To think life shouldn’t be easier for those on benefits than those who work?

[Alwaysoverdrawn]

obviously not including the disabled, elderly etc in this

I am so fed up of being poor so I looked into doing an access course to increase my earning potential. My sister is doing one and is currently on benefits, she gets it for free with her childcare paid.

Having spoken to them, we earn too much to be considered for help. Having looked into mine and my sisters finances I think this is frankly bloody ridiculous. We are worse off than her ffs.

We make around £2,500 NET p/m, £1000 rent, £900 childcare -2 adults, 2 kids. So £600 ‘disposable’ pm with a lot of debts to pay.

She gets £670pm plus her full rent paid and a council tax reduction for her and one child.

AIBU to think life shouldn’t be ‘easier’ for those on benefits than those who work?

DP hasn’t been to the dentist despite needing to for years as he can’t afford treatment, I’m really down today. Seriously considering moving out so that I can claim benefits and get out of this horrible rut.

her position*my screen is cracked my spelling is a lot better usually.

If you read what I put in a previous post I said I agree lower paid workers need help just as much as anyone on benefits and there are courses they can do where they get a learner loan if under a certain amount. My friend has just got help towards a course from the college bursary she attends so the help is there but obvious they don't fund over a certain amount of earnings. But the college bursary may take in to account child care fees etc

Darkestnight how many more times are you going to call this a benefit bashing thread when it really isn't and never was. I am disabled and DH is my full time carer. I have 3 adult kids with disabilities. Two with autism, one with physical and mental disorders. Even with all that, I can see that this is not a benefit bashing thread. If OP has to explain it one more time, she will likely lose the use of her typing fingers!

Larasshadow. At the beginning of your post you said you could see where OP was coming from, then went on to say it's easy to feel jealous. I assumed you meant OP was jealous. Apologies, shouldn't have assumed that.

YANBU

This post is not, nor ever has been ‘benefit bashing’

Darkest you have enough valid points to make your own thread, you don’t need to shit all over the OP when she’s down because of what’s going on with you.

As I said. I can see No other reason why someone would choose to use this thread to attack the OP OTHER than they are overly sensitive regarding benefits and therefore unable to see the glaring discrepancies facing mid/low paid workers and their families in this society.

Lol really camel you have your opinion I have mine. If you feel that way report me but I've said my bit and I will leave at that. But in hindsight blame the government if you think it's unfair employed do not get enough help. Yes it's out of order but that's the way it is if you earn over a certain amount. Start a petition or something or get your mp involved. You have to fight for things nowadays.

Oh and camel I have been a low paid worker on minimum wage I do get what op is getting at but like I said make a petition up and put it on mumsnet and get the fight going for low paid workers like I'm fighting for carers.

We HAVE been blaming the government. Had you actually read the thread, you’d have seen that rather than overreacting to stuff nobody said.

"Yes I’m sure that’s true if you have a disability that seriously impedes life, that’s not true for my neighbours. They just get a very comfortable lifestyle"

If you think someone is pretending to be disabled to get benefits then report them.

Op I packed in a self employed business as a single parent to do an access course.
I wasn't earning alot but I survived on it with a little help from wtc, to me it makes sense to take those few years out to study and potentially climb the ladder to a job or career that can sustain me and my child.
If I progress now while my dc is young enough then I won't be left too old and redundant, working in a poor job when my dc is a grown adult and I will hopefully be able to work enough without having to need top ups, She also has additional needs and I have no idea what that spells for her independance as an adult.

It's not easy at all people on benefits mostly live without the luxuries and have to live within a tight budget.

OP, we get no benefits and I am currently doing a Level 2 certificate via The Skills Network. It was fully funded despite me not being on benefits.

Worth looking at.

That said...I get your frustration. The cut off point between needing benefits and not getting anything is quite severe. Once you add in the cost of prescriptions and dental care it can leave people in lower paid jobs worse off.

I was on benefits for four years. It wasn’t a picnic but I could at least go to a dentist and get prescriptions.

I now use a prepayment certificate for prescriptions (worth doing if you have regular meds) .

I am in a much better position these days but won’t forget how hard it was for myself and others.

Hope things get better for you soon. And also the same wish for anyone else struggling. It’s hard, I’ve been close to the edge at times and it’s a relief to finally have more income. (Hubby got a pay rise which has really helped).

Is there any way you can reduce that debt repayment plan?Migh be worth someone sitting down with you to see how affordable that repayment is,

Sleepy

No, I frankly don’t care if they have chosen to live a life of boredom and pointlessness. They can carry on. All reporting people does is perpetuate a culture where people spy on their neighbours because they believe they’re ‘dodging the system’

I totally understand why people are dodging the system, it’s either that or live in shit. If my husband didn’t live with us we’d be far better off, I’m not a lying to benefits type, but bollocks to reporting people who are. If there was a valid alternative I might think differently

Graphista
I’m not their GP but I know this person and her DC very, very well. Her DC is NOT physically unwell in any way. She has LIED to get extra things for her house (which I had to pay £700 for) and I know that for a FACT as she showed me the correspondence she wrote in order to get it!
So she could certainly have exaggerated other things, hmmmm??
As for MH, I think having my ten year old DC begging me not to kill myself pretty much trumps whatever the fuck you’re imagining was wrong with me

Icouldbehappy - I am very sorry you have felt so low and truly hope you no longer feel that way and are getting the support you need. I know mh services are woefully inadequate in too many areas. All I was meaning. Which I think was clear in my comment is that mh conditions can vary so someone who is managing to work is usually doing at least slightly better than someone who is unable to.

