AIBU about Tax Credits cuts,

[Weathergames]

Commons back Osborne plan for tax credit cuts
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34260902

I don't claim anymore because I now earn enough to support myself - because I could work and progress my career as well as my life while being a single parent.

AIBU to think this is a total travesty and so many single parents are going to have their life's devastated by this - and what about people in domestic abuse situations who will now be more unable to leave?

Maybe I some benefits scrounger - but the tax credits enabled me to be a good parent and role model to my kids - without their feckless father affecting that .... AIBU?!

I'm not sure what the answer is but feel there must be a better way of targeting tax creidts at those who really need them for the basics. I am saying this because I know many claimants who have very low mortages ( bought years ago ) and work minimal hours or have a sahp in the household.When tax credits are reduced, people paying a high rent will get more help in housing benefit. Some would argue that tax credits shouldn't be paying towards peoples mortgages. People can currently have thousands in the bank and no mortgage and still claim tax credits based on their income which I feel is very wrong. Rents vary so much in different parts of the country that it does seem fairer to me to provide extra help through housing benefit.

lougle I have asked Xenia / Janet why she feels this is a good thing, I honestly wnted to hear her opinion. And I have asked her to come back on the thread too, just to have the chance to put her reason for this view across. It's good to hear from all views of a subject

Rather than accuse people of relying on Tax Credits, why aren't people asking why employers have been allowed to pay their employees so poorly for so long?

How are the lower ranks of the Armed Forces meant to work extra hours, how are newly qualified teachers meant to do overtime? A nurse would need their pay topped up, are they meant to be working 24 hour shifts? Why is the little man at fault? Why is it never the big corporations or the Government's fault?

I'm so sick of people blaming the bottom. We are always going to need people at the bottom end of the scale, they have the right to enjoy a life where they can feed their kids, put clothes on their backs and keep them warm. And do you know what? They have a right to buy them a few treats too.

This Goverment is an absolute disgrace. They've punished the sick, they've punished the disabled and now they are punishing the low paid. We're going back decades and it's horrible.

Nurses are not that poorly paid. A newly qualified nurse starts on around £23k I think and then will get a decent amount in unsocial hours enhancements.

I can see this from both sides although the cuts will affect me

I thinks with tax credits there are those who use it for some luxuries ( possibly luxuries those who aren't entitled can't even afford ) and those were the money literally is feeding and clothing their kids

I believe the area a person lives is not taken into account ( correct me if I'm wrong ) therefore if two people for example two single mums earn the same amount and receive the same tax credits per year but one lives in a area with cheap rent and one with high rent ( and I mean due to the area not because one has picked a massive house they can't really afford ) then it's obvious the one paying less rent /mortgage will have more disposable income left over each month and those tax credits may stretch to some luxuries

beetween my salary and the top up from tax credits I do ok money wise I don't mean anything lavish just that I can afford to run a car , can normally afford a weeks holiday each year , always know I can afford the basics plus a few nice bits ( don't mean this to offend anyone just being honest and let's face it I will claim what I'm entitled to if it means my son can have a few treats!) Im a single parent I work 30 hours a week and realistically can't work anymore due to childcare and also going to university and without tax credits at all we would really struggle , the basics would be paid but there would be nothing left if something broke like the washer or when ds birthday and Christmas came up I would struggle and its this that annoys me - I earn just over the average salary for were I live and I earn this by working part time (30 hours) so there are people round here working 40 plus hours barely seeing their kids for this "average salary" and have nothing to show for it no spare for days out or a holiday etc etc

What I'm getting at in a rambling incoherent way is that the cost of living plus the low wages combined mean people have come to have to rely on tax credits for the most basic of lifestyles so maybe the government need to also address this issue first of all before robbing off the people who really need it !

The cuts will affect me but it will be manageable and I kind of feel lucky that I had that extra but now will need to tighten my belt and keep working towards the day I can earn more in the future however I know for some it will be a massive massive blow and it seems very unfair to do it this way

I'm so sick of people blaming the bottom. We are always going to need people at the bottom end of the scale, they have the right to enjoy a life where they can feed their kids, put clothes on their backs and keep them warm. And do you know what? They have a right to buy them a few treats too.

That is so true Caravan.

Unless DC, GO, IDS and the rest actually want essential workers to be single paupers living in dorms somewhere and eating gruel?

Nurses are not that poorly paid. A newly qualified nurse starts on around £23k I think and then will get a decent amount in unsocial hours enhancements.

