Don't cap my benefits - BBC1

[SoleSource]

Anybody watching?

And fwiw there is no amount of money that would tempt me to go and live in some dive in a crappy part of London, and hand over most of the money to a corrupt landlord. It's hardly a lifestyle choice, merely an accident of someone's birthplace.

It wasn't her income though. A lot of that money was the landlord's income.

What about the local people in Birmingham or Luton on the wait list they are being displaced be people with no local rights. These areas will become overcrowded and stretched for services. This is social cleansing really, who will be left to do the menial jobs in rich places.

"Landlords get bashed to shit on MN and are often told that they have a social responsibility to not charge sky high prices, yet you'll get called names for daring to suggest that people like those who appeared in the programme don't seem to be considering their personal social responsibility."

Its always landlords or the governments faults on MN. Very few agree people should take personal responsibility. Its easier to blame others.

Those not on benefits have to live where they can afford and have the number of children they can support. Therefore, so should those on benefits. Its not unreasonable to not have as many choices in life if you are not paying your way. Benefits should provide a basic lifestyle, enough for shelter, heat, food and clothes. Medical is already covered under the NHS and schooling is free. The house may not be in the perfect area or preferred town but surely thats an incentive to come off benefits. If trylu in need of benefits rather than choosing them as a lifestyle choice you would just be grateful for the support.

The cap is simply ridiculous, far too high at £26k and too many exclusions from it. Makes a mockery of people who have to work many hours for the same amount of money. Makes no difference if HB is included, those not on benefits dont deduct their rent from their salary and quote it net.

"What about the local people in Birmingham or Luton on the wait list they are being displaced be people with no local rights. These areas will become overcrowded and stretched for services. This is social cleansing really, who will be left to do the menial jobs in rich places."

I agree with this. People who had informal support in London will be more reliant on formal services if they are moved miles away from the support networks they have worked hard to establish.

This is how these sorts of policies impact on the towns people are shipped out to.

It is horribly sad for those affected but, equally, we can't keep paying out large sums of money to everyone who wants it. In Blackpool we have a tremendous problem with working people living in poverty (due to a high level of unskilled jobs, seasonal work and zero hours contracts) and life on benefits is often more stable financially and more lucrative.

Oh God, I can't read this cr*p any more. Sooo depressing. You get the Government you deserve at the end of the day, this thread proves this more than any other I've read recently. Very sad.

"You get the Government you deserve at the end of the day"

Eh? I certainly didn't vote for this government.

Maybe not candy but it sounds like many others on this thread surely did, or wouldn't mind if they were re-elected. Those of you who are envious of people receiving hundreds of pounds in benefits a week to allow them to keep some kind of roof over their head in a pretty horrible place, why don't you swap places? You know, offer your nice reasonably priced rental property in a nice area in return for the flea ridden hovels being rented at thousands of pounds a month. You'd be happier surely, you'd be quids-in wouldn't you if you managed to claim HB? Oh wait, no your landlord with. All you'd get out of it is the black mould, the damp and the crime. Sounds like a good deal to me...

your landlord would

You know though, the people in this programme didn't do themselves any favours; the single mum would get far more money if she worked 16 hours a week but didn't want to clean toilets. Apparently, it's beneath her! I'm very pro-welfare state and seen the effects of cuts every day in my job but some people are lazy, entitled sods.

And I should think that is exactly how the programme set out to portray them. In the main what I saw were some seriously depressed and downtrodden people, who had run out of options and didn't know where to turn. Although for my money it was one of the better and more balanced programmes I've seen on benefits, and certainly exposed the reforms for the farce they really are.

I live in an authority where some London boroughs house people who have suffered from the benefit cap. They get put in areas where there is a lot of cheap, rented accommodation, but no primary school places. Consequently we are seeing more and more in-year appeals. You have to feel for people who have been dumped in an area they don't know with no support from family or friends, and where they can't afford bus fares to take their small children to and from school.

