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)

I'm sorry but I can't get over how much your rent is !!!!
Mine is 320£ a month
No wonder people are pissed off with benefit claimants when there's people like you claiming 900£ a month in rent alone !!!!

Have read most but not all the thread so excuse me if I've missed something really obvious.

A few years ago as a single parent with 3 dependents I worked part time for 20 hours per week and received child and working tax credits.

Then two years ago I was offered the opportunity to work full time and as my children were older and more independent by then I accepted it.

Not unreasonably, the child and working tax credits ceased.

I take home at least £300 per month less working full time than I did part time and have been called an idiot (and other less complimentary names) for not staying home and collecting benefits. It is important to me, for some self-respect, that I am self supporting, it is important that I set an example of a good work ethic to my children. Benefits should be a safety net to help out when times are tough and shouldn't be a lifestyle choice.

OP you can and should make economies in your outgoings - the electricity and oil are very expensive. Look to join a collective purchasing group for your utilities and benefit from a large group discount. Your home and car insurance can and should be cheaper - this is easily researched online.

Many times people (and I include myself in this) live outside of their means but at the same time do not believe they are paying for luxury items. In the interim you should look closely at your expenditure and cut pack/substitute for cheaper with a view to been in full time work. It is possible to like well of £1645 - I do it myself on not much more and I also live in the SE.

orangeterry blame the landlord how is it OP's fault, I'm starting to wonder how many people have been name changing and coming back in to post some more shit drivel

No wonder people are pissed off with benefit claimants when there's people like you claiming 900£ a month in rent alone !!!!

What do you think she's doing with the rent? She's paying the bloody landlord, it's not going in her pocket. Just because your rent is low doesn't mean it is for everybody. Christ alive.

There is no cap if -
Disability
Pension age
Working 16 hrs as a single person, or 24 hrs between a couple.
The cap is merely a political sop to placate the taxpayers.
The idea is to do some work, even 16 hrs and to be able to 'make' over 23k take home pay.

People on here are mad £900 a month is not a lot for rent unless you live somewhere like hull!

The other way of thinking about it is, there are plenty of higher earners who don't clear £1700 pm after childcare costs, that's another reason people struggle to sympathize. If you include what people actually take home after paying childcare costs, that's a lot more unsympathetic people. I agree with anna, if your ex isn't a scumbag and really can't afford to pay anything, he should do half the childcare so you can work longer hours on the days you don't have the DC.

How did she pay the deposit in the first place? What did she base her decision on to pay that amount of rent? Presumably it was based on how much housing benefit she could get, or she at least checked it out first?

Re finding school hour jobs being tricky. Yes, it is. That's why most people use child care. It enables them to work outwith school hours.

I only get 160 a week. But then i work part time and get WTC too.

okay for a start you're not actually legally obligated to pay tv liscence so stop paying it and let them keep sending you letters and youll find they're not actually allowed to do anything about it. theres ample research online about why theyre crooks

OP I sympathise with you, no one expects to be in this situation, but you are and you need to act.

I am proud to be living in a country that provides support for people when they need it. But it cannot be seen as a long term solution. It needs to be until you can get yourself sorted.

I, as others have also said, would be directing a lot more anger at your ex husband here. I have no experience of it but surely something else can be done in terms of chasing him for money?

Secondly, I think you have to move. What are your ties to the area? Do you have family elsewhere? If you moved north, it would be cheaper, you could find a part time job that works for you. In a few years your oldest will be old enough to care for their siblings. And when they are all older you can convert to full time. And it's a good time to move before they start their GCSEs. Again, I have no experience of it, I take what you are saying about landlords not accepting benefits claimants but surely some must, because the reality is that people do live in these houses and claim benefits. They do, so they must be somewhere.

It's a really shite situation, but you can get out of it. Get out of the mindset that you need to make benefits work for you and try to empower yourself to change your and your children's lives for the better. You can do it!

As a long time lurker I've noticed that on these benefits threads the concept of the ' deserving poor' is attributed to the rich as a 'lady bountiful ' way of thinking.

I think it's human nature to compare our lot with others at times and I think to some degree we all place value judgements on who should get help from ' our' money and to what degree. Not as unpleasant as the deserving poor but not a million miles apart.

In real life the biggest benefit bashers I have come across are low earners who feel that they are getting s raw deal because they work hard for the same lifestyle they perceive others getting for free.

Millionaire tax avoiders and the idea that money breeds money aren't even on the radar - it's the colleagues, family members, and neighbours who can afford a holiday /newer car/third child that fuel the resentment.

Anybody who admits voting conservative will invariably be asked if they hate the poor etc. I don't think anyone actively wants money taken away from someone else but it's driven by a want to have their own hard work/contribution recognised and valued.

As a newly single mum I have realised that certain challenges are the same for all single parents such as trying to juggle sole responsibility for childcare with work and the overwhelming fear that I may not be able to provide for them.

It also opened my eyes to the advantages I have such as a good credit rating, a university education, supportive family close by and an ex who pays maintenance regularly - some of this can be attributed to my endeavour and choices but I think some might say this was predetermined before I was even born by my parents and their circumstances.

In principle I am in favour of a benefit cap but this only works ideologically for me if people have access to the opportunity to provide for themselves.

Child maintenance, adequate childcare the ability to raise a deposit/moving costs, and the availability of affordable housing all have a bearing on this.

