Welfare spending to rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn

[topicalaffair]

Over the next five years, the OBR is forecasting that UK welfare spending will rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn.

How does everyone feel about this? I’m livid because I pay lots of tax. I don’t mind paying tax to maintain a civilised society - but this? This is surely taking the piss and will result in weaker and weaker services as the amount of £ available reduces day by day.

YANBU - it’s totally deranged. The every growing uk population can’t function effectively on such a benefits for all basis.

YABU - this welfare spending bill is truly representative of need.

We also need people to have some personal responsibility though. MH issues and ADHD are not helped by being glued to social media, constantly overstimulated by gaming and doomscrolling all hours of the night and sleeping during the day as no job in sight. People are on benefits but have enough money for takeaways and vaping, this obviously affects people health, get out, touch grass, learn to cook, learn about finances. People just assume the government will be there to rescue them but the reality is they are stuck in a horrible cycle of dependency.

I don’t understand why elderly disabled people cannot get mobility cars…don’t you agree?

They can if they are receiving PIP and in receipt of the enhanced mobility part. If they receive Attendance Allowance instead ( because they have become disabled after state pension age ) then they can't get a motorbility car because Attendance Allowance does not have a mobility component. If they are very old and still on the old DLA and have high rate mobility again they can get a motorbility car. Complete two tier system. Imagine how much more it would cost if there was a mobility component to AA though seeing as almost every older person will end up with poor mobility at some point.
At my work we have a helpline for benefits for older people and it is one of the things we get a lot of calls about - elderly people saying it's unfair because they can't get a motorbility car and their next door neighbour is the same age and same level of disability and they have one !

I’m also in my 60’s and get annoyed by the implication that “we’ve worked all our adult lives” ( and 40 years does not even bring you to retirement age) is something exceptional and laudable. Our young people are likely to be working for much longer in order to support us and themselves. We need to move away from the idea that older people are a particularly vulnerable group financially- this is no longer the case. We should stop or means test all these free bus passes etc. Obviously there will be some older people in need of support and there needs to be measures in place to protect them, same as those in any other age group.

If they receive the highest mobility element of PIP, they can and do.

If they didn't become disabled until after state pension age then they can't because Attendance Allowance works differently and doesn't include a mobility element.

The cap was not lifted for child benefit. There was no 2 child benefit cap this is for other benefits like universal credit, people get more for each child. It was previously capped for 2 kids.

Seems unfair!

How are you defining 'vastly', out of interest? There 69.3 million people in the UK. 43.36 million are 'working age', defined as 16-64 by Ycharts. Of those 9.9 million claim some combination of benefits, with Universal Credit being responsible, at least in part, for 7.4 million of them. 34% of UC recipients are in work. 13 million people are of State Pension age.

So, 69.3 million people. 43.36 of working age. 17% of working age people claim Universal Credit, which is 11% of the overall population.
13 million people are state pension age, which is 19% of the population

So, of the population, 63% are of working age. 11% claim Universal Credit, so 7.26% are working age out of work, and 19% claim state pension.

Overall, then, 63% of the population are working age, 7.26% of the population are working age out of work, and 19% of the population are of state pension age. That means that 36.74% of the population are of working age and don't claim UC, and of the working age population, 83% don't claim UC.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025#sect-6

I think the logic is to differentiate between disability and the natural physical limitations that may come with ageing.

And then we are back to only tieing our economy in dependence to other countries that share our values and have good reason to invest in collective security.

The US did have more socialist ideals once, and created its grandest achievements of landing on the moon in those periods. But those times are gone. I can see that when they approached Russia after the death of the USSR and trued to tie their economy in to our markets they were trying to reproduce the theory - and practical success - of tieing France and Germany together after the WW2 to create long term peace. It didn’t work. The difference is that France and Germany, and the rest of the countries that joined in to create the EU, are neighbours with a vested interest in local peace and each others’ security. They also have long term shared history and some values. Russia did not ever share that and is physically too distant. Plus they always had this belief and deluded narrative of being not only a European power but destined to rule here - they’ll never give that up. They took what was offered to use for their own ends with a laugh at the gullibility. Working people in the post war period always remained suspicious of the US for pretty much the same reasons and those suspicions have been justified now.

