To notice the 10% benefit rise and know I'm on the bones of my ass

[Letspovertyplayagain]

I know it's tiny. But when you are properly skint after everything you notice this tiny rise will mean some strawberries for the kids or some fresh milk instead of uht. This is for the people who complain they are poor or feeling the pinch when they really have no idea. And define their poverty as not going on holidays....

Most people on UC are expected to work or work search. The only exceptions are if you have a child under 3, are disabled, or are a carer.

I'm not in healthcare but I do work for the local council. They pay living wage or thereabouts for a lot of staff £10.90 -£12.00 some for quite specialised roles, things like bin lorry drivers where you need an HGV licence for example. By keeping wages low you preserve the budget otherwise you'd have to raise council tax. People, especially those with children or high rents, will often be subsidised by UC. Obviously the UC is paid for by general taxation but as long as it's not coming from their pot. I don't get an awful lot of UC but it's a gateway benefit for cost of living payments and the Scottish child payment so I'm much better off than I would be otherwise.

I think if I've totted everything up right I will be an extra £100 or so a month richer which is a higher than 10% increase really but the increase in the work allowance of nearly sixty quid means I get an extra £33 plus 10% if that makes sense?

That it literally the point though. It makes significantly more sense to raise public sector pay for people like nurses, teachers than to keep it low and merely increase benefit top ups instead.

I suspect from an economics point of view it makes sense to pay top up benefits when people have children rather than raise wages. Poor people will have to work longer, are more stressed and die younger. If you increase wages then you have to pay throughout peoples working lives and then again through pensions.

I don't agree with it. I'm just a bit pessimistic about the prospects of the system changing.

The income level to get prescription help hasn't been moved either despite min wage going up last couple years. More low income families have been pushed over the threshold but not any better financially than before due to cost of living increases. I relied quite heavily on help for things like eye tests but I'm about £100 over the cut off point now 🙄.

Oh, that’s easy, it’s because it came across as mean spirited, nitpicky and goady on a thread about people struggling with life’s basics.

From what I gather, the strikes are more about the working conditions than the pay. Or pay versus working conditions
I know a lot of nurses, and none are on UC. If they are on UC, and using foodbanks like media will have you believe, then everyone under their pay band will be cap in hand at food banks, and asking the Job Centre for an advance payment. That is not happening.

@Letspovertyplayagain ❤️❤️❤️

Totally agree.

Some of my ILs think that everyone on benefits is getting 100's every week and living the life of Riley. They insist that I'm wrong when I explain that a single person without children gets £77 pw/£344 a month to pay for everything, including (in many areas) 20% of their council tax, and probably a fair bit of their rent as housing benefit/UC rarely covers the full amount thanks to the freezing of local housing allowance for years.

I work in welfare rights and check people's benefits every working day, but they still maintain that I'm wrong and everyone on a low income is actually rich as Croesus.

They can easily be entitled to UC if they're renting in the private sector and they live in a high rent area.

I did a benefit check for a nurse the other day, she has 3 kids and her rent is £1,500 a month. She was entitled to quite a bit of UC, despite being on almost £36k a year.

DMum's attendance allowance has gone up by the exact amount her care package cost has increased.....

I'd love a 10% pay rise.

I'm sure it's a minority who are using foodbanks. That said how do you know who is claiming UC? I have children and some childcare costs, I own rather than rent. I'd have to take home more than £3.1k a month not to get any UC. As it is I take home £2.2K so they take £900 off of my entitlements. I wouldn't talk about it though. Generally people assume I am not on benefits, I work for the local council and often listen to people complain about scroungers etc.

I'm sure there are Nurses witrh families who have to claim too. Just because you are working full time doesn't mean you won't need top up benefits.

Get Cancer like me it's incurable though you'll love it , I love being on benefits now 'til I die .

I get contribution based ESA, did you get that, contribution based, it is based on how much NI I have paid in.

I also get a pension, again something I paid in to.

Half my ESA is taken away because of my pension.

So I have paid double what many people have 'paid in'.

My universal credit is reduced by both the ESA and the pension.

I also got a pay rise at work, btw. One of the measly ones being complained about, less than 3%. It’s still more than my benefits increase, because that’s how percentages work. 3% of a larger figure is still more in actual coins than 10% of the smaller figure.

Perhaps those whinging ‘I wish I had a 10% pay rise’ would change their minds when offered the actual money. Sure,
10% sounds dramatic and vast. But whinging ‘I wish I had an extra 30p a day!’ sounds pathetic (because it is). Even more so when you throw in ‘I wish I was permanently disabled so I could have an extra £9 a week!’

Well if you take the avg take home weekly pay of a new qualified single nurse, approx £450, then lets assume he or she was (not likely) was made redundant, said Nurse would get approx £80 per week.

Thats the issue, benefits need to be more tied to contributions that someone has contributed in.

How come Germany & many other EU countries can pay many times more in unemployment benefits, often linked to former earnings too?

If we aren't going to do that, then benefits need to increase to more reflect the cost of living.

I wonder how many people on here who have a great household income, have any idea how much you don't get if you become unemployed?

But like much else discussed on MN political threads, the real question is "What has become of the 100s of billions we pay in each and every year?"

Ok so do it then. Break down 3 meals per day, no cupboard ingredients, adding up to a total of £3.42 per day for the first child and £2.06 for any subsequent child. Each meal has to meet the recommended nutritional value for children.

Thats the issue, benefits need to be more tied to contributions that someone has contributed in.

And for those who cannot 'contribute in'?

How would it work?

Its not an either or.

this is the problem with people in this country, they cannot think a little differently.

Other european countries manage to have contributory benefits AND provide far better benefits for the disabled, the sick etc.

SSP in the UK is what, £93 pw... who the heck can live on that?

Germany : This is 70% of your last regular earnings (regular salary), but no more than 90% of the net earnings. You receive sick pay until the end of the medically certified period of unfitness for work. But for the same illness, the sick pay is paid out for a maximum of 78 weeks over a period of three years

Its not an either or.

My mistake.

Child benefit for two children this month has gone up to £7. Guess that will buy a pack of dummies and a pack of snacks! 😂

@banjaxxed
What?!
I eat similar amounts to a young child. Generously rounding up to £3.50 daily my food budget would be 24.50 a week.
I'd love to see the shopping list!
It's just... 😂😂

@QueenCamilla it's laughable isn't it?

I'd love to see how well stocked @banjaxxed cupboards and freezer is 🙄

Those who are comfortable just don't understand the lack of basic supplies those using food banks really have. Every packet of rice or pasta is eeked out.

Geta10percentriseitsgreat

That's uncalled for.