Could you live on £26,OOO per year. DC content

chipps, in Calderdale you could rent the friggin town hall for the price of a flat in london. Fancy some new neighbours?

It’s household benefits!

Some people have waaaaaaaay too much time on their hands!

Yunki: Doh!!

Yunki.. Where are you in the country?

I’ll tell you something.. that guy with the bad back that he fakes.. yes fakes..

He’s had his benefit withdrawn three times after medical assessment.. Do you know that if you appeal the decision, they simply reinstate it as it’s easier and much cheaper than chasing it up? from your ignorant and childish responses you obviously dont.

You obviously need some education into the claims business so rather that calling everyone a liar, why not look a little further into it.

…IT infrastructure changes…

Oh no!

Elzorillo…you say faked a bad back…why havent u shopped him

Lots of mail reader comments on this thread…and some that understand the issues…as someone working in benefits at an L.A…its amusing and scary at the same time…carry on….

Hoodie, what special understanding of working class families do you posess that elevates your awareness?
I come from a modest family and have friends and family at all ends of the income distribution. I do see the social system as a safety net and not a lifestlye choice and i realise that puts me to the right of the average guardian reader. But I see that we live in a country where a single dad on£26000 a year salary would be better off jacking in his job and living off the state. My best friend is in this situation and you know what….he works. why? because he sees work and supporting your family from your own efforts is the right thing to do. we need to encourage that behaviour.

I suppose it’s stories like this that upset the middle classes, obviously not the norm but the council might help themselves by wondering if it’s really appropriate to do this sort of thing

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7883694/Former-asylum-seekers-given-housing-benefit-for-8000-a-month-Kensington-home.html

It’s going to be one hell of a drop in income for the Royals. Lucky they’ve got a little stashed away.

Elzorillo…you say faked a bad back…why havent u shopped him

heheheh If I shopped everyone I know who’s playing the benefit game, my town would be a very lonely place.

Thing is.. they have a lot of time on their hands and know every little thing they can get. I’ve grown up with these people and it’s a lifestyle choice (I chose a different route) but that doesn’t say I don’t still associate with them.

This is my last comment on it anyway as its frustrating speaking truth and being called a liar by people who simply do not know the facts.

I don’t see how I’ve disagreed with u chb…I don’t possess any great forsight, but have a working knowledge of the impact of changes lots dont…the localism bill for council tax relief is going to screw many imho

Elzorillo – you need to actually have a look at benefit rates. they really are nothing like you think they are.

These people you see who are affording new cars and multiple foreign holidays simply cannot do so from benefits. the levels simply are too low.

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/pdfs/rightsnet_rates_poster_2011.pdf

He’s had his benefit withdrawn three times after medical assessment.. Do you know that if you appeal the decision, they simply reinstate it as it’s easier and much cheaper than chasing it up? from your ignorant and childish responses you obviously dont.

That’s utter rubbish, and someone close to me sits on tribunals that hear benefits appeals.

mudshark – Member
I suppose it’s stories like this that upset the middle classes, obviously not the norm but the council might help themselves by wondering if it’s really appropriate to do this sort of thing

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7883694/Former-asylum-seekers-given-housing-benefit-for-8000-a-month-Kensington-home.html

Don’t see how any Migrant feels we should house them or claim any benefits has they have a country to return to

Yes, yes, it costs lots to live in London. That’s the main reason many people don’t/can’t.

Anyway, the HoL voted for the amendment to exclude child benefit from the cap.

Agreed..

http://noddleit.com/mobile/index.php?a=show&id=8828

Read this and what would u do…

hoodie, sorry, I probably gave you the tj treatment. Care to start another thread on the localism bill as I am interested in getting my head around the issues.

That’s utter rubbish, and someone close to me sits on tribunals that hear benefits appeals.

ok.. so I commented..

