To think that bit is impossible to live off of benefits?

[Rolf38]

So Universal Credit rates are £498.89 an adult couple over the age of 25. This is meant to last them one whole month. So £250 per adult which works out at about £60 per week or just £8.57 per day.

How is someone meant to buy food, pay their bills and maintain a jobsearch at these rates?

I understand that some may think that by setting benefits at a low rate, there will be a greater incentive for recipients to return to work. This I understand and agree with to a point.

Surely though that danger of setting benefit rates too low is that it has the opposite effect. Claimants may reun the risk of getting in to debt, depression and lose the desire to maintain an active job search, along with any ambitions and aspirations they ever had.

Is met ting benefit rates too low a precursor to the increase of long term benefit claimants, simply by affording claimants less resources and willpower to maintain their job search?

After all, say if have been unemployed fir or three months. In this time, you have been so cash strapped that you haven't even been able to go to the cinema or meet an old friend, as bills and increasing debts have taken priority.

Without just a bit of enjoyment to boost morale, how less determined would a claimant be to give their job search their all as they would be if they could take their mind off of it for a bit.

For the couples payment too, I wouldn't be surprised if such a low payment to sustain two adults for a month may cause friction in the relationship, adding further restrictions to morale and job search.

Of course taxpayers money should be treated with the utmost respect.

However, is keeping benefit rates at such a low level proving more costly in the long run?

Why not add an incentive for job search for claimants? Increase UC payments by 10% for those who continually do all they can for their job search over a sustained period (say three months).

Such an increase, just form he most committed in their job search, would act as a continued incentive for the most determined to find work quicker (thus reducing long-term burdens on the taxpayers). Restricting an enhanced payment to just the most committed would also ensure that those not committed to athe or jobsearch and envisage a long-term existence on benefits find that this, beyond subsidence level, is not sustainable.

If you are doing everything you can in your jobsearch, why should you be unable to afford very basic enjoyments (even on a very occasional basis)? Why are those who put in the effort, in testing times, not differentiated from those who show no desire to come off benefits.

Perhaps in addition to sanctioning claimants who do not fulfill their commitments, the government should do more to help and reward the positive attitude to do all they can to get back to work.

And finally, I’m very reminded of a seasonal quote by the attitudes of some here- “are there no prisons... workhouses?... If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Add hair cuts on the list, and dyes if you do dye. Scruffy uncut gair that's growning out fives a bad impression at interviews.
Shoe cleaning kit, even if it's just that wipe over stuff.
Tights for women, especially summer ones that are lighter and snag easily
Spares for all the bedding - it isn't always possibly to remove, wash and dry at this time of your especially if you're trtyng to save on heating.

+1 Delores

And I knew I missed some essentials Allergic! You’re totally right.

Deodorant! absolutely critical.In a past life I interviewed a lad for an office job and had to cut the interview short because both I and thre other interviewer were almost gagging

OK he also had ear wax dangling out of his ears...

Possibly the most embarassing feedback I ever had to give to an agent.

No-one deserves a holiday if they haven't earned it
Now that depends on your definition of earning it. A parent who has a child with disabilities will have earnt said holiday a million times over.
They are that child's carer. They organise hospital meetings, assessment meetings, doctor's appointments, educational support. They provide physical and emotional support when the rest of the world is in bed. It's entirely possible that a parent in this situation is working 20 hours a day to support a family. They deserve every opportunity possible, they work damned hard for it.

Oh, and inside, it would be impossible to log 35 hours job searching in a day.
As for other folk with degrees etc. taking jobs. Yes it happens. They often come to the country homeless and without ties, having left everything behind, it's therefore easier to take anything going, than if you have a fixed abode, school hours and a family to provide for. Add to that mix a family with a child with disabilities and child care becomes nigh on impossible.

We should start thinking from the place of 'What if there was no such thing as benefits?' Like many countries have? What if you have to look after your own Self, provide for your own kids, work for whatever food you eat and holidays you go? Many in this country on a low wage cannot afford Sky and cheap holidays.

And there ARE jobs. We just dont want to do them because they are beneath us or they don't pay much more than the benefit - but there are. Immigrants from all over the world, with their BSc and masters degrees arrive and do those cleaning, doorstepping and warehouse jobs to house themselves and to feed their kids while they apply for their high end jobs. We though, won't do that; we have benefits to claim and moan about.

Some very good points.

Because it's so simple to claim benefits and have a good lifestyle on them, there's always the same excuses used as to why people can't work - they live rural, they don't want to pay for childcare, they can't work outside 10-2 etc. Or the to avoid the caps, they work the bare 16 hours and won't entertain the idea of doing anymore.

As the state allows them to do this, there's little incentive to work and people just become more lazy and more entitled. The outcomes for the children are hindered and schools have to have special funding to try and change that.

Some people put more thought and effort into choosing their takeaway at the weekend than they do financially checking if they can afford a child or ensuring they are supporting that child/children from birth and should circumstances change.

We should start thinking from the place of 'What if there was no such thing as benefits?'
Actually, NO: We should start thinking from the place of 'What if I were in that position?'.

Yellow, again, look at some statistics before making generalisations, that is true of very few families. I'm disabled, I'd love a takeaway, I cannot afford one. I prioritise because I've been fortunate enough to have an education that allows me to. There are all sorts of factors at play with regard to poverty and lifestyle and they need addressing. Removing monies isn't the way to do that. 14 million people are currently living in poverty after their housing costs, that's 1:5.

Has anyone stopped consider exactly why maintenance payments aren't taken into account when calculating benefits?

