Benefit cap?

[D 8 RCS]

So, more a "on ilkley moor bah tat" person? First prize to first poster who knows what "on ilkley moor bah tat" means.

Who couldn't survive on £500 a week???

On Ilkley Moor without a hat.
The cap isn't the problem, the problem is that the ordinary working man isn't paid a proper living wage.

 

[D 8 RCS]

tis the reason country in the state it is

the fraudsters outway the genuine sick people

only now they play at trying to do something about it

i only earn half that amount & need to meet all costs of living

no wonder they laugh at working class

Believe me the fraudsters do not far out weigh the genuine cases.
Announcing a £500 cap is a PR ruse to annoy the ordinary working man and turn his anger away from his meagre wage and the unfair taxes imposed on him by the government to make him wage a war on those on benefits.
The £500 cap has nothing at all to do with the majority of benefit claimants, it will however affect the child production line claimants who continue to have children to enable them to move into larger homes and claim larger and larger amounts of benefits.
Those unlucky enough to loss their jobs or be unable to continue working through health problems will find themselves on a very tight budget and will have to suffer the indignation of having to beg and argue for what they have paid in for and are entitled to, only to be treated like a leper because they have had the temerity to claim their benefits.
Most people are only a week or two away from being in these dire conditions if they are unfortunate enough to be made redundant or become ill, I just hope that anyone posting on here does not become one of those statistics because it is not nice and it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to turn things round.

 

[Him Her]

Believe me the fraudsters do not far out weigh the genuine cases.
Announcing a £500 cap is a PR ruse to annoy the ordinary working man and turn his anger away from his meagre wage and the unfair taxes imposed on him by the government to make him wage a war on those on benefits.
The £500 cap has nothing at all to do with the majority of benefit claimants, it will however affect the child production line claimants who continue to have children to enable them to move into larger homes and claim larger and larger amounts of benefits.
Those unlucky enough to loss their jobs or be unable to continue working through health problems will find themselves on a very tight budget and will have to suffer the indignation of having to beg and argue for what they have paid in for and are entitled to, only to be treated like a leper because they have had the temerity to claim their benefits.
Most people are only a week or two away from being in these dire conditions if they are unfortunate enough to be made redundant or become ill, I just hope that anyone posting on here does not become one of those statistics because it is not nice and it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to turn things round.

I'm sure there's a lot of truth in what you say, politics is a dirty business. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and sweatshops still exist because we want cheap clothing etc.

Nevertheless, there is a minority who take the p*ss and tax revenues are down. Partly because the workers have fewer jobs and get paid less and partly because the rich don't pay their share.

Wherever you point the finger the end result is the same - UK plc has not enough money to pay the bills.

 

[D 8 RCS]

I'm sure there's a lot of truth in what you say, politics is a dirty business. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and sweatshops still exist because we want cheap clothing etc.

Nevertheless, there is a minority who take the p*ss and tax revenues are down. Partly because the workers have fewer jobs and get paid less and partly because the rich don't pay their share.

Wherever you point the finger the end result is the same - UK plc has not enough money to pay the bills.

Couldn't agree more !!!
And of course the reason we want cheap clothes etc is because the wages are too low, so it is just a vicious circle while the gap between the haves' and the have nots' becomes a huge chasm.

 

[gooner71]

I have just found out about the "benefit cap" the hard way. I have been claiming benefits for my wife and 4 kids at home since her health problems deteriorated to the point where I needed to be at home. Prior to that I had worked full time from one week after my 16th birthday continually.

Now on the face of it £500 sound like a fortune - and its designed that way to set the working classes against their fellow working class who have hit hard times.

If you earn £6.31 per hour on minimum wage that's only £252 per week so that £500 per week the old benefit claimant gets is really taking the proverbial? Don't forget your tax credits though - based on a couple with one person working 40 hours per week on minimum wage with 4 children at school - £165 per week - and of course there's child benefit that everyone used to get but even now the vast majority are still eligible - another £65 per week - so now the working man is getting £477 but will also qualify for housing and council tax benefit being on minimum wage that should be the full amount so around £150 per week and perhaps more in the south east? That's up to £627. Obviously many don't have four kids but lots do and some have more!

The benefit cap includes everything - child tax credits that anyone under about £60k per year gets and child benefit that the majority get. The £500 isn't cash in your hand or even cash that goes to your bank as another whack of it is housing benefit and council tax which is paid to your landlord direct. I had a visit from my landlord to say that from Monday just gone I need to find £50 per week towards my rent because they don't deduct anything over the cap from tax credits or income support/esa - no they just pay your housing benefit short so that you have to find the difference from your existing pot of money. So really the benefit cap is £450 for me as the £50 has to come from somewhere. Now I don't smoke and don't drink so there isn't anywhere I can cut back on to save a few quid.

I'm not complaining - I am a realist and accept that everyone has to tighten their belts in times of austerity but I do object to the media portraying anyone hitting the cap as rich. It affects those that have 4 children in poor areas or less again in more affluent areas where rents are higher. The whole thing was designed to stop families renting mansions in nice parts of London and claiming £5k per month in housing benefit but the limit they have set will affect far more genuine people than those playing the system.