I can only comment on what I see with my own eyes. All I have typed is fact. I dont work in or claim any benefits, but I have sat many times listening to the guy mentioned laughingly tell me how he stays on benefits, I’ve even seem him jumping around his house like an Olympic gymnast looking for his crutches, simply because he’s seen someone in a suit outside his house.

Could you live on £26,000 per year

Yes!

I would love the extra cash!

(2+2, rented 3 bed house)

elzorillo

Your family of 7 basic benefits is around £550 a week plus housing benefit. that £550 a week has to pay everything but your housing costs. gas . electric food etc. Now that’s a fair sum of money but no way does it stretch to the lifestyle you describe, Housing benefit also has a cap

They would be better off if he worked more than 16 hrs a week as working tax credit is more generous

No one is better off on benefits than working since the introduction of tax credits

CHB – Member

But I see that we live in a country where a single dad on£26000 a year salary would be better off jacking in his job and living off the state.

He will be better off working – maybe not much but he will be due to the long taper on tax credits.

I have lived off a lot less before I got married and had kids etc. Would require a lifestyle change now, but it’s surprising how quickly you’ll adapt when you have to.
I’ve got a mate who earns 85K+ and probably lives off 15.
He’s as tight as 2 coats of paint though.

All I have typed is fact what the crim who fakes the bad back has told me

I’m sorry.. I will shut up and stop being childish.. your source is way more reliable than my many years of having a disabled family member..

I’m off to bed before this fella gives me an itch.. 8)

TJ in pure financial income terms you are probably correct. But then factor in the hassle of childcare etc for three kids, the lack of time he has with them and the cost of commuting from leeds to bradford each day and I do think his stress levels and quality of life would be better on benefits. To be honest hes the only person I know that i would encourage to fall back on the state. He has 20 plus years of paying taxes, no shame in taking a bit out of the system while the kids are at the key age they are now.

These people you see who are affording new cars and multiple foreign holidays simply cannot do so from benefits. the levels simply are too low.

Motability provides 580’000 cars to people on benefits.

Not all of them are genuinely disabled.

http://benefitfraud.blogspot.com/2011/11/light-sentence-for-calculated-benefit.html

bit late on this reply but…

granted i didnt take into account im renting a room, rather than an entire house (uni) but still.

rent: £65 a week, £3120 a year (living with 4 others)
food: £25 a week, £1200 a year

leaves £680 for bills and other stuff. ok maybe 5 grand was pushing it a bit, but my point is that people dont realise how little you can actually survive on.

god my drug habit cost more than jsa dont know how you can survive on jsa

Motability provides 580’000 cars, scooters or powered wheelchairs to people on benefits.

Anyone who thinks that DLA is for poor souls in Wheelchairs is sadly mistaken.

Yes, some folk are, but the vast majority are “mental health issues” claimants. That includes, drink and drugs cases.

DLA has the piss ripped right out of it.

😯

Any source for that incredible assertion?

Why should having more and more kids entitle you to more and more money?

people simply are not having enough children these days hence why we need so many immigrants, they could never openly pay people to breed due to politicly views in this country.Bit that the real reason you get so much money for having kids, its good for the country

Lifer, let me give a couple of examples of Benefits madness.

Your not fit for work so claim ESA. Your other half does not work but is physically prefectly fit. You can claim for them. They do not have to sign on.

You are disabled, cannot care for yourself and receive High Rate DLA Care. Because of this, your partner can claim Carers Allowance for looking after you. But your partner too is disabled, cannot care for themselves and receives High Rate DLA Care. So you can claim Carers Allowance for looking after them. In other words, two people who cant look after themselves, are perfectly entitled to claim for looking after each other.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg.

what most people want to hear,unless you have a big family and live in a big house and dont want to work.

Or live in an area with very high property prices and you’ve just lost your job thanks to this government’s policies.

What other people earn is utterly irrelevant – it’s not suppose to be a form of punishment. So I don’t know why people keep swallowing this bollox about average income.

