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£25,000 benefits cap

466 replies

Xenia · 05/10/2010 06:48

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

OP posts:
Scottie04 · 05/10/2010 16:20

IN my previous post I said the scroungers were those who had never worked - and yes if you are going to have and excess of children then you should be able to provide for them and not expect the tax payer to find you some large house so that all your children can have a bedroom.
There is so much wrong in this country that people can not earn a decent wage. There are those who work for a pittance and there are scroungers.... (And quite a few)
I have worked in the NHS in a deprived area and I do believe what I hear.....

SanctiMoanyArse · 05/10/2010 16:20

Do they get EMA etc though if working?

Which is why tehy want to get people into work long term, even if it means topping up the wages in the shorter term.

SanctiMoanyArse · 05/10/2010 16:23

WelllS cottie, I ahve worked for teh NHS, been raised and been employed by a charity in a deprived area (no longer live in one) so we will ahve to agree to differ on that. Every family (bar one) I ever worked with ahd some real issues that might not make it OK but explained why they were where they were: usually remediable with some input.

The bar one I admit were IMO exactly teh DM stereotype but that's a low per5centage of my former workload.

And we shall certainly have to disagree that children need their own bedroom! I never did and it was no hardship.

usualsuspect · 05/10/2010 16:23

Scottie can you explain about the people that live in cramped over crowded houses then,or does no body talk about them?

SanctiMoanyArse · 05/10/2010 16:27

(I can of course confirm I was not a typist for either employer Wink)

nottirednow · 05/10/2010 16:43

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overmydeadbody · 05/10/2010 16:47

My opinion is that no one should be better off claiming benefits instead of working, there should always be the insentive to work, even if you then need top ups. These should always be greater than what you could claim in IS and JSA.

I tihnk there should be a limit on hoe long you can claim JSA as an able bodied adult before they stop and you are on your own. This should include single mothers/fathers. They should be better off working, even if only part time, with child care paid for.

That will reduce the attitude some people have of being entitled to sit on their arses claiming benefits as a lifestyle choice.

Glitterknickaz · 05/10/2010 16:52

I nearly had heart failure when I read this. Thankfully as a household with DLA we'll be ok but blimey.... due to SE rents and ctax it would have meant a family of five, three kids with disabilities living on about £15k.

usualsuspect · 05/10/2010 16:57

Because theres clearly thousands of jobs out there to choose from ...not

Don't believe the hype people

oh wait........

2shoes · 05/10/2010 16:58

one thing I don't get though is....
so the goverment and most of mn want benefits to be as low as possible to get people working..
but thousands of people are going to be made unemployed due to all the cuts....
so there are going to be less jobs.
so .....
that is when I get stuck.
how can it help the country to have high unemployment , and not help people who are unemployed?

HeftyNorks · 05/10/2010 16:59

Okkaaaaay - a little realism here - some years ago I worked with and befriended a single Mum. She had 7 children by 5 different fathers, a four bedroom house and benefits.

The epitome of the DM's fears for society.

What the DM types do not know:

She was in care for much of her childhood following horrendouse sexual and physical abuse.
She sought love and was unfortunate enough to meet the type of men who took advantage of her. With the notable exception of one the rest left and paid nothing to her for their offspring.
She cried nearly every time I saw her about her past.
She loved her children, was affectionate and supportive to them - they had a childhood (albeit supported by the taxpayer) that was in excess of the one she experienced.

With her past she was less likely to be able to function normally in society - and she was also abused in care.

