Labour increase benefits bill. AIBU To think what’s the point in working?

[topicalaffair]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15520831/Labours-push-lift-two-child-benefits-cap-hand-25-000-windfalls-thousands-Britains-biggest-jobless-families.html#

‘Official estimates suggest the cost of scrapping the cap will total £13.6 billion over the next five years.

The Tories said families currently affected by the cap are in line to receive windfalls worth an average £25,000 each over that period.

But the biggest families will gain far more. Thousands of families with five children will receive around £10,900 a year while those with six children will get an extra £16,600 a year.
Almost half of the families involved have no one in work.‘

Right!

I know, I am exhausted just reading all the verbal gymnastics being performed to justify every single cost WHICH WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD. But no one it seems cares too much about the economy. Just gimme, gimme, gimme.

The government need to something quick and simple like cutting all benefits by 20%. That is the reset needed.

So what is the alternative?

Vouchers won't work; we've already established that people need to use PIP etc to top up universal credit to pay for basic living expenses.

Agoraphobia is very misunderstood. It is not always to do with a fear of leaving the house.

And the people already barely scraping by on benefits do what, exactly?

LCRWA is halving for new claimants in April.
I would not be surprised if that caused a surge in people applying for PIP

A lot of people just need to get a grip. Sorry. I dont mean all disabled people obviously. But we spend far to much money on people who are just having a hard time. Plenty of people have an utterly shit time and still manage to support themselves. Through massive depression, anxiety etc. They just know they have to get on with life.

Sad to see stigma around MH issues is still alive and kicking.
You can't just "get a grip" for a diagnosed MH disorder that has a substantial impact on your life.
Oh, your asthma is getting bad? Have you tried breathing more air?

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

All new PIP claims now done face to face.

No exceptions.

All PIP claims involving serious physical disability are given a blanket PIP benefit with no need to re-asses for at least 10 years.

And thats it. You will see PIP "claims" deflate like a balloon.

There are serious MH and neurological disorders too that will never get better.

Yes, and when people are hanging round home they are always wearing a suit and a tie.

At the very least.

Its not stigma. Its proper diagnosis in person. And a limit to who can claim. Plenty of people have serious MH conditions and still get to work. Plenty. We cant afford this massive expansion of state benefits. Thats just the bottom line. Surely you want the country to still afford to support people who genuinely have no alternative? Its supposed to be just a safety net after all.

Cut back a bit or work more hours. It's going to happen at some point people ought to prepare. The current position just isn't sustainable.

This made me laugh 😃

OK, well lets cut benefits for people in wheelchairs. They don't need to spend money on shoes all the time, do they?

I have actually seen a post on here where someone questioned the parent of an anorexic adult child about their benefits. They told the mum that their child should get less money as she "has no food costs".

And that sort of blinkered thinking is what disabled people are up against all the time.

Or if you can't leave the house get a WFH job there are plenty of them.

NC for this. Not able to capture all nuances in this one post.

i am proud to support the sick child who needs a taxi to school; the person who has been unwell all their lives so they depend on benefits and so I can go on.

well, last week I paid a tax bill of nearly £30k. Today I learnt a family of 6 gets around £10k pa and a family of 5 gets around £6k pa in benefits.

well, when I now imagine such families I pay for, I am thinking of about 4 families of 6 and 5.

I had no real parameter to make any comments on this- a few years ago I paid 200k in tax here and there- beyond the fact I am a higher rate taxpayer.

But now consider this: due to being taxed to the bones on various incomes and investments I receive/ have (all earned from nothing and through sacrifice) - independent of those on benefits etc- my family and I are winding everything down to move abroad.

IT IS THAT that dawn on me, that IF the governments and ‘some’ of those in receipt of benefit - not talking about the sick kids etc I referred to about- THINK there is an infinite number of people who will continue paying taxes, they are in for a massive shock.

as an investor, I even started being concerned about those people who can work but are not working, wondering what precautions they should be taking now, in preparation for more tax payers ceasing to being one.

i can work a whole year, but due ti may earnings, i only need to work for 6 months a year or even 5 months before it become just meaningless.

Not well written as need to work to pay the next POA tax, but i thought to share and implore those who fully rely on benefits as an alternative to whatever, to make plans for when there will be ZERO benefits available as the country will have none to pay into the coffers to support that massive bill.

yes, I have a caring nature and thing about the future so I was not surprised I started advising myself ‘as someone on benefits’ who is facing fewer tax receipts in national coffers. I would rather people keep getting reduced benefits so they can keep getting it for longer. Those are the decisions millions of us make when faced with an uncertain financial future. Why is it different for some?!

100% WFH jobs? For someone who has been out of the workforce for years, and has no sought after skills/experience/qualifications?
There have been a lot of posters on here who are after exactly that, and not one person has actally suggested what they could reaslistically do.
A lot of places are pushing people to go back to the office.

Eventually all those children grow up and reach the end of their education..with that child benefit and universal credit (for the children)ends .
Parents may well still have 19/20 year olds at home , claiming their own benefits,and parents suddenly find they are not able to pay the bills .
That's a huge amount of money the parents get for the children,that they won't have to use to pay towards the bills as the children reach adulthood.
So yeah ,I guess nice while it lasts

I'm not on benefits so have no dog in the fight. However, it really pisses me off when people make this suggestion.

What if the cloth has been cut so much there's nothing left to cut? What if I'm already working 12 hours a day? That's my situation. Every penny goes on utilities, travelling expenses and rent. These have all increased substantially over the last few years, but my wages haven't. Pray tell..what can I do?

People cant just give up and life off benefits for life because they've got a phobia. No one owes anyone anything. They've just got to get on with shit just like millions of other working people do.

One issue is of course Labours NI and employment policies have stuffed up starter level low paid jobs. So there is that hurdle now.

The people you refer to don’t think about when there will be zero left for benefits. Their entitlement stops them from ever thinking their benefits might be stopped. Reality check incoming.

Agreed.

Labour was monumentally stupid in raising the cost of employment, which is now making the welfare situation worse.