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?

The difference is portifino is that these people face being moved into areas where there is less work. Or moving into temp accommodation. They are having opportunities to rebuild their lives robbed from them

And just because you could cope away from you family doesn't mean they can.
What about all those with MH problems being denied ESA and will probably sruggle to qualify for PIP(the newer, cheaper DLA. Not all disabled people are being protected as the govt claimed because they are changing who qualifies for sickness and disability benefits.

struggle

sparkly unfortunatley as a adult on DLA who will transer to PIP if i qualify which is doubtfull

sparkly that all depends do the dc recieve HRC as thats going to be the deciding factor it seems

It's absolutely not as simple as people bashing the vulnerable or the jobless

When you look at figures, like that above, showing that a family living on a wage of , say , 22k will be topped up to the equivalent of 35k- where is the incentive for people to aim for higher paid jobs , with the extra responsibility and pressure that comes with it??

It's not just about jobless people having no incentive to work because they won't have any greater disposable income at the end of the month. It's about people who may be working but have no incentive to get promoted, or seek a better job- because any extra financial incentive would be negated by loss of tax credits.

The system is crap.

I am a graduate with professional training. It took me years to achieve an income of 35k- years of moving around the country for promotions, increasing pressure and responsibility- plus shedloads in childcare. Quite frankly, if I were leaving school or uni in 2012 I would be taking a long hard look at whether it's worth the extra pressure of working my way up the career ladder if I could have a similar standard of living for less hassle. There used to be a feeling that it was worth Aiming high, because the rewards would compensate for the efforts. I'm not sure that's true any more

This isn't just about disability and vulnerable people. It's a much broader argument than that. I am totally in agreement that house prices are way too high and minimum wage is too low- but alongside that, the fact remains that if a family who are jobless can earn practically the same as a family in work, and If a family with low paid menial work can be topped up to earn practically the same as a family with higher paid more difficult, demanding work.... Where is the incentive??

Yes they are on hrc but ds1 turns 16 in dec 2013 so he will go on pip but like yourself I'm unsure if he will qualify. They have cerebral palsy but he can walk, slowly but he can.

yes PIP is whole another thread .As it stands mine will go to am thining that is going to be a tough time

P.s I am also in agreement with portofino about the moving around issue. There seems to be an assumption that those of us who move to find work/ afford housing have found it easy, whereas the poor people who might have to move to an affordable area because the govt won't pay unlimited housing costs any more, are poor helpless victims.

I think generally speaking human beings are quite conservative (small c!) and don't like change. I certainly didn't find it easy to move hundreds of miles away ans seek out childcare for my 3 month old (couldn't afford longer maternity leave) . But I guess my mindset was that it's what you just have to get on and do. It wouldn't have occurred to me to jump up and down and stamp my feet and feel entitled to stay living in the area I was raised. I couldn't afford it so I accepted that. It seems that there is an assumption going on here of different coping thresholds- some people are expected to just get on with life and move if they need to, while others are poor victims who have to be protected from the realities of life

Yea me too human. I'm actually very very worried ATM.

callme

but what do you do if you cna get anyone to take HB also areas are struggling to provide low cost accomidation for people already living their so be more stress on it

then there be the strain on schools /Gp etc

thank you twoifbysea, but i do know how to "work" the system, I have spent 10 years working in the system Im ok, yes its difficult with the girls being in the same room, but we cope. Im a true believer that things to be alot worse. Plently of people lose their marriages with SN kids, some lose their home with cancer and worse some lose their lifes.
We have decided to make the huge move into rented, in a completely different part of the UK, to give our girls a better life and education. It will hopefully give us a slower pace which is great for dh.
I do work free lance now and then, maybe to help out my old work, but I really do want to go back soon. I miss work, i miss people, i miss my work! Thing is we will be worse off when i return to work BUT its not always about money.

good point Calmermrs about the promotion aspect etc. My DH has been working since he was 17, at weekends and nights and just about earns the same as the 26K before tax and then it wouldn't take much to go into the HLTP and lose child benefit for his 3 children.

