£3 busfares will ruin me

[Deportationsensation]

Busfare cap to increase to £3. That’s £6 a day for buses. £10 extra a week.

My food budget for 1 person is £10 a week. So that’s my food money gone to pay for buses.

I can’t work more hours. I do what I can in working part time because I have health issues that would not qualify for PIP but affect me every day. Not qualifying for any benefits other than probably food bank use. Which I will now have to do.

AIBU to just start wondering what is the point? Life isn’t supposed to be like this. Some of us are just trying to survive with no enjoyment in life at all.

This is perfectly put and exactly the case. Thank you.

You are MORE LIKELY to get a diagnosis if you are articulate and educated and white.

Thats completely fucked up. And because we know this is a reality (data supports it) we also know theres a whole bunch of people who can't navigate the system and get the help and support they need BOTH health and financial.

The cost to society from this is actually huge. It means that people have real barriers to work (and getting OFF benefits) and it means they are more likely to resort to criminal activity.

Meanwhile theres a whole bunch of people who are judging someone who thinks that £10 a week more might make a huge difference to their life JUST to get to work.

Never as part of this does anyone ever consider how things like money management are actually a problem to certain people BECAUSE of their health or mental health issues either. And you can't get access to this help and support for similar reasons (how do you afford the phone call or the bus fare to see someone?)

Someone who DOES have a recognised health condition and IS on benefits falls under the same issue. People have made this thread about the OP because she once bought hair extentions but for me are actually missing the point about just how essential those buses are.

Someone who can't afford the bus this week and misses their medical appointment? Their condition gets worse and ends up costing the NHS more because they don't get prompt enough interventions. Someone who needs support with independent living and access to social services for genuine reason - this services are increasing centralised and inaccessible. This means theres a greater risk of falling into homelessness.

All cos of the bus.

Honestly the bus is a life line for so many. Particularly those in the hardest of circumstance. Combined with an aging population who may no longer be able to drive and the climate related issues, cheap bus fares really should be a key priority. Not an afterthought. They are a service used by the most in need.

this is so spot on - so well written!

For various reasons I'm acutely aware of The NHS Doom Loop.

I honestly don't think anyone in my immediate closest social circle does. I think its indicative of anyone who is reasonably well off and educated being detatched from this experience during their working life time. Its only when they get older or encounter through having to care for someone else it that they realise just how bad it is and how essential those bus services are.

You are all drastically missing the point.

Disability or not. If you have no money, you'll get UC. On a part time wage, she's getting her rent paid by UC too. Why does her doctor recognise zero wrong with her, when I see thousands of people a year who have doctors letters and medical evidence.

I work for a charity who deals with vulnerable and low income people, and these days, I repeat as I said at the very start of this post, the majority of people look at you like you're insane when you suggest they should prioritise actual food over lashes/updating iPhones/nails.

Always with the indignant: "so because I'm poor you think I don't deserve anything nice, yeah??"

No. i can't believe I need to say this to a fucking adult but this is how entitled people are I'm saying that if you can't prioritise putting food in your mouth over getting multiple beauty treatments, then you need to accept that is the issue. It's not that you have no money. You just want to spend beyond your means on luxury items then pretend you had no agency over that choice, or are entitled/deserve it.

I would say 20% of the people we help are actually, genuinely struggling, and it's worth everything to help those 20%, even though it means bearing the 80% of people described above.

I'm guessing you're not in the shit situation of having a rare medical condition? I do and nobody believes it actually causes symptoms and they refuse to believe that I have the issues I say I do

For the UC, we don't know the OP's living situation. It could be renting, it could be living with family and i know UC take others wages into account so it's a weird one. I'd deffo advise OP to raise a UC claim.

On the subject of PIP/DWP, PIP does state you don't need a diagnosis, only proof of how your daily living is affected in the areas they ask about (preparing food, eating/drinking, managing finances, mobility etc). But i also know that many of the assessments are basically almost bullying. I was lucky i didn't have that experience myself and they accepted my evidence but again, that relies on my luck for having a GP, multiple consultants and psychiatrist showing their evidence. Without that, i doubt i would have had a good experience.

OP @Deportationsensation are there any UK charities in relation to what you struggle with health wise? They may be well placed to help with UC or PIP applications. I know you mentioned MH upthread, i believe MIND do this. But also Citizens advice are helpful and can assist you with the applications. Have you previously tried to apply?

I don't. One of my DC has a condition. Another almost certainly does, but is too young to determine as yet.

Irrelevant to the fact that this is what I deal with day in, day out. And I knew from the "I've only got £10 a week for food" that OP would fall into the 80% category I see. I can't explain quite why there are certain phrases that virtually nail on whether someone is genuine need, or chooses to spend their money on treats then whinges they have none left. Zero surprise to see that OP declares herself high maintenance, "the works" with nails and lashes....yet only £10 a week for food.

