To ask how people will cope with Universal credit cut.

[ponyexpress22]

Surely they aren't going ahead with cutting it by £20 a week? I'm shocked that the government could stoop this low. What the hell are they doing.

Xenobitch A comfortable life? Not knowing when a brown envelope with a form to complete & then get called in to be assessed by assessor's who lie through their teeth to get people off benefits, having every aspect of your life taken apart, no matter how embarrassing, you call that a comfortable life? I was reassessed& the assessor lied, said she had seen me walk 22 metres unaided, She actually called my name, want back in the office & slammed the door, but saw me walk 22 metres unaided, did she have Xray eyes? I had my car taken off me, left me housebound & then after appeal I got it back, no apology no nothing. That is not a comfortable life.

@Nat6999

Xenobitch A comfortable life? Not knowing when a brown envelope with a form to complete & then get called in to be assessed by assessor's who lie through their teeth to get people off benefits, having every aspect of your life taken apart, no matter how embarrassing, you call that a comfortable life? I was reassessed& the assessor lied, said she had seen me walk 22 metres unaided, She actually called my name, want back in the office & slammed the door, but saw me walk 22 metres unaided, did she have Xray eyes? I had my car taken off me, left me housebound & then after appeal I got it back, no apology no nothing. That is not a comfortable life.

I am sorry that happened to you but I was responding to the poster who seems to think disabled people should be on the absolutely bare minimum of benefit and not be allowed to spend money on Christmas etc. Nothing to do with the assessments etc.

@Brokensunflower, please come back and make some sort of attempt to justify your disgusting post.

No I did not say that. Quite the opposite actually. I wish there was more money for people who are truly unable to work because of disability. I wish there were more day centres for adults with learning disabilities and respite for their aging parents who didn't plan to have adult children at home.

I get really fed up of people on working age benefits that could work. For them it should be a short term gap bridge until you go back to work. It should be enough to get by on but not luxurious. It should never be able to be a long term way of life (unless you have such a significant disability that work is not possible and where only part time work is possible due to disability, benefits should top up).

There are also people who sadly play the disability system and who could work but don't. We need better systems for getting anyone capable of work to work.

Then there would be more money for those that truly need it and can't exist without it.

@Brokensunflower

You've been watching channel 5 haven't you?

Go look up the numbers and facts on long term unemployed, go see how many people have been unemployed for over 12 months.
Then come back.

Now when you have that figure, or as close to it as you can, remember that around 2.9% of welfare goes to unemployed people, or around £1.50 a month from the tax of someone on 30k.

Now you know how.many long term unemoued people there are, work out what percentage they make up of all unemployed people.
Then use that to figure out what percentage of that £1.50 goes to 'people of working age that choose not to work'

Now you should by now be able to guess that I could easily do all this for you...
And i might already have...
But I'd like you to figure it out so that you can learn that Channel 5 and poverty porn is not realistic or an accurate reflection of actual situation.

Good luck. I shall look forward to your calculations and findings.

Funny how many people say “truly” unable to work as if the rest of us are just making it up.

Do tell what I’m supposed to do with a one year old while I go out and work. Should I stick him in a backpack and bring him along or is the cat considered a sufficient babysitter?

@brokensunflower have you ever actually tried to play the disability system? It's near on impossible

@Threearm

I guess not.
I'd also suggest that the misinformed attitudes like theirs have been the driving factor behind the government 'clamp down'.
The clamp down that saw a private firm, capita, get a very lucrative contract to administer tests and find lots of disabled people 'fit for work' when they weren't at all fit for work.
The suicides and deaths amongst those found fit to work, i would assume to some people, are fair enough to catch 1 or 2 fraudulent claims getting a few hundred quid more than they should.

The notion that there are vast swathes of people gaming the system and taking it in is one of the Tory party's biggest PR coups. A convenient distraction from Boris accepting private donors' holidays to the Caribbean, cash, etc. But that isn't as thrilling as trashing struggling families, I guess.

And the reassessment system by private contractors with an agenda is an absolute disgrace. Lying about people's fitness to work to tick a box.

My friend was born with one leg and got PIP. He works full time. Assessor came to assess him for PIP. As if his leg had grown back overnight - what's the point of that?

He lost his PIP.

Dd lives rurally. If she lost her mobility she would be unable to work.

@EmmaOvary

And the reassessment system by private contractors with an agenda is an absolute disgrace. Lying about people's fitness to work to tick a box.

My friend was born with one leg and got PIP. He works full time. Assessor came to assess him for PIP. As if his leg had grown back overnight - what's the point of that?

He lost his PIP.

Capita was awarded a reported £33m in 2019 for those assessments. So logically the PIP assessments should have saved £16m or so of disability fraud. Latest figures I see say there is 14million total disabled people.

So the government think 16million worth of fraud.. but there's fewer total disabled people than that, so that means the government think the vast majority are lying?
It's how I read it..

So anyone supporting it also believes vast majority of disabled people are lying?

I can't actually believe that tho, that sounds abhorrent.

BrokenSunflower So according to you anyone on benefits should be grateful for the privilege to live on the breadline & to dread the brown envelopes landing on the doormat. Poverty is not a lifestyle choice, claiming benefits aren't either.

That absolutely says it all about what is wrong with the system. Benefits aren't there for buying nice presents and a big goose. They are there to stop you starving to death on a short term basis.

Of course - people on benefits should be ashamed of themselves. How dare they expect to be able to buy presents or nice food for Christmas, it should be bread and water every day, and they ought to be grateful.

What effect does other people being on a benefit have on your life? Maybe instead of being so full of hate for others you should try and cultivate some compassion. You don't have a clue about people's circumstances.

