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?

I know two people within my social circle who get 40k in benefits. Both are single parent families who are in private lets in London, with 6 children each. Neither has ever worked for more than a few weeks. They have both grown

HOW?

Your either telling porkies or a lot of those kids are significantly disabled. What with that thing called the benefit cap that came in awhile ago

Alice

Perhaps you ought to read a bit further and pay attention before you berate others for not doing so

""Surely you have participated in enough benefits threads to know the score already, ""

OP, you're on every thread about benefits, HA/Council housing and fat people, surely you've learned enough already to not have the need to start this bullshit thread?

People who work don't have it easy either, tbh...

(In response to people saying that benefit claimants don't have it easy)

Yes some do. So fucking what? This is just the usual benefits slagging thread.

No one is saying they do but the constant benefits bashing seems to imply that many people think the unemployed have it incredibly easy.

Yes your husband is talking bollocks, I'm guessing he's got previous for this.
If I were a cynical sort I would think that this thread was started to stir up yet more benefit bashing.
Do you work for the daily mail, or just read it?
It is heartening to see that other posters have wider minds and call out the bashers.
I get a works pension following an assault at work, all four of us get DLA/pips, I get no housing benefits and no carers allowance, I do get widowed parent allowance. Lucky me.
We have the TVs but no goats, is it a goat per person on Dla?
I asked if I could have chickens instead as am allergic to fur, bastards wouldn't give us any, I was looking forward to making one chicken feed us for the whole week.

We get more than £500 a week in benefits. DH works, as do many people who get benefits. I don't because I'm a carer for our 5 disabled dc. And before you start with the disability bashing, when we completed our family with DC3, only DC2 was disabled. DC4 and DC5 were conceived while I was on the pill.

Wasn't there a lot of publicity about caps on people who were claiming large weekly amounts on benefits actually capped very few claimants? So a lot of fuss was made about a handful of families and capping their claims saved very little in the grand scheme of things.

I'm in Kensington and it's quite expensive here. We are really struggling to live on £2500 a month benefits. I'd' love to move somewhere cheaper but really, who in their right mind would move out of Kensington?
I try to budget really well and stock up when things are on offer at Whole Foods. Fuck I've even resorted to making my own hommous on occasion.

I quite clearly stated there are those that deserve their benefits.
This phrase makes my blood run cold. The Welfare State is supposed to help those who NEED it, not just those who DESERVE it. The idea of the deserving poor vs. the undeserving poor should have been buried with Queen Victoria.

It's not bollocks. It's the absolute max you can get under the benefits cap if you don't meet exemption criteria.

www.gov.uk/benefit-cap/benefit-cap-amounts

Hardly anybody gets it and it's a reasonable amount which rules out St John's Wood mansions and Camden pied a terres. Benefit reform has largely dealt with the worst abuses which happened under Labour (and the resulting social problems) so I really don't see why people continue to moan benefits are still too high.

BeMorePanda - nobody gets anything like 2k+ of benefits for "casual spending" purposes. Those that receive significant sums are generally parents (or a single parent) of a large family or have disabled children, and the total sum is comprised of "specific" benefits eg council tax benefit.

Moreover, anyone running a family with an income of 2k a month who really did live in Kensington would have precious little left over. As it is, I can assure you that the swanky parts of London aren't exactly teeming with people reliant on the welfare system.

Why are some people so sickened by the notion that those unable to work should be allowed to live in anything other than penury?

I've yet to meet a single, solitary anti-welfare individual with even the most tenuous grasp of basic economics.

This is a very disingenuous thread op. Perhaps you are bored?

This.

Why aren't people allowed to post about their grievances? Why is it considered benefits bashing? It's not always.

Sometimes I wish I'd had the sense to 'play the game'. Dh works and I work part time. Once bills paid, we don't have hardly anything left. When we finally pay off our mortgage, we won't have anything to give the children, because it will be used to pay our nursing needs for old age, ill health and possible mental health / dementia , one presumes.

Ds1 has a couple of friends who are quite open about their finances, their council house, every child had their own bedroom with huge to and sky, latest trainers, latest iPhone.

Sometimes I wonder if I should have bothered. Why did I bother?

Why is this disgruntled unfairness and injustice not allowed to be voiced?

The real solution is higher wages. Many people on lower paid work outside of London have a mortgage, so you get no housing benefit. In places with low house prices, it is still cheaper to buy than tent. But paying for things can be a struggle.
And many people who work also have disabilities.
Life is tougher for many people financially than lots of people on MN seem to realise. Certainly if you are just over the limit to get benefits, you end up worse off than those earning slightly less. Because it is not just about money, but reductions you get if on benefits.
I don't support cutting money from benefits. But I do wish the well off on MN would realise just how tough life is for many people working, and that for many people working they will not move into higher paid jobs.

Oh woe is the well off people looking down on the paupers who dare to claim so they can feed their children and keep a roof over their heads.

The thread the other day from poster who was cross because she didn't get tax credits for dc3, only for dc2, was told to only have the number of children you can afford to raise.

Disability is different.
But last poster saying woe for 'average earners' being resentful because they earn enough to pay for their own children and those people are thus having to pay to support others.
Of course normal/average earners are resentful if they are being taken advantage of.

to anyone who needs benefits to get by and feels kicked by these sorts of shit-stirring threads or the sentiment beneath them.

We're all so utterly dependent on each other. Our taxes build roads, buildings, pay for doctors, teachers and so on - and also help people survive. That's what a good society does and I don't resent my pay checks reflecting it.

Sorry I don't really have anything to say about OP and haven't got past page 2 but I'd just like to say to all PP who have replied about receiving £500 A MONTH, FFS at least read the OP before posting irrelevant information!

The OP said they could believe people could receive £500 a month "at a stretch" so some posters are addressing that point and illustrating how it's not "a stretch" to get £500 a month. It's usually a good idea to RTFT before deciding what is and isn't relevant.

I didn't say 'average earners' I said 'well off'

Well off and average earners are having the pay for this. All workers are having to pay for this.

Well off and average earners are having the pay for this. All workers are having to pay for this.

You can be "on benefits" and be working. Dla for example.

Yes your husband is talking bollocks

No he is not. The current benefits cap is £500 per week. Some benefits are excluded from the cap and some recipients of benefits are not affected by the cap so some are getting more than £500 per week.

Later this year the cap will be reduced to £442.31 per week for those living in London, £384.62 per week for those living outside London.

Note that the cap for single people who don't have children living with them is lower.