for being annoyed that our tax is paying for people to buy wallpaper.

[suzexxx]

I saw a post from a girl on facebook asking whether the social could help her buy things to do up her home e.g wallpaper and paint. Alot of people commented that she could get some vouchers to use on a certain paint brand and B&Q etc.

AIBU to think this girl should save some money or attempt to get a job for extra luxeries before expecting the social to foot the bill?

I'm moving house next month and the whole house will need decorating. However i am realistic in the fact i won't be able to afford to wallpaper the whole place at once, instead doing a bit at a time as and when i can afford it. My partner earns a moderate income and i'm currently on maternity leave, so money is tighter at the moment, but would never expect someone to pay for something i could manage without like wallpaper.

I completely understand people using the social to buy essential items such as a cooker or fridge, but not non essentials.

OP, this may come as a surprise to you but many people who live in council housing work hard too.

"At the end of the day when my house has finished being refurbished i can think at least i've paid for it myself and worked bloody hard for it."

This sentence says it all to me. You sound jealous. I will quote my MN favourite 'comparison is the thief of joy'.

The thing that you need to remember also, is that the LA are responsible for the state of the house when they let it. They are landlords.

I assumed the maternity pay came from my employer as i get paid through them not the government. Maternity pay isn't a sponging off the government benefit, i had to qualify for it having worked for my employer for a certain period of time. So have none of you taken any maternity leave? I begrudge people who are on benefits with no intention of working and believe life owes them a living. I have every intention of going back to work when my pay runs out.

suzexxx the Government reimburse the employer with 92% of the SMP paid (or 100% plus 3% NIC relief for small employers), so you are actually receiving 92% of your SMP from the Government.

Op but you have still failed to take on board that a decorating grant or voucher is NOT a welfare benefit it is funded from rental income you know the money tat the tenants pay.

They also are not offered in every area you cannot get them unless the house was allocated to you so no mutual exchange or transfer,the property cannot have been issued with one in the last few years (5 I think) and the actual tenant cannot have applied for one in a previous property within the last 2 years.

Most areas put restrictions on what can be brought with them so no sugar soap no rollers some even say no paint brushes, no polifiller no all say no dust sheets no tools of any description no lampshades or light fittings,no flooring covers no shelving just paint wallpaper grout( some LA's allow that not all) sand paper.

And its not a benefit.

People on (contributions based) JSA have to have worked for a certain amount of time to quailfy too, and those on ESA....

DarkestEyes- i don't think it would be unreasonable to leave a house undecorated if you can't afford it. Leaving the walls covered in blood and leaving dirty nappies on the floor from the stories i've read is vile and these sorts of people don't deserve nice things if they can't respect other people's properties.

True, Sockreturningpixie. Also, the 'test' isn't whether the decoration is 'nice' it's whether it's 'sound'. If it is in habitable condition, the tenant won't get anything at all.

Being in social housing does not automatically equal "sponging off the government" so what if this girl isn't working now because she doesn't want to use childcare (and it's not that simple anyway), she might well change her mind in a few years or she might go to uni and end up earning far more than your DH does.

What gives you the right to judge her and write her off as a scrounger just because like most people, she wants a nice home?

God these posts do make me laugh.

I moved into a shit hole of a 4 bed HA house, about erm, 8 years ago. The previous tennants had been evicted. The HA painted the kitchen and liviing room and that was it. They gave me £50 in vouchers to paint 4 bedrooms (all of which had grafitti on walls, or had been painted entirley in gloss paint), a bathroom, hall,stairs and landing (which had to be seen to be belived, and a downstairs loo which had the sink hanging off the wall.

I was tremendously grateful for the house, and the vouchers, but posts that make out that people get given the fucking world when they are on benfits, piss me right off.

I was lucky, as some MNers had a whip round, and sent me b&q vouchers, enabling me to put flooing down in the 23ft living room, but if it weren't for that it would have been bare for ages, and my partner was actually working.

The council give people accommodation that would've be considered fit to rent by most private landlords. For a start, no white goods. No fridge, no cooker. Then, no carpets, no flooring of any kind, no curtains. The walls and floors themselves may well be covered with ripped/damaged paper/flooring. They give these properties to people who have been made homeless. People with children. People who have their clothes in a bag and nothing else. Until recently they could go and be issued special emergency loans to eg buy a cooker and the amount would be taken back a little at a time from future benefit payments. The current government is scrapping this. It may have already gone through.

Got the fags and booze in then,OP?

Well done.

