To ask why you are worried about a Tory government?

[NolanThorne]

Genuinely interested. I'm not British and didn't vote. My husband a FIL are saying this is the first time in a long time they are NOT worried about the UK. If you are worried, why specifically?

[Marisaurus]

Yes YABU because this isn't an AIBU question - please ask for it to be moved to politics (so the rest of us can get some peace!!!)

[Pyjamaramadrama]

But where are you getting the 22k and 15k figures from? Noone would be getting 22k directly into their hands. That would be a large family to be getting 22k even including rent.

You could earn 15k and get that topped up with tax credits, plus being in paid work is better long term for your well being.

Vivienne it's not that the amount will reduce, it's more the worry that somebody could be forced out of a job working 30 hours a week, close to home, permanent, secure, with prospects, into a temporary job working 36 hours, miles away, it would make no sense.

[ScarySpiceMum]

Housing Benefit
Income Support
Job seekers allowance
Universal credit
PIP - if you have depression or whatever u fancy making up (some people not all)
Child benefit
bare in mind their living costs are next to none since their kids get everything for free. Vouchers for school uniform, free school trips, free school dinners etc
Food banks
Council tax support

[ScarySpiceMum]

Yes they do I've grown up with this people live with these people and know these people who are laughing all the way to the bank every friday love and walking back to their 2 million quid victorians in central london the council gave them. I'm not saying estates dont exist I'm not saying cramped housing doesnt exist but the debate around benefits right now isnt hysteria or daily mail crap. Its britain, especially london where there are no more estates for people to live so we just throw people in mansions with their 4+ kids and give them housing benefit knowing full well that even if they were to get a job they would never ever ever ever be able to afford that home.

[IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou]

Rather than type a lot I'll just link in the BBC article that covers most of what I'd say.....

Conservative Pledges

I feel a lot more confident in the Tories than Labour and had no confidence that Labour wouldn't drive the country back down into the ground....

[Pyjamaramadrama]

You can't get all of those benefits together.

Income Support was the benefit for single parents of children up to school age. It was around £65 per week for the adult, then around £65 per week of child tax credit for the child, £20 per week child benefit, then rent would be paid directly to landlords.

As I said very large families may benefit more but a single mum of one unemployed would be living no life of riley.

The fact that there is an affordable housing shortage means that families are ending up being housed in overpriced private rentals.

Even if for some they are doing well financially from the benefits system, it is certainly no long term plan, there will be nothing to pass onto children, housing will likely be insecure, once those children grow up and leave home any fringe benefits will be gone.

If life on benefits is so cushy why don't all those who say so give up their jobs and mortgages and go on the dole?

[Pyjamaramadrama]

Btw I've also grown up with 'these people', I lived in a poor council area and know people who've never worked, I don't agree with it for one second but most are living miserable lives. Yes some do waste money on fags and beer, some don't but are still skint, most live hand to mouth and rely on loans and catalogues for Christmas.

[Dreamiesrcatopium]

Because I am disabled/ long term ill and I am frightened.

[Downtheroadfirstonleft]

sherbetpips Mon 11-May-15 12:34:43
"I think people have forgotten that the welfare state is a safety net", that was forgotten a long time ago but I cant see how it will ever be any different until we can properly identify and approve those at need and avoid the swindling, cheating sods. It astounds me that in the age of google we still cant link tax, benefits, healthcare, etc against a persons name effectively."

Absolutely agree!

[marshmallowpies]

Noellefielding, I do remember that it was New Labour who laid into the BBC first, even if no one else does. They weakened the BBC desperately and left it open to more attacks by the Tories. And all the work of Alistair Campbell who was not even an elected MP.

The BBC is so weak and cowed now it doesn't dare criticise the government - Labour did that. That's why, although I'm left-wing to the core, I despise Labour for the war and for what they did to the BBC.

[Whiskwarrior]

Oh do fuck off with 'people on benefits get everything free'.

I have to pay for school trips, just like everyone else.

Uniform allowance is £50 per child per academic year. DD is at secondary school. Blazers alone for her school cost almost £40. Skirts are £12. Jumpers are £22. I am not allowed to buy Asda uniform, it has to come from one particular shop. That's not factoring in shirts and shoes. And I don't get vouchers. I have to pay for it, send in a receipt and I get a cheque a few weeks later.

But don't let facts get in the way of spouting bile at people, eh Scaryspicemum.

Notice the OP hasn't been back since being outed as a poor basher

[FragileBrittleStar]

meechimo i was brought up like that too.
My mum worked hard and as a result I and my siblings are welloff professionals. But i think the Tories have done everything to ensure that people in a similar situation couldn't do the same. We had a secure council house, went to our local comprehensive, got free school meals and clothing allowances , a maintenance allowance at 16 grants and free education at 18.
I remember the poverty though. standing out because we couldn't afford school trips/books/presents/designer clothes/holidays being worried about money constantly and we were lucky that we were bright.
This government makes me better off now when I don't need it rather than my equivalents as a child and thats just wrong.
Education and housing is such a divisive factor now that money dictates your future so much more than it did and class division is so embedded it scares me.

