To wonder why benefits should rise in line with inflation when no job is?

[Bananil]

Massively struggling with food prices and absolutely no chance the heating is going on for a long time yet. DH and I work full time but have not had a pay rise since before the pandemic and wouldn’t ask for one as our industry has taken a real hit. I can’t think of any jobs that are expecting a pay rise in line with inflation so why do much fuss about making sure benefits do?

The government takes from most of us. That is what is happening now - there is a huge group, probably the bottom three-quarters - who are losing out now seriously from the last 12 years of Tory choices.

Look at what is happening with GP appointments. Labour's target was 48 hours for a GP appointment - and they met it. Tories now saying we can all have an appointment in TWO WEEKS - that is a) shit and b) not likely to be met anyway.

They take in cash from those who use public transport and pay student loans. But they take from most of us in all sorts of ways.

My impression is quite the opposite, my BF had 2 at rises this year and a wacking great bonus as his employers finding it so hard to recruit skilled people. His salary has almost doubled since 2019

Simmilary friends across professional services have seen nice rises, that is part of inflation.

Oh my god, I can't belive you referred to disability benefits as 'add-ons'.

Bananil Do you understand how hellish it is to not even afford to walk into a supermarket and know you can't afford 99% of the food in there, or to not be able to buy a stamp to send a birthday card ? Have you ever had to save up to buy Sanitary towels ? If not you are not "massively struggling" Have a bit of compassion.

YANBU.

Taking into account housing and child element, a benefit income can be very comparable to a fulltime wage.

Both benefits and wages should rise in line with inflation. Taxing wages to pay for a benefit increase is going to stir up anti-claimant sentiment and pit people against each other, because it's genuinely unfair. We already have an issue with perceived injustice and people assuming those claiming are work-shy, spongers or [insert negative stereotype] - if we make it an actual injustice this will only compound the issue.

When we have a goverment who believe that people make the choice to become full time unpaid carers so should he just accept the insulting allowance with no complaints (see their response to the petition with regards paying carers a halfway decent wage) then it’s no surprise that their attitudes rub off on the people who vote for them.

What a sad and miserable life one must have to be jealous of someone on benefits. What a country we've become, people happy to take the bread out of the mouths of children. Squander some of your hard earned cash on a mirror OP and look yourself in the eye.

That’s very unlikely. I am a parent of 2 SEN kids, I get carers allowance, tax credits and both my dc get DLA, I have a lot more than £65 a week to live off.
one of my DC’s have just left home so my money has reduced some what but I still have around £122 a week to cover food, clothes. My biggest cost at the moment is fuel for my car which costs me £60pw (my carers allowance goes straight on fuel). Money is tight but we do have more than £65 a week. I do agree that benefits need to increase but wages also need to too. A lot of people are struggling, especially people on low incomes.

The lowest paid at my work are getting a 10% increase, so some people are getting a significant pay rise.

Can I ask what industry? I'm civil service so no increase for 10 years save for promotion and that's no longer a possibility so considering getting out.

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I absolutely agree. There’s plenty of people not getting an inflation pay-rise at the moment; for several people I know if benefits increased they would be better off not going to work. Everyone is struggling but most of us go to work for our money. Controversial maybe, but if you’re struggling then get a job. Work more hours, find childcare, work nights etc. It is getting very tiresome being in the middle and knowing there’s people out there not working, sitting at home all day but still having the same standard as living as us.

friend shared with me

I am sure your friend would be delighted to know how you are using her private information.

@IhateJan22 a care leave will be allocated approximately £70 per week towards housing themselves - they are only allowed this amount as they are expected to get board and lodging a room in a house share and that will be the case until they are 25 year old.

42% of claiments of UC are working, they are not unemployed, the are in general low paid and indeed there wages are not rising with inflation - something has got to give for them to make ends meet

Older generations were able to save, buy a home at a reasonable proportion to their salary, etc. so why have so many of them not saved for retirement?

Because not everyone was able to hop onto the property ladder or to save, the premise was pretty much pay enough of your stamps and you will receive a State pension when you retire. Of course now employers have to contribute I think it'll look different in the coming decades; but the notion that every elderly person is sitting on a nice nest egg yet demanding more money is just not true.

The lowest paid at my work are getting a 10% increase, so some people are getting a significant pay rise.

that ^ is not a payrise, however you look at it its not even keeping up with inflation - therefore its not a rise.

