7 out of ten children in poverty

[Gilead]

Come from families where at least on parent is employed. 40% of UC claimants are working families BUT Sunak blames those on Welfare for inflation and he wants to cut benefits by at least £1000 per annum.
AIBU to think that the Tories are trying to create a two tier state?

When childcare for a 0-3 year old is some people's entire wage that might be why only one parent is employed.

But that shouldn't be an option. It's not like the cost of childcare is a secret?! It's not on to say working isn't worth my while, so I'll stay home and claim benefits instead. If you can work and pay your own childcare, then that's what you need to do, even if it means you're not left with much 🤷🏻

Genuinely, grow your own veg

Genuinely, let them eat cake! How do you grow vegetables if you haven’t got a garden?

You can grow your own veg in a grow bag/plastic containers but you need the initial outlay and enough space. It's not really gonna work in a one-bed council flat.

Plus the cost of multiple containers, bags of compost, and seeds will be out of reach for people trying to live off the £70 p/w you get on UC. Compost isn't cheap. My dog fancies himself a gardener. It cost me £150 to build and fill a digging trough for him to stop him from attempting to plant veg all around my lawn.

You could do it cheaper, of course, but it's still a hefty initial outlay for someone who cannot afford to eat that week.

Community gardens are a good idea but very few places have them.

You're really nitpicking.

You lot love nitpicking don't you. What a silly response 🙄 next time I'll add a disclaimer 'if you have a garden/are able to garden/can afford a few fucking seeds'

So pathetic.

Just to add you don't need to buy seeds to grow stuff. Plant a cherry tomato/potato/lettuce base etc you'll grow new ones! Some education wouldn't go amiss clearly if people think it's easier to live off pizza. Also most fruit and veg can be eaten RAW! Shocking I know.

I can't believe this sort of rubbish is still being touted. We know that benefits have been reduced over the years, we know UC was brought in to 'reduce the benefit bill' and 'stop people lazing on benefits', we know thousands of disabled and sick people have lost out (and died in case you forgot) because the safety net has been shredded over the years. We also know that if you work even 1 hour on a zero hours contract you're counted as employed and that you can also be made to work for your unemployment benefits. Despite all this, it's still benefit claimants being lazy. Honestly, what happens when it's your turn?

My cherry tree was planted 6 years ago. It is still maturing. We get a couple of handfuls of cherries per year. Hardly enough to make any negligible difference to our weekly food bill.

Given what my dog plants and the returns he gets for his effort, I'd say you need a fair-sized garden and a significant amount of time to see a return great enough to drastically lower your food bill.

Fruits tend to have higher yields but they take a year or two to mature. Out of all the fruit we've planted the only ones that produce a decent amount of fruit are the raspberries and brambles. Even the mature pear tree only yields a few dozen pears per season.

And salad fruits like cucumbers and tomatoes need to be grown in greenhouses. Are we suggesting that people on UC can afford to have relatively decent-sized greenhouses built?

I don't know who first thought up the "grow your own" as a solution to food poverty but they really don't have a fucking clue and are obviously not a farmer or gardener.

Fucking hell, grow your own veg, yeah tomatoes and potatoes are really nutritious with nothing else. Other people have pointed out about space but what if you have a really good haul, but can’t afford a freezer, what a waste.
Your circumstances allowed you to do what you’ve done @GurningGolfer , but people have differing circumstances and are not able to manage. Try not to judge everyone’s achievements by your own successes.

Way more nutritious than a fucking frozen Iceland pizza actually.

This is the problem- excuses excuses excuses - I give up. You can lead a horse to water and all that. Good luck 👍

I actually love growing veg but I dont think it saves money. Possibly my salad leaves and herbs are cheaper.. My allotment is £17 a year rent but some years are better than others. Last year all my tomatoes got blight.

DH grows vegetables. We have a vegetable patch and a greenhouse. During the winter we don't get very much, in the summer we get a glut of tomatoes, lettuce, beans etc. We freeze tomatoes and beans. Sometimes DH plants things and they are a disaster.Sometimes they get eaten by insects or birds. DC eat very few of the vegetables.
It's not nitpicking to say that this is not possible for a lot of people on low incomes

• you need space and suitable soil/compost to grow
• you need time (and suitable facility) to water the plants regularly and pick/harvest at correct time.
• you need to store or freeze some when you (inevitably) get too much to eat in one go.

