To think the benefit cap is going to plunge families into poverty

[Firsttheworst]

Next month the benefit cap comes in. It sets out the maximum that can be claimed in a week across all benefits. This doesn't include disability or wtc. Its aimed purely at women (mostly) claiming income support. You can only claim income support if you have a child under 5 and don't work.

The benefit cap is in the government owns words designed to get IS claimants out to work. The cap is currently £500 and will be reduced to £384 a week.

This includes, housing benefit, CT benefit, tax credits, income support. So all in total cannot be more than £384 a week. Over a 30 day month that comes to £1645.

From that £1645 I need to pay

rent £900 a month (no I can't move, its impossible to rent on benefits as it is, not giving this house up and its below market rent as it is)

CT - £60 a month

Electricity £80

Oil £80

Diesel £ 120 (rural don't drive anywhere other than school runs and supermarket/town once or twice a week)

Car insurance £49

Car tax £19.99

Phone/internet £40 (thats a basic mobile and broadband)

House insurance £13

TV licence £11

That leaves 272 a month to pay for food, clothes, car breakdown, school trips, birthdays, miscellaneous and god knows what else. For one adult and 3 children.

AIBU to think that the government have just decided that if they starve us out for long enough we'll be forced to go out and find a job? Like I said rural area so jobs are rarer than hens teeth and believe me i'm looking. It is pure discrimination against single mothers with small children (i doubt many men claim income support)

Even with a bidding system, you need to get on the list first. Ours doesn't let you on if you have a private rent, even when you're making up the difference between HB and actual rent amount yourself. So no bidding unless you are on a list you can't get on.

Why are you asking people to not consider their savings when you ask what they would do to survive a marital breakdown?

rebecca - you say you are happy to support the OP, fact is you don't pay enough tax to do so, therefore you are also saying that you are happy for others to support the OP. Many of us are not happy to see high levels of cash benefits as evidenced by this thread and many others. That is the point.

a. yes I do actually
b. that is the point of a welfare system, it means it's not for well-off individuals to give money to those they feel are 'deserving'
c. so I see, it's depressing

Also OP I think you need to stop worrying about how close you need to be to your ex so he can see the DC. You need to move somewhere where you can afford to be, then let him sort out how he can get to you.

It doesn't sound as if he's doing much worrying about your situation, so you may as well return the favour.

I don't have kids OP but if I did I'd get a job and hope my mum would help with childcare.

My mum had to study before she retrained as a teacher, DB went into a nursery and I was at school. no after school or breakfast clubs then either...

Yes op would be better off if there was more affordable housing where she lives. But she would also be better off ifthe father of her kids do paid for them rather than expecting other tax payers to do so, if she got a job, if she didn't live rurally, if she didn't have oil heating, if she didn't run a car. All her own choices.

I'm on benefits as a single mother with 5 children(I am at college too though) and even though I get a lot of maintenance from my ex I will find it harder once the cap comes in.

I am looking for part time work in evenings and weekends but no luck so far.

I see you have a car so could you not travel further out for a job?

OP do not assume because I and other posters have specified about what our DP/DH earns that we do not work ourselves. I myself am studying a full time nursing degree, doing bank shifts as a care assistant and have two baby DDs.

badtasteflump

I would not speak for you, especially not someone with such a pissy tone

but cant you see that globally, the people who always get the shitty end of the stick are women? That's what I meant, and no - we cant compare OP to foeticide in India/war rape in the Congo

but its most often the women left holding the babies isn't it? and OP's scenario is a UK version of that - that's all

Sorry OP, but at the risk of joining in the chorus of voices saying the same thing, I work full term (professional level work) and take home less money than you do. I believe in social housing and a benefit system but it's always galling when I hear that people on benefits are not only taking home more money than me, but that they are complaining about it too.

I spend about £60 per week on my Asda shop. My mobile is PAYG and I spend about £10 per month on credit. It's a cheapo handset. Other than that, I can't think how you can cut your spend.

agree with badtaste your ex needs to make the effort to move and see his kids.

