The budget and Universal Credit.

[borderline11]

Aibu to think £630 a year isn’t going to do much. People will still live in poverty. It’s a disgrace, it seems the tories are intent on spreading as much misery as possible.....apart from the rich of course.

A whole extra £12 a week?

Well...its hardly the end of austerity is it?

A pittance isn’t it.

Isn’t it that the taper has been changed so people in work will see less of a reduction to their benefits? I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

I actually think it would have been better to raise the personal allowance to £15064 and not given a tax break for higher earners

Some people are better off on UC, others ( the majority it seems) are worse off. Also the rises in the tax threshold will probably mean that people come out with more wages and therefore less Uc so one cancels out the other. The higher work allowance which was announced in the budget also only applies if you have kids or limited capability for work, so the vast majority of young single people who just receive the basic personal element of UC wont benefit form the increased work allowance anyway as they aren't eligible for it !

Babyroots - but I thought this government wanted people earning their own money, and not living on benefits. Therefore by raising the personal tax, people on minimum wage wouldn’t be paying income tax for a 37 hour working week and the government would be reducing the benefits bill

Yeah it's for working people, I think it's good I am a single parent reliant on UC and working and stuff is hard, an extra £50 a month is a great help, it's my internet bill and my water bill every month or a weeks shop so that money is freed up for my DD. I'm not going to complain it's not enough.

"Isn’t it that the taper has been changed so people in work will see less of a reduction to their benefits? I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

WrongKind Of Face, how is that of any use to people in low employment areas?

We have shops and their related jobs disappearing from our high streets. Employers are leaving because of Brexit.

We need policies that will alleviate poverty.

"I'm not going to complain it's not enough""

Good for you, it's great that you're OK. Fuck everyone else.

It’s still not a bad thing. It might not help everyone, but it will help some.
Realistically the Tories aren’t going to increase out of work benefits. I’m surprised they’ve done anything.

When the Chancellor said it was "the end of austerity" I nearly threw-up my Smart Price baked beans across my second-hand carpet, but as I cannot afford a new one, I made it just in time to the freezing-cold bathroom (which I cannot afford to heat, with much of the rest of my home) and threw up down the loo. I think it's time we voted in decent working-class politicians who have known what it is like to endure hardship (and often through no faults of their own - think illness, mental health problems, life-changing accidents, redundancy etc.) Please excuse the sarcasm here, but I am one of the many baby boomers who now has to work until I am about 81 before I get my pension.

The highest earners (>£125k) got a much smaller tax break than average earners... moving the 40% bracket up saves them about £20 a week but they don’t benefit at all from the increase in tax free allowance.

Sorry £20 a month not a week!

birdsgottafly my point was that when the whole country is facing cuts, the NHS is broken, schools are broken, social care is broken etc it's better than a kick in the teeth.

It’s not the taper as such it’s the work allowance . The taper is the same.

@Houseonahill I wonder if the Grenfell area will share those sentiments come the 12th December...................

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfell-universal-credit-christmas_uk_5bd89e7fe4b07427610c2202

The work allowance is the amount that is disregarded before wages reduce your total Uc amount but only those with kids or limited capability to work get that allowance so absolutely no change for everyone else as far as I can see.

houseonahill yes but surely that would apply if UC hadn’t just recently changed over from working tax credits where you might have been £50 a week better off. A lot of people have seen their weekly income drop by that amount. So really they’re giving back just a little of what they’ve just took off you? Hard to see why anyone should be grateful. If wages were at a realistic rate UC wouldn’t be needed.

my point was that when the whole country is facing cuts, the NHS is broken, schools are broken, social care is broken etc it's better than a kick in the teeth.

You're grateful when the people that have decimated vital services throw you a few quid. Is that how subservient we have become?

My severely disabled MIL will be around £72 a week worse off on UC. I'm dreading it she's dying and in pain every day and they're going to take a massive amount of the money that gives her a little freedom away.

LadyDeadpool - Is that because she has lost the severe disability premium ? They are meant to be rectifying this loss.

Why will she lose that much? Will she not have transitional protection?

Yes, it mentions the severe disability payment here. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752073/Universal_Credit_web.pdf

The highest earners (>£125k) got a much smaller tax break than average earners... moving the 40% bracket up saves them about £20 a week but they don’t benefit at all from the increase in tax free allowance

Can you explain how someone earning £125k doesn’t benefit from having their personal allowance increased from £11800 to £12500?
And then benefits a second time from a raise in the higher earners tax band - whilst low earners only benefit once?