I do not know anyone who is having a 'party' living on benefits....post here if you do

[electra]

On MN, I keep reading on many different threads that Labour has been giving away loads of money in benefits to people who don't really need it which has caused the financial crisis.

All the people I know who rely on their tax credits and have children seem to have to watch every penny. I do not see evidence of them having any sort of 'party' life.

I had thought the banks were mostly responsible for the financial crisis by lending money that didn't exist.

Can anyone correct me on this? I'm open to different opinions.

must say squilly they don't sound very 'trapped'

I don't get them comments. People on benefits should have tiny black and white TVs? if they dare to get a dog it should be a mutt? their buggy should be falling a part?

If people on benefits save, or pay off their credit why shouldn't that have thos things?!

Do you get a flat screen tv grant when you sign on? [bisuit]

im not sure if your 13:20:32 was to me toccata but i'll reply anyway

yes, they seem to live it up quite well on benefits.
i don't know the intimate details of their finances but they definitely don't work and mostly live with parents or in caravans on their parents property or in their vans so have no rent to pay.

Me and DP are on benefits for disability (so a little bit more than JSA) and, luckily for us, have a lot of luxuries. However they were all bought pre-benefits. Couldn't even dream of a disposable income now!

Though I am aware that if I was able to go back to work, unless I could get a good job, we'd be even worse off.

I know someone who is living on benefits and is at the moment on their 3rd holiday abroad this year

I agree with an earlier poster- it's people who work cash in hand plus benefits who are having a nice time- my dp's best friend earns 170 quid a week plus 65 benefits and it causes arguments all the time because I get so irritated when he moans about being 'skint'.

It is a very very small percentage however of te budget deficit relating to unemployment related benefits. Benefit mostlygoes on pensions, the disabled and care homes. And
Electra you're right about it being the banks- I'm a economics phd student and basically the reason for te crash is that the availabilty of credit given to us by the banks in the form of mortgages and loans was much much higher, they lent to people who didn't have the means to pay it back under the assumption that they would make alot of money through late fees and other charges. However when people defaulted on them (declared bankruptcy or just didn't pay up) or had properties repossessed this meant that the banks couldn't recoup their expenses, making them go broke! It's worth saying as well that alot of banks gave credit to customers they knew couldn't pay it back and 'sold' these customers to other banks.

I get WTC and CTC and i don't know how i could survive withoug them. We live in a council house, but get nothing towards rent or council tax.
We don't have a car. We do have 2 originally expensive pushchairs that were bought second hand, the single was 1/10 of the original price. We have a rescued pedigree dog she is a toy breed so cheap to feed. We have a flat screen bought as a christmas present from my parents, and a play station 3 paid up at 9 quid a fortnight from Cash Convertors. Our DC's are always clean and smartly dressed in second/third hand clothes.
Our 'nights out' are visiting friends, and our days out with DCs are viviting farms, or walking along the canal seeing the boats.

My sister revieves full housing benifits, and income support, and something else i cant remember what. After her dh left her and their dd. She has a car that she bought 2nd hand for £400 that she borrowed from my parents and paid up. I noticed last week the sole was falling off her shoes, she said she can't afford a new pair because of her phone and electricity bill.

I don't know anyone having a party on benifits.

DP and I are on benefits (JSA, HB, CTC) plus he works as a lunchtime playground assistant, the wages for which he is allowed to keep £10 of per week (he also works voluntarily/unpaid as a classroom assistant one day a week). I wouldn't say we are in abject poverty, but we can't afford to keep a car or go on holidays abroad or anything and we can't afford to save anything, and we only buy second hand clothes, toys and books, and we grow our own veg, brew our own beer, don't go out, etc. But we live in the country so it's a beautiful life anyway.

Before we moved to the country and went on JSA we were living in london. DP had a well paid job at a TV station earning £32k a year and I was writing my phd with no income. In order for us to both work fulltime like this, we had to pay for 2 days childcare a week (DP did shifts - 52 hours a week but he got 3 days off), at a cost of £100 a week. But because I was a student we weren't eligible for the childcare element of WTC. SO if you take the the cost of childcare, plus £800 a month rent for a basement flat in Peckham, plus the weird extra expense of just existing in London into account we were no better off financially than we are now. And about a million times less happy.

Living on benefits is hard both financially and psychologically (in terms of dealing with social stigma) but DS got the incredible benefit of having a SAHD looking after him full time while I finished off my PhD so it's worked for us.

havent read the whole thread....but kind of agree with reality further up thread.

i would need a job of round £400 weekly to be better off working. but depite ths,i'm still looking.

DH starts a new job -self employed, 6 month contract- tomorrow. We will be worse of. When we started getting benefits I have to admit I was shocked at how much we were going to get. Ok its not a doddle but its been just as easy as when he was working before. If not easier as hes been around to help out as well the money coming in. (its not been straight forward though as they havent fully sorted out our claim and hes starting work again before they have)

Its harder being just above that threshold that means you have to pay lunches, prescriptions etc.
If it wasn't for a work ethic going on I could completely understand wanting to stay on benefits for life.

of off!

