Every household?????

[Trainfromredhill]

So, the chancellor is going to give every household £400 for heating. Surely there should be a cut off of household income? The Beckhams, Elton John, james Dyson, Harry styles…….they all get the money too? . I say this as someone in the fortunate position of not needing the £400- I’d much rather it went to someone who does need it.Just seems a huge waste of public money to give it to everyone

So basically the tories are using billions of tax payers money and giving it to the energy companies who are ripping us off and telling us we should be grateful?

Are they having an actual laugh?

This the most ridiculous and pointless idea I have ever heard.

What about next year? And the year after?

When they double prices again to recoup the 5 billion they are 'paying'

If the tories actually wanted to fo something they could keep the cap as it was, introduce rent control and link wages/ increase mw

Anyone who continues to vote tory after this year really needs to ask themselves exactly what it is they're voting for

And @Hhoney

Having 400 quid disposable income after all bills are paid is not penny pinching.

Get a grip.

I heard stories of businesses that received grants during lockdown that run into thousands and that isn't being clawed back and some managed to claim fraudulently as well ( so I've read and heard on phone ins etc)
I know that furlough and help there was rushed through , but some people lost out and some didn't.
It's always going to be unfair whatever they do.
Apart from child benefits ( before the changes to that benefit ) we haven't received any help from the government at all , now we have 550 pounds. It is unheard of in our household but then we haven't been in receipt of any other benefits before , but who knows what the future holds?
I don't think it'll be entirely popular as it's still tax payers money they are using and some will end up better off because of it and that may seem unfair too. It's still unusual for a conservative government to do this though , to think that free broadband was shouted down.
The magic money trees have been bearing fruit
!

Or in the case of my local council the brain resources! They can’t pay me my £150 we were all supposed to get because my council tax bill says Lady Danbury Cane & Lord Handsome Cane but the bank account they happily take £200 from every month says Lord H and Lady D Cane.

I have to wait for them to send me a claim form “around the end of June” and then I will receive a cheque “probably by the end of September”. So the cost of printing and posting out a form, a reply paid envelope and then the cheque!

Give yours back then.

The £150 cost of living support paid back through council tax.

If the £400 goes to the energy company to be deducted from household bills then it's hard to imagine that won't be passed on to us too, via the bills our energy company sends us.

You need to look closer to home to see where you can find some extra money from then 😂😂😂.

Thats like saying oh the poor billionaires they have to buy a 15 million quid house instead of a £150,000 house.

Our household income is just under £60,000 and we could definitely cut down a lot if we had to and that’s with saving and we live very modestly.

Yes. You’re right. People just don’t see beyond ‘I could never earn that much’.

On £35k with £1200 a month childcare costs, your after tax income is c. £2100 a month. Take the £1200 off that you must pay in order to work…

Looks like a life of luxury. £900 to pay housing costs (if it’s a mortgage there’s little support, bills, food, everything. Even the c. £600 of UC takes it to £1500 a month. CB is a bit more.

Whereas the household with an income of £35k and a SAHM gets to live off over £2k. People in that situation come on MN and declare it a comfortable income on that basis but fail to appreciate it doesn’t generalise.

A lot of people have no idea just how expensive it can be to live a fairly unglam life in some parts of the UK because of high property values and related monthly mortgage payments or rent, and commuting travel costs. And if it's not childcare costs tipping the balance, it could well be helping support several older DC through university too, all on household incomes that many would consider 'more than enough' but really have little flex in them.

@Badgirlgonegood But how much are you paying for housing and childcare?

Surely it's into your energy account?

This. It’s more expensive to work out who gets it than to give it to everyone.
You can pass it on, to a charity with gift aid or someone who needs it more.

That was in response to pp saying people with property portfolios will get it twice or 10 times. We are tenants who pay the energy bills so it will come to us won't it?

