A decent budget for low paid workers.

[Sickoffrozen]

Aibu to think that overall the budget was good news for the low paid with a big increase in minimum wages announced?

Seems like a decent idea to me.

But I stand to be corrected.....

Honestly, if you are at a loss to work out benefits I would email the Citizens Advice Bureau - they have an online answer service now. Their caseworkers will be able to advise you as they'll have the latest info in their systems. I don't think many people here will be able to answer on an individual's situation, because it's all usually so complex. They have paid benefits advisors to help people make sense of it all.

I don't think there are any changes that would affect 18 or 19 year olds on approved courses other than the ones that affect all claimants.

They're gone completely for non disabled adults without children though.

So it depends whether they're being claimed for an approved course or not.

But yes, get in touch with CAB.

Quills wrote "and if I read it right, childless people won't be eligible for WTC from April 2016.."

If possible could someone link to that?

We were depending upon that Working Tax Credit for DD from September

www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-budget-2015/summer-budget-2015

Though actually rereading it, I think it's UC thresholds that are gone which means an existing TC claim may continue?...

You'd be better off getting advice on your particular circumstances though as it's very likely that if you are entitled to them, it will not be the same amount as it would have been.

Oh - if it's UC I knew that; I'm just scraping along until that comes in - hopefully the computer system will fall over again & delay it again

I thought it was a new one

DD has 4 jobs this summer and has been offered 3 more - unfortunately she couldn't take them they were just one days work each but on a day she was already working

Sorry - Thank you for the link

& I did the calculator & it will drop by £72 a year.....which is less than relevant - the £360 a month drop when she leaves home is more scary but anticipated

& the change for loans doesn't affect her as her course is ineligible for loan funding anyway

"hopefully the computer system will fall over again & delay it again"

It may well die completely, lol, I'm not sure how they'll manage migration then.

I understand in trial areas they are doing paper claims - which should decrease the unemployment rate if they roll it out nationally

Surely there are other expenditures that can be cut rather than welfare? Also the cost if welfare could be more than covered by cutting down on a few of the tax loopholes.

It is far too simplistic to say that cutting/removing welfare will save the country money. What about the increase in NHS use or SS referrals. What about increase in crime /rioting? What about the lower productivity of the workforce that is on less than the (real) living wage and therefore does not have enough to live on?

This budget (as shown by the graph) takes heavily from the poorer people and less from/gives to the more wealthy.

It's not as easy as saying, well the people affected should simply "work more hours/ stop feeling entitled/ stop assuming the state should support their failed relationships". There are so many families now who are locked into their lifestyles/ jobs because of the way the system was before. Many people will have no option but to take a hit of £100 or £200 a month because they won't be able to "simply" ask for more hours or "get another job". It surprises me the amount of hostility there is towards families like this. I'm sure they weren't sitting around "feeling entitled". Just getting on with their lives. It's going to be tough for lots of people. The headlines of the budget did a good job of masking this, leading to so many "what a great budget for low paid workers" comments.

Yes, the general attitude with some is that the sate should be held responsible for people's failed relationships and pay for the raising of the children and the feeding of the parents.

And yes, I agree that the money never belonged to, or was earned by the majority of claimants in the first place, but many still believe that they have in some way had their money taken from them. No, the pool of free cash is now shallower and your portion of that pool is now less.

We can all play at finger pointing, but the reality is, the system is not sustainable, and needs to be cut. You can suck it up now, and again next year, and slowly acclimatise to a more frugal lifestyle, or you can vote in a more 'generous' government, squander what extra benefits they give from the magic gravy train, and be left destitute and crying when it all goes bust, just like those 'entitled' in Greece.

The beauty of the timing is that we have all been given a glimpse of where the welfare trainwreck is headed, without anyone really getting hurt (except in Greece). Do we as a country pile more money onto the fire and follow, or do we put the breaks hard while we have the chance? The electorate gets to decide, and at the moment those who wish to save the welfare state are winning. Labour may change that in 2020, but that's a while away.

Somebody somewhere has done some calculations. I'd love to know if anyone knows if this is true:
From April 2016 the income threshold to claim WTC will go down from £6, 420 to £3,850. At the same time the minimum wage rises to £7.20. To claim you must work at least 16 hours per week.
16 hours a week @£7.20 pays £5,990.40 p.a. £2140 over the threshold.
This is doing the rounds on facebook. If it is true, and it certainly seems logical, then they have in fact removed WTC.
If there is anyone who can show me this is wrong, I'd be grateful.
Thank you.

