What is your household income, how much is benefits, and how are you coping?

[Gabrilla]

Genuinely curious after so many threads on here about benefit changes. Please feel free to name change!

I’ll start:

Salaries for both of us total 90k. Only benefits are £102 month child benefit, though we also get tax-free childcare and 15hrs free at nursery.

Total income is about 6k a month, mortgage and bills 3k, nursery 1k, commuting costs £500, groceries cost £500, husband pays CMS and other bits to his children totalling about £500 leaving us about £500 for everything else.

Feels like we’re constantly penny-pinching.

Now you know where your hard earned tax money goes.....

It’s a disgrace isn’t it.

Absolutely disgusting

That poster has 4 children 3 of whom are disabled.

It is time the disability benefits and state pension were means tested.

I understand the urge but means testing the state pension would cause a complete meltdown. I've never had any benefits at all and support my household entirely on my extremely heavily taxed wages. If they also withdrew state pension entitlement from me I'd be so furious.

500 mortgage
500 bills including broadband TV, water. Elec etc etc, home, life ins
400-500 food

Essentials to make sure we have a home, energy, and TV broadband.

After that is all covered, the left overs would deal with the rest.
I don't see the point in adding in what you spend on holidays or whatever in that figure, it muddies the waters and makes people who are spending on 'less important' stuff act like they are owed something or somehow they are badly off...

Of course we keep a tab on the other spending and know largely where every penny goes.
Its about framing, appreciating what you do have rather than focus on what you don't...
Obviously I'm aiming this at the OP, not the people literally who struggle to pay the rent , feed the kids, but even then i'd have to question what they do with the money they get, so if you can't feed your kids breakfast before school but you have the latest fashion dog your feeding and Sky TV, you need your head wobbling.
But that is another story....

A melt down?

How? If a person hits retirement age and they already have enough via savings, assets and workplace/private pensions, why should they receive the state pension on top of that? And the same gif disability benefits - if you havd the means to meet your needs of your disability why should you get benefits on top?

I don't think a government would manage to get it through it would be so unpopular is what I mean.

Yes, getting people to drop their hours and income to continue qualifying is an amazing plan.

This is exactly what we'd do if anywhere close to threshold btw. Our combined earnings are about 80k, so we'd probably be who you're talking about. I could get carers allowance as DC is on middle rate DLA, but don't, since I can maintain my part time job without too much issue and it makes financial sense. That could easily change.

Income combined is about £65k a year.
We get basic child benefits, but nothing else (not entitled) and don’t pay childcare as we have organised our lives to be able to be at home with them when needed.
Mortgage is around £850 pcm. Bills etc are about £200 pcm, all groceries and food for guinea pigs is £400 pcm.
We do have a car each, mine is a £5k workhorse and my husband has a cheap £500 banger that is rusty, but it passed the MOT this year and that’s all we need it to do. My oldest coaches rugby, so we get money off the fees for the littlest.
My parents pay for swimming lessons for them, and my Dad is a leader at scouts, so we don’t pay membership for one to attend, just the other.
Theatre class is expensive on Saturdays, but my grandparents pay for that and I work extra hours to afford our memberships to a club that me and DH do together. (£200 per year)
our biggest expense is our summer holiday that is £2K for two weeks in wales, but I just take extra clients for a month leading up to payment time to cover the costs. It does mean my husband has to do more of the childcare, but it means we have a little bit extra put aside. I cannot do the extra hours all the time (as that would be working from 9:30am to 8-9pm 6 days a week and I would be physically exhausted and have even more medical issues than I currently have) but I can push it a little during the summer months.

You understand that means testing includes people are working the amount of hours theyre assessed as being abod to wirk, rught?

This thread seems to have many peopld who do not understand whay jeans testing actuallly means. This happens on Universal Credit too. One cang jyst ‘drop’ ones hours that theyre capable of working just because they want to claim more benefits.

That’s not how it works - at all. Part of the ‘means testing’ is work capability assessment.

