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?

They do of course, but they are prime central London properties that are not available to "private rent", which may explain the jealousy factor coming in.

right. again, what's the justification that some people get to live in their chosen place, while others cannot?

If you price people on low people out of the rental market to such an extent that they cannot afford to commute to work, then you are going to store up problems.

what problems are those? beyond the general problem that most people are being priced out of their chosen area?

the trouble is that there are only so many houses. deciding that someone lives in a desirable area necessarily means that someone else cannot live there.

If people overstretch themselves with big mortgages how is that the fault of those who rent.

Yeah so qualify for a council flat or a pea body place and it's yours. It won't be unless you do.

While your at it, look up grosvenor estates vs pimilico council.for precident in selling off these places.

Some people get to achieve it because they are unlucky enough to need help.

So, no justification. ok.

i'm not jealous and living warm and well fed btw. i live in pretty challenging circumstances that most of you would think totally unacceptable for someone living on benefits - certainly my son and i have less disposable income than you seem to think essential for survival and yet i don't feel that hard done by.

from the small amount of money we have as income (way less than you seem to think is feasible for anyone to live on) i am managing to save every month.

i don't speak from naivety but reality and awareness that yes of bloody course a family can live on £500 a week - my son and i live on less than a quarter of that and i'm saving so we can move.

i was on one side of the fence on this thread and all approved of until i had the audacity to say a family can certainly live on £500 a week - a WEEK - at which point i became the devil incarnate it seems.

To be honest.. even if we sold.off all the social housing and ha places in zone 1 or 2, you still wouldn't be able to afford one.

Green eyes.

and i can actually understand why when threads go this far people think jesus people on benefits don't seem to realise how most working families in this country are living.

at the point you're sniffing at £500 a week for an able bodied family with no disabilities you show you've lost touch with reality. £500 a week is the equivalent of £34k a year gross! do you actually comprehend that a ton of households with two full time working adults and childcare and transport to work to pay don't earn close to that?

this thread is making me question my usual position. £34k a year ffs - i didn't earn that after 4 years as a full time teacher but you want it paid to households where two able bodied adults are unemployed? that doesn't make sense.

when i was unemployed due to disability and had my son and me in the household and therefore a two bedroom household to run our total benefits came to under 10k total. it was totally manageable for a relatively frugal lifestyle. are you really saying people who have two able bodied adults able to work need to be given 3 times that? the issue as far as i can see has been a situation where the money you get goes up exponentially per child when living costs actually don't. if i'd have had 2 children instead of one they'd have shared a room and used the same amount of gas, electricity, council tax, rent etc - i wouldn't have needed double the money.

that i guess is the loophole they're trying to close.

Dispatches on Channel 4 now The Great Housing Scandal.

So your own experience honey shows that it's very rare, as lots have been saying, to get 500 a week.

Your point about able bodied adults getting, when in your situation you ddidn't is strange.

Honey badger you pay rent and all your bills and food and clothes and travel etc on less than £125 a week and you save as well?
Sorry I just don't believe you.

I'm very lucky in that I private rent my home its a 4 bed mid terrace in a not very nice area. The houses are sound and well built, built in the 60's. I have been here 7 years..I have a great relationship with my landlord..he says we are his favourite tenants..because we look after the house. We have made it a home, we decorated top to bottom. And yes we do get a little bit of help with the rent as my partner is now the sole earner as I have medical issues that causes me pain but he is on minimum wage. We have 4 kids..and I'm looking to try retrain..I'm doing a business course at college part time so I am hopefully able to go back part time once my youngest is at secondary in a less physical job

125 pound is just my food shop for the week...without gas electric council tax and the rent.

I could spend £125 a week on food. But it is a lot to spend on food.

I spend £900 a month on rent, food, council tax, utilities, phones, paying off a loan to my mum

To be fair we live in Wales and our rent is only £356pm (ha flat).
2 person household.
Our food bill for the month is £75.
It's very very possible to live on that kind of budget (unless you live in a more expensive place of course- Wales is one of the cheapest!) I'm currently on SSP (£90pw) Dh earns 15k pa.
we're saving up for an international move, too.
So it's hard going to have no luxuries etc, but if we were on JSA and got HB I can't see us being able to afford to live beyond bare basic.
JSA would be up to (note. Up to. I've never claimed JSA so wouldn't know if this is what we'd get exactly)£114 a week for both of us (joint claim) times 4 is £456.
Our expenses minus rent and ct would be £414. I've also taken off my loan repayment to my mum as we'd be able to take a break until we found employment. So we'd have £40 a month left to fund any unexpected expenses and the like. Also, we live in a 2bed property and long term there is only us 2 here. So we'd get bedroom taxed too, which I have not taken into account.
If we were disabled and our costs were higher (for example my younger disabled brother requires specialist toys, nappies which the NHS don't fund and taxis to some places. Mum can't drive due to her own disability. He has a meltdown on buses) damn right we would and rightly so get more.