It seems to me that once you fall down it can be almost impossible to get back up. I'm comfortable right now, cut my cloth and will hopefully soon be in a position to save and protect myself should my situation change but I am quite frankly shitting myself at how quickly I could be in trouble should my circumstances change even slightly.

My politics are a mess at the moment. I can't be the only person who feels a disconnect between my heart and my head.

Rental costs in this country are disgusting. All people here going on at the OP for daring to have a roof vet her head should hang their heads in shame, Everyone needs a roof over their heads and it isn't the OP's fault her rent is high. Perhaps instead find the landlord who likely owns several other properties and is trousering £900 in housing benefit a month. But hey...he is providing a service right?

But she is choosing to live in an expensive location. There are plently of places where she could pay about half that amount in rent and be close to schools/shops/jobs etc so she could spend less in fuel for a start. If the OP paid less in rent, she would lose less in benefits when affected by the benefit cap, so be better off.

Someone upthread said that a person would be in poverty if they spent more than a certain percentage of their income on rent. In a lot of cases, that is utterly ridiculous.

If I chose to spend £2k of my £2.5k a month salary on a swanky pad in an expensive city, would I be in poverty? No, I would be a fool who had made poor choices.

I suspect a lot of you saying 'just get a job' have no idea about the job market. Just a little school job? I've tried and tried. Midday assistant isn't enough hours. LSA/ta jobs are taken by ex teachers. I am looking for work constantly believe me.

Midday assistant, although not enough hours, would give you a chance to develop a work ethic, could lead to more hours, and would be something to put on your cv.

Don't any of your commuting neighbours need a cleaner?

You're not hard done by, you're bloody fortunate to live in a country that cares, so stop making excuses and get yourself sorted out - you've had plenty of good advice on here.

I think everyone here needs to take a long hard look at who and what we've been voting for in the past.

If people on here want to go around supporting benefit cuts and advocating "giving less money" to people, can you also please start voting for parties who will invest in affordable/HA housing nationwide, regulate energy companies to cap prices, provide affordable transport in remote or deprived areas, stop funding cuts to smaller local schools, provide reasonably priced subsidised child care and encourage businesses to offer flexible positions for those with children.

OP didn't choose how much to spend on these things. She didn't choose how much money she would need to be provided with by the state in order to support her family. She didn't choose 90% of the circumstances which have contributed to her having to appeal to the state to support her in the first place, like what jobs are available in her area or whether her children could be cared for. ...to a certain degree, we did. And then we chose to give her less money to pay for those things with. Then we called her ungrateful when she struggled to either survive in her current situation or escape it.

FFS.

And she has fuck all chance of moving while in her current predicitment. Or should she just uproot all her kids on a whim and a chance that some landlord MIGHT agree to offer her a tenancy?
I love these threads...life is so fucking simple for some of you...so simple you cannot possibly imagine how easy it is for life to go tits up and for you to end up trapped in a situation like the OP.

I wish that on some of you JUST so you might then understand. Maybe then you'd find some fucking compassion. Until then you will never understand.

Do you mean get politicised eatsleep?

I hope so, as I get utterly lambasted whenever I suggest it, as though getting up and actually doing something is such a difficult thing to do!

Maybe this can be the seed of thought/change for some people here - however they feel about benefits!!!

OP, there has been some potentially useful advice for bettering your situation regarding the 10% of circumstance you can control.

For everything else, you have my sympathy. It's not in my name.

Do you mean get politicised eatsleep?

I suppose I do OurBlanche! I've never suggested it before, let's see what happens...

You're not hard done by, you're bloody fortunate to live in a country that cares, so stop making excuses and get yourself sorted out - you've had plenty of good advice on here.
I'm currently on £73 quid a week, I can't afford to put my heating on. I am not up to working at the moment. Despite being a benefit claimant, I don't compare my lot to that of others, and I'm certainly not rude and thoughtless in the manner of the above wee diatribe. We do not live in a country that cares, that's not just nonsense, it's complete and utter shit. As for the neighbours needing a cleaner, is that all those of us that are currently unemployed fit for, Lady Muck? Or is it that we should take anything going, no matter that it reduces our income overall and messes with support systems and probably costs more in the long run due to childcare etc. Your post doesn't help anybody, just shows you how unaware you are of the harsh realities that others face. Behindthedoor.

I'm just wondering - how can the OP be expected to 'just move'? She mentioned how difficult it is to rent when on benefits!

It's also very, very callous to expect people to uproot just like that - even if there's more money to go around.
There might be elderly parents to look after - a community to lose - children to unsettle. Possibly long periods without schooling.

It's not as easy as you might think!

On a wage of £32,000 with 3 children, working full time but with no childcare costs and no partner, you would get £245 child tax credit a month. So not that much more, especially when you take into account the additional costs of going to work.

"But she is choosing to live in an expensive location"

I live in an expensive location. I can afford to because I'm in a two parent family and we both work (me part-time)

If my dp left me it would be incredibly hard for me to pack up and move many many miles from where I have lived for the last 20 years, where my elderly mother lives, my children are at school, my whole support network, my community.

The OP didn't 'choose' to live in an expensive area. That is simply where she is.

dawn donna - I should imagine cleaning was suggested as it is flexible and has extremely low startup costs, but don't let that stop you trying to make it about snobbery with your ridiculous Lady Muck comment.