In which case they would be eligible for tax credits and other benefits...

Benefits by design are low, on the assumption that they are temporary and only provide for the bare minimum.

The problem is not benefits - its employers who pay below a liveable wage for a full week's wages and use the benefits system (via tax credits) to subsidise their businesses. You do know that most benefits recipients are actually working in these jobs?

My wealthy(ish - hasn’t had a mortgage since her mid 30s, retired at 65, various savings/investments, zero money worries) Boomer Grandmother was crying this weekend at the state of the UK.

She is 80 and grew up poor with a mother who worked 3 jobs (school cook 6am-2pm, seamstress, from home until around 7pm, waitress at weekends - 7 days a week for decades) and a father who couldn’t work due to the injuries he got when his parents died and he was shoved in a workhouse at four years old.

She is devastated that people are now living in the same, if not worse conditions than she did in her early life.

“What happened to progress? What happened to leaving this world better for the next generation? My children* certainly benefited from that, but my Grandchildren haven’t and I can’t let myself think what life will be like my Great Grandchildren if this continues.”

*My Dad is thrice divorced and an absolute fuck knuckle with money.

I’m a disabled single parent to 3, one of whom is disabled, I work full time in STEM, I rent, I get UC due to the disabilities in my household.

Even if I had extra money to save for a deposit, I wouldn’t be able to save fast enough unless it was around 2K a month for 24 months (based on today’s prices…) because as a single adult, despite my qualifications, I do not earn enough to get a mortgage for even a 3 bed, run down terrace in the worst areas in my county.

I had to take a different, less well paid job that has much higher flexibility and WFH options due to the needs of my child, and, for a while, my own medical needs. I was off sick for a year, at crisis point with both mental health and physical health. I sure as shit didn’t expect, as a healthy 30 something to get smacked down by Covid/long Covid, to be unable to do even the most basic tasks.

And yet during the last 3 years, I haven’t once cried about my finances. I’ve laid awake many a night worrying, spent countless hours pouring over spreadsheets, trying to squeeze out money that just isn’t fucking there.

But watching my Grandmother cry this weekend has done something to me.

I was so close close to my Great Grandmother, who died at 98 (compared to her husbands 51…) when I was 20, I could easily write a book about her life from memory.

I also don’t think most people realise how much certain aspects of Public Health, such as infant mortality, have dropped due to things like properly heated homes, access to decent food and the time to prepare proper meals. This concerns me the most.

Oh fucking lovely, another benefits bashing post.

@The4teddybears you are wasting your breath on here trying to explain that benefits are a lifestyle choice for many! I to work in a job in which i come into contact with many many people like this! They know exactly what they are doing what they are entitled to and its the hard working that pay for their lifestyle! Yes there are many vulnerable people on benefits but there are equally as many who have no intention of ever providing for themselves or their families! Also people with disabilities are exempt from the benefits cap!

ave not had a pay rise since before the pandemic and wouldn’t ask for one as our industry has taken a real hit

that's on you. Either your company can afford to pay you or it can't. If you want to get dragged down into supporting a company (who will fire you without a backward glance if it profits them to do so) that's your look-out. Everyone else doesn't have to get dragged down with you.

Brilliant I look forward to you finding me a job which allows

• the ability to drop everything when a child is ill.
• the ability to be able to attend on average 2 appointments plus different therapy sessions a week.
• abiluty to drop everything when their is an issue at school.
• doesn’t mind people who are sleep deprived because their child doesn’t sleep.
• allows time for the admin needed to keep said child alive.
• doesn’t require anything out of school hours because at 13 he needs full 1-1.

i could carry the list on but I think that’s enough for you to go on.

@ C8H10N4O2

Can we forget this idea that the low paid are all entitled to UC. It's misleading....

They aren't exactly low paid, BUT they can be spending up to £200 per week on work related expenses which are obviously not taken into account for UC purposes - think travel, tax, NI, pensions, student loans - then there are contributions needed for colleague's babies, retirements, etc, smart clothes for work, etc. These all bring take home pay down.

NOTE - I am in no way benefit bashing. I am trying to inform that too much is taken from workers and they are not all entitled to UC. It's like Chinese whispers handed down - not factual and quite misleading.

I wonder if the OP will be back, having lit the touch paper?