What did Rishi mean when he said they can't protect all households?

[TopBitchoftheWitches]

Doesn't sound good imo.

I think he meant that they can't provide financial assistance for everyone.

I'm self employed, started last financial year with a very slow month. Since then hmm ha have gone from strength to strength but 13 months of trading won't be enough to be eligible for help. It stings as I've paid tax as an employee and self employed worker at a high level since I graduated but I'll get no help.

I can understand why as to open the gates for the likes of me makes fraud very risky.

So I think he means that for a variety of reasons not all of us can he helped.

That financial help cannot be provided for every single situation and some households won’t benefit. Common sense would tell people that anyway.

I think he meant they’re not going to do a universal basic income, sadly.

It's not possible under any circumstances for the government to prevent all households from suffering during a normal recession.

We are now in the mother of all global recessions. Of course it doesn't sound good. It isn't good.

I read it as they can’t pay out money to everyone who needs it.

So there is a set parameter and rules and cut of points so that means some people and businesses won’t qualify
So the people who moved jobs after the cut off date, business owners who take dividends and take a low weekly wage . SE business that run from home and not a separate business address

Even UC won’t be of much use to a dual income couple and one of them lose there job or someone who rents an expensive home which they could afford before but can’t now due to losing there job
Loads of people will fall between the cracks and can’t be helped .

And if I’m being very cynical after the 12 weeks is up they won’t be paying out for a further 12 weeks of furlong for business

So people may lose their homes?

I'm just shocked by his statement tbh.

He said it when he announced the scheme for SE . He’s not saying anything new

I appreciate his honesty.

In theory (if not in practice) the welfare system should be a backstop to prevent poverty. It will not be possible for everyone to maintain their previous lifestyle because businesses that were struggling before this will probably not survive.

If someone cannot afford their mortgage in the short term, then a repayment holiday will help. This is not viable in the longer term, so unless the person can find alternative employment or remortgage over a longer term, then they may well lose their home.

The government can put in place macro measures, but can't really put in place micro measures to resolve everyone's unique situation.

He's paving the way for pulling some support if this thing goes on longer than expected and/or the economy doesn't bounce back.

Personally I'll be surprised if the furlough thing gets extended in its current form.

A lot of people are going to lose their jobs, end up on universal credit and potentially lose their homes. Yes.

A lot of people stopped work when they shouldn’t have. Factories and offices shut down, when they should not have done so. If people could work from home then they should have, everyone else at work, other than those businesses on the shut down list. For example shops, showrooms etc.

Because so many shut down and then claimed the bill is billions more than expected. There is no magic money tree or endless pot of money, it’s taxes that are being spent to pay for it. They are borrowing heavily to fund it.

The financial impact is so much bigger than expected because companies and people just stopped when they were not supposed to. They thought it was just key workers to work.

So they need to get everyone back to work. Companies will go bankrupt because they stopped trading during this period, and will likely continue to stop trading untill lock down is eased.

The government can’t pay for everyone who stopped to stop, and the welfare bill will be enormous if unemployment rises.

Right now there is a significant problem simply because people stopped working, companies shut down, when they were supposed to keep working.

So people may lose their homes?

Well, yeah. The government can't protect everyone from all hardship associated with this and all financial disasters. People lost their homes in the nineties when mortgage interest rates skyrocketed to 13%. Buying a house on a mortgage is a risk and always has been.

I'm just shocked by his statement tbh.

Why? The Government can't look after every nuance in every household, no matter what party they represent.

I don’t get why you are shocked OP . It’s pretty clear to me . People are dying and the economy has tanked.
The government can’t and won’t pay out money for everyone and their needs forever. I would be hugely surprised if they paid out again after the 12 weeks are up . I’m surprised if anyone thinks they will continue to pay out more money when a large amount of the workforce isn’t working.
I would think that at the end of the 12 weeks the initial help will stop. And that’s when the shit hits the fan properly .
Rules like the min income floor for the SE for UC will be put back in place .
Universal credit only pays rent you can’t get help for a mortgage until 9months so you could be six months without paying your mortgage if you lose your job or can’t work
Lots of people live right up to the max of there income .So literally have no room to move

Out of all of my friends who are all in professional jobs well paid jobs I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who has enough savings to last at least a year probably a lot longer and very little debt .

Most people have less than 3 months savings. Some live week to week . For those people they will be hit very very hard.

Do you honestly think the goverment gives a shit if people lose their home .They didn’t in the last recession or the one before that . They probably only put these measurements because if they didn’t people would start rioting which is not very good for social distancing rules 😐

Right now there is a significant problem simply because people stopped working, companies shut down, when they were supposed to keep working.

