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 .

I think if you had ever been at the lower end then you wouldn’t feel so rubbish about being in the middle.

Being on benefits/ very low income is not good at all.
Yes you get FSM and your rent paid but you don’t get much other money after that, which is exactly why things like FSM are available as some people literally cannot afford to eat.

Unfortunately, the media does portray the lowest incomes as being better off but that’s simply not true (else they wouldn’t be the lowest) and you’ll find those that are ok on benefits is only because they get things like disability - which I’d rather not get and have my health.

It is going to get worse too; April will bring even more problems. Higher energy costs and no help unless you are deemed vulnerable. I don't know what I am going to do. Sell a kidney at this rate...

Yep, the problem is a shrinking tax population & an ageing population. Not too mention the huge inflation of assets which has really skewed things against the young.
Things are only going to get worse.

I will say this clearly for the people who can't seem to grasp it MANY MANY PEOPLE WHO RECEIVE BENEFITS WORK.

We are getting the COL payment. We have an income of £25k a year with DP working full time and me working weekends. DP worked all through lockdown. We get very little quality time together as DP works shifts and does as much overtime as he can. 2 weeks ago he worked from 9.30am to 10pm.

I'm working this Saturday 7.30am until 6pm for just under £100. How many people on here would give up their Saturdays for that?

Apart from one payment of child benefit we get £45 a month tax credits. Does anyone want to swap their higher wage for my COL payment?

I don't begrudge benefits to working people & the disabled. Think child benefit should be higher & universal.

I don't even think this should be discussion about benefits vs no benefits, but rather about maybe recognising that more people are fucked so changing some thresholds for one of helps. Which I understand would be difficult to do, but that threshold is redundant now.

If you are talking about having an amount of disposable income at the end of the month that's good.

That's nonsense! There has to be incentive to work otherwise why bother?

you are right @BosaNova

Sorry OP but there have been endless threads just like this.

I absolutely agree OP. I am a key worker - working through the lockdowns. With the recent cost of living increases, wage stagnation etc I now have NO disposable income. What’s the point? Can’t afford to do anything except pay (most of) the bills. Although I know many people on benefits who struggle every day, I also know families who receive more in benefits than the full time salaries of the people who support them. Some haven’t worked in years. How is that right? We need to be able to have honest conversations about this. And the longer this goes on the more it leads to resentment towards those in receipt of help rather than blaming those in power who made this mess and should be sorting it out. I want wages to be high enough so people can provide for their families and have a bit of a life too and for our taxes to support those in genuine need. At the moment there is nothing left to squeeze!!

The thing I am finding is the increased pressure to be back in the office thus fuel costs seem massive having not travelled much throughout covid.
I don't know what is worse the petrol/diesel cost or the heating when I WFH.

I have some sympathy. People who take the tax burden are probably near the limit of what they’ll want to pay.

There’s always ‘the government need to fund.. on and on’ but it’s just taxes we pay.

And? Do you post that on every thread as its unlikely there's many unique threads?
Work/school/family/friends/weddings and so on ad infinitum......

I completely get this. We both have decent jobs. But we are the middle zone that gets no support but struggles. I understand that there are people worse off than us and they definitely deserve help. But I really feel we fall between the ok no matter what and those that get help.

I’m a ‘rare’ single parent that is receipt of zero benefits and pay middle rate tax on earnings. definitely getting a little resentful of cost of living help for couples. Childcare and housekeeping help should be tax deductible for single people as these are necessities to facilitate working at all. I worked all through covid and have no assistance for a child with additional learning needs.

YANBU it pisses me off too. I have a friend who has more disposable than me, a combo of part time hours work, maintenance from the ex, working tax credits, and her son's pip. She admits she "plays the game" ie only works 16 hours etc. We've fallen out over it before so now we just avoid taking about money. Very few outgoings as the ex also pays the mortgage on the house she still lives in as well as maintenance.

This thread is completely how I feel. I don't know where I am on the income scale but I basically have £4k a month to spend with 2 kids who live with me. It's a decent amount and up until a few months ago it covered gym membership, petrol and all bills comfortably. I've had to cancel the gym membership, cycle to work most days and am strict about my use of gas and electricity. I'm going up to my limit every month now, in spite of the changes I've made. I don't put myself in the struggling category but I do feel a bit nervous about what's to come. I don't feel I can reasonably cut back much more.

There's also the point that I don't necessarily mind funding things but the services aren't improving or won't be there for me. Free prescriptions over 60 won't be around much longer, state pension age will keep raising & may be means tested & I can't see the NHS existing as it currently is in a decade or so. I have young dc & am really annoyed about the education cuts.

re funding half goes on social protection (pension and welfare) and health

That’s a fair amount that’s hard to deal with as population ages

They can't make those who got furlough responsible for paying for it! They didn't have a choice if their workplace shut down on government instruction.

Well I am mid 30s and I am 100% positive there will be no pension by the time I reach the required age of 178...

Now seriously, I don't count on getting state pension

Since the cost of living payment started hitting bank accounts last week, my local wetherspoons and other bars are very busy

Not solely no, but they can pay like the rest òf us will!

Yes yes yes agree 100%.

Worked so hard all my life and clawed myself out of poverty to get to where I am now... Just a little comfortable, buy some luxuries, splurge a little here, gift a little there, enough to actually enjoy life and then BHAM!

Back to being the penny pinching peasant I was. Can't catch a break.

The UK simply isn’t as across the board wealthy a country as people think. An average person in the top 10% of earners in the UK is among the richest (nationally speaking) on the planet - much wealthier than the average top 10% in Germany, France, or Australia.

But the AVERAGE British person - ie, someone around the 50% mark in wealth terms, has a significantly worse standard of living than their French, German, Dutch, American, Australian, Irish etc counterpart.

But this isn’t a new state of affairs caused by Russia or Brexit etc. It’s been this way since Thatcher. Mostly Conservative rule the past half century has created a country with many very wealthy people. That’s not the same as a very wealthy country.