We issue £50 food vouchers for store shopping. We also issue food parcels (nice stuff, bread, butter, chocolate, cookies, fruit juice, meat if you want it, unlimited fresh veg, sauces...a far cry from the pasta and tinned kidney beans type stuff from the food bank). Daily, people come in, and announce in an entitled and expected manners: "You give out free vouchers for Tesco don't you." And I reply, "Are you in food crisis?". They look at me like the fucking nerve I have to not just hand them £50. "Yeah, I've got ten pounds to last all week." I'll then say "Why is that?" And they never have an answer, just look at me like dirt for the audacity to see that they are taking the piss out of a charity. The funding is very stretched as it is. I know already they don't want the food, they want a free £50 to spend in the bloody toy aisle or sell the voucher on. So I'll say, "I'm not sure how much of the funding we have left, but I do have these food parcels which we can tailor to your household?". And I can tell you now, 80% of people refuse the food and leave. That's society folks.

Someone who needs the food takes the box. And if they take the box, I give them the voucher too.

If someone comes in and says, "Can I speak to someone about some help with food?" They are nearly always genuine. I can't describe it without you seeing it personally, but honestly, work one hour in my charity and you'd be able to call each case with a 99% accuracy the minute someone opens their mouth. Shit? Yes. Wish it wasn't that way? Yes. Doesn't change that's the way it is.

It irks me that, if I have donated money to whatever charity it is that you work for, that my money isn't going directly to sleeping bags and food parcels and other things for people in need, but to paying the salary of someone like you, who clearly sits in high judgment over those people.

Have some humility. There but for the grace of God...

I can't say I disagree with the position that if you can only afford either food or a nail treatment, the food should be the priority.

Happy to hear why you judge that to be incorrect, though.

Hello, I am a habitual, lifelong bus user, who has used bus services in multiple counties.

Why are you buying multiple £2 tickets on the same day? Is that actually the cheapest option? How much do return tickets and all-day tickets (sometimes known as day riders) cost locally?

The cap on bus fares is a cap on the price of a single ticket for a single journey. Locally, it's been common for novice bus users to assume that multiple £2 tickets are the cheapest way to use the bus. This is never true if you're taking more than two journeys a day. Many colleagues at work need to take two buses to get there, and two back, and some were paying £8 a day for it, instead of getting an all day ticket for £4.50!

No, you don't pay my salary, we're entirely self sufficient through rental properties we own where salaries are concerned. Your donation is going to 80% of our users who are abusing our (and every other similar) charity.

Don't you feel so much better with your clever comment now. It's almost like we know what we're doing and can spot people abusing a charity and prevent them from doing so....but we should be more like "you" and hand out whatever we have to every deliberate chancer, who, let me tell you, are always the first in the queue, so there's none left for the people who really need it. Well done.

Exactly this.

I'll wait...

You don't need a diagnosis for pip or universal credit limited capability it's how your illness effects you

You really should be in a different line of work. Your contempt for the people you are employed to help shines through. 80%! How on earth would you know, unless intruding into their lives to a prurient degree-- or, more likely, making harsh snap judgments based on their appearance and speech? You sound the kind to make them crawl on hands and knees before deigning to bestow your munificence. Which charity do you work for?

Nice avoidance.

We're waiting for your explanation...

Is that the royal we? Explanation of what?

So you won't say where you work. Understandable, as you're probably breaking your social media policy. I don't intend to doxx you to your bosses, but I would like to avoid directing people to the charity you say you work for. Painful to think of people swallowing their pride and coming in, and being met with your attitude.

Op if your so ill you can't work any extra hours you need to pick a less physically and mentally draining job so you can do more. Or keep going to the drs until someone listens if your ill you need medication and treatment. Whatever the illness is find their charity pages/ support groups and get help from them. Speak to pals if your dr is refusing treatment and referral without good reason. Only you can change your circumstances nobody is going to do it for you unless you ask for help and be open and honest with people. Even on here because theirs so many inconsistencies in your posts and your withholding significant information nobody can help you

No, that would be "we" as in me and the previous poster asking the same question to you. That's how plurals work.

Are you confused by the question?

I understand what you mean and have been there myself on low paid part time wages in the past and as depressing as it was/is to not have treats, getting help with what you need will help get you a leg up and some breathing space.

Was just a suggestion to try and give you an idea that if your mum is understanding to use her generosity to your advantage to help you a bit.

I'm not going to get into the whole hair extensions debate I also used to get them and I think everyone who works should be able to afford a treat or it's a miserable existence but you need help with some basics so take the help where you can.

And in case it needs further spelling out in Crayola evidently no one posts their personal or work details on a chat forum. And you frankly need reporting for requesting so.

I think we would have also ended up with a vile, uncaring government had the tories won. They certainly weren't too caring towards the less well off when in power! ( I'm certainly not claiming that this government are caring though)

Health conditions not recognised by the GP? So you’ve invented new ones? OP you had my complete sympathy until this.

Tell me you don't live with a chronic illness without telling me

One of the conditions I have (which you can see on an MRI scan) I'm constantly told causes no problems because that's what out of date textbooks tell doctors. But no one can explain my symptoms

what condition?