I did actually have a close friend (still know her) who years ago was in council accommodation but wound up in debt - her DM moved to the seaside where there were very cheap houses with right to buy possibility and arranged for her (her DD and the kids) to move and do that. Involved moving out of Surrey to Essex coast. It was the making of my friend actually, she's now married and has her own BTL portfolio with her new DH and back at uni etc.

Reasonable looking properties for under £900 in OK areas on Rightmove if OP goes a bit monastic, like.

£725 and won't need a car - Stamford

£850 and won't need a car - Bury St Edmunds

£650 and won't need a car - Kettering

So there are places you can live on that kind of money and they don't have to be too awful. Bury is certainly very pleasant as a town (Kettering is, shall we say, a but more functional but the local council are working on it and have opened up a new 'restaurant quarter' etc).

Also op you would get help with childcare through wtc I think?

Boffin my aunt lives in Bury St Edmunds and brought her 2 boys up there (with their dad). it is very nice.

Pp- cb goes upast with every child still in think, unless earning over the threshold. Wtc cut off presumably increases with each child. These effectively go up with each child for those in work whose wages won't increase by much. Otherwise, for families with one or more earners earning over the threshold then wages do increase, not necessarily with each child but over the course of time/promotions etc improve earnings.

And in terms of 'how would you cope if your DH literally walked out tomorrow?" I was in a similar position and I used to do things like babysitting and tutoring cash in hand to pay the bills. It's not easy but you have to get on with it.

When i had to move house, I was able to get a small loan from credit union to do so. Hired a van, friend and I did the carrying of stuff. HA split deposit over 6 months so I didn't have to find a lump sum. Both children were dropped at childminder on way to work/picked up after. Tax credits covered 75% of childcare, so it's entirely doable. Both DCs are well-adjusted/happy, DS now an adult and self-supporting, he's worked continuously since he left school. Unemployment is not high just now, there are jobs out there.

If you think that your ex is under-declaring his self employed income, tell him that you'll report him to HMRC so that they can investigate and figure out exactly how much he does earn. Alternatively, he can start coughing up for the basics his children need, like food and shoes, not just holidays! What kind of man lets the taxpayer fund his children? He's a disgrace.

Good grief. Is Bury St Edmunds going to be the new magic MN chicken?

Are you guys spoofing?

how would you cope if your DH literally walked out tomorrow?

Ok I'll bite. I am sure that the man I married and had DC with would do the right thing and continue to support his children and their home. I wouldn't have married him otherwise.

Yes, OP would be £219 a month better off with a move to Bury, losing the car and rent, more if the general cost of living there is cheaper (they have a good market, for example) and in terms of raising deposits, won't she get one back from the let she's in at the moment? Or she could sell the car. It's also near Cambridge which is huge in terms of employment and accessible by train.

Op, it must be scary to know that your income is going to be cut but at least you know this in advance. Many people have to deal with these things with no notice when illness, redundancy or death happens.

My suggestion is that as you live in a south east commuter town, you could probably get cleaning work for a few hours each day to top up your income. Obviously you would have to become self employed but as long as you work for 16 hours a week you would be so much better off.

Someone I know started out in similar circumstances to you and she now runs a successful cleaning business.

I like Bury St Edmunds too! It has some very naice shops and cafes

So there you go OP your problems are sorted:

• move away from your home, your children's father and all you know
• take in lodgers (presumably even if it means kicking your kids out of their beds)
• work cash in hand

Or we could live in one of the richest countries in the world and have a decent welfare system plus support for working parents/those (like yourself) trying to get back into work and an ethos of helping people up rather than kicking them down. If only.

Yes, OP would be £219 a month better off with a move to Bury, losing the car and rent, more if the general cost of living there is cheaper (they have a good market, for example) and in terms of raising deposits, won't she get one back from the let she's in at the moment? Or she could sell the car.

Jolly good.

Now can we hear the recordings of you ringing around Bury lettings agents Boffin? The ones where you play the part of OP and explain that you have no job at present, no deposit or rent in advance but you do have DC and you'd like to rent through them?