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Original poster

AIBU that the benefit cap is actually a cut on child benefit?

60 replies

ChickenLickn · 02/02/2012 19:39

This family would be affected by the cap. The family is made up of two parents who have combined their families and taken responsibility for their children - so there are 6 children in the family.

As the graph shows, most of their income is child benefit.
They spend the majority of the money on food for the family of 8. The next largest outgoing is for school uniform, shoes, other school expenses and clothing. So they are taking good care of the children.

They all live in an overcrowded 3 bed house, on a council estate in north wales.

The amount they will lose from the cap is more than the cost of their rent.

AIBU that this cap is actually a cut in child benefit, and will penalise people who are trying to bring up their children properly?

OP posts:
Original poster
ChickenLickn · 02/02/2012 20:38

WhereYouLeftIt - he will have had to apply for other jobs as part of the jobseekers conditions, after 6 months IIRC. So he will have been applying to at least 3 jobs a week in different areas, for at least 9 years.

OP posts:
Original poster
ChickenLickn · 02/02/2012 20:42

Charshep - I think you would it is was the difference between feeding your kids and not.

The amount that is being cut is more than their entire rent!

OP posts:
fivegomadindorset · 02/02/2012 20:42

You can't tell me that in 11 years he has had no offer of a job, supermarket work, cleaner etc or been able to retrain. He has had eleven years for fuck sake. In elevn years I have managed to do all sorts of jobs, never had a problem as I have never been fussy.

WhereYouLeftIt · 02/02/2012 20:43

And presumably making it perfectly clear at the interview that he considers himself to be an educational software writer, regardless of the what the job on offer happens to be, ChickenLickn. Absolutely guaranteed to impress a prospective employer.

callmemrs · 02/02/2012 20:47
  1. the family are living on more than many working families
  2. they spend a huge amount on fags and booze- so it's rubbish to suggest they will have to go without food.
  3. the op implies that these 2 parents are stepping up to their responsibilities- but there is no mention of the other 2 parents involved. There are 4 adults responsible altogether for bringing these children into the world. Where are they? Why aren't they contributing? Or are they off somewhere else with a load more children they've decided to bring into the world?
  4. bottom line is- many of us couldn't afford to do what this family have done. If I decided to have 4 children, then shack up with someone else who already had a few kids, and then we decided to have a few more.... Well, I'd be in financial chaos! Most people limit their family to what they can afford. It's not the fault of everyone else that some people choose not to.
StealthPenguin · 02/02/2012 20:49

I'm sorry, but if I were that hard-up then I'd be taking a good hard look at everything I'm spending on and remove anything that isn't a necessity.

Alcohol and cigarettes are not necessary. That's bollocks. He won't need to "choose between eating and heating", it just means he'd have to stop sucking on his cancer-sticks! Oh pity, poor old him. Whinge whine moan. Wah wah wah.

Sorry, but if they were sensible then they would easily manage with the cuts. That's absolutely shocking.

fivegomadindorset · 02/02/2012 20:49

He also goes out more than we do, and you don't need sky movies, you can rent a DVD from you library for 50p a night or join love film for £10 a month.

usualsuspect · 02/02/2012 20:49

Thread no 3...

fivegomadindorset · 02/02/2012 20:49

Go cold turkey with fags, other people do.

HappyMummyOfOne · 02/02/2012 20:50

Its a cap on benefits, not one in particular. There choice to bring 8 children into the world so they cant complain about lack of money when none of the household income is actually earnt but handed to them by the state.

Perhaps capping benefits will mean people have to actually work to provide for any children they chose to have. A novel idea to many seeing how many are moaning re the cuts. Having children means taking responsibility and providing for them.

foreverondiet · 02/02/2012 20:54

Yes I know the mobiles is for 8 people, but FFS I didn't have a mobile when I was a teenager. Making calls is a luxury. These people are living of the state.

StealthPenguin · 02/02/2012 20:55

And if you take away the "24 cans of lager, 200 cigarettes and pouch of tobacco" (which we'll say is costing £100 per week), the Sky TV, Mobile Phones and Entertainment, they would have an extra £167 per week.