The overwhelming message of the thread.

The poor and needy should live in penury if they need help.

To need help is a lifestyle choice.

The poor and needy should livery only where no one else wants to.

Oh and a lot of you are blandly average middle class types.

You won't live in zone 2 if we sell of all social housing, you'll still be priced out, there isn't enough of it to.satisfy the demand.

If we get rid of benefits people will either get paid more, which you will bear the cost.of, or the social consequences will be great. Guess who'll pay?

Yet your happy for the wealthy to get away with what they do, and they benefit far more from the state, because you aspire to be them.

You never will be, because your bland and middle class. That boot will keep stamping on your face forever, yet you'll thank them, and blame the poor.

Practy..it's not a lot for me. I have 4 kids 3 of which are teenagers..they eat a lot lol..and then me and dp. It's not a lot of food for a week tbh...it's a meal everyday snacks and my partners lunch for work a few treats and a joint of meat for Sunday.

To be honest.. even if we sold.off all the social housing and ha places in zone 1 or 2, you still wouldn't be able to afford one.

I don't know who "you" is, but surely that would depend on the impact of prices of putting so many homes on the market, and the income of the potential buyers. My guess is that study hasn't been done.

The poor and needy should live in penury if they need help.

That's certainly not my message. I think we can't really help the needy well enough. I wouldn't call living in your chosen neighbourhood a "need". Having a disability no doubt creates a lot of extra costs, and I am all for supporting that. But we can't do that on account of a lack of money. Nor can we support the next generation in training, or the older generation with proper medical care.

Yet your happy for the wealthy to get away with what they do, and they benefit far more from the state, because you aspire to be them.

I hated the bank bailouts, and many of the other policies (incidentally, like HB) which make a small number of people enormously wealthy.

unless you live in planet cuckoo land £500 a WEEK tax free is not bloody penury.

£115 a week on food is nice IF you can afford it - if you couldn't then believe me you could manage on a lot less. i feed 5 on £35 a week

Thehoneybadger..how on earth do you manage that. How old are your children?
35 I'd be out of food by weds..and my shopping is delivered on Monday
I spend athe least 10 on fruit and veg. 10.00 for dp lunches for the week. The other 15 would be used for milk eggs bread there wouldn't be much left for meals for the week.

Although Honeybadger I do agree with you inpart that you can manage on less than 500 per week. I have done it and I have been on benefits..I was out of work for 2/3 years. Went through quite a tough time.
We had much less than 500 per week we had 114 every two weeks, tax credits of 180 per week. We had to pay the bills, top up our rent, pay some council tax other bills and feed and cloth 4 kids. Gas and electricity alone was 40 per week gone.
It's hard, it really is don't get me wrong it is but when your in that position you do just have to get on with it because that's all you have you have to live on bare minimum. And for most people it's not through choice. I lost my job because I was made redundant and I had a horrible split. You don't know anyone's circumstances so try not to judge too much.

I won't answer for honey as such but I managed to feed myself+Dh at one time on £8.90pw.
Meal planning, very boring diets and wasting absolutely nothing was key.
7.5kg bag of potatoes £2.79 (farm foods)
1kg of pasta 30p (15p per 500g pack, Aldi/lidl can't remember which )
Tinned tomatoes (used to water it down, add herbs out of cupboards and get 3 sauces for 2 people out of 1 can) 4x= £1. Basics from sainsburys.
Loaf of bread 2x=70p (sainsburys basics)
Paste for Dh 30p.
Jam/chocolate spread/insert cheap sweet spread here for me maximum of 50p.
£1.60 something on milk and instant coffee (instant coffee would last the month, however)
Block of happy shopper cheese (tiny block) 50p OR a bigger block in farm foods 99p. Depends.
Then would spend the change on whatever we could get off the reduced shelves.
Doable.
But horrible.