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.

So I'd imagine they'll go back to what they did before the pandemic...

Ah, of course. They merely have to tell shop cashiers that they will be paying pre-pandemic prices.

And if/when the kids get sent home from school again and the heating has to be put on I'm sure the gas board will pop a discount on the bills to allow for that.

Though other benefits claimants got stiffed even more. My SIL is an income support claimant and her DD gets PIP. No increases at all for their household.

Yet people on ESA, and the remaining people on JSA didn't even get the uplift in the first place.

I think a lot of people support keeping the uplift however the question is where is the money coming from? Everyone is facing increased expenditure some will hardly notice it, whilst others will really struggle. The ones I feel for are those in the middle who receive no help.

@GatoradeMeBitch

So I'd imagine they'll go back to what they did before the pandemic...

Ah, of course. They merely have to tell shop cashiers that they will be paying pre-pandemic prices.

And if/when the kids get sent home from school again and the heating has to be put on I'm sure the gas board will pop a discount on the bills to allow for that.

And people who have had their pay frozen and now are being told they will pay even more tax? They also have rising costs and have had no new money coming in to fund it throughout the pandemic.

Even with the breaking of the triple lock that is proposed, pensioners will still be protected from inflation. Working age people are not.

The situation in the UK will not improve until productivity is improved. That is - primarily- why we as a nation are getting poorer. There won't be money to fund anything properly until productivity is addressed.

Oh I knew pensioners would get the blame.

@EmmaOvary

We really love to hate the poor in this country. That's what comes from having an utterly toxic class system, I guess.

Thatcher's real lasting legacy.

'No such thing as society'

i.e. grab everything you can for yourself, and to fuck with anyone else.

[quote MagentaStars]@WhoIsPepeSilva I am not victim blaming. I am the last person that would ever do that.

I avoid the news a lot too as it's so depressing but this has been well piblicised on mumsnet, other social media, newspapers, and a lot of discussion in general so it's hard to understand how you could have heard nothing and also done no research into what the sources of your income and entitlements are, if it is essential to you.

I am very sorry for your situation, it sounds horrible. And people giving you misonformation is clearly not ok - make a complaint.

You can check entitlement and what you qualify for, for various reasons on a number of websites I believe, without accessing news sites if they make you anxious. Also on gov.uk that has all of the official information. [/quote]
It's just the comments like the TV etc kind of miss the point that people fall through the cracks and it has real life consequences when they are expected to pick these things up from other avenues rather than straight from the source.

Especially when the source has the ability to get information directly to every service user. Why would they not use that ability? Why instead rely on people picking up important info elsewhere?

FWIW I am on MN just about every day and the first thread I saw regarding this issue was this one. I think 2 days after I had my last chat with the UC about all that waffle I wrote above ^.

I honestly don't know how I've missed all the talk about it here, but the point is somehow I have.

I'm not sure what research I should do on the source of my income - UC benefits atm - am genuinely not sure what that means? Sorry if I'm missing something really obvious.

I was managing with the money I was getting with the health band increase, and had no reason to question this beyond asking why I had been awarded more money, since it was straight from the source information.

I'm not so greedy to take more than I need to get by so since I was managing I didn't feel the need to keep checking if there was more funds available to me so wouldn't have come across COVID uplift info in this manner.
I was brought up not to take things just because I can if I don't need it and it could go to someone who needs it more.

When I recently asked for clarification to this health assessment/COVID uplift issue they can't show their workings. I'm taking their word for it because really what else can I do?

I also don't think it's an unreasonable expectation for benefit claimants to be notified of changes to their claim by the UC directly?

I'm not trying to be an arse here, just pointing out that if it happened to me you can bet it's not an isolated case.

I considered complaining about the wrong info etc but honestly I don't have it in me at the moment, and I'm really not sure what difference it would make.

I'd fill in a survey or something for future purposes in hopes that something like this would be better handled next time. I hope they spend some time getting their IT systems up to scratch at least.

I'm not on any other social media or forums either.

My children are older so not an issue, but it seems to me that childcare is the major cause of deprivation in children. With that it mind I think the government needs to seriously consider investing more into free childcare, doing this would enable parents to work in more fulfilling jobs, a better standard of living and less childhood deprivation.