And I’m a single parent of children with disabilities.

You don't seem to have understood my example.

You know households can be in receipt of disability benefits and not UC, right? That's us. That's who I'm talking about. There is no hours requirement for my child's middle rate care DLA. And a maximum income threshold for claiming carers allowance that currently it doesn't make financial sense for us to bother with. I'd get it if I dropped my hours enough but as it would make us worse off, I don't.

Those of us with disabled DC who don't qualify for UC will likely have higher incomes as a cohort than those with disabled DC who do, notwithstanding that the thresholds are complicated and depend on circumstances. We're therefore the ones most likely to be affected first by means testing for disability benefits as the pp advocated for.

Youvd nif understood what I’ve written.

Im talking about disability benefits - not UC.

And I think it’s time disability benefits were means tested

A means test wouod include work capability, just like work capability is assessed with means tested UC. So no, this would not encourage peopke to lower their working hours so they could continue to claim, SNY more than means testing UC does - it’s a common urban legend tgat those on UC simply lower their hours so they can continue to claim - the system does not allow for people to do that.

One income 45k after tax which means we have to pay back some child benefit.
No other benefits.
We'd be financially better off if we both earnt 30k and would keep full child benefit. One of my children has additional needs which means they can't access holidays clubs or school consistently So I can't really work just a little bit self employed but peanuts really.

We keep life manageable focus on keeping everyone fed and the basics. It would be nice to be able to keep the full child benefit given we are a one income family with high support needs and there is definitely extra costs with having a child with additional needs. We have applied for dla but I don't know if we would be awarded it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Once again, I'm not talking about UC. Only disability benefits and carers allowance, which are not the same thing. You do not need to continue to mention UC because we both know we aren't referring to it.

How is this capability test for work (for a parent?) going to function when by definition many of the DC we're talking about are sufficiently affected that a parent would be able to claim Carers Allowance if their income were low enough? The state already recognises that someone providing sufficient care to a child in receipt of middle or higher rate DLA may be entirely unable to work or only able to work a little, hence the award automatically qualifying such a person for Carers if they meet the income criteria. So be specific about how you think this would work and save money.

I’m fully aware they are not the same thing. Part of my job is checking benefits eligibility akdassisting in applying for eligible benefits for both systems (WHICH I KNOW ARE NOT THE SAME) - I know full well UC is means tested, and disability benefits are not and that they are two different systems.

Im not sure why you can’t see that. I made it perfectly clear in my last post.

Disability benefits should be just rested, just like UC is.

Your argument was that it would somehow encourage peopld to lower their working hours. It would not. It’s an urban legend that people on UC (which IS MEANS TESTED) simply lower their hours so they can claim more - it is baked into the MEANS TEST for Universal Credit.

If DISABILITY BENEFITS (not the same benefits system as UC which I pointed out in my last post is a DIFFERENT BENEFITS SUYSTEM) were means tested, things likd wirk capability wouod be taken into account. It wouod hh encourage peopld to just drop their hours as, JUST LIKE IN UC, there would be repercussions gof doing so.

Disability benefits should be means tested, just likd UC already is.

Anc his wouod ig eith? Exactly the aAnd way UC works - if you are married or gave a partner living with you, then grid unconditional is taken into account. Yoire treated as a household. It would wirk exactly the same way as UC.

Disability benefits should be means tested. If the household income is sufficient to cover the additional expenses that are created by the needs of the disabled person(s) then the household incomd should Hd expected to cover those costs.

Our household income is £110k. We get child benefit and 30 free nursery hours for our 4 year old.

We're doing fine day to day. We have more than enough to manage mortgage, bills, groceries, days out etc. We can afford a couple of holidays a year (one abroad) and nice birthdays and Christmases.

We need to do home renovations and it's hard to save the significant amount needed for that. We also want to privately educate our children for secondary and that will take a lot of financial planning (thankfully my career has very good progression and regular pay rises and bonuses).

