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....

I'll use my extra £20 a month to pay the extra £80 a month my energy bills have increased by.

The standing rate charge is shocking! For gas and electricity for all customers 😵

NC. For those Mumsnetters who do still care, I can confirm that this is still the case in Britain in 2023. My profoundly disabled, doubly incontinent, now young adult son is restricted to four nappies a day. When I explained that he needed more than that, usually eight in 24 hours, I was told to change him less.

He needs 24/7 care and I provide that. He is very much loved but it's hard. Even with the 10% increase, my Carers Allowance of £76.75 a week works out at about 45p per hour. Don't all rush at once.

And yet, the state is willing to pay £300,000 per person a year to private profitmaking care providers for individual residential care placements, and with so many reports of abuse taking place within them.
Assaults, neglect and a Taser revealed in ‘deeply shocking’ BBC care home investigation - BBC News

Absolutely this! 👍🏻

10% is alot if your on good money 10% on benefits isn't much.

Sal

@QueenCamilla

Ok I'll play along

Rice - £0.48
Pasta - £0.41
Tinned tomatoes x 2 - £0.90
Minced beef - £2.49 (would do 4 portions)
Chicken breast - £2.55 (2/3 meals)
Fish fingers (10) - £1.50
Potatoes - £1.50
Broccoli - £0.72
Peepers - £1.39
Carrots - £0.40
Apples - £0.89 (6)
Bananas - £0.75 (6)
Kiwi fruits - £0.95 (6)
Oranges - £0.80 (5)
Chickpeas/kidney beans etc - £1.10 (2 cans)
Bread - £1.00
Soft cheese - £0.83
Tuna - £0.55
Cucumber - £0.50
Baby plum toms - £0.69
Yoghurt tubes - £0.99
Frozen peas -£0.55
Baked beans - £0.50
Cheese - 1.50 (half a pack?)
Cereal - £1.00 (own brand shreddies or similar)
Milk - £1.60

I would assume cereal for breakfast, a sandwich with soft cheese, cheese or tuna for lunch with toms/cucumber/ carrot , a yoghurt tube and piece of fruit (or maybe a jacket potato with tuna/cheese/beans

Cottage pie/bolognaise/chilli with the mince and chicken with veg/potatoes or pasta and then fish fingers with potatoes/peas or baked beans one night. Even do a couple of veggie nights to eek out the meat

There are 23 portions of fruit in the list and within peppers and the other veg would give 5 a day fruit/veg

Ok so you'll need some stock cubes and bits and pieces but on the flip slide the bag of rice and pasta would cover a shield more than 1 week

All of the above is from Tesco, so not likely the cheapest option either and comes in at c£25

I know her too!!! There's a member of her family in every town - only her sister has 8 blue badges and goes to Barbados...

@Sadless public and private payrises are nowhere near 10%. More like 2% if you are lucky, which works out (on an average wage) between £30 - £40 extra per month.
Everyone is dealing with rising living costs. The issue to me is not the rises given, which are not enough but the fact that life has got so much more expensive. Some people are protected from the rises either by reducing expenditure or by using savings but not everyone has this luxury. You can only cut back so much.
What infuriates me is that more than 50% of people require financial support and neither party seems to be putting forward policies to deal with the privatisation of the basics. A roof over your head, affordable childcare/travel/healthy food/utilities and a functioning health service. The public are not asking for much but the Tories are busy asset stripping everything in sight and Labour can't seem to work out what a woman is, so I am unsure if they have the balls to run an economy during tough times.

YABU...Wish my wage would have gone up 10% 🤣

And to me that's disgusting that someone not working can be on similar money that someone on a full time job. Too many people abusing the system and still moaning about it!

It infuriates me how huge amounts of public money ( via benefits) are being directed into landlords pockets. It is just so short sighted and I can't believe there isn't more uproar over this. They would rather pay rents of £1500 + a month through housing benefit and UC than invest in building affordable social housing.

10% of £80 is very small. That is some people's weekly income. To pay for utilities, food, clothing, council tax etc.

I got mine today too, I think it's paid in arrears and as it only went up on the 6th it won't be the full amount this payment but the next one will be the full amount

Bless you, I think you're right.

It's a cheering thought that in the midst of this government's chaos and incompetence they have at least given benefits an inflation rise.

It's absolutely right, and I'm happy you said this. It's lovely to see the positives just for once.

@JCHL
Would it be feasible to use nappy liners? 8 adult size nappies daily seems a lot going to landfill. That's 3000 per year.
I'm sorry to hear that you have such a lot on your plate (my words) and I do think that home carers are not looked after as much as they should be compared to social care which can cost the government thousands every month. It may be more comfortable for some individuals with continence issues, to have a discreet incontinence bag.

Single people on a basic pension get £203.85. That definitely is not anywhere near a nurse's salary.

I'm a severely disabled widowed parent on disability and unable to work. My housing association have quickly increased my rent by EXACTLY the amount that my benefits have increased by

Considering inflating isn’t the 10% they keep faking but more 30-40%. 10% isn’t enough as it hasn’t gone up in line with inflation for years at this point. What I’m saying it should be more just to stay in line with actual costs incurred. It’s still a real terms decrease.

I dont begrudge benefits going up by 10%, but there are a lot of people out there, who struggle to pay their bills and buy food, and who cant claim benefits because they are classed as earning to much. Its people like these that need to 10% raise. Its people like these who dont qualify for "free" school dinners, or help with the cost of school uniforms, because they are aeen as being able to afford them, when in reality they are ysimg food banks. Its them I feel sorry for.

I completely understand that employers aren't giving their staff 10%, but for those of us who are disabled, unable to work, and have to scrape by with the pittance we get in benefits, it's definitely welcomed.
The big things though, are that inflation climbed pretty much every month last year and we've had to wait until now to see this extra bit of cash, meaning we've had to cut back, and cut back more, every single month for the past year.
The government says that our food bills have grown by 16 or 17%, which, even if that were actually true, is still a bigger increase than we've received, and that's just groceries, never mind rents, mortgages, utilities, travel costs, etc, etc.
I scan my shopping receipts into an app, and recently compared receipts from two identical baskets of 25 grocery items from February 2022 and February 2023, and the cost increased in price by 53%, nowhere near the government's stated 16 or 17%.
I know everyone is feeling these massive price increases, but surely, it has to be easier to swallow them when you're on even £20k/yr than it is when you're scraping by on government benefits of (in many cases) less than half that amount, and some of us still have mortgages to pay too.

😂

I'm bed bound and doubly incontinent, and have the same problem. And they won't supply any bed protection at all, so I either need to pay for that myself, or have sheets and mattress washed twice a day.

Despite my condition worsening, my councils payment towards my care has halved in the past 2 years, and with a carer for me now costing £20 per hour, it's just impossible.

With the benefit raises I'll get approximated £100 extra per month. The council will immediately take 50% of that towards "self funding" my care, and I still won't be able to pay the energy bills or eat properly.

Being on benefits is Nirvana, clearly.

Oooh, an increase! This might mean that I can now eat something every day instead of every 2 or 3 days to ensure the DC have enough to eat. And we can have showers every 2 days instead of every 3 days to save on oil for heating the water. I'm so excited 😂😂😢

Yes I was so surprised and happy when the uplift in child benefit hit my bank. It meant I could afford bus travel a few days that week to do the nursery drop off and go into office with some left over for snacks

Oohh... what app is that? Think I need to try this