Yes, Crisis Loans which WOULD have helped have gone now since April this year. Now if people who are on benefits have a need for money it can be given as a Budgeting Loan instead. The difference appears to be that you cannot get it the same day as with a Crisis Loan. This is one reason why there is a rise in the number of people using Food Banks etc.

Budgeting Loans are there for house repairs/improvements etc which at one time the councils would have done but no longer do. They will however do the essential safety stuff but nothing cosmetic. So people in this situation apply for Budgeting Loans from the Social Fund which they repay at a pre agreed rate. I am about to have a Budgeting Loan for £800 which they will take back out of Income Support at the rate of £12 a week until it's repaid or I am back in work and in a position to clear it.

Mine is to get a built in wardrobe sorted for DS's bedroom, DS is autistic and fairly heavy handed so it needs to be built in. It will also allow me to buy some dining chairs as mine have nearly all fallen apart (I will get those from our local furniture project which takes second hand stuff and sells it cheaply), a second hand sofa and probably get DS a new bed from there too. The rest (anything left over will go on repainting the living room which needs it.

So yes I am taking from the Social Fund but it will be paid back, personally I cannot see the issue with this. Far better the Social Fund lends the money and people repay it back then they borrow from the likes of Provident and repay their benefits long term in heavy interest.

Sorry i don't smoke, never have and rarely have a drink. I've always said i agree with people getting help for essentials which would include rent if out of work, child benefit, maternity pay, nhs treatment etc etc just don't agree with non essentials. Hate how my partner's income keeps getting dragged into the topic. I'm not pretending we're millionares, far from it. Wonder what jobs you've all got for sneering at my partner? And me as a nurse? People may sneer at these sorts of jobs, but forget there needs to be lorry drivers to deliver the petrol and nurses to provide treatment for those with illness, soon would be moaning if these things didnt exist.

Jake crisis loans for decorating have not been available for years can't remember what year it was but more than 7/8 years ago the rules were changed so they could only be paid for things considered to be a health and safety essential if required due to crisis as opposed to household related things like they used to be. And they also made you provide proof of need before them being issued

Ah, didn't know that. Have never needed one but know a friend has had one in the past when her benefits were mucked up. She needed it to buy food though.

So it's always been Budgeting Loans for decorating etc then? I have never had one of these before either. It seems I can use it as I see fit but I need it for replacing things and adding others, the built in wardrobe will be new though as it needs to be able to withstand DS

And op you still haven't Sussed out that its not a benefit funded by tax payers.

Its funded by rent income paid by the tenants in order for the landlord to for fill a legal obligation. Rent is that this that people pay to live in the houses and it funds landlord responsible services.

Jake have you tried an application the these people

www.familyfund.org.uk/

They are brilliant seriously brilliant

suzexx, I am not for one moment sneering at you or your other half. Just pointing out that there is a difference between a low salary and no salary at all. On a low salary I was able to buy wallpaper from Wilkos and do my living room (although some walls could do with a lick of paint now). On "no salary" I cannot afford to do even Wilkos wallpaper.

A Budgeting Loan is there for those of us on NO salary and means I don't have to approach a doorstep lender who would take benefit payments for far longer. It will all be paid back and then lent to someone else, no problem as far as I can see.

I am a nurse too so I know how crappy the pay is for the work we do. Wallpaper might not seem like an "essential" and it isn't. However, the person in question won't get given the money without being expected to repay it. Plus as you know from your training, our surroundings play a huge role in our mental health. Someone taking pride in their surroundings feels better than someone who cannot.

Definitely if your income is low at the moment (and with a new baby I know you have to watch every penny) then Wilkinsons is worth a look for wallpaper. I got mine for less than £30 there two years ago and it still looks good.

When you recieve your Statutory Maternity Pay, and Child Benefit I would like you to seriously consider what you are spending it on, as people like me - tax payers have a right to say what you spend it on.

Please don't waste it on fresh fruit, just buy tinned fruit from the supermarkets own brand, and don't even think of buying organic. We contributed to this benefit and this gives us a right to say what you spend it on and to judge your choices; and anything apart from Supermarket own brand is a luxury. Don't let us down now.

YABU. You wouldn't believe the utterly rancid state some council/housing association properties are in when allocated. Utterly disgusting. Tenants usually get a grant of about £200 to turn the shitholes into something liveable and I have seen people work absolute bloody miracles using v little money to turn hellholes into half decent places to live. So if someone is trying to use the minimal money they do have to best effect then good on them.

Jake ummm, Wilkos is quite bloody expensive for a cheap shop