Working families £18k worse off than benefits claimants after budget

[shoelances]

This is madness. Can the last taxpayer in the UK please close the door behind them.

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/households-on-handouts-to-be-18-000-better-off-than-families-on-modest-wages/ar-AA1RqxlQ

It is getting to the stage where there isn't much of a gap between working a minimum wage job and being on benefits. Can't afford a home or a holiday - well you can live like that by working or by being on benefits. No brainer really. There should be a huge gap - at least double.

20% of London housing stock is social housing - about 700k properties from what I could see on the latest figures.

I have two dns. One married, both of couple working, two dcs. The other single, not working, two dcs. And which one has the 3-bed house? Not the working couple, who are renting a small flat.

I agree, but given that benefits (excluding disability benefits) are set at the minimum level the government and its advising bodies believe is needed to cover very basic needs like food and shelter, we cannot do this by lowering benefits, not unless we want people starving to death or living on the streets.

We need to raise the minimum wage, which would also help spread the tax burden. Raising the NMW will also push up middle incomes because who's going to spend years training to be a nurse or teacher and gaining student debt when they can work in a shop for more money? This means those at the bottom and middle will be paying more tax and taking less from the system.

And I know businesses will fold, billionaires will have tantrums and move to Dubai, a tin of beans will cost £999, etc, except none of this happens in other countries with higher wages and standards of living, so what are they doing that is different and why can we not copy that?

And how many peoole are on waiting lists for decades for these properties?

While it is madness the blame is pointed at the wrong place.

The issue is corporate welfare and the fact the taxpayer is subsidising businesses to pay pitiful wages while chucking returns at senior management and shareholders.

I will say though it has been the case for years that in certain circumstances you are better off on bennies. My mom was told and knew for years she would be better off financially as a low paid single mom if she was on benefits. But she had a strong moral code and refused to do it.

No one is better off on benefits. Even if you have 73 profoundly disabled children, get housing benefit for Buckingham Palace and get eleventy squillion pounds a day in disability and housing benefits, you are still better off working because most disability benefits are not means-tested.

So. Many. Reform bots. It's not having the desired effect pal. 🤣

Rubbish. People are voicing their opinion. They don’t have to be Reformed supporters

I know. It’s laughable but people need to revert to name calling as there’s no educated sensible response. Sad really.

an unpopular post but where my MIL lives is somewhat a benefit street. What I’m about to list I don’t have any real issue with (live as you wish) they have garden chairs on their front lawns where several families go sit & talk whilst playing loud music, having bbq’s ordering takeaways & drinking everyday in the summer. They now in and out each other houses in the winter where one lives next to an old lady who keeps asking them to turn the volume down. They can all drive etc. yet not one of them works & this is how they spend their days, something working people may do once a week if they can afford it. As I said I don’t care how they choose to live but I am irked they’re getting a payrise for it

I think there is a lot of cognitive dissonance going on.

A lot of people want to be kind, nice people that look after the vulnerable in our society, however there is clearly a point where there are too many 'vulnerable" people for the rest of us to support without paying huge amounts into the system and seeing very little for it. This hurts ordinary working families and isn't nice and kind at all.

At that point, people begin to ask questions. Why exactly do we have so many people dependent on the welfare state? It is it right that you can be financially better off not working than working? Should we be rewarding parents for being irresponsible and bringing more and more kids into poverty? All valid questions and yet anyone asking them is accused of being misled by the right wing media or Reform. Actually though they are simply wondering if the system is balanced wrong and this needs to be addressed. Totally reasonable and sensible. If the answer is that actually the system is working fine then it should stand up to scrutiny without needing to resort to insults and belittling of those asking the questions.

In the past when it was tax credits but not now with universal credit. It's a reason why it was changed.

Exactly they can’t articulate their point because it’s all based on emotions & not what right or factual, they also want to take the opposite view of the right. So if you don’t have the same emotional response you must be the opposite of what they are and lump you into a box labelled racist or the new one reform (which is utter ridiculous because Farage was on about scrapping the 2 cap child benefit, on this issue they’re more reform than the people against it).

The truth is the people more against it are the people that live amongst & get up for work each day. They have eyes & ears, they know the difference between legitimate benefit claimants & the work shy.

Some of those people will have disabilities that mean they can't work full time. Or childcare/caring duties. Also zero contracts means the hours someone does can fluctuate wildly from week to week.

Part time is all some people can manage. I think it is wrong to tar them all with the same brush and say they are all just lazy and don't want their benefits affected.

There are not enough jobs. Even if every single job vacancy was filled, you would still have millions of people not working and claiming benefits. You would also still have millions of people working and claiming benefits.

Perfectly described

Then they should apply for jobs at the DWP.

Some do have justified disabilities and those who do and work part time should be applauded. However we all know there are a proportion of people who are not disabled but still work part time and claim benefits therefore being paid by the taxpayer to stay home. I think the country has reached a watershed moment regarding the welfare state and the ever increasing and unaffordable demands on it and the biggest irony of all is that Labour have brought it to this point and it will be their very undoing.

There were enough jobs to bring in nearly 5 million immigrants into the country in the last 5 years.

Why can’t those living off other people’s hard work in this country get to work?

There are so many impacts we won't see until later next year eg pubs struggling on then more and more closing.
Other small business closing ...

Someone gave a detailed example of how a cafe that produces a vital local service and is staffed by people with disabilities will be affected
It's awful all around.

There are jobs, people just don’t want to do them