We do not know the background to many of these so called "feckless" families - they are out there it's true but like the Mum I have just described the story is never as simple as "I'll have another child for extra benefits and a bigger house"

Who is to say this Mum did not deserve her benefits or that she should be made uncomfortable about it. The support had never been there for her. Money in benefits is all very well but does not tackle the underlying issues. Her children are now adults and with the exception of one all working and contributing.

sungirltan · 05/10/2010 17:00

i welcome the cap, or a cap anyway

. i hate feeling like this but a friend of mine who i graduated with (i am qualified SW)argued like mad with me that she was better off not working. she is a lone parent of 2 dc (she does not claim csa for either). her dc are 3 and 10 and she has lots of childcare options to cover the time between school/nursery finishing and 5pm. our starting salary for SW where we are is £30, 111 pro rata. we worked out that to amintain her rented house+bils+food+all the extras like her dc activities/lessons etc.....all her expenses whether essential or not that she would be at least £7k better off each year by working.

she is a good parent and she is v devoted to her dc - its not as if she spends all the benefits on going out or whatever but i dont feel she can justify not working. even if she went part time she can get tax credits etc to make up the salary. i just dont think this is fair.

HeftyNorks · 05/10/2010 17:01

Well said 2shoes - that's where I get stuck too. Where's the jobs George?

sarah293 · 05/10/2010 17:01

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Want2bSupermum · 05/10/2010 17:03

I left in 2005 because I was fed up of paying through the nose and getting nothing in return.

Rents in the UK have been rising because the government refuse to sort out the regulations that prevent families from owning their own home. If the average cost of housing was lowered then you wouldn't need GBP26k in benefits. How much would a three bed semi in a middle class neighbourhood cost if there was a regulation stating that all homeowners must put down a decent deposit (5% for first time buyers and 10% for everyone else), only able to borrow 3x the higher earners salary with compulsory insurance to cover payments if you don't have at least nine months of living costs in a savings account?

Accidents happen and there needs to be a basic level of welfare to support families. I struggled but I managed to get through university while working full time on an income of around GBP10,500 per year. I took home around GBP9k after taxes. I had to support myself plus pay full tuition from this and buy expensive text books. I got zero help as I was a student and my parents earnt too much. I managed to come out with no debt and enough for me to travel to China for 8 weeks and move to London to start a job. It wasn't easy but I survived.

2shoes · 05/10/2010 17:04

I keep reading on threads how people (of course only poor people) should up sticks and move for a job, or retrain, but for what and where, and how?
imo is getting boring as people just keep on wanting someone else to hurt not them.

sarah293 · 05/10/2010 17:05

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2shoes · 05/10/2010 17:08

oh come on riv, think of the hassle, they would have to find new drama classes and such like.

usualsuspect · 05/10/2010 17:08

There was enough moaning on here about people losing their child benefit yesterday ..people that used it to pay the cleaner ffs ..
make the poorest people pay again

Big fucking society my arse

Want2bSupermum · 05/10/2010 17:10

Thats what most people do. It is shocking how many middle class English families have moved to Canada and the US in the past 10 years because their wages go so much further.

In our town two bars open at 7am on the weekend to cater to those wanting to watch the premiership games. Those at the bar are English.

tandh · 05/10/2010 17:11

i am a single divorced parent working part time for a bank, to fit in with school hours. I have a mortgage and all the other regula outgoings to run a house and raise a child. I do not get anywhere near £44k not even half of that. It is a huge struggle. I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone cannot live on £44k?!! Try living withing your budget is my advice, the government should not be funding children of parents earning that much money.

2shoes · 05/10/2010 17:11

don't think tehy will let me or Riv move to Canada

sarah293 · 05/10/2010 17:14

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2shoes · 05/10/2010 17:15

not to live there

roundthebend4 · 05/10/2010 17:16

Guess I better start looking for where nearest ghetto to me is then though I'm fortunate if you could call it that ,that ds is disabled and I'm his carer so won't be capped

otherwise my rent is 14,000 a year council tax is 2000 so there's 16k gone leaving me 9 k a year otherwise to support me and 4 dc

moving is not option ds3 needs paticular accomu dation la say they have nothing to meet his needs so were stuck long term private renting .oh and 2 of my ds do share a room so not even goi g on the one room each

and before anyone starts bashing that fact have 4 dc I was married xh did work full time I worked pt but he choose to walk out when ds3 was born disabled

now has somehow swu g onto longterm sick so my matiance is 5 quid a week