New £23k Benefit Cap.

[legotits]

AIBU to ask if anyone still supports this?

Which families is this targeted at?

Anyone who will be affected, is it even feasible to not be pushed into debt?

www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance

Yes maternity allowance is only 26 weeks. But a mother with a 4 month old baby should not have to go back to work yet. I am a bit taken aback that on mums net others are saying to a woman with a 4 month old baby, just to go back to work.

To the PP who said "just get sterilised. As a childfree by choice woman i was refused when i asked back in the 90s.

And have been refused several times since.

local authorities will pay for carers and basic adaptions

Mine won't. You pay from state benefits. Now legal aid has stopped can't do a thing about it. Adapted showers, here, are not done in rented properties because of eviction risk.

I also am expected to pay £150 per week in private medical care as the NHS in my county has been drastically reduced and doesn't cover long term illness/disability anymore.

Thanks, Briathorn and AyeAmarok. I really had not understood it. Dad I know on good PAYE wage and ex gets so much she has never had to work at all. The system does not sound very good, I wonder what percentage of Dads that could afford to pay do not?

PortiaCastis

What do you mean the NHS does not cover chronic illnesses any more? Of course it does. Although it may not pay for the alternative or extra treatments you want.

You Local Authority will pay for carers for severely disabled people who have below the threshold of savings. It is a legal responsibility. They have no choice. So either you are not disabled enough, or you are above the threshold for savings or income.

As a single mum of 4 whose husband was violent and convicted (but kept his government job!!!!!), I can see the side of the DV victim. However, it's not the state's job to pay for your children, it's the parent's job. Welfare was put in place for the most vulnerable, not as a lifestyle choice. Be empowered. Don't dwell on the shit life has thrown at you. Get out to work. BTW I work 3 jobs as a single parent and it's bloody hard, I don't earn 23k net, I earn less than that, but I won't be a burden on tax payers and more importantly to me, I won't allow my children to think living on benefits is something for anyone other than those in real need. I would not class myself a single parent of 4 DV and all as in the class of those in real need.
Nothing wrong with putting kids in child care.
Nothing wrong with OMG 3 or even 4 kids sharing a bedroom.
Very wrong to live off the money earned by others when you are capable of working. Single parent. Double parent. Any parent.

I'm genuinely shocked at some of the responses to this.

I must be so far out of the loop in my little circle.
Most people I mix with are working class and have been subject to the Tory gov before so are biased against divide and conquer.

Plus we are owder.

I'm amazed that people don't look up info before posting.

"forced into childcare", you mean like everyone else who has young children and needs to work in order to pay bills?

Yes like everyone else working. It should be a choice not a foregone conclusion! Also the baby is 4 months old tomorrow, I shouldn't be forced into work at this stage that's nuts!

What's the problem with working & having your children in childcare?
That's what millions of other mothers do.

The problem is that it isn't a choice and I think it should be

• Frankley

Please explain to me --how do fathers who are not living with their children get away with not paying maintenance for them? I really do not understand this as the only father I know in this situation pays lots of money to maintain his. Surely if it is known where the father is they have to pay, how do they get out of it?*

Because they dont want to pay it- because they will go through great lengths not to pay it and will paint the mother as a money grabbing bitch. because even when the CSA do find them, despite the evidence to show they are high earners, they manage to fudge the books.

I have read so many threads here about mothers who receive nothing, some with 3 kids receive 2.70 a week and that is set by the CSA. It would make you sick.

Yes, Helena - it's insane, and you are more likely to be turned down if you don't already have children, regardless of age and regardless of how much you insist you don't want them. Crazy stuff.

Not quite as crazy as blaming single mothers for being left by/having got shot of their deadbeat partners. There are a couple of posters on here who I previously thought were reasonably intelligent - but their blame and shame posts have changed my opinion.

Don't assume that everyone on benefits actually gets the full amount of the new cap.

When I was on benefits, single parent, 2 dc, I got 10k a year and that included money to pay my house costs and my tax credits discount. I lived on approximately £100 a week for me and 2 dc and life was very, very hard.

The only family I know who get £18k a year in benefits have 5 dc and one of those is disabled so that amount includes the disability elements of tax credits plus his DLA.

Life on benefits is dreadful.

I am working thank you and I have always had to work because I have a mortgage to pay

This thread seems like a good place to leave this...

newsthump.com/2016/11/07/redundancy-turns-hardworking-taxpayer-into-benefit-scrounger-overnight/

The problem is that it isn't a choice and I think it should be

Who is going to pay the bills then?

cannotseeanend

I am sorry your husband was violent to you and I hope you are ok now.

But please dont essentially tell other DV victims that they need to suck it up. Im delighted to see you are working hard for your kids. But Ive worked with DV survivors who can barely leave the house, such is the damage inflicted on them. Its unfair to suggest people need to get on with it. No one can put themselves in others shoes.

I know our Local Authority will provide shower rooms, but that is not a statutory requirement. Unless you are in Scotland, some adaptations are

snip. My ex claims to be self-employed (agency work) and dips in and out of JSA claims, never long enough for them to start a process for CSA though. And there are plenty of shitty solicitors out there willing to be accomplices in covering up these fathers' financial tracks.

"As for child support, yes it should be paid. It should also be deducted from benefits so that the state pay less. It's counted as income if the father lives with you so why is it suddenly not when they split? It's still money for the same child."

I've been a LP 14 years. Ex has used many loopholes to mainly avoid paying altogether, has occasionally made cursory payments.

I was first on benefits when we first split as I was a sahm at the time (at his insistence). He emptied the bank account, obstructed my getting the payments from child benefit and tax credits I needed to feed my child. At that time child maintenance was deducted from benefits, he made ONE minimal payment, DWP took that to mean he was and would continue to make FULL payment (he didn't) and so that amount was deducted from my benefits. It took MONTHS to resolve so I was being a LP, job seeking and dealing with his abuse while also skipping meals and also only heating my daughter's room and the living room when she was awake in daytime.

This was happening to a LOT of single mum's at this time. What SHOULD have happened is the csa given FAR more powers to deal with deadbeat dads, instead maintenance was no longer included in benefits calculations.

There are still far too many absent parents abdicating their financial practical and emotional responsibilities to the resident parent and the state. Personally I think they should

A pay 50% of the basic costs of raising their child calculated based on the household status at the time of the relationship breakdown

B close the self employment/cash in hand etc loopholes

C the absent parent gets 28 days to make payment, they don't - instant large criminal fine - they default on this - take goods to the value of.

D name and shame publicly I do NOT understand why this isn't allowed

Jw35 it is comments like yours that make people support the benefits cap BTW, how fucking entitled to think you can choose to stay at home and be a mum and live off tax payers.

If you want to choose to 'be a mum and choose not to work,' then 'choose' a partner that can support you FFS.

Yes maternity allowance is only 26 weeks. But a mother with a 4 month old baby should not have to go back to work yet. I am a bit taken aback that on mums net others are saying to a woman with a 4 month old baby, just to go back to work.

I went back to work when my DS was 17 weeks old when my maternity leave ended and the money ran out. I needed to do that so we could pay the mortgage!

23000 untaxed is 29000 and about what I earn as a teacher.