To , just once ,ask is anyone else fed up of being the squeezed middle?

[Wildandallthatjazz]

Thats it really. !

Yes , on mn , its seen as a privilege to have a mortgage, a job etc .

But sometimes it feels hard and you just wish that you got a break . Recognition of the hard slog maybe .

I am not begrudging those on benefits who got the extra payment support, its more about just wanting to have a treat / a bonus/ etc .. a spare bit of money.. a boost .. the heating on … or maybe recognition that the middle can struggle too ?

I totally accept that people can struggle and need help , sort of also feel the struggling middle are invisible ? ( and not seen to have the’ right ‘to have a little moan as it does you good sometimes )

I do think we are incredibly lucky to live in a county with a welfare state, nhs, free gp care I really do .
But sometimes, it just would be nice not to feel you are paying taxes , working as much as possible, and to be able not to feel squeezed all the time and the need to just have a grump about it .

sometimes it is good to let of steam .. when you cant IRL

and then you move on in a more positive fashion .

The economy is absolutely dependent on people willing to work their arse off as SMEs. It's incredibly hard work.

This is true. And precisely why I favour tapered corporation tax relief based on profits. Pay you staff properly, make a fair wage yourself, be better off than PAYE. Pay your staff peanuts, make huge sums yourself, be taxed to the heavens by corporation tax.

It's the new way of life. The middle class have become the new working class, the working class are the new poor. And the poor are barely surviving. But the rich stay rich.

Very well said.

Absolutely agree. I am a benefits advisor and see both sides. Some people are absolutely struggling on basic UC. Others ( particularly some pensioners) are really not doing bad at all. Disability benefits for people over state pension age, I feel are very easy to get compared to those for working age people and very generous premiums for pension credit etc. Even one penny of pension credit guarantee a week will get your rent and council tax paid in full. However things are changing because I think the government have realized now how unsustainable it is. The new state pension has risen so less people in the future will need to claim pension credit and all the expensive means tested freebies that come with it. Mixed age couples now have to claim Uc rather than pension credits and it is a lot less generous, people are a lot worse off and the younger of the couple obviously has work commitments on UC unless they are too ill to work or are a carer. So no more having a much younger spouse who chooses not to work and the pensioner can claim pension credits for them. Things are going to be a lot less generous in the future for sure as the current benefit spending is unsustainable.

@FarFromTheStart ? what benefits?

It's really not unusual to inherit a large sum if you're a Londoner due to the insane house price growth.

To be honest I don't know anyone who is not feeling the pinch. Mortgage rates going right up, fuel very expensive, heating so expensive also and food getting more expensive every time I shop. I keep thinking what next, but I suppose that will be power cuts in January.

This is a problem that has been building for decades and subsequent governments have done nothing to address the root of the problem.

Everyone has the right to a home, adequate food and basic utilities. Unfortunately, in the quest for more wealth slowly every industry has been turned into a profitable business. It has led to the situation that just acquiring the basics requires an increasingly higher salary, which is unsustainable.

I have no idea what the solution is. I want a system that looks after the young, the old and the vunerable but does not leave the average worker feeling that they only exist to work and pay the bills. Earning an average wage should mean that you get to have a few nice extras.

Benefits and pensions to increase by 10%.

I'm looking at a 2-4% pay rise - if I’m lucky. No bonuses or increments. Just the cost of living increase. Being in local government for many years I had nil pay rise. Something wrong somewhere! Starting to think I’m a fool, mortgage going up £300 month in January, energy gone up £200 a month and going up again in January. Diesel to get to work is nearly £2 a litre. There is a limit - I don’t have lots of spare cash sitting around.

I am one of those currently not paying tax. I paid tax on my salary for 40 years and always at the basic rate. I do not claim any top ups etc. I suspect that there are many in my position.

Genuine question, do you think that the people caught committing benefit fraud are the only ones doing it?

The figure given by the DWP for fraud must be like HMRC give for tax evasion is based on numbers caught but I would hazard a guess the number is greater.

