I've seen the way these threads go and I'm a bit scared...but can't resist asking anyway!

[fourkids]

Scared but taking the plunge...

I just read this: 'The Government?s stated intention is that from April 2010, child maintenance will be fully disregarded when calculating out-of-work benefits.'

I presume this means that even if you have a high-earning exh who pays maintenance of, say, £2,ooo pcm (or £3,000 or £4,000!), you will still be able claim benefits like IS?

Now I'm an exw with an exh who pays maintenance for our children, so i'm not coming at this from any moral highground point of view...and my exh has always paid too much maintenance for me to claim those type of benefits - and I think that's just the way it should be.

We are in a recession. Surely the Government has better things to spend our money on than giving it to those who already have enough?

And to be honest, to some extent, this applies to tax credits and WTC which ignore child maintenance also...

Flame me if I deserve it (obviously I will be upset), but I just don't get this...surely benefits are meant for those who need them?

well, yes they are, so surely a single mum is one of those deserving of help???

but, be warned. threads like this gets very big and shouty very quickly.

You talk sense LOTS of it...sadly you will be flamed but YANBU.

Isn't maintenance meant to be for the children not the adult? I do not get any maintenance so I don't know. I hadn't realised tax credits disregard maintenance though but tax credits cancel out housing and council tax benefit so maybe it all works out in the end?

i'm a lone parent of 5. on inome support til i find a job and childcare,but am looking!!

the benefits i get are ample. i have moderate debt that i'm repaying also. the benefits are more than enough. we live and eat better than every other family i know. and have enough to buy extras. maybe i'm careful and budget well,i don't know,but it works out as £300 a week not including full rent and council tax,free school meals,school trip discounts and free milk.

and £25 a week on top of all that in child maintenence.

i'll need a bloody good job to beat this. oh,and i qualify for legal aid,won't when i work again

don't care how much i lose,i'll cutback,but i need a job. not for the money,but i need a life again,benefits don't provide you with a life.

well yes, indeed a single mum is one of those deserving of help - I absolutely agree.

But the implication of this is that if you have two single mums as follows:

1/ has a low/non-existant income and her exp pays her £20 pcm maintenance

2/ has a low/non-existant income but that's not a problem because her exp pays her £2,000 pcm maintenance

Both can claim the same benefits!

If there is money going begging, surely more of it should go to single mum number 1?

but the government obviously disagrees if they are proposing to give it to single mum number 2!

shine on.....i haven't got a life!! my life is now mn! hear you got a joggler!!! enjoy it. start a thread to tell us how good it is,please!! i will buy one! (will put aside £50 a week til i have enough) benefits enable me to do this...

thats so sad!

shineoncrazydiamond

'There are not many mothers out there, claiming IS whilst their ex partners pay them thousands in maintenance!' - that's true because at present you can't! But the implication is that next year you will be able to.

the government can happily do this fourkids....they have oooooodles of spare cash now that the whole of parliament are looking very carefully at their expense claims!!

I am surprised that household income from all sources is not taken into account. I would not have thought that someone receiving ££ each month in maintenance should receive the same as someone with little or no income.

It's all part of the government move away from means-tested benefits and into universal benefits.

Giving the same amount of money to everyone is cheaper to administer and, in my view, a lot fairer.

I agree with you fourkids.

Also am I right in thinking that for the exdh the entire income he has is taken into account when calculating entitlement? So any maintenance that is paid out is not disregarded.

I think it is all totally skewed.

shineoncrazydiamond - You might be right...I have no idea what the numbers would be tbh. What I do know is that most of the single mums I know are well-off women with very well paid exhs who under these rules will presumably be able to claim IS.

Just seems daft to me.

I have absolutely no issue with benefits for those who need them...just think it's a bit bonkers that the government seem to want to start giving money to those who don't need it.

ILoveTIFFANY - hats off to you

both of you - what on earth is a joggler please?

I think everyone. Rich or poor should be given a tax free citizens income of £10k and £5k for each child and no other benefits.

All income after that should then be flat taxed at 50% with no tax free personal allowance. That way everyone has an incentive to go out to work but no one is in poverty and no one feels others are getting unfair benefits.

The myriad of benefits and taxes and payments of social security that we have are confusing and wasteful.

What about housing betadad?

ah. I googled. I want one too!

lol....o2 gave 25 to mumsnetters,i didn't get one! sorry for hijack there!

betadad.....suppose we can't get a job/juggle childcare....theres nothing out there,no jobs here at all. on local news it said our region has doubled its unemployment figures for this year so far,very disheartening.

my ex won't work as he says he's happy to play on his leg injury to continue getting bis dla. he paid csa once and hated the fact they took so much. he says he won't work again.

BigBellas - My thinking is that a single mother with two DCS can get £20k tax free.

Say £8000 per year to cover rent on a small terraced house, council tax and utilites and that leaves £1k per month to live on. Do you think that is enough to cover a basic but not obviously luxurious cost of living?

The idea of a citizens income and flat taxes are being quite widely discussed in think tanks. The Tory party have been discussing it as a way of reforming the tax and benefits system.

It has the advantage allowing the whole bureacracy of social security, tax credits and benefits can be dismantled which is demeaning and cruel system in many ways.

Currently, if you get more maintenance than the weekly amount of IS (£59 IIRC) then you don't qualify for IS and a number of other related benefits. So if you receive say £60 in maintenance weekly, it would be bloomin hard work to make ends meet. I think the new 'rules' will be enormously beneficial to those who fall into the category of receiving a lower level of maintenance. It would be a tough call to decide though WHAT the cut off point should be but I would like to think that if you get a healthy payment from an ex then you wouldn't claim the IS. Does that make sense ? I've had wine.....