To believe £780 month lone parent benefits income is adequate to live on.

[goldfacegreen]

There's some myth busting required at last I think.

As a lone parent of two under 6, I receive a total of £780 a month in benefits:

Income Support, Child Tax Credit, Child Benefit, CSA (£5 a week).

I receive full housing benefit for a two bedroom house (£75 shortfall which has to come out of my income support, currently being paid via Housing Discretion Award) which doesnt go into mybank account, it gets paid direct to landlord, and £16 a month council tax shortfall also has to be paid out of income.

I'm on meters and gas and electric are around £20 a week each, some of which pays off accrued debt. Water is deducted directly from my income support via an 'attachment of earnings' type court order.

I don't have loans or credit cards, no landline, no satellite tele, no car, no travel expenses, no socialising costs, don't smoke, my Internet is paid for by someone else although I should have organised a bill swap ages ago and I run an old phone on £10 month contract. My other costs are regular swimming, yoga, wax salon, and I buy school uniform and children's clothing as and when required.

Childcare such as nursery (pre-school), morning and after school clubs are free to those on income support, school holiday clubs are heavily subsidised, as are school meals, dentistry, doctor's prescriptions, council run leisure centre swimming and gym classes, and many other recreation facilities.

My budgeting skills are atrocious but having recently done some sums, I actually have around £250 a month 'spare' from all benefits income. Although for the past year or two I've been constantly overdrawn by around £500 so whenever income is credited, I'm always 'one step forwards, two steps back' amd because of this will never get back in the black again.

So, with better budgeting (I don't buy a regular weekly food shop for instance, instead spend a fortune every few days buying dinners and sundries at the overpriced local Tesco Metro) I just don't understand how so many lone parents claim they can't afford to live on these same benefits.
Even if you have debts, there are features in place to reduce your debt payments to just £1 a week or even write them off altogether as a last resort.

Also, the father of my children earns thousands but fraudulently claims benefits, so he is only required to pay the minimum £2.50 a week per child direct from his benefits. Many lone mothers receive full child support which isn't deducted from their other benefits income, so can be receiving up to £800 a month on top of their benefits depending on what the chikdren's father earns. I have noticed that rarely will lone parents on benefits state this fact or include it in their income along with their complaint.

Yes, it is a struggle trying to support myself and two young children on £780 a month (but mostly because I can't get over this overdraft debt shackle) but on paper, budgeting well, it is entirely doable, and if you are frugal, you could even save a little too.

Why does the Daily Mail stereotype exist that single mothers are rolling in handouts, given the above figures? Just under £195 a week is an adequate income for one adult and two young children, surely..

Yes anglian water have a hardship fund but in real terms all they are doing is writing off a debt that probably isn't viable for them to collect. Most utility companies have them but they are not linked to benefits but anyone in need.

I do not cover the entire uk.i work in 4 counties

Many of those schemes are not just available to those on benefits anybody can apply.

They have to rely on a one off principle and mainly pay out when serious life event crisis or disaster had caused the debt. Not just because your skint and certainly not just because you are on benefits.

An approved application often won't mean any arrears reduction as one of the ways they help is advice and budgeting information.

All the utility companies are required to offer some sort of debt help scheme for the financially strapped. As the conditions on such schemes have been much relaxed under the present administration, providers have made it harder to access them. I told you upthread that I applied for the British Gas fuel payment two years running - and, after spending two days finding a contact there, was told I qualified. However, my applications were never processed; by the time I realised this, the funds had all been allocated.

Anglian Water Debt Help says:-

"The Fund does not have enough money to help everyone who applies

"Each week, the fund gets asked for much more money than it has available. This means that the fund cannot help everyone and has to make very difficult decisions about who it can help. The fund prioritises help to applicants where there is evidence that a one off award will make a difference and help the applicant towards being financially stable.

"The Fund needs to be sure how the debts came about

"Where applicants are looking for help with water/sewerage charges, the fund will always look for a full explanation of how the arrears have arisen."

In short, this tells us that applicants who are on the ball and good at providing accurate financial details in the required format will be favoured.