I think that’s it, you feel you can’t complain about anything as there’s always someone with bigger problems. I run my own business and work a part time job too to be able to earn enough to live off. Today for example my alarm went before 6 to work at my business for 2 hours before work, to then go to work, come home and start working at my business again til about 5 minutes ago. My alarm will go before 6 again tomorrow to keep going 🙄 I barely even got to spend any time with my child today, I saw him for less than 2 hours and I was busy working the whole time. We’re not going any fancy holidays, dinners out etc, I’m working that hard just to be able to pay the mortgage, the bills, the council tax and the food shopping.
My in laws don’t work and have chosen not to work for the last 30 years almost. They are on benefits and I’m not saying they’re by any means rich but their bills are all paid and they have a long lie every morning. They make such a big thing of not being able to do anything in the morning as they don’t get up early, meanwhile I feel like I’m constantly sprinting from one thing to the next, I’d be lucky if I get 5/6 hours sleep a night and I’m in my overdraft every month without fail 😩 I think I just feel like they rub salt in the wound a lot and have no concept of our lives when I would die for even a long lie til 8 o’clock never mind a day off at this point 🙈

The government know but don’t care. The middle class largely keep everything going. We pay the most tax

Furlough money should be claimed back from the companies. I know one which claimed £tens of thousands in CJRS support and then paid millions profit out shareholders dividends.

@Babyroobs excellent post thank you. I work in a similar area and agree, the gap that has opened up between working and retirement age benefits is enormous. I think they’ll continue to almost attack the retirement benefits by stealth though… eg keeping income tax and allowance thresholds unchanged (including social care).

overall I just don’t see how the middle can keep being squeezed?? With higher prices, higher mortgage and higher taxes, what will people have to do to find a way to pay?

I think they might be noticing it in the NHS. A consultant friend has just gone down to a one and a half day week for the reasons you highlight.
He has already reached the lifetime allowance on his pension. He says a few of his colleagues are thinking of doing the same.

I know I’m lucky private income, early retirement, Parkinson’s can’t walk very far or stand, nor the right qualifications for desk job. I’ll never work again at 60.
can’t drive to unknown eye issues, it was so different not so long ago…."..I still lived alone then as I do now

Per capita, no, you don’t. The higher earners pay more in absolute terms, per person, and in percentage terms, based on their income.

Yes, the pension allowance is a real issue, especially in the NHS.

Outside the NHS the inability to find pensions at all is the issue. DH paid down the mortgage in earlier years, intending to pay into his pension later, but now he la only allowed to put in around £5k per year in terms of tax-free savings.

In my experience I would say it's rife ! I never trust the 'official' figures !!

Well no one asked the govt to ignore pandemic modelling completely putting them massively on the back foot, to funnel public £millions to their mates, to spend £9bn on unusable PPE and £37bn on a useless t&t system run by an incompetent, or to run an eat out campaign which actually cost the public purse money, and also Liz Truss' little ideological game recently cost us an extra £30bn.

What were people meant to do? Force their kids into a closed school so they could go and work in their job that no longer existed?

And I don't know where you are but I heard a shitload of people complaining!

I am a single person household. In the 5 years I’ve been on my own, I have been bottom of the pile for leave, etc (you don’t have kids/a husband, so why would you want leave in the summer?), I worked all the way through the pandemic (often at 16 hour days, trying to get student nurses qualified more quickly, to help the NHS), and don’t get anything other than the single person council tax allowance.
I am in Scotland, and I actually take home about £50 a month LESS than I did when I started my current job, 6 years ago. Our rate of NI & income tax has gone up, our salaries have not, and our pension schemes have been decimated. Wouldn’t be so bad if there was actually any decent kind of pay deal on the table. Is it little wonder we’ve been called out on strike, beginning next week?

But the money still has to come from somewhere!! If everyone goes part time where do you think this will come from?? 🤔

Maybe if everyone went part time the Gov would realise they need to do something!

Im terrified of what’ll be said on Thursday!

What were people meant to do? Force their kids into a closed school so they could go and work in their job that no longer existed?

apparently so 😆

My husband is in the police, and currently supporting full time PCs to access food banks.

Police also havent had a payrise, they're not permitted to strike. DH worked 12-20 hour days, 7 days a week during the pandemic as isolation meant no staff.

Even now, his team should have 9 PCs & 2 PCSOs he has 2 PCs & no PCSOs. His PCs keep being poached by response as they dont have enough either & the workload is increasing. One of his PCs just killed themselves last month.

Every officer has to work harder for less, and they cant even strike! And the media seems to enjoy turning them into the bad guys.