I'm sure that Elton John and other celebs and the rich may well give theirs away. They are still affected by higher prices elsewhere , everyone has to eat , but it does become the politics of envy when they bring in universal things like this too. ( child benefit was the same too and that took years to change to being means tested)
Seems they can't win. 10 bil is an eye watering amount on top of the extra they had to print off for the pandemic ( much was wasted there by them of course )
This isn't like any conservative government I've ever known. Plus the energy companies will still have all that interest from this 400 sitting in the various accounts , not everyone will probably use it all up straight away and the very rich tend to live abroad in the winter in their other homes as well.

Before I'm flamed, 5 bil is from the energy companies windfall taxes and 10 bil is the governments contribution.

Exactly this. If you don't need the £400 you can give it to charity or someone else who does need it.

I made a choice to pay less. I could have stayed in the town I grew up where the same type of house would cost £150000 more than my house and childcare is also alot more.

But I wanted more disposable income so I moved to a cheaper part of the greater city and slashed the cost of living.

We also choose to have a modest second had car and shop at Aldi mainly.

We have plenty left to save and go on carefully chosen holidays (not cheap just affordable for us).

My point is - those on £100,000 have lots of choices before they get to a point they have to PENNY PINCH.

I cant believe there's a poster complaining they are struggling on 100k a year,my family have to live on 22k

It's all rather amusing in a dark way...

This govt have - and will continue to - lie to us, break their own laws and line the pockets of their mates.

They will tell us "we are all in it together" (this thread should disabuse us of that idea!)

And some will be pathetically grateful for cash that will go straight to the tory donors energy companies.

Our sc and gdcs will be paying for this "largesse" for decades to come.

Add to this the jubilee celebrations next week and all a bit "Bread and circuses" innit?

There is no political will to do anything that would actually help - like end decrease fuel duty, stop the NI increase and increase disability and and make it easier to apply for.

Because the UK public will tolerate anything from an Eton poshboy

I agree @Trainfromredhill . It makes no sense to throw money at everyone and clearly it will just mean that taxes subsequently go up even more than they already have. The idea is a little sweetener to keep all their usual voters onside (second home owners, wealthy pensioners, etc). They are playing people as always. Increase taxes and then throw a morsel to the grateful populace.

Increasing the UC to £20 extra per week again and increasing pension credits for the poorest pensioners would have made more sense. Also not raising in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
The government have no idea what they are doing or what they stand for. They have no idea what to do at all.

And your circumstances are identical are they? Of course they aren't. We have to stop assuming people who earn more have more disposable income, I'm sorry but it's not that simple. Yes of course some do, but not all. It depends where you live, how many kids, all sorts of different factors involved here. It's not a competition, we're all getting £400 and we will do with it what we wish.

@Anonnnnnnm

Youre not getting £400. Your energy provider is

And if you dont have any disposable income on 100k then thats down to your own choices, innit

I cannot give my 400 to charity as it will be sitting in my energy companies bank account ( earning them interest)
The 150 from the council tax rebate went towards normal bills and food.
I do give to charity, but it won't be 400 as I will need that for the fuel bills this winter.
It would have been even more controversial to have given every household 400 pounds straight up so they are doing it this way instead.

Earning £100k comes with a different set of expenses basically

Don't be ridiculous. Of course it doesn't. What you spend your money on is a choice. Higher mortgage? You chose to buy a bigger house. Ditto bills. Higher childcare costs? You chose to have children/more children. Higher food costs? You chose to shop somewhere expensive and buy expensive food etc. etc.

A very common attitude on Mumsnet - which thankfully I don't come across outside of this website - is how much wealthy people just constantly whine about their circumstances. There's this perpetual hard-done-by whinge that people don't understand how difficult their lives are and they need special safe spaces to discuss what a burden having lots of money is.

People who have arrears because they've been struggling to pay the bills thus far will have it eaten up by arrears, so not only do people who really don't need it get £400, people on desperate need are likely to not see the benefit at all as it will just go towards filling that black hole.