However I do find it hard to believe someone was able to get things for her house purely on their own word.

My own experience - both for myself and disabled friends/family - is that usually people have to jump through numerous hoops of providing lots of evidence from experts as to why they

A need the things they're claiming for

B why they can't afford to get them themselves.

Camel I don't know WHY you feel the need to cast inaccurate aspersions on my character, I've reread op's and my posts and I honestly don't believe I've said anything out of order.

We may disagree on various points of this debate but there's really no need to descend to personal attacks.

This post is not, nor ever has been ‘benefit bashing

It certainly brought them all out of the woodwork, though, didn't it?

We have posters angry that a disabled child is financially supported, posters who are envious of addicts' lavish lifestyles, and posters convinced their 'benefits neighbour' goes to Spain three times a years.

For a non benefit bashing thread, my benefits bingo board is nearly full. Even some of the people supporting OP think it's bash a benefits claimants day.

OP could have posted a myriad of threads to get her point across like 'AIBU to think rent in the South is too high' or 'AIBU to think there should more help towards childcare costs for middle income people' or even 'AIBU to think higher education should be free for all adults who don't have a level 3 qualification?'

She would have gotten a very different response without mentioning benefits or her sister at all. As it is she only started stamping her feet and claiming she was benefits bashing after the thread didn't go the way she wanted it to and she hasn't made one single comment against the people doing the benefits bashing, she's too busy insulting people like Graphista who are trying to defend themselves against the bashers.

Frankly, if I 'accidentally' started a benefits bashing thread where someone was angry a disabled child was cared for, I would be hanging my head in shame, not insulting other posters.

I think there is a big problem between those on benefits who get stuff for free and those who earn to much to be entitled to free things. For example I gave lots of hospital appointments but I earn to much to be considered for help with cost to get to appointments. So I have to pay this which adds up over the year plus loss of earnings from attending appointments yet someone claiming benefit has support for this. I think when your at the lower end if Earning to much for support then you often the people who suffer itswim

Life for many people in the UK is far from ideal but we should be working on improving things for EVERYBODY no matter whether they claim full benefits, work and claim benefits or earn just too much to claim anything at all.

Rather than fight among ourselves over who gets the better deal, we should be ensuring that the super rich pay their fair share of taxes because right now they are the ones who have the best deal of all.

Frequency

I’m not sure how much more you could miss the point but here goes again;

The fact that the government offer support to those on benefits who have the same or more disposable income as the OP is the point. It is the point because the government is saying that people who have this little amount of money that they deem minimum to survive, also need these incentives and schemes to support them. Well actually everyone on that minimum income needs those incentives and schemes and those families who aren’t entitled to them because they work, are suffering.

It’s not about disabled children not getting supported, it's about making sure all children are supported.

The same support is given. OP has less disposable income because she has a nicer flat or lives in a nicer area than her sister and spends more on childcare. The benefits cap is set at £26,000 p/a maximum including housing benefit. OP is earning £30,000 pa but spends most of that on childcare and rent. That was a choice she made. Once her kids are in fulltime school her childcare bill will reduce and she will be better off.

It also might be worth her looking in to what help they would receive if she left work. It might add up to more than £900 she spends on childcare and then she would be able to study at college using the advanced learner loan. I did post that pages and page ago.

I don't agree with the cost of housing in the south and if OP posted a thread about that, I would have agreed with her. I don't understand how OP is spending £900 a month on childcare when at least one of her children is in full time education but that is also wrong. More help should be given towards the cost of childcare for parents who want to work.

That's not what OP posted though. OP posted about wanting the same as what her sister gets when she already has more than her sister and will have yet more still when her children go to school.

£2,500 per month is a lot of money. It's nowhere near the breadline. Unfortunately for OP, most of her income is spent on rent and childcare. She won't always have a childcare bill and no-one is holding a gun to her head and forcing her to stay in the area she lives in.

@CantankerousCamel but everyone has a different amount of disposable income based on their circumstances. I have more disposable income than the OP despite my household income being lower because I have no childcare costs and low rent. You can't decide who should get help based on the amount of disposable income people have. We all have different expenses based on the size of our family, the places we live, etc.

The big issue to me is the costs of rent and childcare, not income. Nobody should feel poor on an income of £2.5k a month.

Have you looked at the 24+ loan ?

Benefits offered to support children should absolutely be based on parents disposible income

Also £2,500 a month for a family of 4 is absolutely on the breadline