Is receiving £30k pa on benefits “living in poverty”?!

[ChumpWizard]

Amol Rajan BBC R4 Today was in Colchester this week. Great interviews but one thing had me wondering.

Is receiving c£30,000 pa on benefits “living in poverty”? That’s the equivalent of a FT job earning c£40-£42k Pa.

~£2.5k a month after tax is the average wage.

Was this described as ‘living in poverty’?

I suppose a household trying to cover rent, bills and so on with multiple kids probably has a fairly basic standard of living on this level of income. That’s why the majority of families have two incomes nowadays.

No, of course not.

How many people are living on it is the question. If it’s ten of you, probably yes. If it’s one definitely not.

I am on benefits, and most of the people in my social circle are on benefits too.
No one is taking in £30k at all. We are mostly single disabled people.

People on that sort of amount and above tend to have disabled children. Would you begrudge them that money? Take the money away, but please take away their kid's disability too.

There are also people that have posted on here that earn a lot and still get UC top ups due to living somewhere with high rents.

Full time minimum wage salary is £25k pa

Before tax, national insurance, student loan repayments, workplace pension deductions, etc. and costs of working, such as commuting.

It depends on where they live and what that has to cover.

I'm a single person in the north west and get less than that in benefits (higher rate PIP and ESA) but I'm living alone. It covers rent and bills and a tiny amount leftover but I only go hungry when something goes wrong like benefits being stopped or a sudden huge expense.

A family of 4 in the south may be going hungry on a regular basis on that income as bills will be higher and it needs to cover 4x more mouths.

If you've got 3 kids and your rent is £2k a month, things are going to be bloody tight.

It probably feels like it if they live in a HCOL area and have several children, which is the case for most families receiving the highest level of benefits. The vast majority of it will be their housing allowance for rent, once that’s paid the remainder is likely to involve a lot of penny counting.

It very well could be depending on rent costs, other bills and the size of the family.

Living in poverty isn't a number.

Its whether or not you can keep a roof over your head, pay your bills, eat...

If you are unable to afford to put the heating on in winter then that's poverty. If you go to bed hungry, that's poverty. If you're skipping the electric bill to pay the gas bill and next month you'll skip the gas to pay the electric, that's poverty.

It may well be that someone getting 30k a year cant make ends meet, depending on their circumstances, yes.

Depends on circumstances in particular how many children, and also the person's housing situation. If renting, the majority of the benefit money will be for rent rather than for the person/family on benefits.

That would be the woman who hadn't worked for 10 years, had a husband with COPD and 6 children aged 3 - 20 all with SN. It didn't dound as though the family was going on expensive holidays or partying each night.

Oh this again.

How many households are in receipt of £30k benefits?

Poverty is determined by how much you have left after paying your unavoidable bills - housing, utilities, childcare.

My mortgage and bills come to about £1800, food about another £600. Having £50 a week left is very little if you have a family. Things like new school
shoes could wipe out all your ‘extra’ money for the month.

This is just benefit bashing rage bait as usual.

Where is the context? Single able bodied non parent living in East Midlands, owns their own home outright, yes, it’s a lot.

Single parent of three disabled children living in London and paying rent, it would be incredibly difficult.

And how are they getting past the benefit cap? You can only do this if there are disabilities in the household I think?

A single able bodied (and mind) person who owns their home would be on about £400pm in UC. They would never be on £30k in benefits. They would be on half the amount that pensioners get.

It can indeed be a number. That’s what’s used for policy making etc

“In the UK, poverty is primarily defined as living in a household with an income below 60% of the median average. This is measured on an after housing costs (AHC) basis, acknowledging that high housing expenses reduce disposable income for necessities. Key measures include relative poverty (current low income) and absolute poverty (low income compared to 2010/11 standards).”

Trouble is the "extras" that those on benefits get such as rent allowance, free prescriptions, reduced council tax, etc which is on top of the base amounts. Things that workers have to pay for out of their "take home" pay after all the deductions.

Policy can go fuck itself, frankly. If someone is going to bed hungry because they have no money for food, that's poverty.

It's fucking scandalous. Welfare spending is totally out of control. Needs to be slashed.

For a single person it would be okay. A family of 4+ would be in poverty on that amount unless they lived in a really cheap area with little to no transport costs or debts.

PP said about someone who owns their home. They would not get a rent allowance. People that have mortgages and are on UC are shafted. They can and do lose their homes.

Not everyone on UC gets free prescriptions, and not everyone is on regular medication anyway. Anyone can get a pre-payment certificate for about £10pm. It is hardly a worthy "benefit".

Council tax reductions depend on the area. If you are on UC and do a bit of work, you can suddenly find yourself hit with a big CT bill. I have known that to happen to a few people.

Always depends on rent cost. Great to get £30k, not great if £19k goes straight back out in rent.

Benefit receipt is linked to rent. If you work on a low income in a high rent area you are probably entitled to some housing element of UC.