Doesn't look like @Brokensunflower is coming back does it?

So in case anyone is interested:

Source:
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/march2021

For November 2020 to January 2021, an estimated 1.70 million people were unemployed

Meanwhile, the number of people in long-term unemployment (those unemployed for over 12 months) has increased by 54,000 on the year, and 3,000 on the quarter, to 360,000.

360000 is about 21.1% of all unemployed peopled. So of the £1.50 that 30k earner pays toward unemployment, they realistically pay about 31p a month to the long term unemployed.

I could delve into why people are long term unemployed. Start taking out those that count as 'unemployed' but are actually waiting for disability tests or to claim carers allowance etc. Or people affected by pandemic that have pushed the figures up.
Then we could look and see why some parents with no support and no child care find it hard to get back to work.
We could look at the changing patterns of work in the UK and how that makes it very difficult for some with kids to work. So on and so on.

By the time you've got all of those accounted for, not many of that 360k people will be 'Scroungers' or that family every one knows that's 'never worked a day in their lives'

Let's be generous though and say 50% of that 360000 are people like those featured in Benefit Porn shows.
180k people.
Living on Unemployment.
Getting less than 50p a month from the average earner.

Hardly the picture the Media portray of masses of Unemployed people stealing millions from 'hard working' people.

I agree that most people who are full.time, as it were unemployed wd not wish to be in that position
However, I know many people who actively choose to work part time , to keep their hours down so that they get help with benefits which include housing costs.
This is most defineltely a life style choice .It is openly discussed as if it is the norm and part of a normal convsesation that they appear to expect others not to have an issue with as they appear to see it as entirely normal. The people I kmow , and there are several, do not fit a benefit sterotype in the least ,but are very middle class labour reminers.
This costs a lot of money.
I wonder why this trend is not discussed .

It makes me feel uncomfortable that this seems to be seen that they wd be mad not to do this and that it is normal. This is in a lovely city and its full of academics etc . I am not jealous as I only work part time myself .i feel uncomfortable when I am in company when they discuss this yet criticise ' the system/ goveenment" as they are using and taking from that very system. They for eg criticise ' the tories' and for things like austerity but and taking money week im week out
from ' the system' when they have they have the privalidge and education and opportunity not to.
They say well its there but criticise govs spending.. its not a money tree.. i really struggle to comprehend this attitude. Also no one does tv pov porn on this , what seems to be like, a significant aspect of benefit money as a lifestyle.

I am.most def not talking about poor( sterotype) folk here.

@Badgerbonce

I can't comprehend your point.

You have problems with part time workers that get top ups? I'm assuming you believe they take more than they put in?

So someone earns, let's say, £200 a week and UC tops it up £150, for a £350 total and pay £200 childcare. Why would anyone in their right mind work longer to earn £250 but lose £75 and pay £250 childcare? They'd be massively down?

Why would you expect them to do that?
Is it because they should work to earn their money? You work part time, who's earning your bill payments and topping your life up?

We really love to hate the poor in this country. That's what comes from having an utterly toxic class system, I guess
No, we gate those with an entitled mindset and this thread has shown that sadly, there are many of them.

Even sadder that they want as much, if not more, than those who genuinely can't help the financial situation they are in and are so through no choice or decision of theirs.

Too many who take for granted the benefit they get and expect more and more, to fi s themselves the sane standard if living than those working FT and earning above average.

Clearly some posters thinking that working PT with no children should be a choice. Yep, it's hard to work FT, even more so as you get older and start to have to deal with more exhaustion and physical ailments, but WF is the norm, not something some idiots do because they don't realise you can work half the hours and still do ok claiming benefits.

My point is they are activley chosing to work part time and get tops ups whilst they comfortably could work to earn that money
I do not see what is wrong with earning your own money.
? If people cant see what is actually wrong with chosing to earn your money as a concept then that is part of the problem ?
Why is it seen as ok to choose not to earn yiur own money when you can ???
As for me, have worked ( from a deprived area so i do know) since was 13 on market stalls at weekends.
We live very simply on what some people would call a cheap diet. No expensive meat, no hoildays. A v simple life. Sometimes we go without such as heat. Our car is v v old and we have had it ten years.This is my choice and I wd not mention it unless you asked.
I choose to work part time and live this way. I do not want any top ups . If we need extra money for big items etc i get extra work .

vivainsomnia exactly my point!! It is not about deprived people on full benefits that i am talking about it is that
For some ( and i have to say from my experiece, more middle class or / entitled types) its is used as a lifestyle and i think it can be wrong . Since when did it become the norm to openly say you wont work f t for your money ??

PalmarisLongus
Absolutely its because you should work to earn your money.
Is that not normal now ?

@Badgerbonce

vivainsomnia exactly my point!! It is not about deprived people on full benefits that i am talking about it is that For some ( and i have to say from my experiece, more middle class or / entitled types) its is used as a lifestyle and i think it can be wrong . Since when did it become the norm to openly say you wont work f t for your money ??

The problem is, when you say you’re “not talking about deprived people” or “oh no, I don’t mean the genuine cases”, you harm them too.

Most people are decent human beings who actually want to earn a living. If you think that people on benefits are mostly lazy, then it says a lot about yourself really - what’s that old childhood insult? “It takes one to know one”.

Most people want to work and need a decent safety net to help them through. Focus on helping those. Yes, it means some bad ones will get benefits too - but I’d rather that way around to be honest, than letting decent people suffer because of the actions of a minority.

I do not see what is wrong with earning your own money

Do you say this to wives of men that stay at home? Or is it just poor people trying to get by as best they can?