To think that a 23k benefits cap will drive some families in the SE

[Minifingers9]

... Into destitution?

I live in a pretty unappealing and comparatively cheap part of greater London but you can't get a 3 bedroom rental for under £1400 a month.
If we lost our jobs we wouldn't be able to live on 23k a year as a family of 5. Not when 15k of it was going on rent.
Why don't they have regional benefit caps?

Nobody needs to commute into London for a low paid job. There are tons of people who will do them. The city is awash with people from all around the world willing to do low paid jobs. Presumably, if you leave London because of the costs, you are looking to live and work locally in a less expensive and hectic environment.

It goes back to supply and demand ... If nobody rents these shit holes for £600 a month then the rents drop for everyone housing benefit pushed up the prices in Leeds, Liverpool, north wales etc for those who were working because the same rent could then be charged there as to those in SE if that makes sense

In that case OP, as another poster has said, you would give her a bedroom and you would sleep in the lounge. The £23k cap only applies if you're not working - if you are living off free money given to you by the state for doing nothing, you can't expect to all have your own rooms

Or, since you are not working and don't need to pay a premium to be in the London job market, you would move somewhere cheaper and not work there.

Longtime lurker - it's been said several times already but I shall clearly have to point it out agin - the cap only apllies to families where NO ONE IS WORKING so any rhetoric about low paid WORKERS is irrelvant.

Commuting eliminates any rental savings. The problem with all of this is housing. Housing costs are socially cleansing London, employed or not. We both work full time, have a baby and can barely afford our shitty zone 3 2 bed flat which is £1300 a month. I love my job, I don't want to have to move, and its not fair we'd have to because of housing costs. But we're going to have to.

I'm all for rent controls though. People's greed should be curbed especially when they are being paid out of housing benefit.

Eastupnow, so if you are working and claiming some benefits, it doesn't apply? Thick emoticon.

There would be no need to commute if no-one had work though, which is the situation OP is talking about.

No stitch - it doesn't apply.

I love my job, I don't want to have to move, and its not fair we'd have to because of housing costs

Why isn't it fair? The rent is £1300/month, you can't afford it, so you need to move somewhere cheaper. That seems very fair.

Ok. Then yes half of this thread is pointless.

I work very hard but earn a very average wage of £26k so bring home far less than £23k a year. Live in the north east. Husband freelance but hasn't worked since February 2014 because of a heart condition. He is in hospital at the moment. We are, apparently, entitled to NOTHING from anyone so forgive me if I feel a little sore about the benefit system. He doesn't even get his prescriptions free FFS!

But where would be the fun in remaining unhysterical when you can froth about destitution and social cleansing ?

Unfortunately you are leaving the job you love because you chose to have a baby so his/her needs have to come first, that's a parents lot all over the world

In industry we pay a weighting to capture cost of living variations.

It isn't fair because this isn't what London used to be like and it is solely greedy landlords pushing up their rents. This is where jobs are, particularly in my field. This is where our support network is. Why should we be pushed out because of inflated housing costs?

I guess alongside greedy landlords you have many high earners/beneficiaries of large financial gifts and baby boomers who are looking for a decent investment.

London had extortionate rents 20 years ago. I moved out because as someone working, I got worn down by the constant struggle to afford a room in a shared house. My boss lived with her partner and toddler in a tiny 1 bedroom flat.
Move out of London. Unless you are in rent controlled housing, or are very well off, it is no place to live.

All roads lead bank to the greedy banks

I've got far more sympathy for a family where both parents are working full-time, yet still can't afford a two-bed flat than one where nobody works and they can't afford a three-bed house.

Just my opinion.

Newbrummie
"All roads lead bank to the greedy banks"

Since when have the bank's been responsible for building social housing? If there was adequate social housing in the SE then people would live in that and pay more affordable rents.

It may come as a surprise but banks aren't responsible for every single issue this country has, sometimes politicians manage to mess it up all on their own!

Gah stray apostrophe banks not bank's

No interest on savings and low mortgage rates so people got in on buy to let.

Everything's always the bankers fault on MN, never the person themselves for making choices they can't afford.

Interest rates are based on the Bank of England base rate. If the interest rates set by a central bank (i.e. a state bank) are low to meet the economic requirements set by the Government then the high street banks are going follow that rate.

The state sets interest rates not the banks.