Too Many Cuts...come join the #Frothers and have your say

[AnyFuckerForAMincePie]

This is the 3rd thread in a series.

It is for people who are horrified, frustrated and downright sad at the erosion of human rights with respect to how this country is being run, just now and in the recent past

it is apolitical in nature, but of course due to many recent initiatives by the recent govt, there will be rants against our current "leaders"

please join in

I shall post the link to the old threads, our "Too Many Cuts #Frothers" blog that is attracting a lot of widespread attention and a little bit of what we are about in a moment

Yes OM it is.

I think we will have to go for a council place next year but it will come with hugeb problems as no area serves the catchment for both the boy's SN Placements, which means having to be about for a ten mile plus drive each morning for at best one, worst two children.

How the hell do you decide which boy to stuff? There is an alternative on the estate for ds3 but it is huge with 30 child classes and anything over 12 he shuts down entirely and does not function.

opinionatedmum 'parents cracking up' is so true .

My GP wants to sign me off but I can't risk it as I know that as LP I'm already bottom of the heap.

We won't be getting anything when it changes - DHs wage is about 27k pa (which is fucking good imo) and we will just about scrape by without them I think. But it means I will be out of work even longer, as the childcare for 2 kids (even NT ones!) is just so insane.

Hardly getting Britain working is it?

I don't understand the logic of making it impossible for people to work, and then penalising them if they don't (or don't work enough) there is literally no fucking option that ends with everyone getting to live indoors and eat...

We will see tent cities like in the US

... or riots.

Hello, may I have your opinions please?

Thanks to Too Many Cuts and #frothers, I've just discovered the New Economics Foundation. I'm very impressed.

I would like to import their blog feed into our blog, perhaps on a separate page.

What do Frothers think of the idea?

seriously though given my entire income all in is under 14k - how on earth can i house, heat, feed and clothe us for less than that? i'm already fully expecting my dla to be cut which will bring me down to close to 11k which is terrifying enough.

and how do people get the impression taht people on benefits are rolling it in? i'm a disabled single parent and will be getting 11k from early next year and that's before cuts.

does that really sound like a lot of money to anyone?

unless i'm missing some magic trick being a disabled single mum is not a lucrative 'lifestyle choice'.

sorry that sounds like a poor me, poor me post but it isn't really it's that i'm sharing my financial reality to dispel the idea that we're all raking it in.

Santa - not poor me at all - it's no more 'poor me' than my posts!

I will do some breakdowns later for a single parent with one/two/three/four dc.

And I will also do some for a couple, both on NMW,with one/two/three/four dc.

It may take me a while though - far from being easier that TC's to work out, IMO it is a LOT more complex to work out UC entitlements, and earnings disregards etc.

I will also fish out the regs on Carers from the Universal Credits Policy Briefing Documents that I have saved - all 15 of the bloody things. .

Nope - you're totally right Santa.

I think how low your income is (even a as a person on DLA!) proves just how much difference housing and childcare costs make to everyone.

And it's one of those things that's not easy to fix. I mean, sometimes people could move to cheaper areas - but that might mean moving away from work or family who will do some free childcare for you - so no saving there...

no real saving and the ghettoisation of our country. lose, lose imo but a big winner for those who want to turn the south east into a nice little enclave sheltered from the gathering shitstorm. keep the rioters far far away with train fares too expensive for them to travel

oh and make sure they can't chase us for child support by charging for it so we won't even have to pay for our own children let alone otehr people's

santa I for one do not believe the hype that single parents are "raking it in"

quite the opposite, in fact

Tell you what Hunty, not sure what your field of work was, but you'd be great as a benefits assessor! Shame no-one's hiring.

I used to work as an on-site architect. ( I was working and doing BTEC on day-release). Never allowed on-site again, as I have had a seizure after the age of 5yo. The skills I had were not very transferrable - at least not without the finances to go back to college and take additional qualifications. So left me stuck working NMW jobs...

hang on! £500pw or pm???

it has just occurred to me that i have the wrong end of the stick and have been reading it as a £500pm cap and wondering how on earth anyone could keep a roof over the heads. i'm now thinking you MUST be talking about 500pw

1. Policy decisions and the impact of Universal Credit on Carers

Qualifying criteria and treatment of earnings a) It has been announced that Carer?s Allowance will continue to exist as a separate benefit outside of Universal Credit. b) The Universal Credit award will include a carers element which will continue for as long as the carer provides care for at least 35 hours per week for a _severely disabled person_*. The Universal Credit earnings taper will apply to the award and the overall Universal Credit award will be reduced depending on earnings. c) Within Universal Credit claimants will only qualify for a limited capability for work element or a carer element, not both. This reflects the fact that the elements are paid in respect of not being able to work through either a medical condition or by virtue of caring responsibilities. However, households will still be able to get a limited capability for work element for one member and the carer element for the other member.

• Severely disabled person in this case means someone who is eligible to be in the support group of ESA, or in the case of a child, one who qualifies for HRC,HRM on DLA, and therefore will still be climing PIP when that comes in.

(Additional note is my own). More to follow.

Santa - do they ignore the doctors sicknote in favour of the failed eligibility for esa?

In a word, yes. The gov website says they can put you on placement three months before your sick not says you'll be fit for work.

A very great deal of this is borderline illegal. Hence why they're changing the laws so fast.

(is pip only going to be for higher rate dla recipients then?) sorry to use you like cab hunty - so grateful you know all this stuff. and please, please, please tellme it's a weekly cap not monthly?

Yes, £500p/wk. Which still won't be enough - at least in London or the SE, as it covers childcare, rent, and what is the equivalent of WTC and CTC. AND they deduct however much you get in Child Benefit from the £500 cap, plus anything over your personal earnings disregard is taken away from that £500 cap at a rate of 65p in the pound.

The parallels with Hitler's rise to power are stunning. Unfortunately, people will say I'm over-dramatising.

And my head needs a break. Am trying to concentrate on East Enders; a bit of fictional drama might help to balance the real ones in front of us ....

Yes, PIP will ONLY be for those who receive HRC/HRM.

oh that's marvelous garlic - i can jsut see me now collapsed on the floor in the freezer aisle hyperventilating for 8 hrs a day of unpaid labour. i have panic attacks when i go to tescos to shop let alone if i'm stuck there for 8hrs working.

anything over your personal earnings disregard is taken away from that £500 cap at a rate of 65p in the pound.

... er, they put you on a 65% tax rate as an incentive to earn your living instead of 'grasping' at benefits?
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