[Redlocks28]

I know this was some hours ago, but

I heard earlier this morning that free child care for 3-4 year olds would be extended. And this would happen within 100 days. That has to be good news for a lot of people here.

The 15 hours of free childcare that is currently available, isn't free. It means the government will pay a certain about (I think it's £4.15) but this is less than nurseries/childminders charge per hour. This means that nurseries/child minders (understandably) don't actually want to take children with the free or funded places as they're making a loss in doing so.

I see no reason why the government's offer of 30 free hours will be any different. It may well make it much more difficult for you to even find a nursery that will take your child.

There are plenty of threads like this around

link

link

explaining why it isn't free and why it doesn't work. I wouldn't hold your breath thinking it will be a cost-saver. It's a sound bite.

[NolanThorne]

Ha!
I'm a "poor basher" now am I?
Why? Because I said I'm fed up of seeing people abusing benefits (i.e my tax money)? In addition to cracking down on tax evasion I think they need to crack down on benefit cheats.
Fair enough to those using the system the way it's intended. Shame on those abusing it. And there are loads. Don't tell me there aren't.

[TelephoneIgnoringMachine]

Because I think it's unlikely that many of them have first-hand experience of living in poverty. There's a world of difference between theory and knowledge.

[DioneTheDiabolist]

Any chance of addressing the answers given to your question OP?

[TelephoneIgnoringMachine]

Because there are already too many cracks in the benefits system, easy to fall through. For example.

Young couple, husband has health issues, loses job, his employer then closes so he has no reference. And repeat. Cannot find another job. Wife in steady f/t work. They have a baby. Wife's f/t employment status means that the husband cannot claim income-based JSA as it's calculated on hours employed, not actual income.

I can tell you from personal experience that you cannot feed and house two adults and clothe a baby on Statutory Maternity Pay & Child Benefit. Someone is always going to go hungry. And going to the food bank only goes so far.

[HeeHiles]

Why? Because I said I'm fed up of seeing people abusing benefits

Does it not bother you that MPs are using taxpayers money to fund their 2nd homes then selling them and keeping the profit?

Does it not bother you that MPs are still abusing their expenses?

Does it not bother you that global corporations are paying less tax than British based businesses?

Does it not bother you that Non Doms and Oligarchs are avoiding their tax obligations?

Does it not bother you that councils are GIVING Property developers publicly owned land to 'regenerate' and sell homes to foreign investors?

Does it not bother you that your taxes are being used to pay BTL LL's mortgages?

These people are creaming billions off your taxes yet you are angry at someone who is getting £70 odd quid a week?

You need to divert your anger at the real cheats, and its not Jimmy with a beer can and fag do a bit of work so he has an extra £20 to buy fish and chips. These people have no aspiration, they have been let down by the education system, let down by their parents, let down by a Government that took away their local industries - I feel sorry for them, did you realise that government error causes more losses than benefit fraud? Does that make you angry? Just leave those poor people alone and direct your anger further up - there the ones who need to be slated and criticised.

[TelephoneIgnoringMachine]

HeeHiles - yes! We need a "like" button.

[HelenaDove]

TelephoneIgnoringMachine Tue 12-May-15 23:33:05
"Because I think it's unlikely that many of them have first-hand experience of living in poverty. There's a world of difference between theory and knowledge"



YES And far too many think academia trumps experience.

[HeeHiles]

Thanks Telephone

Just get so bloody angry at small minded people who believe all this shitty propaganda but ignore the real fucking bastards who are fucking us all over

[HeeHiles]

The 15 hours of free childcare that is currently available, isn't free

Like the free school meals for primary schools - that money is deducted out of the school's budget, our little school has less than 200 pupils so doesn't get much money anyway, it's lost loads of money due to that policy

[Whiskwarrior]

Nolan, they ^are cracking down on benefits cheats (the tiny bloody amount of them that there actually are) by cracking down on the rest of us who aren't cheating.

Too many people, like you, feel that the way to punish the few cheats is by punishing everyone. Let's get rid of CB and Tax Credits, that'll sort out the cheats. No, it bloody won't. Anyone strutting around with designer handbags and having lavish holidays (although I don't know anyone who does that who's not working) is doing a damn sight more than scamming the social. They've probably got a whole lot more criminal activity going on and wouldn't miss the benefits going all that much.

Unfortunately, when you punish the cheats by cutting benefits for everyone you are taking food, shelter and clothing away from the families that do need it.

Have you actually read any of people's accounts on this thread? People who are truly struggling? Or can you not get past your fixation on benefits cheats?

[ilovesooty]

I might have answered the OP except there is little point in debating with someone whose mindset is so ignorant.
She didn't want to debate. She just wanted to stir.

[FriendofBill]

This is worth a look