I find this is a persistent problem with all assistance schemes. People who, like me, are on disability benefits, tend to suffer problems that make it harder than usual to meet administrative requirements. And many fully able people would find it very hard to do so.

This would also affect thousands of people on JSA, whose communication, numeracy and administrative skills may not be well honed.

Thanks. I'll have a look tomorrow. I'd be amazed honestly if they wipe water debts, I've previously been told that water and council tax are the2 that don't get wiped, but it's worth a try!.

Gosh, is the Anglian Water fund still running?! I had help from the YEARS ago, when I discovered after we had split that my Ex-H hadn't paid the water bill for a full year. But that was around a decade ago!

Sock - Im On that restricted water tariff because two people in my house have epilepsy and HAVE to shower rather than bath for safety reasons pertaining to our disabilities. There are a few disabilities that can qualify.

It basically limits my usage to the 'average' for a property this size. I actually never hit that limit anyway, because I am tight as arseholes frugal with our water usage (it's the sewerage charges that cost you, if it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow...)

I seem to be around £15 a month below the limit consistently anyway. Average for a 4-bed is £55 a month, I get through £40. I have a very economical washing machine though, and a condenser dryer that I reuse the water from for mopping and watering plants and window cleaning. see, tight as arseholes...

I think you are right. I work full time and work shifts and after my mortgage is taken out I have less than that plus no benefits help at all for anything! I would most definetly be better off out of work as I'd love to have that much to live on plus getting prescriptions, council tax, free school meals etc.

I've got a good idea justtoomessy, why don't you give up work, Go on... just do it, then you too can have a carefree lifestyle with a massive disposabke income, free school meals, prescriptions etc.

No?

Now why is that? Do you perhaps suspect that it isn't as cushy as painted?

Believe me.....having gone from full time work to living in benefits it is not all it is cracked up to be.

For starters the media will paint you as feckless.
You will lose the social life you have in work and the day to day benefit of work based experience.
You will gt your money in dribs and drabs....this makes planning much harder and you WILL have days where you leave the heating off because you fear the bill.
You will become much less credit worthy.
If your fridge/cooker/washing machine breaks down then you won't have the cash to just go out and buy another one,....you might not IN work either but at least youd be credit worthy...or more credit worthy.

Still think it sounds better?

Frankly I despair of people who believe all they read, Suspect they have had a common sense bypass somewhere,

And you are paying to eventually own a house, justtoomessy. Also free school meals and prescriptions (and seriously prescriptions?! Unless someone is on lots of regular medication prescriptions hardly add up) are only available if you are on jobseekers or income support. It is entirely possible to work and still have to rely on benefits.

Have you thought of applying child tax and working tax credits? Because it sounds as if you might qualify - unless your mortgage is ridiculously huge which frankly is your own fault for overstretching yourself if that's the case.

But go ahead...jack in your job and see what complete reliance on benefits is like - trust me, it's horrible.

justtoomessy

You have a mortgage. All the money you spend on keeping a roof over your head is being saved. You are keeping that money albeit in a different form.

Honestly do you really need that to be explained to you?

If *justoomessy^ gave up work then she would lose her mortgaged home eventually.

The sad reality of life without work is that you lose choice.....
you cannot choose to continue in a mortgaged home (unless you have another source of income).

You cannot choose necessarily where you then live......you can be homeless for a while (no problem...councils have many B&B options), you MIGHT get social housing but cannot choose where that might be apart from a general area, you MIGHT get lucky and get a nice new build or you MIGHT end up on the local sink estate with a drug dealing neighbour (as I did for a period of time.

Or you could choose privately rent.....IF you can find a LL prepared to let to someone on housing benefit and IF you can find somewhere cheap enough so that the reduced housing benefit covers the rent.

You wont have very much in the way of freedom of choice.

I am fortunate, a housing association eventually offered me a two bedroom house.....I got this because my son is autistic and needed safe access to an enclosed garden. I am fortunate.

Someone else I know is still back on the sink estate where she has been for the past 12 years after her business went bust. She works, but doesn't earn enough to get away from the estate.....and naturally, nobody wants to do an exchange to it!