MakeItRain Yet by any measure, everyone in Britain is in the top 50% wealthiest people in the world and anyone earning National Average wage and above is in the top quintile. People come from all over the world, and queue up on our borders for the chance to be 'poor people' in our country, and we still see whiners complaining that they are too fat to work, too tired to walk to a bus stop, too busy to find a job, or simply not willing to get out of bed for less that £10 an hour.

Without an attitude adjustment, there will be no improvement, and unfortunately we do not have a magic attitude detector that we can use to separate those who do genuinely wish to work and improve their lives, from those who don't and are just looking for excuses to avid taking responsibility. So we use the big fiscal hammer to run a couple of shock waves through the system and shake it up a bit.

Some will see this as a big scary thing and scurry away and hide, and others will see this as a warning and prepare to get out of dodge. All you need to do to get a job is be politer, cleaner and more capable than the competition. Yes it is a challenge when your life is baby sick and quick sleep,breaks, and yes, those single mums and carers for disabled parents/children have very challenging lives. But if you are a family unit, and neither of you is capable of finding work, you have to be prepared to lose a lot of money, or begin working for it. Because like it or not, that is the way all developed nations are going. Unaccountable free for all welfare is a thing of the past. It's going to get ugly. You can deal with it now and improve your lot, or sit with your head in the sand and wait for the train to hit.

Personally I prefer to withhold dependency on benefits before they are taken from me. We will move to wherever provides the best balance between work opportunity and rental prices, and if things change we will move to wherever the work and the cheap rent coincide again.

"I grew up here. It's not my fault there aren't any jobs. I'm entitled."

But if you are a family unit, and neither of you is capable of finding work, you have to be prepared to lose a lot of money, or begin working for it.
So, you're quite happy to see disabled people and their families go without then.
You are a delight, aren't you.

Dawndonnaagain...they've mistaken what the threshold actually is, those numbers aren't the threshold for being eligible for tax credits at all, but the point at which they take money away from the full award. So it doesn't remove tax credits, it reduces the amount.

EllieFantsPoo

"But if you are a family unit, and neither of you is capable of finding work, you have to be prepared to lose a lot of money, or begin working for it."

Actually, they won't...the change in thresholds doesn't affect benefit claimants.

The people taking the biggest financial hit are those in work.

I will be affected too , who isn't? But at least I have some time.

I'm a lone parent and my dd is about to go to school, I do wonder how this will affect my business as although I will try and increase my earning potential how can I do that when everyone else can't afford my services after the cuts?

Swings and round abouts.
folks will either sink or swim and it's an utter shame for those that sink.
it's disgusting that they have even targeted any form of illness related benefits when they were so small to begin with.

tabula, Thank you!

But if you are a family unit, and neither of you is capable of finding work, you have to be prepared to lose a lot of money, or begin working for it.

EllieFantsPoo, is the phrase "working poor" too impenetrably difficult for you to decode? How about "in-work benefits"? No? Still a mystery?

It seems to me that you are pontificating about a budget you don't actually understand. Ironic, given your apparent belief that poor people must just be too stupid or lazy to be anything else.

And are you Katie Hopkins, or do you just sound like her?

Actually, they won't...the change in thresholds doesn't affect benefit claimants.
Unless you're sick.

Am I the only 25+ concerned that my boss will not up my pay, or my hours, sack me and get some1 under 25 to do it cheaper :/
The Tories would love that, all the young ppl of the unemployed books & the figures looking good to soften the blow of the next budget

Am I the only 25+ concerned that my boss will not up my pay, or my hours, sack me and get some1 under 25 to do it cheaper :/
If you are the very best person an employer can find to do a job, you will never be out of work. If your employer can find someone younger, cheaper and still just as punctual, efficient, intelligent, diligent, smart and efficient as you, then he'd be foolish not to make the change, especially if he hasn't got economics of paying you severance pay works out for him. But if you tick all those boxes and remain ahead of the competition, you have nothing to worry about. Regardless of how much or how little people get paid, if they wish to remain in work, they need to thrive in that environment. If they don't they were never meant to be there in the first place, and are only there through happenstance.

The government should be working towards making housing affordable as it used to be in the good old days. As I've said up thread I'm better off, 2 adults working. My friend, single working parent, is over £1000 down.

Note the working.

The government will not be able to pay their own workers the living wage as it will break the 1% rise over 4 years, I wonder if they thought of that.

I used a budget calculator and it came out that we'd be £800 a year worse off. Then I realised it was calculating it on my very paltry salary and hadn't counted my husband's (good) salary.

Including that we are £224 a year better off.

That is shocking. I am ashamed to be part of a society that takes £800 a year away from low earners and rewards those who are comfortably off.