The unreliability and unequal production means its not a simple swap for simply buying what you need/what you like to eat. In reality it's a hobby for DH and nice to have, I'm not sure how much money it saves. (We rarely buy tinned tomatoes for half the year and use those we've frozen but I'm not convinced this would be a significant saving)

If this wasn’t about such a serious issue - children in poverty then I would laugh at this comment as it’s so out of touch with reality. You really have NO idea do you.
Yes, potatoes and tomatoes may be more nutritious than an iceland pizza but when you’re living in poverty and don’t have the space to grow veg or the means to do so and can’t wait for them to grow because you need to feed your dc NOW of course you’re going to pick the Iceland pizza 🤦‍♀️

Nitpicking? I earn double the national average wage and receive CMS that equal to an additional NMW salary and still couldn’t afford a garden.

sorry to bother you with pathetic details @GurningGolfer

@GurningGolfer
I'm sure you mean well but really, just grow your own veg to save money on food is like saying- just get solar panels to cut your power bill (except solar panels do actually save money (eventually)). I read a study a while ago, and heard on radio 4 that in a normal garden, for an average person, growing veg does not save money. It's a hobby. A lovely hobby, you clearly enjoy, and nothing nicer than home grown and cooked food but it's not going to solve the UK Tory poverty crisis.

@Gilead What is it that gives people the right to be so judgmental ?

Yet you are prepared to judge Sunak based on your own made up story of him wanting to cut benefits by £1000/year.

There are absolutely no reports, even in the left wing press, of him saying this in a speech yesterday (as you claim) nor at any other time recently. If you can link to any media report of him saying this then please do so.

The temporary £20/week Covid uplift ended in October 2021, after he had extended it from April 2021. This is the only "£1000 cut" you can find any news about, and it is all from last year. This was always a temporary measure that was going to end, just as furlough payments did.

In November 2021 he reduced the Universal Credit taper rate by 8 percentage points and increased the work allowance by £500/year. These changes meant over 2m people working and receiving UC received an average increase of £1000/year. It also meant around 600,000 workers who did not get any UC became newly entitled to some payments.

In April 2022 all UC was increased by 3.1%

In May 2022 he announced all UC recipients would receive an extra £650 this year on top of the £400 that everyone would receive, and also the £150 rebate through council tax. So most UC recipients would get £1250 extra this year.

You can say that all this is nowhere near enough for the hard times that are coming, but you should not make up your own facts.

I’m lucky enough to have a garden (worked until too disabled to do so). I said on a thread the other day that I grow my own veg, but I’m also lucky enough to be in a position to make jam with my fruit and freeze my veg. Honestly @GurningGolfer , it’s not excuses it’s reality, a reality that you are unwilling to accept despite evidence.

Moving on from that there are community gardens springing up where I live, and I’m hoping to get the council to donate land here and there for fruit trees, bushes and some decent beds.

Sorry - typo - So most UC recipients would get £1200 extra this year

I do think those that are truly in need of benefits could do more to better their situations such as making use of free courses and qualifications etc that are open to those on UC and other benefits in order to get into better paid more. Perhaps he's trying to push those that can work to motivate themselves to achieve more and provide more for their families

Animal Farm stuff. Just work harder and all will be well. And what are these people supposed to live on while they're studying? Universal credit doesn't even begin to cover the increase in the cost of living.

Where are all these better-paid jobs coming from?

I live in the NE and there are no better-paid jobs. The vast majority of jobs are in care, retail, and manufacturing. The few office jobs there are generally NMW or slightly above.

All of which would still entitle most couples both working f/t to some element of UC/WTC/CTC etc.

Consideration needs to be made for one parent families, I earn too much to receive any help whatsoever but if my income was split across 2 people I would get at least child benefit. I appreciate not everyone’s NRP will be as useless as mine but I do every minute of childcare outside of work every pick up and drop off - it does seem unfair

part of the speech

I absolutely judge anyone wanting to cut benefits. Equally I can judge on past performance, he’s chancellor and he has us more in debt than ever, with inflation running at a fifty year high whilst the rest of Europe is recovering.

Absolutely nowhere in the report you have linked, or other reports of the same event, does Sunak say he wants to cut UC by £1000/year.

I'm sorry but UC is £328 a month !, and that is for food, Electric , Gas , water everything apart from rent unless you pay the bedroom tax which you have to pay as well so how how can that be cut.. Who is their right mind would wanna live on just that is the Tories picking on trying to keep the rich rich again