Free prescriptions saves a £104 a year, because anyone with more than 13 prescriptions a year will be advised to get a prepayment certificate. GPs do explain about them when they are regularly prescribing you stuff. Yet, to hear people talk about it, you'd think free prescriptions was worth billions.

Sure, it all adds up. But that's only really a problem for people who are just over the thresholds for things. The whole cliff edge thing (where suddenly you have to pay for a huge number of things that cost you more than the difference between your pay and the threshold) that can make it so difficult for people to come off benefits. And that's because the system is poorly designed.

I can vouch that homelessness is awful and frightening (try living in a halfway house) and then try getting a job while you're in that halfway house (rents are stupidly high in these places so until you get out it's pretty difficult to get a job and afford to live - my housing officer actually advised me to not get a job until I'd found somewhere to live because of the sky high rent the halfway house landlord was charging - so pretty much a vicious circle there) Getting into social housing is nearly impossible even if you are priority 1 (which I was) - and if you do get one you may well end up stuck with children in a hellish place with a house that is completely wrecked inside. Getting somewhere to rent is very difficult (most landlords will not rent to anyone claiming housing benefit - and I was working but still partially dependant on HB). If you don't have a car you then have to consider the fact that you need to rent on a bus route to get your children to school which narrows down your options again (and often increases rent prices)

But it's all hunky dory....

I know couthy I just used dialysis as an example, there is quite a long list of example disabilities and they will also approve people who have a illness or disability that's not on the list.

As long as you can provide proof you have the disability and evidence that it requires you to use more water than average then they are pretty good at letting your on it, so any condition that means you have to wash more would also be included.

I am on regular medication which I HAVE to take....I get free prescriptions so that's a benefit of less than £10 per month. Then again as I only have one child I feel I could cover the cost of prescriptions. I don't have any extra expenses as I don't smoke, drink or have any other vices , I do't go for leg waxes like the OP, I don't get my nails done (except when my friend who s training to be a nail tech needs a victim ).

All in all I could afford my prescription costs.....but that is just me. I recognize that ot everyone is in that position.

I DO have a Sky subscription (so sue me) but as I don't/rarely get to go out this is my total entertainment. Going out means childcare, cost of night out plus things like drinks....scary how it adds up and I can't afford it.

Interestingly when my very wealthy cousin came over from Europe and was reading the news about benefits here he picked up on the "flat screen TV, cable TV" stuff. His take on it was "well if people cannot afford to go out then they have to have other entertainment". He could not believe the vitriol he was reading. To him it was a case of "people in poverty have no other way of experiencing entertainment so what is the problem. Why can't they have this"?

Then again when you work out the cost of Sky subscription it works out ridiculously cheap as a form of entertainment. I don't have the top packages (don't need or want them) but even the Sky top package with phone and internet at about £80 per month works out at £20 per week and less than £3 per day. Personally I'd rather use that elsewhere.....my package (phone and internet included )is less than £50 a month....and that includes the line rental.

If you have everything on Sky including movies, sports and HD it is nearly £80 I think mine is around £78 a month.

all this talk of haircuts, for christs sake dont try the mumsnet haircut, pulling it all up the cutting across, I did that and looked like a fecking dick

ssd I imagine it leaving people with a mushroom cut

I just looked like an arse...then I started hacking at the fringe...honestly it looked hellish

When I became a Lone Parent I had to go on benefits and at first I felt quite well off (compared to how finances and life had been before) I also had to pretty much start from scratch in terms of household goods however a had A LOT of help and support, both financial and practical, from my family. I dread to think how things would've been without them.

So I think YABU, as it really does depend on individual personal circumstances.

I've done it . It looks rubbish but you convince yourself it doesn't because how could you admit to anyone (or yourself) that you were such a fool as to cut your own hair because someone on the Internet told you to.

SP are you still interested in doing voluntary work? The best kind would be somewhere that offers additional training on top of the voluntary work you're doing, then at least you have both experience and skills to offer the job market. That's how I started off (a very, very, very long time ago )

I've thought about doing the MN cut, not because I particularly needed a haircut but because I'm a sheep that likes to follow the flock. Baaaaa.