We are very privileged and lucky. We work hard but we are also the beneficiaries of good educations and have had significant help from family, including financial and childcare. I would never complain about our circumstances, we have so much compared to many.

There is a general thing in life which we hate paying bills, i get that. But if we chose to let our daughter dance by paying for all the lessons, outfits etc etc we can hardly expect anyone else to see that as a 'bill', i mean it is, but that is why you work to pay for stuff like that right?
People seem to frame it around "I earn this and i pay for stuff and buy stuff and i have nothing left"
That really should be dealt with at school age, that total lack of any understanding of what is basically western life as a we know it..
I wouldn't care so much were it not for the fact having volunteered in a foodbank during covid I saw many, not all, but many people who were simply saving 400 quid a month so they could get the important stuff like Dry robes and lip filler....
That should not be the use for foodbanks, it should be people who literally have nothing whatsoever.

Also if people want to be seen driving around in white Land rovers and Audi's etc, if that really is your thing, don't moan about it when your doing it to give of a status, a fictionalised status whilst you'd come onto threads like these and anonymously moan about having a lack of money left...

Under £10k a year.

Only outgoings are rent for a shared room £380 pm) and bus pass at £31pw. And phone bill (cheap pay monthly-bought the phone cheap)

No other income. If I somehow get my pip back that will be an extra £60pw which will mean I can afford therapy.

I'm retired, receive state pension and small occupational pension, no extras. My monthly income is £1,687.63, annual £20,251.56, which is fine as I live alone and my property is paid for.

You may be aware they're not the same thing, but you clearly haven't understood that I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT UNIVERSAL CREDIT AT ALL, SO YOUR POINTS ABOUT URBAN MYTHS RELATING TO UC IS TOTALLY AND UTTERLY IRRELEVANT AND THEY DON'T GET ANY MORE RELEVANT WITH REPETITION.

So, let's try again. While we're on the subject of credentials, I volunteer at an org supporting parents with DLA applications.

DLA for a child currently doesn't come with an hours requirement for a parent, and some DLA awards are a potential gateway to Carers Allowance as long as a person isn't working and earning too much- so essentially the opposite. It's not the parent's capacity that's taken into account, but the child's.

So, what you're talking about doing is creating an extra system for parents whose children receive middle or higher rate DLA but who don't qualify for UC now, relating to something other than the child's disability. It would differ in that way from current CA provisions because that's just an assessment of income once the DLA award has been made.

This means you're going to need to tell us how this additional parental assessment for kids who meet the DLA criteria otherwise would work, and also how you're going to build in recognition of the fact that disabled kids conditions aren't always linear or predictable so a parent who can hold down a job at one point might not be able to do so the year after because of changes to the child's disability. Again, note that if you're going to insist on making this about UC, and you shouldn't, a person receiving CA is generally themselves in the no work required group, even if the other adult in the home isn't. Therefore no, this would not work the same way as UC does now.

The one thing I do think could happen is to means test CA for a parent of a child with DLA based on the partner's income, which we don't now. Not to endorse that idea, only to point out it's a thing that could happen. But that's something very different to your proposal.

You've got £90k in salaries and "only £102" in child benefits yet can't manage??? Don't be ridiculous. How do you qualify for free nursery hours?

My husband and I retired a year ago, after 50 years of working, bringing up our family with no financial help or childcare at all. The mortgage was paid off after struggling to pay it every month, same with credit cards.

We now live on £1800 a month state pensions (that's £900 each) and my £400 a month PIP (from having had a life-changing illness). You can't manage, OP?? You must be having a laugh

They can manage, they are able to pay for the essential stuff.... that is living for most people in the western world. People need to re frame how they are living IMO....
I think we have a section of people who want facebook to think they are loaded and happy all the time and doing loads of things, and then come on to forum anonymously and moan about how crippling their outgoings are to keep up with the pretence....

I had no idea so many people were on some sort of handout. No wonder the welfare bill is so huge.