I haven't got time to read every post but my H has left me for another woman and is unemployed and not supporting me. I'm at home with 2 very small children (neither eligible for even the 15 hours free pre-school yet) living on income support, the healthy start vouchers, council tax benefit and tax credits and child benefit. The Government waited 14 weeks before housing benefit kicked in and I had to beg and plead with mortgage company until then. And the Government only pay towards the first £100,000 of mortgage. I have to pay the difference. Sadly my bank account is terrifying. I haven't had a holiday for years and struggle to make ends meet.

It seems to me from looking into it even with the 80% towards child care I'd be eligible for, I would be worse off working, as my other benefits would drop as they're means tested and therefore overall I'd get less. Which isn't ideal right now, as even paying for nappies and shopping is a struggle right now. Benefits need over hauling, whichever Government is in power. As I'd like to work part time and not cripple myself financially for wanting to help myself. IYSWIM?

I was and still am trying to work out why people think they can even live on benefits and have a "party"

As I said, I haven't got time to read all posts but did want to add my experience for you OP.

I have family on benefits who can afford to have more children than we can. And better 'stuff' for their house.
Dental work is a luxury I can't afford at the moment.

i have name changed for this post for fear of being recognised!

I do know of a family (related to!) who actually have alot more disposable cash than my family and who claim benefits completely.

married couple, no job, 4 kids, one on the way. 4 bedroom house, big car, house full of flat screen TVs, Wii, PS3, 2x Xbox, IPOD, Laptop, PC, new washer,dryer,dishwasher, cooker, 15ft trampoline in garden, husband has a professional cycling bike worth over £1k. They go away every weekend camping and have 2x holidays a year at pontins! They do have about £30k debt BUT this has just been consolidated and they pay £45 a month and have been told they can pay this indefinately and it will be wiped out in 3 years!

I am related to this family, they know how i feel especially because DH works 40+hrs, i work 20 hrs and we bring in less than 20k a year and still have to pay rent etc. I cant afford to go to the dentist (desparately need 4 fillings and a tooth removed!) I cant afford my prescription (have severe psoriosis)!

I can only speak for our situation. My DH is on JSA, I earn a small amount for my student bursary, our mortgage interest is paid for us and we get £100 a week to live on. Its far from great but we can afford to live a lot more comfortably than this time last year when he worked for a pittance and we paid for everything ourselves.

I know someone, a single mother with 2 dcs who just returned from holiday. In Marocco.

BUT, it was a bargain deal and she ate noddles for two months in order to save for the trip. So, it doesn't matter what you see or hear. People -working or not working- have different priorities, thats all. Someone might sleep in a cold room or walk miles to avoid bus fare and saves money to buy plasma tv. It is his right. It wouldn't be my choice but why should i sweat over his choice?

I have a good friend who is on benefits. When i went to my homeland to christien my dd2 i invited them and paid their ticket and provided free accomodation.In the summer our villa needed some work so we gave them the key and they went there for free and in return they did the painting and decorating. Her 6 year old dd told 'friends' that they had two holidays abroad and..you can imagine what happened!

When you hear that someone on benefits has been abroad you don't know the details. And why should you?

As for the argument about money after paying mortgage, thats very silly. Because those of us who own our houses we have the security and stability (well, ok not excactly), we choose our home and hopefully we 'll have something for our future and for our children. A person who receives HB doesn't have all that. How is she/he 'better off'?

"married couple, no job, 4 kids, one on the way. 4 bedroom house, big car, house full of flat screen TVs, Wii, PS3, 2x Xbox, IPOD, Laptop, PC, new washer,dryer,dishwasher, cooker, 15ft trampoline in garden, husband has a professional cycling bike worth over £1k. They go away every weekend camping and have 2x holidays a year at pontins! They do have about £30k debt BUT this has just been consolidated and they pay £45 a month and have been told they can pay this indefinately and it will be wiped out in 3 years!"

Regardless of what agreement they're reached with their creditors regarding paying it off and how fair/unfair this agreement seems to you, they have a hell of a lot of debt. Which surely more or less confirms that it's not generally possible to live a luxury lifestyle on benefits - they got themselves deep into debt to have the expensive possessions, because benefits wouldn't have provided them with enough money. I'd say that proves the opposite of what you're trying to say it does (ie; that they're living the life o' riley on generous benefits)

It's not something I get worked up about, to be honest. What I do get worked up about is the paltry level of the minimum wage and the plight of the working poor. I'd far rather ee the minimum wage raised, which will help raise people out of poverty, than benefits lowered which won't help anybody.

Sadly I do. A family who declare £90 per week in earnings (self employed) and as a result get the lions share of their rent paid on a lovely BIG 3 bed semi in a really nice area (jealous, much?!), council tax paid, lots of tax credits. Both parents work for cash in hand and earn enough to always have a few grand stashed away. Enough to book holidays abroad (Disney and long haul of similar cost) every Christmas for 5 adults (children all teens), as well as at least one other foreign holiday in the summer. New clothing all the time, big fancy TVs in every room.

However, the wife is constantly looking over her shoulder (not literally, I don't think ) and I certainly could not live with myself to live that lifestyle. I feel sick if I pay my Next account late They are most definitely NOT looking to get off benefits, and what is the incentive for them to?!

So they do exist, I am sure they aren't commonplace though. The other family I know on benefits are definitely NOT living the high life.