Bigballer @ It’s not that simple though a lot of the jobs are low paid unsociable hours on poor pay. You are also making a lot of assumptions about people on benefits they don’t all smoke drink etc I would also imagine that takeaways are a distant memory, they have already cut their energy prices as low as possible. It sounds like you have very little idea how difficult it is for some people just to survive, I just hope your never in that situation.

@Bigballer

Well people can always get a job or work more hours, plenty work around for willing people. Cut back on unnecessary purchases like alcohol, tobacco, take aways, meat; rice and beans can sustain a human.Turn the heating down and wear a jumper, shower/bath less or do so at work many ways to save money.

Oh wow, you just fixed poverty! Amazing that no one has ever realised how easy it is.

Every charity that works with people in poverty must have been lying all these years when they've been saying IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE.

Turn the fucking heating down... We are talking about people who never have the heating on because there is nothing to go in the meter. Honestly, people are so ignorant.

Have got no time for this bullshit today.

@Bigballer wow, some big balls right there. Will you be back to substantiate your bullshit, or did you just decide to drop it and run? I suspect the latter.

So much prejudice, so little critical thought...

For those saying that in real terms they have taken a pay cut and will be paying more tax, the likelihood, if you’re not on UC is that things will remain much the same for you. You are not losing £80.00 per month. To lose that much to the NI hike you would be on between 70 - 80 thousand pa.

@Gilead

For those saying that in real terms they have taken a pay cut and will be paying more tax, the likelihood, if you’re not on UC is that things will remain much the same for you. You are not losing £80.00 per month. To lose that much to the NI hike you would be on between 70 - 80 thousand pa.

Inflation isn't helping anyone though.

We are all going to be worse off, just those with least will be affected in a way that impacts calorie intake, basic needs whereas the rest of us will just grumble.

They should never provide any temporary increases again as they just get hammered when it’s taken away as was always the plan and was communicated as such. The amount of people living off the back of others in this country is a joke.

@Bigballer

Well people can always get a job or work more hours, plenty work around for willing people. Cut back on unnecessary purchases like alcohol, tobacco, take aways, meat; rice and beans can sustain a human.Turn the heating down and wear a jumper, shower/bath less or do so at work many ways to save money.

Spot on

@CMZ2018

They should never provide any temporary increases again as they just get hammered when it’s taken away as was always the plan and was communicated as such. The amount of people living off the back of others in this country is a joke.

I noticed our 'hardworking' PM asked political donors to buy his wallpaper.

The biggest spongers of all are Tory cronies.

This anti-benefits bollocks is so threadbare these days I think most of us can see through it.

Thanks for letting me know.

@CMZ2018

They should never provide any temporary increases again as they just get hammered when it’s taken away as was always the plan and was communicated as such. The amount of people living off the back of others in this country is a joke.

You're right...the rich getting richer on the back of the poor 'is a joke.' People on low wages in the UK cannot afford the cost of living, hence, UC and banks still get bail outs, shareholders still get their dividends, property owners are still able to buy more and more BTL properties.

It was never a good plan to increase it by £20 during the pandemic (when in fact many people spent less not more anyway and given when you take it back it will feel awful for people). The mistake was giving it in the first place.

It is very hard however for some to get jobs. We do now have 1m vacancies so it could be worth people having a look now as compared with just about all my adult life since the 1980s the jobs situation is much better in many places (when I got my first job we had 3 million unemployed - worst for fifty years then and 2021 is the best year since then for jobs).

The handout of reduced stamp duty for BTL landlords was pretty grim.

@Bigballer

Your ignorance is hideous.

For many people (who are seeking work) it isn't the availability of jobs it is the demand by the majority of employers to be fully flexible which is an absolute nightmare for childcare. I know my previous employer demanded full availability 7 days a week 5am-7pm despite staff only actually getting 4 x 6 hour shifts. How on earth do they manage childcare? This is standard in manay low skilled jobs such as retail, factory, care etc.

You do realise that the majority of people living on nothing don't actually have take aways etc? Far too many people have frozen or starved to death because they can't afford them.

Go and spend 2 or 3 days in the real world and not the government/channel 5 bullshit world.