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.

No. I just know these people unfortunately. They've directly told me this. They don't even walk to collect the takeaway, they get it delivered. Spending taxpayer money on this.

So you just disapprove as to how they spend their money.

People on benefits are allowed to spend the money how they wish.

If they struggle to cook it’s quite likely they’d also struggle to collect a takeaway

They aren't disabled. It's just refusing to work, low income UC stuff

I suspect there will be a drip feed as to how the whole family is morbidly obese, and that is why they are on benefits and it is their fault and they should have all money stopped.

How do you know what benefits they are on?

No one can afford daily takeaways on basic UC. It is £400pm. You can barely afford the basics on that.

Course I can disapprove. Beggars can't be choosers. They aren't disabled. Perfectly healthy. A family with no ambition and no education. Do they use UC for groceries to cook meals for their kids? No. Takeaway every time and get it delivered as well. As a taxpayer I've had enough of this.

I call bullshit on this because if they are not disabled then they will be on the bare minimum of UC, and no one can afford regular takeaways on that.

I have know the family. They talk about their life. There's child benefits involved as well. And lo and behold the child refuses to go to school and has no motivation to do anything in his life.

Even basic UC and child benefit would not be enough for them all to have takeaways each day.
You are making this up. It is simply not possible.
Have a look at the Gov website and see what people get. They could not afford daily takeaways for their whole family.
You have an agenda.

If they receive that much in benefits they obvious may have lots of kids and big bills, if they were on 42k they’d probably still get some uc benefits top up

My friend has twins with SEN they can't go into school so has to home school them.......I don't even have a lift at my station so traveling is very hard for me. I'm still in treatment.

And that is completely understandable and I hope she is able to access support and/or a more suitable school place for her son. However, she is working as much as she can given her caring responsibilities. The family on the programme were in a totally different situation: neither adult had worked for ten years but they had continued having children they are unable to support.

This.

The double whammy of selling off social housing at a huge discount and not replacing social housing stock has led to a massive increase in private rents. I suspect it's had an impact on house prices generally, too, as those who can't get social housing are desperate to buy so that they don't have the insecurity of having to move if their private landlord decides to sell up.

I worked in welfare rights before I retired last year, and housing costs was the biggest element in almost every UC claim that I saw. I'd love to know what proportion of the "benefits bill" ends up in the pockets of private landlords.

Those nasty Landlords eh, fancy working for a living and providing people on benefits with somewhere to live!
MN makes me laugh

How dare people buy and have a property? How often do tenants thrash the place as well?

If you already had 2 kids with SN why on earth would you have another 4?

I've come across a few people like this and it really confuses me. They then complain about struggling. The children have disabilities that are genetic

I'm guessing maybe they were desperate for a child that doesn't have a disability and so will be able to help and support them in their older years. That's why a lot of people have children. I agree though, it's less than ideal the situation they're now in but these situations are unusual. Not many people have more than 2 kids these days.

Not many working people anyway as they can’t afford to have more than two!

Yes, I know, although to be fair, a lot of working people have a similar or higher income to theirs and so could technically do the same on a shoe string. I understand why they're not choosing to though.

Except they would need to pay for childcare as well if they were working and not lounging at home all day

Yes, in many cases I suppose they would. Although I doubt anyone with 6 disabled kids and a disabled husband is lounging.

True

Yep, she is amazing and I hope her DS gets the help he needs. He is a such a bright kid. She is disabled herself, as is her DH (who due to his disabilities has never worked and will not live to his 40s). She does her best.