A third of households will receive around £1200 support with energy - described by Sunak as the most vulnerable

[cakeorwine]

It's great for people to get support. But AIBU to think that a country where a 1/3 of households will need such large support is a country with some massive inequalities and too many people living close to the edge. We are supposed to be a 'wealthy' country - but this has shown that a relatively large number of households do live close to the edge with not too much to spare at the end of the month.

It's good that some people are getting support, however, my husband and I both work full time and by the time all our bills are paid, we are left with practically nothing. It's scary that bills are still increasing :(

Is it a 1/3 will receive it or up to a third will?

There are a few different categories for receiving additional money and obviously some will cross over. Also CTC is included, which isn't quite as a blunt tool as UC.

I will get that (I think) £400 + £650 for tax credits + £150 for ds's DLA.

Ummm, did you only just hear about this? We all heard about this yesterday. There are multiple threads already about this.

What is classed as the 8 million lowest income households?
I'm not sure whether I'd qualify and couldn't find it

I know this is going to inflame some people. but 8 million households is about a third of the population. Section the population by income and it is clear that one-third are living on less than the average, a third have about the average, and the third-third have more. Whatever the reason someone is in the lowest third and struggling to get by, disability or another reason, nothing any government could do is really going to make life easy, comfortable or affordable for everyone.

You're missing the point.

AIBU to think that a country where 1/3 of households need support because energy prices have increased and that makes them 'the most vulnerable' according to Sunak is a country where a lot of people do live 'close to the edge'?

Sunak was in Radio 4 this morning and that was the statistic - which I think is shockingly high.

Section the population by income and it is clear that one-third are living on less than the average

A country where people on 'less than average' are struggling - is a country with a problem. People will struggle - but to have a third of the country struggling is a lot

I do wonder if tax credits on universal credits etc with the worst days work ever done in this country. I mean how do people manage before what was the system before them genuine question ?
As soon as the childcare element was introduced I think it was about 1998 basically my Childminder put her fees up to whatever the maximum amount was for one child overnight.

Social inequality is a MASSIVE problem in the UK. The wider the gap the worse off everyone is. Crime goes up. Mental health goes down.

This, however, is what we voted for.

If we want greater equality and a fairer society then we need to vote differently.

@Nothappyatwork Tax credits were introduced the year after I had DS. I got £38 a month. Before that there was nothing except Child Benefit.
We both worked in reasonably paid jobs, paid for nursery fees and never had any money left over, not even a fiver a week.
Everything was second hand donations or from Charity shops. Had a Littlewoods catalogue for the odd new item including appliances or furniture (one item at a time over 20 weeks). I remember having to put a food shop on the credit card a few times. Remortgaged over and over.
Rarely went out and never had takeaways or trips out. No holidays until we started camping when DS was 8.
We only had one child as we simply couldn't afford another.
I know it's an unpopular view, especially on MN but you can see why some people get pissed off with those (and I do know it's only some people) living better life than they did, on benefits.
Someone on another post earlier recently said they get almost £12k from UC to top up their income. I can't believe that anyone can get that much. Is that really right?

@Aconitum I have a friend who was a single parent to 3 children, she had three kids with somebody who was earning 22 grand a year, I mean the numbers were never gonna stack up in 1 million years but anyway she split up with him and with the childcare bill of £300 a week and the 300 odd pounds a week top up she was getting as much in universal or tax credits whatever it was as I was taking home on 46 grand a year. And then she got a wages on top which to be fair weren’t a lot and child-support off him.

I just seem to remember and as a say I’m not trying to be a bitchy, before tax credits childcare was more affordable and the price’s rose to swallow the amount that tax credit was going to be paid out basically leaving people no better off. I just feel like that was the point where wage’s stopped increasing as well because there is no point in the employers giving people pay rises because again the difference between the wages and what they would get on tax credits was gonna be negligible. So they didnt.

YANBU at all OP.
It is shocking in the 21st Century that the gap between people's wealth and people's chances in life can be SO huge. It is awful that people who get up and go to work each day are not then able to afford basic essentials in life. We aren't talking about luxuries, we are talking about meeting fairly basic needs.

It is such short term thinking. Yes that money will help but will only help for a month or so. What happens after that? There needs to be a fundamental change.

That's what I mean. There will always be people who struggle. But I was astonished to hear the actual numbers who will need this £1200 as the increase in the cost of living will affect them. I would have thought that Sunak would have been embarrassed to be part of a Government where so many people need help. Clearly something isn't working.

Poverty is measured so that as we get richer poverty stays the same but means richer poor people.

When did you last see a starving child in rags with no shoes.

If things become more expensive, are we becoming richer?

You get richer if your income starts to increase compared to what you have to spend.

It seems that a third of households in this country are described as extremely vulnerable and need this £1200 intervention.

That's your baseline ?

I've lost £178 a week as ds left school mid A levels, CTC & CB finished the day he was 18, I got the disabled child element of CTC as ds gets enhanced PIP. Without the £1200 I am getting & my warm homes discount as I am disabled as well I don't know how I would manage, I worked out that after paying utilities, food, broadband etc I would only have £73 a month left to pay for things like my incontinence supplies, clothes & anything else I needed, that was before the energy price cap went up.

This

It's shocking how much salaries have fallen behind when the cost of everything has been going up for decades now. I'm currently job hunting due to redundancy and so many full time roles that require a good level of education and skills only pay £20k or thereabouts for a full time week of 40 hours. Let alone sectors like care where pay is even lower. That may have been enough 20 years ago when you could still buy a lovely house for much, much less than they are today but now it barely covers bills.

There was family credit before tax credits. It was for working families on a low wage. I claimed it for a year late 80's.

Family credit ran from 1988 to 1999 and was replaced by tax credits

Talk to your doctor. They can arrange for you get get free incontinence supplies

This.

sugarplumfairy65 I've spoken to my doctor who refused to refer me to the continence service, said I didn't need it. He should know because I am prescribed tablets that are supposed to stop my overactive bladder. On a bad day I can go through 6 pairs of pull ups, it costs me £79 for 160 pairs from Boots, theonly good thing is I get points for them.