to wonder what benefits will get the chop from the £12 billion of cuts?

[steiner8]

Just that really. I'm wondering which benefits are going to go or be significantly cut. Anyone have any idea?

more cuts to housing benefit so making people homeless.wont build affordable housing though will they!!

Oldfarticus, your understanding of politics is below that of an A level student if you think you "smashed" the election.

24% of the electorate voted for you, that's hardly smashing the election, its less than a quarter of those who were eligible. In comparison to other elections even the number of seats gathered is not smashing it. Hardly a landslide was it?

The hardworking families they bang on about will be hit for not working hard enough and single childless unemployed people will also be hit for not trying hard enough to get a job

Plus it's so easy to call someone a "cunt" on t'internet.

Exactly.

In real life people still think it, they just politely pretend it's not cunty to vote for things you know will fuck over people more vulnerable than you are.

Its also true that there are significantly less Tory voters than the other 4 major parties combined, they are in effect the minority.

longtime I made no comment about "smashing" the election. You are confusing me with another poster.

Apparently, according to the Fail, David Cameron is going to make a speech today saying that Tax Credits are being cut (as well as housing benefit and the cap going to £23k).

If anyone was daft enough to believe he cared about hardwoking families and they claim Tax Credits and voted Tory, it's going to come home to roost unfortunately.

Exactly envious. Also if I ever needed healthcare in the UK I have to pay 150% of the cost, which is fair enough too. I realise that I am fortunate to be in a net contributor position, but either way I don't think being called a "cunt" or a "scrounger" is particularly justified.

I don't know how anyone can vote for increased child poverty. Fucking grim. And how can cutting in work benefits 'make work pay'. They want poorer people to work more hours for a pittance. Tory fans on the Facebook page are even calling for more and more cuts and even workhouses and cards and vouchers. What a society we are becoming. The Tories just want any excuse.to cut the Welfare state. However this is cruel when people already rely on it.

There is no doubt tax credits will be cut. My guess is for those on more than 16-20K and it will be cut to 2003 levels. Also child benefit limited to 2. I also think maternity pay will be cut. Don't think they will dare touch DLA. But they think Tory voters are fine with cutting tax credits as they swallowed the Daily Mail crap. If they are too brutal there will soon be riots and revolt and they will be voted out for sure next time. Many gleeful Tory voters may change their mind if they see children suffering? Bit then again maybe they won't. It's well known Torys blame the poor for their own predicament. Apparently even disabled people should work as some disabled people were in the Olympics! Not everyone has the same start on life, same health etc. It ignorant to think they do.

"TTWK- you were able to educate yourself because you were born with the ability to do so."

"Yes, like the vast majority of people, including 95% of those with no qualifications and no desire to get any."

I'm not just talking about academic ability. People have different abilities to manage in certain situations.

I find it strange too that despite us smashing the election there appears to be a dearth of Tories on MN

Only a quarter of people registered to vote, voted for the Tories. Excepting the non-voters I think they got 37% in the end? Hardly smashing it when quite possibly up to 75% of the country didn't want them back again.

Plus a lot of older people vote conservative, and this population is unlikely to post on mumsnet. Given the mumsnet demographic the split of political views on here is very unsurprising.

People just need to wait and see before being melodramatic with talk of starving and workhouses. I mean, honestly - get a grip some of you!

I'm what you might class as an older person on MN and I didn't vote conservative. DC has proved in the past to back down on the promises he made pre-election so why do so many people believe he will carry out his promises this time. I certainly dont.

I understand that in work benefits are essential to many, many people but surely everyone can see that this situation is madness and must change. In work benefits were a bloody stupid idea which have subsidised employers allowing them to pay shit wages without revolt from their workers. Except those benefits that specifically enable people with disabilities to work.

The minimum wage is the same - it's allowed employers to get away with paying the bare minimum rather than what the work is worth because the bare minimum is now the legal minimum so it's unchallengeable.

Personally I'd raise the income tax threshold to the same amount as the full time minimum wage or the same as the universal credit rate and reduce in work benefits massively. I'd also make child care fully tax deductible. I'd remove the winter fuel credit for all making it means tested and build in a pensioners benefits review for all as part of social care assessments and annual reviews for those in receipt of care, and as a standalone service on retirement (planning for the future) and on a 3 year rolling review thereafter. I'd do the same for people in long term receipt of care and out of work benefits (more regular reviews) to ensure people are claiming what they should and get all the support they should.

