To think dh is winding me up when he says some people on benefits are getting £500 a week?

[angelos02]

I'm pretty sure he's talking bullocks? Otherwise why the fuck would anyone do a minimum wage job?

Why the (feigned?) surprise?

How would a single parent with a disabled child/other children be able to pay rent/bills/food/clothes on £500 a month? Are you completely out of touch with reality?

Even if you live in a very cheap part of the UK, I cannot imagine it would be possible. Where I live, rent on a two bedroom flat is £1300 a month.

Hi, I used to support women to apply for benefits. The benefit cap has impacted things but in general families with children in London its very possible you could be getting that much. But!!! That's usually because we don't have enough council housing so they are going down the private rent route. If they say, had three children, they would normally be entitled to a two bedroom place (depending on gender/age of children possibly three). That's not huge or extravagant but in some councils that can mean it costing a lot, just to live in the area they grew up. Benefits cap, stopped that from even being possible in many areas.

bluebeck Spot on.

£500 a month wouldn't even cover my (very modest for the area) rent, never mind my utility bills, unavoidable monthly expenditures, travel costs and food. And I'm a lone adult.

How on Earth could a young family (particularly in SE England, and particularly those with disabled family members) possibly exist on 500 a month?

He's correct and can be more depending on circumstances

Maybe Ops husband pays all the bills which is why she just can't get her pretty little head around what a family could possibly do with £500 a week. Ooh the riches, I'm so jealous

He isn't wrong.

I got that in the past with having children and DH and DS being on DLA... meaning I got the higher rate of TC and no benefit cap.

£500 wouldn't have covered nursery bills when the dc's were little. Nursery fees were more than my salary so as a LP I got a fair whack of working and childcare tax credits.

Oh and I do a low paid job because I want to rely on benefits as little as I can. I like working, I want to one day earn a lot more and I have to start at the bottom to get there, I want to give back to society and I want my children to have a working parent. But most of all, while I didn't have children in the situation I am in now, now that I can work I should because they are my children.

Sounds right, a 3 bed home here is 1250pm plus council tax and you're at 2k already.

OP, do you honestly believe that you could pay rent, all your bills and living expenses for a family on £500 a month? I'd love to know where you live if you think that's possible

I work full time and take home £800 a week.
Then I get disability benefits (DLA) on top of that. What do you make of that OP? Shocked?

He's right, I have a friend who receives £400 a week in benefit, she feels this isn't enough & often complains that we're lucky (DH has a well paid full time job & I work part time) however as I take relish in pointing out, she gets that money & it's all pretty much hers, her rent, council tax etc is all paid for her, all housing maintenance taken care of, DH & I aren't left with £400 a month by the time everything's paid for!! Sore subject for me, I could rant about it all day!!

"That free goat we have in the garden costs a fortune too feed aswell."
I thought it was only Muslims who get goats? You know, along with all the special money for compasses to find Mecca and allowances for new trousers due to the wear and tear caused by praying.........

You know all people on benefits get goats, Bertrand. And flat screen plasma televisions for their goats. Tchoh!

That figure includes rent. When you consider that you can get £1k a month in housing benefit alone if you live in an expensive place and have enough children, then add council tax benefit and that's £100, child benefit at £200 for 3 kids, income support is £280 plus tax credits at £250+ - that's approaching £2k a month. The family are unlikely to be rolling in cash but I have seen families hit by the benefit cap in Brighton when they are in temporary accommodation as the rate of housing benefit they can and have to claim is higher than usual.

The point of my post ^ was to point out how overpriced private rental is and what a racket housing benefit is

Watched a programme today..man has 26 children to 15 women and brings in over 2k a month in benefits so yes it is true!!

Bring back the workhouse, that's what I say.

That's nice, Warl. So disabled people should wear sackcloth and ashes and be in the streets because you have a grabby friend? Nice, aren't you?

Four disabled people in our family, so 4 goats to keep. Shocking init.

He's right. I'm glad people who need help can get support, I have no problem with it.

As a PP said, you're being very disingenuous OP. You made that doubly clear when you, supposedly a grown adult with some experience of what accommodation costs, claimed you thought £500 a month total would be a maximum. Just say what you really came here to say, eh? Don't try to provoke others to say it for you.

Whether the OP is on a windup or really is this dense - it's a stark reminder that there are a great many that feel this way, i.e that thousands upon thousands of women, men and children being left to forage for scraps in the street is a price worth paying for their tax bill being very marginally lower.

Most families that have that much in benefits coming in or more usually do because of dla / pip - anyone that begrudges a family with that level of income where someone has a disability is quite frankly an arsehole.