To think the cost of living payment should have been paid differently?

[muddlinthroughit]

Would like to think 99% of people have used it as it's meant, to help with food, fuel etc

However, on my socials today I have seen 1 person spend it on nails and 2 tattoos, and another on a PS5....

Not sure that's what it's meant for?

We have put ours aside for food and power and to help with Xmas

I’m spending ours on replacing my cracked phone screen which I use for work. I claimed on the insurance for it but haven’t been able to get it done because we needed the money for food shopping. Then my husband and I might use some of it to go out for a meal together for the first time this year. Oh and then I’ll use the remainder to buy things for the Dunelm Christmas bag I’ve signed up to donate to a family. Is that acceptable? The £66 from our electricity company will go on food shopping/fuel too.

To be honest if people are routinely spending it on meals out etc, it doesn’t make me annoyed but it proves you don’t really need it to start with? It’s supposed to be an emergency payments for basics.

It’s called a Cost of Living payment, it’s doesn’t need to be used on fuel.
Ours admittedly has been used for heating oil as we couldn’t afford to buy it any other way but people are fully entitled to use it on fuel, Christmas presents, clothes, anything they feel they need. It’s not up to anyone else to judge.

Mine went into the pot. We got Dd some winter clothes she needed and Dh some wool socks as he freezes, I got a couple of nice fleece throws and a rechargeable lamp. Then what Evers left is part of the grocery/coffee out/petrol side of life.

I’m allowed to comment if I want to. It’s public spending which should never be beyond reproach. Of course people can spend it how they want, it’s just indicative that for many people it’s not really needed.

But it then frees up the equivalent amount of money from that person's income to spend on things they would not normally be able to afford. Living on very little is shit so when there's a chance to make it better then people (whoever they are), will take it. Whether it's getting nails done, being able to buy a Christmas present you otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford or going on a holiday for the first time since forever. Why would anyone begrudge that from people who are on incomes low enough to trigger the CoL payment is beyond me.

Because people who can’t claim anything are very often in this position as well. So it will naturally grate to see their taxes being spent on nails and meals out, because they won’t be able to do these things. I claim nothing and can’t afford to piss away £35 getting my nails done 🤷🏼‍♀️ why should I be thrilled that someone else is?

About as frustrating as it is for those who have qualified who usually live on the bones of their arse watching other people have holidays and days out and all those things I’d imagine.

You don’t seem to be able to separate money that is earned through work and money that isn’t.

Benefits are literally money taken from working people to give to those that are either on very low incomes, working part time or don’t work at all.

It is much more galling to see money you’ve earned going on some bloke’s PS5 than it is to see him use it to heat his house for his kids, which nobody would begrudge.

When I can’t afford a great present for my DD this year why should I be happy that the money taken from me to give to others is being spent on nails?

Maybe you need to qn who you're friends with or whom you follow on socials if your values are so differently aligned?

Don't worry, in the next few months their money will be gone and they will be back to worrying about how they are going to pay the bills and you can be happy again. Which is the whole point of what I wrote, this is a brief respite in a thoroughly miserable life.

So what are people on benefits permitted? Is it OK to get the kids a single, cheap second hand Xmas present as long as they promise to not get any enjoyment from it? I assume all year they subsist on day old bread, beans and potatoes so is a little meat or fruit allowed at Xmas?

If they get benefit top ups do they get to use those for bills then spend wages freely or most wages be spent on bills first and then benefits on day old bread and potatoes?

Personally I'm off to squander your Hard Earned Money on a sausage sandwich and maybe even a cake.

Then my husband and I might use some of it to go out for a meal together for the first time this year tbh this is a bit irritating. We don't qualify and haven't had a meal out for years and won't be able to in the foreseeable future.

But I won’t be happy, because I will be worrying about bills too. That’s my point. Why do some posters have such a hard time understanding that people who don’t claim UC can also be struggling? In fact, quite a lot of us are. On here it’s UC = poor and no UC = rich.

I wouldn’t call a PS5 a cheap present though, would you? You seem to be completely missing the idea of the payment. It’s supposed to be for basics - heating, food, bills. If you refuse to acknowledge that paying for someone else’s PS5 when we can’t afford one is galling then you’re in denial.

I'm in the support group and I got it, so I'd imagine so :)

I am in LCWRA too, and get the payment. Not everyone has had it yet.

Thank you @BeyondThinkOfTheOptics

I know it's early days, I'm trying to be patient, but I need to get my nails done!

Joke. It's the 'end of the month' for me and some food would be lovely.

Thank you @XenoBitch . Fingers crossed.

I'm creating random freezer meals with rice or pasta!

We don’t go to the pub/cinema/have any hobbies/get takeaways so are we not allowed to go to a Wetherspoons and spend a bit of time together enjoying a meal one of us hasn’t had to cook? Clearly we should just live off stale bread and be miserable and cold at home.

Honestly I couldn’t care less what people spend it on. If Babs down the road wants to have a takeaway or get a haircut and it makes her happy and forget about the shit this government is putting us all through at the moment then fair play to her.

Of course you couldn’t care less, because you’re a recipient 🙄

But they're going to have to find the money for bills from somewhere so yes, maybe they've paid for a ps5 outright and then will add an extra £10 on the power each week instead of getting it on credit and putting the extra cash on their metre. It's just semantics.

So yes our extra money will be drawn out and used for Xmas (despite me living it large in carers so generous allowance), the £66 will go onto the power and we won't be "gaining" anything fun but it's really not anyone's business what's done with it. If the Govt cared that much it would be vouchers to buy bread and milk.

Yes but then they’ll be pleading poverty, saying they can’t afford the extra £10 for the energy and that they need more help. Then what? We fork out for another payment?

Honestly, the way some people are moaning on here about the payment, you would have thought someone marched them to a cashpoint, forced them to withdrawal £324, and hand it to a passing stranger.

Except we're talking about isolated people so no, how much power do yo u think they have? Not everyone I nrecioet of benefits is a feckless waster spending your money on drink and games consoles.