Do you agree with these benefits?

[Sophieleigh26]

Do you think the amount people get in benefits (before deductions like earnings) is the right amount, or it should be more / less?

MONTHLY AMOUNT
Single & under 25 £265.31
Single & over 25 £334.91
Couple both under 25 £416.45
Couple over 25 £525.72

£244.58 extra allowance for children (up to 2 children)

A single parent not working (24) with one child (1) would receive £509.89 a month, before deductions (loans, debt etc)

obviously these are just summaries and there are different rules if you have children born before 2017, for example, or disabilities, childcare costs.

YABU - It seems ok / right
YANBU - It should be more / less

The whole benefits system needs an overhaul. The benefits system absolutely should not be subsidising companies who pay minimum wage (which is too low) whilst making huge profits. It's a disgrace in this country that people can be working a NMW job and still need UC top-ups ( childcare funding is obviously different)

The benefit system absolutely should be subsidising those who cannot work whether due to disability / illness / caring for disabled children etc. And these amounts paid should be higher and set at a rate that is liveable on without any kind of penury or punishment.

Likewise carers allowance should be at a liveable wage level. In effect carers are saving the councils thousands by what they do and the allowance ( stupid name for it) should reflect that. They should be paid and be entitled to pensions etc as if they were employed by the council to provide that care .

For those able to work / job seeking it should be set at a level that you can survive on but it should be time limited - it should be a safety net not a lifestyle choice and yes people do choose to remain on UC rather than work and it is disingenuous to believe they don't.
They then do cash in hand jobs / move Partners in off the radar etc and live quite happily. If you don't live in Mumsnet middle class utopia you can see this everywhere. They are fairly brazen about it.

The benefit system should help those who cannot work much more than it does and those who won't work much less.

Yes, they are low but if you increase them where is the incentive?

I'm all for increasing benefits for the disabled and assistance between gaining employment but for the most part benefits are not a long term option; some people soon to think it is.

The amount of people that I know that won't increase their hours because it's not worth it/want to spend quality time with their DC is astonishing. Increase it and what is really the point of us working? This country is on its knees and those that can have a part to play.

It is temporary help though, so shouldn't that be adequate if you're between jobs and have possibly depleted any savings?
Aren't people sanctioned if they're not able to prove they're looking for, and applying for, work?

I'm trying to understand really. It sounds like some sort of overhaul is needed?

I agree @MerlinsButler and they should not need to be used to subsidise wages. It's unfair to the people forced to claim for that purpose.

I know of a PA single parent working for the NHS. Hope it doesn't offend to say that you'd never guess she claimed UC but apparently she does.

IMO, benefits should be enough that a single parent can feed their family a decent diet, heat their home, run a car and live a generally comfortable if not luxurious life.

Minimum wage should allow a single parent to do the above plus pay childcare, occasional treats, an annual holiday, and have some savings for a rainy day.

Skilled work should then pay more.

The fact that we are so far from this set up in a wealthy country is despicable.

@JenniferBarkley you have summed it up perfectly, I couldn't agree with you more.

IMO, benefits should be enough that a single parent can feed their family a decent diet, heat their home, run a car and live a generally comfortable if not luxurious life.

I would offer far more support to a government or opposition party which pledged - and demonstrated how it would make it happen - to make non resident parents pay properly for their children, and massively increased affordable childcare provision so that lone parent benefits could be reduced and lone parents could no longer use ‘no childcare’ as an excuse. Because it really isn’t for taxpayers to be paying for children which aren’t theirs, that’s up to both their parents. Both of the above could be facilitated far more cost efficiently, and would gain far greater public support, than just handing out more benefits money.

And I’m disappointed that Labour aren’t prepared to be brave and outgoing on subjects like this and just resort to the “we’d increase benefits” tac instead. Plenty of other countries lead the way in better solutions, they wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel.

@ComtesseDeSpair, I totally agree. Many parents would be happy with a comfortable life without the stress of work, time for themselves and more time with their kids. I can see many of them giving this up to work FT for a nmw jobs that will only give them a few more luxuries.

I agree that all, including single parents should be at work FT once kids are at school with much better subsidised childcare for those on low income, especially during the holidays.

I have a disabled DC whom I am a carer for. I certainly don't feel hard done by, we are comfortable. Not loaded, not scraping the barrel. Plenty of money to pay the bills, pay her disability related needs and to have an okay quality of life. I certainly can't complain.

I think disability payments are higher, according to pps, than those general benefit payments quoted in the OP.

@Paigeycakey

Yes, there are different levels of PIP (& DLA, which some adults still receive); & it is indeed not dependent on income nor assets.

