to think that 20 grand on benefits a year is loads

[MrsBucketxx]

considering they dont pay any income tax.

just watching we pay your benefits program and worked out that this is over 30 grand if it was a normal tax paying salary.

why was this not mentioned.

YAY! A benefits bashing thread!

Loads to cover what exactly?

For how many people? How much is rent?

Doesnt it depend on what those benefits have to cover? Not bad for an able-bodied single person with no commitments but then an able-bodied person with no commitments wouldnt get £20k.

Any way, what would be the point in the government paying benefits with one hand then taking them away as tax with the other except to keep more tax officers in gainful employment!

All in all: YABU

What i'd love to do is challenge a couple to live on benefits. Not in their current home, but to be given a new property, have to furnish and carpet it, and stock up their fridge, freezer and cupboards...on an allowance the same as benefits (with budgeting loans permitted). It'd be interesting to see how far they get...

I think it depends on where they live and how much their rent is. In most areas of the country it is quite a lot, but in areas where the housing costs are high then it might not stretch very far.
Also, lets not forget that that 20k doesn't include free school meals, which can add up to a tody sum if you have several children, and it also doesn't include things like free dental care or free prescriptions which the working family will have to pay for. All the extras add a few grand on top of the 20k.
Regardless, I would rather be living in a working household as the govt are screwing around with benefits and people reliant on unemployment benefits are constantly in limbo and at the mercy of the govt.

a family of 4.

not bashing at all, just a little injust against those who work and earn much less,

A lot of people I know who are on less than £20k a year HOUSEHOLD income do so in order to get the maximum tax credit allowance. They could easily up their hours if they wanted to but choose not to.

I earn around £18,000 per year before tax and NI. I have a mortgage of £380 per month on a one bed flat, a car, have hobbies, go out a lot. I have some savings, not a huge amount, and a pension from a previous job. I don't live extravagantly but usually have a holiday in the UK and a weekend or two away most years (CenterParcs and London last year). I even had a week in Italy last year.

Admittedly, I am a single person. But I seem to live well enough.

But the people who work and earn much less will have more money than that because they will be getting tax credits which will top them up to an income more than the amount received by the family on benefits.

75% of people in this country receive tax credits.

Most of that sum will be Housing Benefit rather than cash-in-hand benefits.

Apart from your generalisations and lack of understanding of others' situations or in-work benefits people receive, either your maths or your understanding of the tax system is dodgy.

*I mean I don't currently pay into a pension because I have one sitting there from a previous job but it's 25 years until I can get at it.

That is roughly what we have after paying tax. It is certainly enough to live on, as we do, but we are a fairly frugal family of five and a dog. There is not a lot left over for niceties. We don't get FSM etc. that would help.

Why does any question about benefits have to be bashing? I know some are but to be fair, why shouldn't people ask? Most people pay into the system, is it a secret what is paid out? Not all people on benefits are saintly surely? I will not voice my own opinion as I haven't paid tax for more than a decade but I do think that both sides should be looked to have a voice. Why can't people ask and question the system they are also stuck with? Not everyone is a socialist and that doesn't make them automatically evil.

Hooray, we never discuss this topic enough.

Hmm...YABU I think.

Out of £20k remove £9000 in housing benefit, then another £1500 in council tax credit as the claimant actually never sees this money and their actual income is £9500 in the bank out of which they have to do food, gas, electric, water, travel, clothing, sudden bills etc. it is minimal really.

But then wages are crap too.

Yes it IS loads and that is why rent (not benefits) should be capped, and why public transport should be subsidised and nationalised. Taxpayers are lining landlords pockets and transport shareholders.

It's shocking.

It is loads.

Yabu OP and not that bright if you believe the media/ government spin on benefit claimants.

Maybe people post about this because it affects them. Better than the usual thrice weekly middle class dramas of cycling, dog shit or where to park your bloody great big child carrier.

Let them starve and live in a cardboard box.

throw them in the workhouse. Let them clean shoes in the street....come on OP....bash those scroungers!

starlight quit your jibber jabber fool! What you talking about capping rents for??

Cap rents and you'll have entire families with small children on the streets or in single rooms...just like Victorian times.

I think school meals should be free for everyone tbh.

I'm not sure the previous poster who said people on under 20k in work could earn more is wrong I think. My hubby earns 19k BEFORE tax and NI and works damned hard for it. He works 7-3 five days a week and 6-4 on Saturdays.

We cope. And pay all the bills. And have 4 kids, who certainly don't go without. But it is frustrating (and misleading) when people go on about 20k in benefits because it does sound like a lot.