever his takings are, less costs etc over the 50-70 hours per week he works. He's not guaranteed minimum wage as, presumably, he's self employed.

MsAverage · 02/04/2013 21:21

Yes, I thought about that, but isn't working below minimal wage a good sign that the business does not have commercial sense and is merely a hobby?

Anyway, it is was not the thing I was asking. Let's assume he is a prudent guy, works hard and gets his minimal wage. What can he expect from the state?

ouryve · 02/04/2013 21:24

Littlemissgreen. The house isn't going to cost much more to heat for 4 people than for 1. The standing charge for the phone and the TV license are going to be the same whether they're for a family of 4 or a single person living alone. White goods cost the same, whether for 4 people or one, though a single person can have a smaller fridge at a small saving, not necessarily in running costs if it's an old one. A single person isn't able to make economies of scale in the same way as a family of 4. I can buy a big bag of apples and, between us, they're eaten before they've gone off or we're sick of the sight of them. A single person either has to eat them to the exclusion of other fruit to get through that bag on their budget, or buy a smaller bag that might not cost much less. A 400g loaf of bread costs more than half as much as an 800g loaf of bread. A cheap chicken can go a long way for a family. Unless they have a working freezer, it would just go off before a single person can finish it.

ouryve · 02/04/2013 21:32

I don't call working 50-70 hours a week a hobby.Hmm Many self employed people take very little for themselves out of a business, specially when it hits hard times, like now. If he has an outdoor pitch, then business has probably been pretty poor with the bad winter we've had (very little break from the snow all year, here). He probably got rained off several times last year.

It's impossible to speculate without knowing how much he takes home, but he might be entitled to working tax credits. He might be entitled to housing benefit. He might have been entitled to council tax credit.

Tiggles · 02/04/2013 21:39

Thanks ouryve :)

garlicballs · 02/04/2013 22:03

Thanks ouryve - and LMG for your courteous reply :) I must admit your post made me feel terribly inadequate, until I thought it through as Ouryve posted! I had £100 a week for a couple of months after Christmas - and did feel, not well off, but OK. The drop to £71 has made a nightmarish difference. Another £20 off that would be hell, frankly.

MsAverage · 02/04/2013 22:09

Ouryve, people are free to devote as many time as they want for hobbies, and that time does not make hobbies businesses. It's not a taxpayers' responsibility to support peoples' hobbies and lifestyles. Then, if our [model] guy does not take money from the business and claims all sorts of benefits, he is subsidising his business by taxpayers' money. So, I am granting all the trust to the model poor fellow: he is prudent, honest and not cheating with anything. Just because we do not know him we suggest the best of him.

Does he (or any person is such position) get any housing support? Tax credits? Council tax reduction? Foodbank access?

TotemPole · 02/04/2013 22:17

According to some of the articles

He gets tax credits and HB.
Has Sky TV.
Left with only £23 a month after all bills are paid for.
Is a gambler.

garlicballs · 02/04/2013 22:22

I think the man in question was a bit of an iffy choice - the crew could easily have found a more 'solid' example. But the question it raised after IDS's statement was valid, unlike the figures he quotes.

MrsAverage, most people in minimum-wage jobs get housing benefit, tax credits and council tax relief. Is frying burgers in shifts just a hobby to them?

MsAverage · 02/04/2013 22:34

Garlic, if you read what was written above you will see that the term "hobbies" was used to describe enterprises which bring return well below minimum wage, which is not the minimum wage frying burgers you describe.

Thank you for the benefit list. So, on the top of the model minimum wage person's £11,054, we can add

housing benefit - how much? just "usual" figure for a moderate accommodation
tax credits - how much?
council tax relief - somewhere above it was said that they pay £4/week of council tax. Let's assume it is true, and we have (£208) of council tax.