As various posters (including me) have pointed out, however, for the average disabled person it is insufficient to cover the additional costs of simply existing as a disabled person; as confirmed by research by Scope.

It is important to note, too, that the last Disability Price Tag report was in 2019. So before the pandemic & the cost of living crisis.

My Niece worked in recruitment and had a person apply for a job they were advertising.
He lived in the Midlands job was in the south east when Niece asked whether he'd be travelling or relocating he told her he wasn't doing either but just needed to be seen to apply for jobs to be able to continue claiming benifits.
For a person working to makes ends meet this was an attitude my Niece said made her realise that our government actually wasn't to bad and the amount paid out in certain benifits wasn't to shabby for sitting on your arse making the odd phone call every now and then.

@Crumpleton was this 20 years ago? Claimants now have to spend 40 hours a week looking for work, record everything and if they can’t show proof of doing it for 40 hours they are sanctioned. As well as fortnightly appointments. It’s not just making phone calls.

@Crumpleton So your takeaway from that story isn’t “it’s silly that people are forced to try and apply for jobs they literally can’t get to” - it’s “benefits claimants just sit on their arse”. That’s very telling.

i have an imagine of Crumpleton saying to a small boy...''would do you mean you won't fit up the chimney ? Have you even tried ?''

*typo.. image not imagine

Yes, how dare people value time with their children above work.

Might be worth checking out some of the publications the ONS has put out on some of this stuff, btw. It’s only a small number of households that are considered “economically inactive”, and that’s including the student and retired populations.

Thing is as well like… you shouldn’t have to work your arse to the bone just to survive! It shouldn’t be a choice between a crap amount of benefits or measly minimum wage.

In a society like ours there should be plenty to go around. It’s an active choice that there isn’t.

Productivity should not be the only value by which people’s lives are measured.

These are like unemployment benefits? I'm not living in the UK but I'm shocked it's so low, how would anyone live off of that?

It's €208 a week for a single person here in Ireland and you get something like €500 a month towards rent. It's significantly more if you have kids.

I get there needs to be an incentive to work but sometimes people just need support to get back on their feet too. I'm pretty shocked at those figures to be honest.

@shivawn I'm fascinated about how it's different in Ireland too... I've seen people post previously about CB and its higher. But is Ireland a lot more expensive to live? Your health care isn't free for the whole of Ireland though is it? That seems so unfair.

@weekendninja wake up the system is floored. Do you think the Gov don't realise this? They are fully aware of this but all too happy for it to remain this way.

Health care is free to people on benefits. Hospital stays are free. Most people unless they go private just pay for GP visits(if they don't have a go visit card which half of people will have) and meds up to €80 a month. Children up to 7? are free, pensioners are free, maternity care is free, consultant visits if public are free, a&e is free if referred by your GP, lots of things are free. And as the latest budget has shown they are working towards free healthcare for all. It isn't at all comparable to we"ll say the US.

Poorer people in Ireland have a standard of living almost 63% better than their UK counterparts so it might not be perfect, might be expensive in places but we seem to do a better job of looking out for those that are more vulnerable than the UK does. Wages are higher here in Ireland than the UK too and we have in work benefits that are quite generous and no cap on the amount of children you can claim for so we are more able to cope with the cost of living. The problem with the UK seems to be the sudden rise in the cost of living coupled with low benefits and low wages means that people aren't able to absorb costs as well(that and your government seeming not giving a shit about anyone but high rate tax payers).

My Niece was still at school 20 yeas ago...This was in 2019.

Thank you for mentioning the benefit cap.

That couple getting £416 or whatever it was wouldn't get that unless one of them was getting disability/ill-health benefits or had only recently become unemployed.

The max per household, outside London, is £384.62 pw. And that's everything - they'd have to pay their rent out of that, and 20% of their council tax (>£2,000pa for a band C here!), and all their bills.

I have a client who is too ill to work but doesn't yet have a disability/health benefit in place (they have been applied for), so she's on £384.62 pw for herself and her 2 children (9 & 14). Her "affordable" HA rent is £276.16 pw and she has to pay £30-40 a month towards her council tax.

She's left with less than £100 pw to feed and clothe herself and her children, and pay all her utilities. She's had her rent topped up from a discretionary council fund for 3 months, but they don't usually extend those payments beyond 3 months. We've applied for PIP, but it's taking 6 months to get a decision at the moment, and I'm hoping that she'll be awarded the ill-health component of UC, but she hasn't even got a date for the assessment yet.

It's heartbreaking. She's lost so much weight, I'm really worried about her, and her MH is really suffering.