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)

Jobs during school hours are like fucking Gold dust. When you're on your tod unless you have wrap around care and before and after school clubs which aren't full, or a lot of family who are willing to drop off and pick up the child when you can't . A lot of people I know who work full time have family who can drop the kids off and pick them up.
I'm not in the same situation as the OP I have been and it's not as easy as 'get a job' xmas temping is for people who are very very flexible regarding working hours.

Manumission yes I am...

get a part time job at least as some other posters have stated.

if the ex-H doesn't contribute OP would have to work in some form

She says she's already looking hard for work. Why would you disbelieve her?

I'd be looking hard in her shoes too. She must be terrified.

I feel like I've been sucked into biting/something Daily Mail related. I've been on both sides re benefits. As a single parent of two, top-up credits enabled me to work. Top-up credits also enabled me to work part-time when DD was pre-school, which was undoable otherwise. I get narked that I worked/had to sort childcare/juggle ill children/was skint/had to move house when skint etc whilst it is seemingly impossible to do. I didn't, at any point, consider that it was ok to not work. I've worked (and paid taxes) my whole adult life. It is doable where there's a will. My feeling is there isn't a will when it's so doable to just stay at home. Maybe I get narked because I work full-time in a tiring job to earn less than DHs ex gets in maintenance (not my business, he earns a lot), yet ex also claims every benefit going as maintenance doesn't count, so has a very nice lifestyle. I do believe in the welfare system for those who are unwell/disabled/carers, but also believe those who are physically able to work should. What happened to having a work ethic?

*YANBU.

Some of the attitudes here speak straight from the Daily Mail.*

It's awful that some people just want to bash someone else to make themselves feel better.

Those of you telling the OP to move really are showing how half of you have no clue how the benefits system works, so take your pearl clutching, judgy pants, cat bum faces elsewhere, if she moved it wont have saved her a penny, say her £900 a month rent becomes £500 a month HB isnt going to let her keep the difference FFS.

I don't think the answer to the OP's situation is moving, but rather getting a job. There is no getting around this. It doesn't matter how difficult it might be.

Oh and the deposit for that house is £1088. It might as well be millions for all the chance there is of me raising that amount of money.

DD is 11. And i had a thread on here about her walking to the bus stop down the country lane and was told to drive her!

care

my mother was a (lone) single parent, she divorced my father got the house but had to get a guarantor so she could get a mortgage. she then rented out rooms to people. social services thought she was sleeping with the tenants (men) which was untrue - they actually asked her. she retrained when I was 5 and brother 3 as a teacher.

her mum (my grandma) was a lone parent pre WW2 and during WW2, had to send eldest to a milk farm and eldest (my mum) to a private boarding school whilst she worked. number of other reasons there too. My grandma often went without a lot.

i do feel sorry, and i hope it's not causing you stress and anxiety. I also think we should go after turd-ex p's that don't pay any contributions - it's far too common a story, that's the real outrage. In your shoes though op, i wonder what your longer term 3-5 year plans are for getting yourself back into work and out of this hole you're in?

Keeptrudging so you believe in the narrative of deserving and undeserving poor then?

How noble of you.

You can have a 'work ethic' whilst being at home caring for your children!

LondonRach Housing Benefit pay outs have shot up because rents have shot up. BTL 'investors' are doing very well from it.

No he wasn't abusive. Just liked sticking his cock in other women. Sorry to buck the trend.

But to move the op needs to:
Save up deposit
Save up first months rent
Find somewhere to move to that accepts hb that's suitable and cheaper
Potentially lose the oil she's already paid for in the tank
Pay for post redirection
Buy bubble wrap & boxes (ok you can get some from supermarkets)
Hire a van /man and van
Buy new uniforms for the kids
Move the kids from their support and friends

Yep. And has about 2 years notice that this would be happening!