EllaJayne - in this era of dismantling the welfare state and vilifying the sick and disabled, I sometimes wonder how people in jobs like yours sleep at night.

Perhaps there are only realistic jobs for 1 in 10 of those people? And the 9 in 10 sure aren't going to find work after being picked up and dumped in the back end of nowhere.

Miaow - no one is saying that the system is not totally perverse. I know it from bitter personal experience. But that same bitter personal experience has taught me not to judge a book by its cover and never ever to judge people based on how their circumstances appear on the surface.

My point throughout this thread is that it has taken the Tories nigh on twenty years to wake up to the mess that they created, and they are dealing with it in the way they do best. By picking off the weakest who can't fight back, and who have no one prepared to fight for them.

I have no problem with the welfare system being reformed if it is done in a considered and just way, keeping sight of its founding principles. But I will always disagree with sweeping changes visited on vulnerable people in the name of austerity, but in reality an easy vote winner, especially where children are involved.

I also have no problem with trying to address the whole problem of private rentals, both the shocking rents and the shockingly poor conditions, including for those who are not eligible to claim housing benefits. But that particular issue couldn't be further away from this Government's consciousness. God forbid that these shady property tycoons should ever have to take some responsibility, and perhaps a hit on their profits, within a system that is making them a mint.

This Government is the worst example of a bunch of cowardly bullies, picking on the weakest knowing that their mates, and those too scared or self-centred to fight back, will cheer them on.

Dismantling the welfare state???

This dismantled welfare state pays a single mum with three kids who works just 16 hours a week a net £711 in benefits. This gave her £811 NET per week when added to the 16 hours pay on mimimum wage.

A single wage earner, working FULL-TIME with a partner and three kids would have to earn in excess of £55,000 to have the same net income!!

I agree the single Mum has to pay rent but so would a couple with three kids earning £55,000 per year. Yes I agree rents are high in London but that's the same for a couple earning £55,000 .

They could always do what my kids and countless others did did - move out of London!! Even if the mum in the programme lost all her housing benefit when she moved out she would still have a net income in excess of £600 per week.

Not bad for a dismantled welfare state!!

The two fundamental requirements of any welfare system are that it is sustainable and seen to be fair to everyone including those who fund it. Our welfare system fails on both counts.

You can't seriously be jealous?

You do understand that the landlord gets the housing benefit money, don't you? I'm not quite sure why that is so difficult for people to grasp.

I wouldnt class an unemployed person as weak or vunerable. Most know how to play the system to gain the most from it and many abuse it with no intentions to come off benefits.

We dont have a true welfare state, we have a system that needs heavily cracking down on so that it once again what it is intended for. There to catch those in need short term whilst they get on there feet again or for those too disabled or too sick to tackle any type of work. It should never have allowed people to choose not to work, to live in a place they cant afford or to have children they dont intend to support.

Miaow is right, those that dont claim and pay taxes have to just get on with it and live within their means. Why should those that dont work or work little have choices that self supporting people dont? Where is the fairness in that? Thats what the government is trying to tackle, the changes needed to be far harsher but at least they have made a start.

Don't think that the money always goes to the Landlord.

A relative of mine with 5 DCs works exactly the right number of hours to maximise their TC entitlements and gets nearly £2k pm in a combination of Council tax benefit, CTC, CB and WTC. They own their own home and arrange their working hours so they don't need to pay any rent or childcare.

When adding in the ~£10k that they earn from part time employment, their income is higher than another relative where the DH works long hours in a professional job and the DW works part time to accomodate school hours etc.

As well as paying massive HB to people who live in expensive areas, the other issue is uncapped CTC for people with large families.

I just simply do not understand this argument about the perils of concentrating people with the poorest incomes in certain areas. We are all bound by our incomes. And must live our lives accordingly. I agree with the benefits cap on the whole. I think all housing benefit should be capped no matter whether the recipients are in work or not.

I am not jealous because I've been a jealous person before and it's like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die BUT I can see why some people are envious of the security of tenancy CH/HA tenants have.