Nice to see some common sense on this thread.

I've been flamed before for saying matinance should be taken in to account. As if that happens all will stop paying so that people can keep creaming off the maximum amount from the tax payer

Trouble with taking maintainence into account is so many men are poor payers. If I had had to rely on DS's Dad when I was on benefits we would have starved some weeks.

They can also use it as a form of control.

At least this way the children still eat regardless of whether their father pays or not.

Because it's so simple to claim benefits and have a good lifestyle on them

I had to jump through hoops to get my ESA, hoops that really didn't help my mental state either. You are one day late in submitting your certificate & you get a shitty letter though the post - no mind that there's been a problem collecting it from the GP, or that the post is slow due to black friday or the start of the Christmas season. I was called for my assessment at one day's notice to a venue 20 miles away, and had over an hour wait to be seen while the parking ticket ticked away. And I class myself as reasonably lucky here - no assessment held on the top floor with no lifts for a physically disabled person, at least I do drive.

My "good lifestyle" consists of job hunting, browsing the internet, cuddling the cats when they are in the mood, and watching TV. I slashed out massively the other day because I'd had a day of blood tests, and interview, and having to see the job coach, so for the first time since the autumn I got myself 2 pieces of KFC.

I would much rather be out of the house working, but apparently I'm overqualified for all the jobs my mental health will let me go for. Arthritis is a bugger and rules out manual work and has for some years.

I dunno if that is in your opinion a good lifestyle, but it isn't what I want.

have benefits and a good lifestyle on them

Yeah....been there and done that, trust me...it IS NOT "a good lifestyle".

What I have now is a good lifestyle....in work with a husband also in work.

The lack of even the slightest attempt at understanding others' situations is shocking, but sadly not surprising here.
Begrudging parents of disabled children a holiday, really what sort of self righteous, mean-spirited tosspot do you have to be to think it, let alone type it. If you have no idea of what it's like to live someone else's life, that's great for you, but why not try taking their word for it before judging them inadequate or unworthy.

My relative is disabled on benefits and has massages and a cleaner weekly . However she has a profound disability .
But not all benefits are tight .
For eg she gets her food from
M and s .
We are both working - at present due to supporting dc at uni we cannot afford to put heating on

We eat lentils and frozen veg for most meals .
However that is our choice .
As wish to support dc and its short term - 3 years . However if it was a long term thing it wd be v limited and boring - but I know you can , if you choose to live off 30 to £40 a week on food and eat boringly but well , no need for illness . A girl called jack is our guide to menus - some of them are too £ for us but some are cheap .
It's the working poor that also have had no increase in £ too tho .
On the outside we look well off but my days off are eithe r spent in bed to keep warm or fully clothed with a onsie on top . Can't invite people round .
Long term this wdnt be good tho but I wd work in any job to avoid in long term . Cleaning is paid at £ 10 ph round here . I'd do and have done that .

We definitely need a base line income that every one receives and EVERYTHING you earn above that is taxed.

Some people put more thought and effort into choosing their takeaway at the weekend than they do financially checking if they can afford a child

Marvelous!!

" it's so simple to claim benefits and have a good lifestyle on them,"

if your idea of a good lifestyle what you get on JSA, you must have some seriously low standards, Yellow.
Each to their own I guess..:)

I really wish people would just stop and think what it's like to have a disability or a disabled child before passing judgement. If my DH gets to transfer from DLA to PIP (and it's a big if judging by what I've read on here) we may well use it to pay a cleaner or for him to have massages or see a chiropractor, whatever helps him to feel a bit better. Its never going to make him 'better' or able to do everything a non-disabled person can do. And we might start buying ready meals as cooking is very difficult for him.

Do you get more on PIP than DLA, then? I get DLA and was asked if I’d like to switch to PIP but as my DLA gets spent on our grocery shop each week I decided I’d rather stick with it.

Why can’t your dh have massages and a cleaner now?

We know exacly what happens when there are no benefits. It used to pe in this country - for centuries - and it still happens in other countries.

People starve, die, are trapped in absuive marriages, chldbirth kills, infant mortality rises, crime rises, injustice is rife, and so on and so on and so on.

Yellow, is that what you want? You want the poor out of your hair? You want the disable and the elderly to die miserably? That’s what happens when you have no welfare.

As a society, we’ve been therea and done that and no one worthy of living here should ever want to go back to it.

Sometimes, people are vile.

That is very very little. Im on 14k a year (apprentice) and thought that was bad!

@Eltonjohnssyryp

You have no idea what you're talking about. There have always been assessments for benefits claims for ill health and it was the Conservatives who had people put on sickness benefits to hide the true level of unemployment and Labour who inherited that. It was also Labour who brought in ATOS for assessments and the Work Capability Assessments.

I had a friend who lived his last years in fear of being found fit for work despite his multiple health problems and that started under Labour. He killed himself in the end.

He had lifetime award for lower level DLA, awarded about 15 years ago. He's been told that's stopping and to apply for PIP. Lower level care DLA is £22 per week standard rate for PIP is about £55 a week. His health has deteriorated in the last 6 months, but who knows if they will think he 'deserves' to get PIP. He does meet the criteria but it all depends on the assessment next week.

We should start thinking from the place of 'What if there was no such thing as benefits?' Like many countries have? What if you have to look after your own Self, provide for your own kids, work for whatever food you eat and holidays you go? Many in this country on a low wage cannot afford Sky and cheap holidays.

Have you actually travelled to the third world? Somehow, I doubt it. In countries without benefits, everyone suffers, even the very rich.