I know this will be contentious - cost of living rise

[qualitychat]

My mum is a pensioner and gets Disability Benefit and Mobility Benefit and Pension Credit. She receives almost what I get in a month. She is moaning about the Government not doing enough about the cost of gas and electricity, which I agree with. The thing is they have said that people on benefits and pension credit will be given lump sums towards their bills. I am a middle earner and so is my husband. We will likely get nothing. Do you not think it will be the ordinary working families who will be squeezed the most if something is not done?

😂 work more hours? How does one work more than full time, if their only childcare is nursery/school?

But, I can’t vote Labour. I’m terrified of a wealth tax.

I think a wealth tax of some kind is inevitable regardless of who is in power. How else will the NHS & social care be funded?

My brother can't work. He had sepsis, was in ICU and HD for months before they kicked him out as COVID hit, then he was made redundant when furlough ended. He would dearly love to work, but he simply can't. Its made him feel suicidal at times, especially the job loss as he was there over 20 years. He's on huge amounts of medication, failing organs and diabetes added to the mix. He has little energy to argue.

He's on a low sort of benefit which sends him on a computer course and he enjoys it.

Turns out it's the wrong sort of benefit for any fuel help linked to benefits.

This. All day long. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

I think everyone is panicking about what is to come and turning against each other and resenting each other. Even people who are better off are panicking as no-one really knows what this is going to come to.

Why so serious?

Well if you really believe this to be true you could always get your dh to get a lower paying job. Our family income is similar to yours and I've no desire at all to rent my home or have to top up our income with UC.

Agreed.
Except this is rubbish. A household income of £65k is well above average.

That ^^
Even as a single person, 23k isn't a living wage now to pay increased energy costs, rising food prices and god knows what else

My Dad is on basic state pension. He only manages by doing cash in hand odd jobs 4 days a week. But he’s 77 and he shouldn’t still be doing this. He has worked his entire life. (Silly enough to not pay into a private pension though, his companies didn’t have pensions and he was self employed for a long time).

In that case you'll know that vast amounts of medical evidence has to be produced in addition to having an assessment.?

I work full time 40 hours. People saying you can't get extra hours do you mean in your main job? I have had to take an extra two jobs working weekends and evenings.

We've talked about DH taking on another job -or just something with regular pay - but can't see how we can do it at the moment as we have a school refusing 9 year old and if DH isn't around I can't work my contracted hours. It's a nightmare, but from the outside it must look like we can easily increase income.

There is a really nasty theme to some threads recently based on resentment of what other people might have/can claim that you can't.

Whilst I agree the gov encourages division I think one of the important things from these & similar threads is that so many people are feeling disenfranchised.

This is my point. The government are spinning this to make it look like all disabled people will get up to £1200 extra help and it’s simply not true. Only those who qualify for means tested benefits will qualify. Disabled people who work and are above the thresholds for income top ups via UC won’t qualify for anything apart from the £400 universal payment and £150 council tax rebates we all get unless they qualify for PIP, DLA or AA, in which case they will get an extra £150. Any other support will only be paid if they are in receipt of means tested, income related benefits.

How is it anyones fault that the energy prices are rising?

My 85 year old dad is not disabled in the slightest. He will be getting £300 winter fuel payment ( that he normally gets), plus an extra £300 winter fuel payment, plus £400 that every household is getting. That is £1000. He is not struggling, he is always trying to give money away to keep his saving lower than the amount where he would need to pay for care should he need to. The cost of this will be eyewatering and not always being targeted where needed most.

Dla and pip isn’t means tested so I’m guessing that’s why. If a disabled person or family with disabled children are on low incomes then they will most likely also get another means tested benefit such as universal credit so will get extra from that too

Yes exactly. There are huge numbers of disabled pensioners on disability benefits sitting on large amounts of savings accumulated before they became disabled, so that is why it's only £150. I regularly do benefit checks for pensioners on disability benefits and they have 50 k in the bank. This is not unusual at all. Or a second home that they rent out to supplement their pension.

Hi

YANBU. I am probably classed as an average earner but have to count the pennies every month. Family members claiming seem to have more money than I do. Why are they getting payouts to help with the cost of living but I can't. Dreading the next few months coming up.

Isn’t the issue that there is a high proportion of pensioners entitled to pension credit thst don’t claim so by targeting only those in receipt of benefits they’d be missed.

It sometimes dosent pay to have money or savings does it?

People I know just think what’s the point in trying to work more hours, if it’s going to barely make a dent in fuel and other rising bills. I earn just over 22k. I looked at a job for 27k, it’s more stress, responsibility, longer hours etc. It sounds like quite a decent pay rise, yet after tax and other deductions, it’s about an extra 200 a month. Extra travel costs would eat into that too, so it would probably work out to £100 on top of what I earn now.

Just a few months ago, it might have been worth the jump, but now, what is the point in making the majority of my waking hours more stressful, when I’ll still either have to be cold and miserable at home, or get into debt over bills.

@gyurghle honestly, I have no idea. And I should, I’m an economist, I work in banking surrounded by other economists. I worked through the formation of the Euro, the Argentinian debt crisis, 9/11, the 2007/2008 financial crisis and obviously, Covid. I’ve seen so many economic cycles and have honestly never seen anything like it and neither have any of my colleagues. Usually, there are pockets of positive news - in a couple of sectors, in other countries, but I honestly can’t see anything. And you can see it in the huge variations of forecasts between economists, because for the first time in my career nobody has a clue. Ultimately, it’s Russia and the awful situation in Ukraine - it needs to stop by whatever means.

The Tories may be the monsters, but they haven’t just appeared out of thin air overnight have they?

They’ve been in power for 12 years. They’ve won 4 elections. They have spent the entirety of that time stripping public services to the bone and grinding down our quality of life, while appeasing their wealthy donor overlords and their main voting base - pensioners and the over 60s.

It is the elderly vote that keeps them in power, that will continue to keep them in power. The boomer generation, even with their incredibly healthy assets and pensions beyond what working age people can dream of, is still happy to watch their kids and grandkids struggle so they can rake in a extra few quid to continue feathering their already gigantic nests.

To rub salt in the wound, we then get the ‘Buy less avocados’ ‘snowflakes just hate hard work’ comments, so set satisfied are they that their incredible fortune is down to some unique genius on their part rather than sheer luck.

So sorry; I will continue to complain about both the oppressors, and the people who instruct them.

YES I KNOW that doesn’t apply to every pensioner, but I am talking in sweeping generalisations, as I see it.

Reject it all you like. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pay for our own care - it’s the system that is the problem. It should be properly funded so that everyone pays what they can afford in the form of a social care tax or similar. I’ve had this conversation on several threads. An elderly relative has recently gone into a care home and because she is a self funder, she is charged £1000 a month more than LA funded residents for exactly the same facilities. When we queried this we were told it’s standard practice and the extra charge goes towards funding those who can’t pay themselves. If our relative lives five years she will have paid £60,000 towards other people’s care. From her own funds, provided by the sale of her home which she worked hard to pay for. Yet if she runs out of funds she will have to throw herself on the mercy of the LA and will probably be moved to cheaper accommodation if the home she is in isn’t on the list of facilities funded by the LA. I agree that elderly care has to be paid for, but this isn’t a fair or sustainable way to do it.