Cap on benefits to 26k- am I missing something?

[buggyRunner]

As far as I can gather it's the normal benefits ie housing/ cb and wtc. This seems like a large sum. Is it accross the board or does it include disability related benefits? Are the figures misleading?

My rent is CURRENTLY £522pcm. It will be going up in April 2012 to £622pcm, and again in April 2013 to £722pcm. That is a rise of £200 in just over a year from now. And that is because, rather than cap PRIVATE RENTS to an affordable level, this government has decided to raise SOCIAL HOUSING RENTS to be 80% of the cost of their LOCAL housing market.

As I understand it if you are receiving DLA when you reach retirement age it continues until you die.

If you become disabled after you've become retired, or due to old age, then you are not eligible or else everyone who lives to say over 80 would be on it.

Those who are receiving it on retirement will be living longer of course so there will be more paid out.

rshipstuff - YES it's to do with the sizes of my bedrooms. In FACT my LARGEST bedroom doesn't quite meet the stadard size, and I have an 8yo and a 9yo sharing it. I AM on the list for a move, have been for nearly 4 years (since my DD turned 10yo, she will be 14yo in a few weeks, and DS1 will be 10yo not long after).

I am afraid to move toa larger house though. Because of the UC cap. If I won't be able to afford the rent here - how on EARTH would I afford the rent on a 4-bed. 80% of the cost of a Private rented 4-bed here (which is what my rent will be) would be 80% of £1,200pcm. Which is £960pcm. And the most HB/LHA I can get will be £660pcm.

I have't made my mind up on this one.

This cap on benefits is very popular.

Arranging your welfare system so that people who don't work are better off than those, in similar circumstances, who do is not good for society.

It breeds understandable resentment in the low paid workers and creates situations where people are effectively trapped on benefits because they would be worse off if they got a job.

I'm frustrated at the emphasis on cutting benefits, but think that the high levels of HB paid to private landlords was distorting the market and subsidising landlords and that tax credits for working people are a massive subsidy to big business and create dependency on the state, which is ridiculous when you could just tax the same people less.

The problem is that this is all coming while the Tories attempt to undermine working conditions and make no effort to address low pay.

Any honest attempt to deal with welfare dependency in this country would be looking just as hard at the public money subsidising corporate profits and tackling the massive rent-seeking at the top that is destroying value in our public companies.

TheRhubarb - not ALLOWED to be a TA due to my epilepsy, sole charge of dc's sometimes etc. Couldn't do the full job. And as it's with vulnerable dc, I don't pass the safeguarding checks. I've tried!

I applied for attendance allowance / DLA for my retired mother a few months ago due to her dementia. She was awarded it but not sure how long for.

DH's grandmother is almost ninety and claims nothing but then she is the anecdotal sixty-a-day smoker who is as healthy as an ox

Here's some light relief for you Sir Ian Bowler explains the benefits cut

HuntyCat, did you read my email asking you about becoming a TA for children with special needs? Because I really do think it might suit your experience and it offers flexibility and the schools hours you need, plus all your holidays.

And you know, you can get a cheaper rented house, you just have to look around. Yes it's an upheaval but we've moved 5 times with the kids and it's doable. We've privately rented 3 times and our rents never went up year after year, so not all private landlords do this. I would personally look for a cheaper rental in the same area. You offer a valuable asset to your LL in that you are a trusted long-term tenant, he might not be so lucky next time. Try haggling with him. If not, then let him find someone willing to pay that whilst you look elsewhere.

I thought that you might be excluded from T.A work due to health reasons Hunty, which is such a crying shame. Wish I had someone like you working with my DC.

x-posts, sorry.
General TA then? Classroom helper? Less pay but less responsibility too so you might stand a better chance?

rshipstuff.The rise in the youngest group of DLA claimants can be DIRECTLY explained by better survival rates for disabilities, and disabilities caused by premature births. They grow up. They turn 18yo. They are transferred from the child figures (which aren't included in that figure you are using) to the ADULT figures. Bear in mind that even a baby born prematurely, with disabilites, in the first half of the 1990's will now be over 18yo.

Have to say I don't get this harking back to unemployment.

As I see it those on benefits who will need to move have a slight advantage over the rest of us ie they're not in work.

Actually if it was me I'd look for the cheapest area to rent and move there. Benefits will go a lot further then I'd spend my days jobhunting(the entire country)until the market turned. When I got a job I'd move accordingly.

I speak as somebody's dp did see the writing on the wall and moved from the SW to the North.We lived there for 3 years and came back in a far stronger position careerwise.It's something all of us in the job market have to do.

HuntyCat, why would the LHA only be £660 on a 4-bed? I had a look on the LA websites, and it listed a few numbers:

Bury £900, Colchester/Tendring £875, Chelmsford £995, Cambridge £850, Harlow £1175, Stevenage £1100

Nope. NONE of the school's here are hiring ANY classroom staff other than L2 TA's for SPECIFIC dc with statements.

You don't understand why people are harking back to unemployment?

haha!

Because that is the level RIGHT NOW. When LHA covers the cheapest 50% of properties. That is changing. LHA will be DROPPING so that it only covers the cheapest 30% of properties.

I didn't see the e-mail, but then I don't check my emails NEARLY often enough!

HuntyCat - DP says most school jobs that will be cut are TAs which explains what you are now seeing

Tilly,you don't have to tell me. DD's LSA's disappeared in September. DS2's classroom assistant and shared TA vanished at the same time.

YY loads of TA's are being cut. Female unemployment highest for 23 years. In the old saying ' you think education's expensive? - try ignorance'

Loads of TA jobs going down here.

HuntyCat, LHA was cut to the 30th percentile in April 2011, the LHA figures I quoted already factor this in, the 30th percentile is CURRENT.

If you look for instance on the Tendring BC website for LHA:

www.tendringdc.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/3D2816AA-FD99-4C20-A9AC-58FDE3C78A06/0/LHArates.pdf

Q1 2011 lists: 5-bed £1250, 4-bed £995.
Q2 2011 lists: 5-bed GONE, 4-bed £895

This cut reflects moving from median to 30th percentile.

This is explained here: www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/claims-processing/local-housing-allowance/impact-of-changes.shtml#fn1

Hunty - I thought it changed to the 30% level in 2011? Or was that not every Local Authority?

Could you stop shouting please?

My mistake, I thought you were renting privately. You seem to have a lot of red tape stopping you, could the CAB not help to try and sort a lot of it out for you? Sorry, just trying to suggest ways to help. Don't want to be shouted at though.

"MrsHeffley Tue 24-Jan-12 13:02:18
Loads of TA jobs going down here."

What's your point?