We should only be tied in dependence to countries that can agree laws. No taxation without representation: no representation, no taxation. Or does that, like the rest of the globalist order, only apply to serfs with no choices?

I've worked in benefits, people get crazy money. What really bugged me is if you work and earn £60k you start losing your child benefit but people getting benefit packages of £60k+ keep the child benefit.

No wonder hardworking peopled are pissed off!

'I've worked in benefits, people get crazy money. What really bugged me is if you work and earn £60k you start losing your child benefit but people getting benefit packages of £60k+ keep the child benefit."

Won't there be disability involved with those £60k+ packages?

Please don't confuse the benefit haters with facts, they don't like it.

I don't think you can do that? I wasn't born in the UK. I've lived and contributed here for 17 years and still have another 25 before I can retire with a state pension. There was a thing going on recently that urged you to check if you have contributed enough to get a pension, so I am assuming people that have not contributed enough won't get one? It gave you the opportunity to pay in if you were missing some years I think... Also when I initiated got my spouse visa, it was stamped on my passport- no recourse to public funds...even though I was working and paying tax and NI.

Still shouldn’t get more than someone working

Hi.

I'm one of those people thanks to COVID. I have been left with PTSD, panic disorder and damage to my lungs. I'd fucking love to work but unfortunately I'm not able to.

And pensioners have paid in for years and deserve the meagre pension. It’s the scrounges who have never worked but know how to work the system and all the people allowed into this country and given benefits !!!!

Do you have evidence that there are people getting £60k pa in Benefits?

Happy to be proved wrong but i think thats a made up number or based on a highly unusual individuals circumstance.

Don't bother, I'm still waiting for these posters to really think through their suggested solutions, and I'm yet to see a single one actually do so.

They want to turn up, froth about workshy benefit goat owners, and have everyone nod and agree.

You're subjected to the benefit cap unless you earn a certain amount of money per month or have disability on your claim

YANBU. Too many people of working age who are more than capable of working but are better off on benefits. It should NEVER pay more to be on benefits with all the associated benefits , than to work. Whilst this is the case, people will continue. My genuine belief is that during Covid we had lots of people furloughed (myself and husband not included) who got used to staying home and being paid for the privilege . We also had a rise in TikTok ‘sickfluencers’ showing the younger generation what to say to access benefits for their ‘anxiety ‘ etc. ( real anxiety is so debilitating- I’m on about people who know way to say, not people who genuinely can’t leave the house without panic attacks). Point in case - an episode of question time when one of the pink haired brigade bleated on about how she needed benefits for her anxiety.. so bad she could get to a tv studio and be on tv 🤔…… country is in a mess. Yes we have an aging population but at least most pensioners paid tax and NI for at LEAST 30 years to access that. We now have an generation who think benefits are to fund their lifestyle. I know people who get PIP and say entitled to it due to diabetes etc, uses the money to buy camera stuff and chocolate…. PIP is supposed to be to pay towards managing that condition , not just free money to prop up lifestyles 😡

I did say I know some will never be able to work- you are clearly one of them, so I’m not getting at you!

It’s none of this. This is not what disabilty benefits are paid for and I really can’t be arsed explaining it again. All of this information is online - the criteria, the standards claimants have to meet and the way they are assessed. Genuinely disabled people are not using the money for what you’ve outlined above. They are using it because generally life as a disabled person is much more expensive, and prevents the disabled from full participation. Disability benefits aim to restore the balance and give disabled people the means to meet the extra cost.

Yes but that’s the genuinely disabled people ! Theres plenty that aren’t though or their condition doesn’t need the money unless you think my friend with diabetes who spends it on chocolate and Pepsi, whilst also getting Ozempic care of the NHS is right to do so?