I read they are cutting working tax credits. Isn't this targeting the 'hard working employed' they supposedly wanted to help? Someone on the DM article (Couldn't stop myself reading it, God forgive me!) has pointed out that the same DM readers who are crowing about people losing WTC's will be the same (racist) ones moaning when there are no English speaking nurses left in hospitals because the wages are too low for them.

I must assume that they would bring in something else to make up the shortfall. They wouldn't be stupid enough to simply cut it and leave people struggling?

According to the news today loads of foreign nurses are set to lose the right to work here.

more cuts to housing benefit so making people homeless.wont build affordable housing though will they!!

in many cases, they will just have to find more affordable housing. that's fairly easy if you are getting housing benefit in an expensive area.

ilovesooty Well that's just great too! I'm sure a certain type will rejoice, but are they going to pay well enough to replace the missing staff?

I read the report on the BBC website of DC's remarks about welfare reform which has me baffled now.
He says that we shouldn't be paying benefits to people and taking tax from them. Which in theory makes some sense. Take them out of tax and you'd save some benefit money. It won't alter the financial position except in the costs of administration. And will make a tiny difference in the tax/benefit balance.
He also seems to be saying that it's no good tackling the symptoms of low pay but that the causes must be tackled in education and health etc.
On the face of it that sounds fine but then they've got to cut billions each year from welfare and George Osborne will announce the cuts in his next statement.
How does this stack up? The cause of poverty isn't benefits. Benefits may allow government to avoid tackling the causes. DC makes these mealy mouthed statements whilst the chancellor wields an axe.

I am one of those who would be considered a benefit scrounger.

I come from a highly abusive background which has led to a plethora of mental health problems. I ended up in care but got kicked out before my 18th birthday because there was no money - I still had ten months of school left.

I was successful in education and achieved a PhD and then a lecturing job in London. Then things went wrong. I had a traumatic birth and combined with my mental health problems I was unable to work. My son was born with a disability. There is no child care for disabled children and so I cannot work for that reason - obviously there is no family help due to safeguarding . His after school club has just been cut due to lack of funds. I cannot get help for my mental health problems due to lack of funding in the NHS - I can have six sessions of CBT. I am constantly having barriers to work.

I did not choose to have a disability. I did not choose to have a child with a disability. I did not choose to be abused. I achieved a successful education and career. My husband works full time and we have moved across the country four times for his career which is very expensive and means that my son and I go to the back of queue in NHS and Social Services when we move.

For all of those who are smugly saying they have never had to use benefits - you have been lucky - we are all only a heartbeat away from a life changing disability - look at the Alton Towers incident, the car that crashed into the children in Birmingham, people get cancer diagnoses every day, people die every day leaving young families behind - car crashes, strokes. You are fortunate not to use benefits - it's pure luck.

We don't accept child abusers using their own abusive childhood as an excuse for their behaviour. We wouldn't accept a rapist's plea of "well my dad was a rapist" as an excuse. We should not accept "I'm poor because I come from a poor family."

Jesus. So being poor is a disgusting crime now is it?

If working based benefits are cut then David Cameron will have to take back his comments about supporting working families. Unless of course he's going to implement a new minimum wage that people are actually able to live off? My bets are housing benefit and tax credits will be the first to be cut

There are as many reasons why people are poor as there are why people are rich and anywhere in between.
Some of it is luck, some of our own making.

I know a fair few wealthy , self made people and they all share a few things in common :

Self confidence to take risks. You HAVE to take risks to be successful.
They all have waited to have children until life and partnerships are secure. No - no one can predict the future but you can minimise your poverty risks by being married ( full legal protection) before having children, knowing your partner a long time and having the number of children you can comfortably feed, clothe and house by your own efforts.

I read on here time and time and time again people with 4/5/6 children with minimum wage jobs or a flighty partner they're not married to, bemoaning their lot in life with seemingly no self awareness whatsoever.

keeps its not that easy for people living in london/southeast. people cant afford to move just like that and it would mean moving far away from home .i dont think people on low incomes should be driven out. also even if it was as simple as just moving. what about the childrens school and peoples jobs they would loose their jobs and end up on full benefits.

its frustrating to when the person next door is in social housing rent say 150 a weeks same house next door 250 a weeks because its private. if there was affordable housing surely that would save so much money.