The government has made a big deal saying the £500 is the average wage and no-one on benefits should exceed that. But, for a family of my size on minimum wages their total package works out around £175 week more. The minimum isn't the average so maybe conservatively we could add another £50 per week - so £225. The tax credits system is designed to give people a minimum standard of living so what you get as a working person is dictated by what the government agrees you and your family need to survive. Forget shirkers who choose not to work for a minute but is it right for a family like mine, who I would be supporting in other circumstances, to "need" that much less to survive? Of course not, we all have the same needs and wants. My kids don't want or need less food because we are on benefits - they don't grow out of shoes or clothes less quickly either.

The whole thing is a giant con to win votes from the middle classes who are constantly being told its the scroungers who are the main problem. They should look closer to home because I don't know many investment bankers needing to claim tax credits. plus when the working classes keep getting kocked back for pay rises wouldn't it be nice if the politicians followed suit??

 

[Him Her]

Good point, well made. Flexibility isn't a feature and it should be.

 

[Dicegirly]

Bloody hell.... I may consider a change in direction. ...

I work 120 miles away from home and work 48hrs a week.... and still dont top £500

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

I work 40+hours a week also, and I earn nowhere near £500 a week.
I didn't see this program in question. Did they say if this is on top of other things that get paid for eg housing costs etc?

I have just seen the follow up from gooner71 sorry.

I think it is difficult to say in blanket terms what a family does or doesnt need to live on really. There are too many variables.
But what is the way forward?

 

[Him Her]

I work 40+hours a week also, and I earn nowhere near £500 a week.
I didn't see this program in question. Did they say if this is on top of other things that get paid for eg housing costs etc?

I have just seen the follow up from gooner71 sorry.

I think it is difficult to say in blanket terms what a family does or doesnt need to live on really. There are too many variables.
But what is the way forward?

The solution is simple but at the same time inevitably unlikely - until you vote with your wallet you're stuffed!

 

[edogg]

Instead of moaning about not earning what a disabled person can get in benefits you should be campaigning for higher wages it is not the fault of of unemployed people that wages have fallen in real terms behind the poverty level that you can get on benefit if you have the needs

 

[Firemouth]

tis the reason country in the state it is

the fraudsters outway the genuine sick people

only now they play at trying to do something about it

i only earn half that amount & need to meet all costs of living

no wonder they laugh at working class

Ahh you see you are the type that the gov is aiming at.
someone who does not know what they are talking about, that is prepared to believable their spin (lies).

in the case of the bedroom tax over 60% of those effected had one or more adults working, many full time!
the figure for "fiddlers/scroungers" is in single digits, % wise.
and if we got them all, it wouldn't make the slightest difference to the overall bill, there are just too few of them.

it forgotten that many of our, current, problems were deliberately set up by the Thatcher beast.

welfare dependency was used to keep down wages as she destroyed or manufacturing structure. (virtually all the North sea oil revenue from the 80's went on that).
education was decimated, with schools sold off, and when they were kept, they were forced to sell off their playing fields. did i hear someone say obesity problem?

and the biggest problem was Banker (******) deregulation.

 

[D1GG3R]

You think people haven't tried? Its difficult to get a pay rise when the country is full of cheap foreign labour!

The point is though... why is the cap so high when people working 40 plus hours a week can survive on a lot less???

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

 

[D 8 RCS]

You think people haven't tried? Its difficult to get a pay rise when the country is full of cheap foreign labour!

The point is though... why is the cap so high when people working 40 plus hours a week can survive on a lot less???

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

The "Cap" will not affect singles, couples with no children etc as their benefits are far below this amount, it will however affect those with 3 or more children particularly if the area they live in has high rents. Yes, no doubt there will be some scroungers who are in this grouping but there are also a lot of genuine people who are in this grouping and are there through no fault of their own and will suffer.
You must also remember that those working who have children and live in these high rent areas are also receiving benefits to top up their wages, such as Working Tax Credits, Child Tax Credits and Child Allowance and some may even qualify for Housing Benefit, so theoretically some of those working could also be affected by the Benefit Cap.
As for " You think people haven't tried? Its difficult to get a pay rise when the country is full of cheap foreign labour!" Who do you think is to blame for that ? And yet there is almost no anger about that !!!
Just a little bit extra for you about "cheap foreign labour" Those from within the EU are given grants to attend interviews here in Britian and if they are successful then they receive another grant to help them move over here. But that's not all...............the company that employs them get a cash bonus for employing them and if that wasn't bad enough not only can they employ them on the minimum wage, but they can employ them on the minimum wage of the country of origin !!!! So they can Legally employ them on under the British Minimum Wage !!!!!! And they are getting a cash bonus for doing it !!
If you were a Greedy Employer (I say that because not all employers are) who would you employ ? It's a no brainer for them !!
But who do we blame ????
Those on Benefits !!!

 

[D1GG3R]

Im not trying to blame anybody.... I know nothing about benefits. Thankfully ive never needed them....yet!

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4