£25,000 benefits cap

[Xenia]

Average family has £26,000 to live on including housing. So from 2013 the most benefits available for one family will be £26,000 including housing benefit. Sounds like a sensible plan. Well done George Osborne. How did we ever get to a contrary position in the first place?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11463435

Neither can the majority of people on benefits, with the exception of the list that MaMoTTaT posted earlier.

I could afford one at £389 - if I save up for a long time.

I don't think I actually know anyone that works or anyone on benefits who could just go out and spend £400 just like that.

I have Virgin TV - it comes free with my broadband package.

Sorry I haven't read the whole of this thread... and the post is massive.

My husband told me a few weeks ago about a family that came to him needing debt advice. They earnt £65000 in total in benefits, I think in part cos they had 6 kids, and they were struggling to survive. How?

It is very difficult line to draw on who gets benefits. On the one hand you have people who use benefits as a lifestyle, out of choice but on the other hand you have people who have no other choice. How do you determine who falls in which category? How do you ensure people get jobs? What if there are actually no jobs available?

My brother-in-law started his own business. At present he barely covers running costs let alone paying himself or his father any salary, yet the jobcentre refuse to pay him (after they helped him set this business up) because he is actually 'earning' some money he can't possibly need benefits. He works hard despite having ME and yet still has no money from the government or from his work. Meanwhile his wife who can claim JSA can't find a teaching job in which to use her skills and is not allowed to help her husband grow his business without losing her benefits too!

I think the system should and has to change. The government cannot allow people to believe that living off benefits as a lifestyle is acceptable. They also need to address the issue of young people getting pregnant just so they can be given council accommodation and benefits. People in council housing should be encouraged to move out and buy their own housing as soon as they can. People should be taught how to manage their money and prevent themselves from getting into debt.
None of these things will happen overnight. These changes need to be taught by parents to their children and by teachers in schools.

The ultimate question lies in HOW you can possibly address these issues, change the habits of a lifetime for some people, redress the inequality in earnings, encourage people to work when they actually don't want to, and help those who genuinely actually need help.

Plus... we as a family with two kids (don't take holidays or have sky or buy new clothes unless we have outgrown the existing ones or eat out or do any out of school activites for the kids) really struggle to live on a salary and child benefit coming to a little over the £25000. I couldn't even afford all the new school kit this year due to my husband's 'hoilday' from work (without pay cos holiday pay added to normal pay). So in many respects that figure sounds very low and I feel for people who will be in that situation!

6 kids - £65k in benefits

the only way I can think that they'd get that much is possibly if they're get some of the dsability element as well - I have no idea how much that is worth though?

Although I have just through entitleto a "pretend" family of 8

2 adults - one that gets high rate care and mobility DLA

6 chiildren - 2 of those getting higher rate care and mobility DLA

A pretend council tax of £2000 a year, and a huge housing LHA of £500 a week

So basically a family that's got a hell of a lot to cope with with 2 severely disabled children and severely a disabled adult living in an expensive area of the UK

They would get 63k

so an average family of 8 with no disability to contend wtih, and not living in a £2000 a month 4 bedroom house is going to get nowhere near that amount.

ffs - All I'm saying is that Plasma tellies aren't any flasher than any other telly.

MaMoTTaT
Derby in the cheap area is hardly what I would call expensive housing! They may get disability, my husband didn't go into further information!

TheCoalitionNeedsYou
I can't even afford to get my son an £8 school bag let alone a new TV. I have had to regrettably tell the kids that after school clubs that are only £3 a week are still out of the question! And anything more is expensive than that, forget it! It breaks my heart to tell them I can't afford these things or the cheese strings and lunchables that 'everyone else has got' but what else can I do? I could go out to work instead of working towards my degree, to earn an untrained wage pittance, to rarely see my kids and be no better or worse off finacially after paying the childcare costs. What is the point? I will miss them too much!!

oh right - so it's not going to be 65k then

Derby City LHA for a 4 bedroom is £172 a week (bizarrely exactly the same amount as my local LHA rate for a 4 bedroom) - I think the 65k my be quite a long way out......

I can assure you however that with 3 children I do not get anything like 25k per annum. (but I could if I so desired slowly squirrel some money away to buy a plasma TV - at the newly reduced price of £350 )

Although I was lucky that when I came onto benefits I had very little debt, and my children have no special dietary requirements or SN. I wouldn't be quite so lucky had any of the lattter applied

kistigger - Why is that addressed to me?

£1000 a month after housing costs and council tax is one hell of a lot more than many working families have.

most people I know have to top up their housing benefit out of their other benefits as the LHA doesn't cover their rent. I know I used to have to top up nearly £90 a month - thankfully here I struck gold here and don't have to top up.

If I worked 40hrs a week minimum wage I'd have over 1k left over after rent and council had been paid.

Well we weren't entitled to HB or CTB, wouldn't have been even if renting. After housing costs and taking into account CTC we had little over £1000 a month. That was on a gross income of around £20k.

don't forget you have to factor in number of children into how much is reasonable - and how much you get one extra child can mean an extra £696 a year in CB.

For me 3 with 3 children 20k gross would be pretty comfortable. With one child it would be great - and on my own blardy marvellous.

That was with one child. With two or three we'd obviously have got tons more CTC - I kind of missed that point before.

It wasn't that great actually, living where we do with big heating and petrol costs. But my point was that if you're working for £20k - ie a reasonably good job that requires experie nce and qualifications - you should be taking home, after housing costs, substantially more than someone on benefits, not just a little more.

problem is...if you are working at a very low level of pay and own a house you don't get hb or mortgage support

this cripples some of my family

but with 1 child it's unlikely that you'd get anything like 20k in benefits - unless you live somewhere with very high council tax and housing costs

Does anyone know what a couple with one child does get in benefits, excluding HB and CTB as they're obviously variable.

gaelic - just over 9k a year - that's JSA (couples rate), CTC and CB

So £750 a month then. I reckon if we weren't in the middle of nowhere having to run a car we could have survived on that just fine before DC2. £250 a month isn't a massive difference really when I consider how hard I worked to get that job (got a pay rise now thank God).

And we are lucky to have a low mortgage cos we bought before the boom and have a tracker. If we were renting (not entitled to HB remember) there would be little or no difference!!

Trouble is now very well say if in La you should move out and buy but the cost of buying is horrendus not many places would you get 3 bed terrace less than £180 k and in the sE add at least another 100k to that So would need a very good job to be able get mortgage

Well...we could move to have a much cheaper rent. 100 miles North should do it. But seeing as DP can't drive (no car, never had a driving lesson), and his job only brings in £16K...he would not be able to keep his job. THerefore we can a) stay in our area where rents are excessive, and DP still work OR b) Move 100 miles North, DP can't get to work, cheaper rents but unemployed. as to how the working poor are meant to move?

I think all these things are likely to effect the housing market and make people be more mobile, which is probably part of the plan.

Loudlass - what SHOULD happen is that your rent will go down as those who aren't working move to get cheaper rents, reducing the demand for housing where you are. This all works in theory, practice is another matter though...and it's unlikely to help in the short term.

how are those that aren't working going to move to the cheaper areas?

and if the rents in (for example) Loudlass's area reduce because of lack of demand doesn't that mean that those non workers looking for somewhere cheaper to live with just move there???