It is becomming silly and it does disincentivise people to have any prospects or ambition.

There are people who seem curiously adept at it though lisad123, so much so it makes you wonder why they aren't making millions as entrepreneurs!

Wish you well.

Can someone please explain housing benefit.... Do you just find a house and tell them how much you need and get it. or do they tell you how much they will give you before you look for one?

Each local council tell you how much they will give you in advance.

If the only thing you can find costs more, or if you want to claim for somewhere you already live and the rent is more they won't give you extra.

If you find somewhere that costs less they still only give you as much as the rent actually is.

And, as councils pay HB on a 4-weekly basis (28 days) and most months are 30 or 31 days, it is always less than that again (by £30 per month for me, probably a lot more for some).

It does mean that once a year you get an extra payment, but if every penny counts and you have to wait a year for that payout...it's tough.

In the last place I lived in DS's CB neatly plugged the gap. None left over.

Thanks.

Would it not be cheaper for the councils to actually buy properties and pay mortgages on each one than pay rents. At least after 25 years they will own it and can be added to the social housing list instead of money going into the pockets of ( from what I have read) dodgy land lords with crappy housing.

Think I should run for pm :)

Housework

Each council sets a maxium rate they will pay . This tends to be they look at what the rent is in an area and then look at the bottom 30% and this is a figure

There's a maxium rate so even if your entitled to 5 beds maxium rate is a 4 bed

Here where I am the maxium LHA rate is 1080 for a 4 bed but in reality 4 beds are a minimum of £1200 and often a struggle to find LL willing to take HB

Yes, a lot of people have argued that increasing social housing would improve the situation and I agree, however instead more council houses are being sold off and those that are left are having their rents raised to 80% of market rates (bear in mind that by this point housing benefit will only pay out at 30% of market rate)...

so more or less the opposite unfortunately.

Housework last place I rented due to circumstances council actually did approach LL to consider buying he knew council were struggling to house me so he added a lot more to the price or said yes you can fo sone adaptions but rents going up thinking he had them over the barrel ( shit accommodation but shit LL to be fair not all like him)

In his Case backfired as due to some quick thinking and sheer luck they found somewhere that could be worked for me

Totally disagree with capping H.B. and many other cuts, am being very self centred but are state pensions counted as a state benefit? We're also in receipt of small company pension BUT get CTC x 2 who both get HR DLA & mobility plus we have 3 young adults with Down Syndrome who get MR dla & IB (All adopted in case anybody thinks we are daft--we are!) On paper we are well off but as there are 7 of us £26,000K we will be stuffed. Sorry to sound selfish but am a tad concerned.

Let's all join a commune problem solved... :) I'm not ironing tho...

YAY can we come I will even do some ironing but no underwear!

Ok, with regards to the job issue. There clearly aren't no job vacancies. But there aren't enough. Even if every job hunter had flawless experience and qualifications exactly matching the vacancies, which they don't all, there would still be millions unemployed. There are also many who, for various reasons, are not going to be able to work in the near or long term future. These people have to live somewhere. I would hope this is all relatively uncontroversial, the occasional fuckwit post about how people should move to cheap areas then move back to dear ones when they get work aside. I also assume its uncontentious that the areas of the UK where there are jobs are the ones where rents are higher- the south east. There's a correlation.

So, we are left with the issue of where people who are unemployed should live. There are two options:

1. Maintain them in the more expensive areas where they have more chance of getting a job.

1. Move them to less expensive areas, where they have less chance of getting a job.

This is what it comes down to, however much you want to dress it up. Neither option is problem free.

Hully I appreciate your point about who has the right to decide who is unemployable. When I mentioned people who had no chance of work, that was a statement of opinion not fact. I wouldn't say I support the idea of moving en masse people who are considered unemployable to the cheapest areas of the country. It's just that there's a logic to it, whereas there isn't when people pretend that the area an unemployed person lives in doesn't affect their job prospects.

2old2beamum yup you can come... And WHO irons underwear? That's as bad as my mum, she used to iron tea towels!