But HCAs, road sweepers, teaching assistants, refuse workers, cleaners, porters, shop assistants, waiters are all on pretty rubbish money compared to the cost of living and we NEED them.

There is also such a difference between the situations of one parents . Some will be getting no CM, others could be getting hundreds yet they still get the same amount of tax credits based on their household income.

I disagree that people have the right to buy a few treats from money they didn't earn.

Statements like that are part of the problem IMO, why do people think they are so deserving of treats just because they were lucky engh to be born in a country with a welfare system? There are children in this world that don't even have enough food to eat, let alone things like a home, or a pair of shoes. Buying children treats is not a priority.

Osolea Does that include people on disability benefits, or carers, because trust me, I earn the £65 quid a week the government deign to give me.

Oh shit, hang on Osolea, they then take it off my tax credits as 'money I already have coming in.
That would be the tax credits that aren't fucking coming in this month.

If your refering to my post I didn't say people had the right to buy kids treats out of benefits money

I am saying I earn an average salary for the area I live tax credits aside . On this alone I would not be able to afford luxuries or treats . Do you not think its a sad situation that people go out to work full time to earn what's considered an average salary yet this does not stretch beyond rent bills and food ?? Because I do !!

In between posting on this thread, I just popped onto my fb page. There is the lone parent just announcing she has just booked another holiday to majorca ( she came back from there a few weeks ago ). Then another poster who is always complaining about her tax credits being cut who is yet again eating out at a local retaurant . She is out at reataurants/ pubs at least twice a week. I find it really so hard to understand how these people are going to struggle come nest April - yes they may have to cut back but they won't be choosing between heat or eat. I do understand that many will struggle but there are also many that won't.

But HCAs, road sweepers, teaching assistants, refuse workers, cleaners, porters, shop assistants, waiters are all on pretty rubbish money compared to the cost of living and we NEED them.

We do need them, but we don't need them all to be paid enough that they can support a whole family on only that wage. Not everyone has children to support single handedly.

Newly qualified nurses start on around £21k. DC is talking about getting rid of shift allowances etc.

Im childfree but it still rankles when i remember seeing a comment on here a couple of years ago that children from poor families shouldnt get or have Christmas presents because they are luxuries

Osolea Does that include people on disability benefits, or carers, because trust me, I earn the £65 quid a week the government deign to give me.

IMO, no, it doesn't. As I have alluded to in earlier posts on ths thread.

We do need them, but we don't need them all to be paid enough that they can support a whole family on only that wage. Not everyone has children to support single handedly

Who said anything about single-handed?

Two earners together in those kinds of jobs will still struggle.

Two x FT NMW = not enough for a small family in an averagely expensive area.

It would be if childcare were better subsidised and people didn't have to pay tax on low earnings.

Osolea My son is in the Army, has been for just about a year now. His best mate there has 2 kids. He joined the army because he got made redundant, but despite looking as hard as he could, and taking a zero hours contract in McDonalds he couldn't find a full time job in six months.

Now, he and his wife have to claim some Tax Credits because the Govt think it's ok to pay the lower ranks of the armed forces so badly. Are you seriously telling me, that when those kids won't be seeing their dad in the week for 10 weeks between now and Christmas, and for 6 months next year, that their mum shouldn't buy them a few treats?

Okay, Osolea, so why shouldn't someone on benefits have the odd treat? I don't mean going out for a meal each week, but a glass of wine after a rubbish day. Why do we have to dehumanise those less well off?

Osolea

Some people will always be on low wages. The housing market has become so skewed that they will always need a top-up.

Are you saying people who do hard, essential jobs should never have any form of treat?

It's utterly depressing. I also cannot understand why anyone claiming tax credits would vote Tory. I didn't.

I'm one of the luckier ones in that they were there when I needed to get away from Xh and helped me get back on my feet into a decent job. I'm now in a role where my income has risen high enough to mean I'm no longer reliant on them.

I feel so bloody sorry for those in the position now that I was in 5 years ago.

Does your sons friends wife work Fairy? If both parents are working, then it agree that they should be able to buy treats. But I'd rather they were given the free childcare to enable them to pay for treats themselves,rather than jus being handed money.

I'm not trying to dehumanise anyone (obviously) and I'm aware that some people will unfortunately always be on a low wage. I just think there are better ways to run a society than by just handing out money willy nilly - and that's exactly the way it was when tax credits first came about.

But for people in my position Osolea, child care etc is of no help. My youngest are 19. One has a full time helper at college, the other needs care too. You can't find childminders for children with disabilities and differences.