Right now all that will look like your stood at the bottom of a mountain staring up. Yes cheaper rent, job opportunities and walking to school look like the way out, but she needs a pot of cash to do that And that mountain was there last year and the year before... small steps would have reduced it to a foothill by now!

There are so many things that are utterly fucked up about the benefits system and neither side are willing to give an inch, it seems. But the bottom line is:

1. The benefit system is an expensve and ever growing bill
2. As austerity bites deeper, those in work feel less well inclined towards anyone who does not work... even less towards those who moan baout the amount they receive for free
3. The current system is relatively new, brought in to give businesses a boost after that last crash
4. It has quickly become 'the norm' and an absolute entitlement.
5. It needs an overhaul... wherever that starts there will be increased poverty. That is a truism that cannot be escaped.

OP Have your vent, get it out of your system and then start looking for the impossible. You will find some areas to cut costs - your mobile/broadband bill is one area - though as I live in a very rural area I know that isn't anything I would relish losing!

Good luck.

OP

its really very hard for you, and the brutal facts are

ITS NOT GOING TO IMPROVE
Brexit, flat growth, the declining value of the £. etc. Its going to get harder for us all, not easier. We look towards economic shrinkage, which means everything is going to get cut. None of us are going to have a pot to piss in when we retire let me tell you.

So whilst I appreciate flip advice on here is frustrating, I do think you might need to make some longer term plans to work, and really look hard at outgoings.
I am not going to analyse your spend but there are valid comments here
why do you need a 3 bed
why so far away in a rural setting where your bills are double mine
and where is the child support baby!

Getting pasted on here is very fucking nasty- so hide thread, and I strongly advise you to focus short term on managing costs and long-term on working

good luck and sorry if this thread has been upsetting

Bizarre that someone can't see the difference between HB of 900 and HB 500, that 400 still exists you know, it can now be spent on something else rather than the OPs rent, like schools, or roads or hospitals

rebecca - I see you are not willing to put your own finances on the line then, just prefer to spend other people's money

One of the issues is now the money is spread so much more thinly as people expect the govt to fund 2 households when people split up. No doubt it will turn out the the ex partner was abusive as always seems to be the case on MN, but people split up and then are surprised that running two households costs more than one and think the govt should step in and pay

That is complete and utter rubbish, and really insulting to both those with MH problems and those in abusive relationships.

I'm not trying to give you a rough time OP but you've not said if you've talked to your ex about this? Can he help out more with school runs? If he's self employed he may be able to? This could then save you petrol enable you to be more flexible with work. Would he help with school trips for example?

I'm finding this a really depressing thread. I appreciate that you don't have much cash left over once the bills have been paid, and that jobs are hard to find BUT after working childcare costs/tax many people's monthly take home is LESS than you receive in a week. I think you are incredibly lucky to receive what amounts to quite a generous package, you don't have to "work" for this - I'm not being critical about you not working- but your sole responsibility is to your children. That is gift in itself.

If you need more you need to start talking to your ex.

No way are you going to be able to move Op as cocklodger post explains perfectly

"You do all realise that if I get a job and go onto WTC I'll actually get more in benefits than I do now? This isn't about saving money its about ideologically bullshit."

^^ the difference is OP your "top up" benefits if you work will be limited to the time you have young children, or as long as your wages are low enough to qualify, after which point you'll be a working earning tax paying member of society.

That's not a difference at all; Either in or out of work, the largest part of tax credits and benefits available to the OP are paid because she has care of minor DC.

Have just right moved 3 beds within a 20 mile radius.

You're prepared to move only within a 20 mile radius??? Try again with a 200 mile radius!

rebecca - not sure how you have managed to get a MH link from my post.

No doubt it will turn out the the ex partner was abusive as always seems to be the case on MN

Did someone actually just say that?!

Asked this just now but you've not answered:

Council house list OP - are you on it?
Xmas Temp jobs - have you put your CV in at local shops?

Off track slightly but would love this question answered please anyone... why is it that benefits increase with every child but wages/salary don't??