Nail on the head. Far too many workplaces have taken the easy/default option to simply close when they could have stayed open with some adjustments. When the current hard lockdown is eased, we're going to see a lot of govt pressure for workplaces to start operating in some form again. That pressure will be a mix of encouragement via the daily briefings and gradual withdrawal of the financial support. As said above, the furlough and small business support will probably end at the end of June for most, with perhaps a few exceptions for specific types of higher risk workplaces that they really don't want to reopen yet.

It couldn't get much worse. Those that paid off their mortgages quickly will fair better. Those that paid the minimum and had nice cars and lots of holidays may regret their choices. The same is true for anyone maxed out on credit cards. Some will lose their homes.

Those owning buy to lets with mortgages could come a cropper too. Anyone with money will have to pay more tax and that includes wealthy pensioners.

Family members have got a mortgage break of 3 months (initially - don't know if it will go on) so house should be safe at present.
There are so many people who will take advantage of any situation where they can make some cash. If you opened it to anyone there would suddenly be all these people who supposedly had 'businesses' but didn't file a tax return. The state would get ripped off.
And all this money that is being handed out will have to be paid back - so tax payers of the future are going to get hammered. It doesn't grow on trees.

surprised if they paid out again after the 12 weeks are up . I’m surprised if anyone thinks they will continue to pay out more money when a large amount of the workforce isn’t working

A lot of people are really quite deluded though. Saying lockdown should and will last until September - that would be 6 months! The government won’t pay everyone’s wages until September! They don’t have the money for that, I don’t know why people think lockdown for months and months is easy or sensible. It’s not. We don’t have the money to support everyone in the country financially for months and months. I’m baffled why people can’t get that. I’m
Guessing the people who say this are rich with lots of savings so it doesn’t affect them.

Totally agree with bluntness why would you be suprised. This is massivley going to affecr peoples lives

I do think some businesses have used furlough when it isn't needed, allowing staff to go on it when they can work from home and there is enough work to keep them going; but the employee requests it and they just agree. A lot of my friends have done this because their husbands won't help with their children, but the scheme surely is really for those businesses who cannot function at the moment, or have zero workload due to covid? A free few months for the employer though I guess, but yes, support will be taken away as soon as it can be I would have thought, and either people pressured into returning to work or companies going bust.

Far too many workplaces have taken the easy/default option to simply close when they could have stayed open with some adjustments.

Like where? Lots of places have had to close, or are having income dramatically reduced if they are only doing takeaways (cafes/bars/pubs/gyms/events/theatres). Shops can’t stay open. Factories and warehouses are still operating as are many building sites. Farming still going. Surely anyone with office jobs are WFH as that can be done anywhere, with the exception of reception staff maybe who will be furloughed. Where else is there that ‘could be open’ but have chosen not to? I’m curious. Surely if businesses could be open they would do anything they could to be. Sounds to me like there’s an awful lot more people working in gig economy and zero hours low paid service industry jobs than the governments fudged employment figures have allowed for a start. I don’t think they were expecting that many UC claims.

The people who stopped work when they shouldn’t have might not have had much choice. The company DH works for us in the tyre industry. With all unnecessary travel halted their business plummeted and they had a bunch of staff sat around with nothing to do and still having to pay them. They didn’t furlough quite as soon as other places but eventually they made the decision to furlough all worker that lived over a certain distance from their main depot and just run with a much smaller staff because otherwise the business would go under and none of them would have a job. The worst part is that actually due to the way a lot of tyre companies with on call tyrefitters pay their wages the 80% is more like 30% because any overtime call outs and standby fees etc included.

This is a difficult situation for everyone. Even some key workers have had to stop work because they have members of their household that are vulnerable people and a key worker coming and going is too much of a risk.

It was pretty obvious from the beginning though that there are always going to be certain guidelines and boxes that need to be ticked and it would mean that some people wouldn’t qualify for help.

I mean I know they’re talking about when they can reopen the schools so they can send parents back to work but how many parents will actually be willing to send their kids back to school at the moment? Some probably will but I’m willing to bet a bunch won’t.

Russellbrandshair
Guessing the people who say this are rich with lots of savings so it doesn’t affect them.

Either that or really thick or living in their own little bubble

My husband and I are relatively well off no mortgage and plenty of savings and very little debt both working and jobs are safe and lockdown hasn’t really affected us so far .

But even we could see from the beginning that there is absolutely no way the government will continue it’s bailout for 6 months . They would be completely nuts to do that.
I just can’t get my head around why anyone even begins to think that they would.

But virtually all of our friends when we have said this to them they are really shocked and reply with but the government will have to pay otherwise people will be homeless starve die.
A huge amount of people really aren’t seeing what’s going to happen in 2 months time.

My business was forcibly closed by the government and they took far too long to reassure us of help. I’ll be mighty pissed off if they pull financial help whilst still preventing me from opening.

Why are you shocked? The government isnt magic, they can't just wave a wand and fix everything for everyone! Some people will suffer, thats why we're calling it a crisis.