That's £8684 per year.

That's double what the proposed "loss" in benefits is!

These people need to snap out of it. And fast.

usualsuspect · 02/02/2012 20:55

Haven't you lot raged enough about the feckless lazy benefit scroungers already?

Can't you give it a bloody rest for one night

wannaBe · 02/02/2012 20:56

Poor lambs. Hmm

How about giving up smoking, the lager, the sky and getting off his arse and getting a job.

I don't believe for second he's applied for three jobs a week for the past nine years. And if he has and been turned down for all of them, then perhaps we need to start questioning why. Oh that's right, he hasn't been able to find a job in his "expertees" Hmm

Sorry, I have no sympathy for them at all.

sodapops · 02/02/2012 21:01

I dare say there are people out there who the benefit cap is going to cause real hard ship, but this family is not one of them. They have Sky movies because "they don't go out", yet he spends £20 a week in the pub! They spend loads more on alcohol and tabbacco as well. Mobile phones can be done for a lot less than £32 a week, as can the £91 "other expenses".

IMVHO he should be getting a job and perhaps they should be looking at their outgoings now before they do implement the cap.

TheFeministsWife · 02/02/2012 21:06

Hang on a minute, he spends £80 a month on going out! Shock DH works full time and can't afford to go out even once a month (it's actually more like once every 6 months) let alone four times a month! Shock £60 a month on Sky! Shock Our Sky package was £60 a month I've had to reduce because we can't afford it! We had the movies, HD and multi-room, got rid of the multi-room and HD it's now £35 a month. 24 cans of fucking lager and 200 cigarettes plus tobacco a week! Fucking hell! I can barely afford to buy a bottle of wine at the weekend and I buy the cheap stuff that tastes like shit!

I'm usually totally on the side of the person claiming benefits but this family is taking the total piss. We're literally robbing Peter to Paul every single fucking month, I have to borrow off my mum every week to make it through to the next Tuesday when I get my tax credits, then pay her back when DH gets paid and we're short again so it's a viscous circle. And this guy hasn't worked for 11 years because there's no jobs in his field? Work in a fucking supermarket then! Angry DH has gone from minimum wage job to minimum wage job over the years (as did I before having kids) and we've spent a fair share of our time on the dole. DH always took the 1st job that came up.

People like him are what gives ordinary struggling families on benefits a bad name. Angry

callmemrs · 02/02/2012 21:18

Oops posted too soon, your average working person in this country has finally had enough of this sort of piss take. I know dozens of working families who have to live on less than this. People who don't have the luxury of nights out, sky tv and half a dozen mobile phones.

callmemrs · 02/02/2012 21:19

Thefeministswife - great post.

Kayano · 02/02/2012 21:19

11 years on job seekers

Sorry but I would be asking 'what the actual fuck are you doing? Deliberately sabotaging your chances of getting employed?!'

He certainly doesn't give enough of a fuck to retrain because he has it bloody easy with unnecessary luxuries.

I don't believe for 1 second he can't get a job in 11 years Hmm

maddening · 02/02/2012 21:31

and when did software writing dry up - surely software is pretty big these days and something that is not restricted by geography as he could do it from home?

Kayano · 02/02/2012 21:32

I work for a big software company and they do whispers in house training for tech support staff. I think he is lazy and full of shit

OffMeTrolley · 02/02/2012 22:15

Hopefully so

Strawbezza · 02/02/2012 22:40

The dad's a workshy scrounger.

It doesn't really matter what's cut. As long as something is. Currently this family are spending a good slice of their child benefit and child tax credits on fags, booze, pub, mobiles & sky. And despite the fact that these benefits are labelled as "child" benefits, the adults are spending most of them on themselves.

Strawbezza · 02/02/2012 22:53

Really don't know how anyone can defend this.

This family is being given money which is the equivalent of a £40K+ salary per year. No wonder the dad's never bothered to get a job.

There are plenty of working families who are much worse off than this. How can that be right?

CheesecakeMonster · 02/02/2012 22:54

sorry to hi jack slightly but what are child tax credits? iv heard of working tax credits obviously and child benefit...

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