Perhaps next they’ll put a limit on the maximum amount the NHS can spend on one person, after all someone receiving a bypass op must cost the NHS far more than the average, and apparently “need” is no longer an issue.

This policy, which is backed by the Labour Party, represents the triumph of tabloid-fueled moronic thinking. And very neatly fits into the strategy of blaming the victims for the government’s failures.

Raising unemployment ? falling living standards ? chronic housing shortages ? high taxes/VAT to pay for the bankers cockups ? young people without a future ? the super-rich not paying their taxes ? Never mind about all that …….. just blame those targeted by the tabloids.

Oh how the Bullingdon Boys must be laughing.

Must be hard to keep a straight face sometimes.

yunki – Member

living in a council property in the countryside is now wrong..?
cos the house may be worth bucks..?

bucks to who..? some nob from the city..?
what’s the argument here..?

I think I misunderstood and thought people were getting cross about housing benefit paying high rents..?

our place is in a rural area near to our family which may make it worth a few bucks to someone..

what are we doing that’s objectionable here..?

why has someone with some high paying job got more right to live in a rural area..?

I think there is a severe problem with people confusing wealth and worth..

The objection is that someone can live in a house in a nice area and not contribute anything financially to the state whilst someone else who does contribute finanically to the state can’t and has to live somewhere less nice. What’s not fair is that the person contributing is effectively paying the person who’s not contrubuting to live in the area that they themselves can’t afford. How can anyone argue that’s fair?

Perhaps I’m feeling right wing today because i’m about to have to pay stamp duty on a house (aka a tax on earnings i’ve already paid tax on), but I must say 26k for doing nothing is ridiculous.

Spends his daytime breeding koi and birds of prey.

Serial killer. Definitely.

stucol – Member
Lifer, let me give a couple of examples of Benefits madness.

Your not fit for work so claim ESA. Your other half does not work but is physically prefectly fit. You can claim for them. They do not have to sign on.

What can you claim for them?

You are disabled, cannot care for yourself and receive High Rate DLA Care. Because of this, your partner can claim Carers Allowance for looking after you. But your partner too is disabled, cannot care for themselves and receives High Rate DLA Care. So you can claim Carers Allowance for looking after them. In other words, two people who cant look after themselves, are perfectly entitled to claim for looking after each other.

Like it says on the DirectGov website you mean?

“Carer’s Allowance can be claimed by more than one person in a household, such as a couple caring for each other.”

DirectGov

But of course Carer’s Allowance is affected by other benefits (such as DLA) so neither would get the full rate but would also not be getting sufficient care so I would suggest that it never happens. At least not often enough to be statistically significant.

I always thought of the benefit system as a safety net, how wrong was I!

About 8 years ago we were a family with husband working (self employed Driving Instructor since early 90’s), and me looking after the 2 young children. We were involved in a car crash and my husband spent 3 months in a wheelchair.

I got the best benefit advice from a friend who worked at the CAB, but we still ended up getting less than a similar family of whom no one had ever worked, how can this be right?

We got less than our monthly mortgage at the time; we got incapacity (about £70 p/w) and income support. We had no saving apart from the money set aside for next tax bill (less than the bill). Being self employed you pay tax every 6 months instead of every time you get paid. This money got counted as personal savings, eventhough owed to the Inland Revenue and would be counted as such untill the bill was due (as fas as I am aware you pay in arrears?!). Money was deducted from Income Support (-£12 p/w).

We live in a modest 3 bed semi bought by husband in the mid eighties, so low mortgage. We did NOT qualify to have our interest paid as we had re-mortgaged (lots of good deals about back then) within the last few year and this counted as a new mortgage?!?!?

We would not have survived had it not been for my dad who put £3000 in our bank, and for all the friend and family who brought food/bought shopping.

We totally lost faith in the benefit system after that.

My husband had never even seen a sick note before that time, and had always worked. We also had to pay back any benefits we did receive out of our very modest pay out from the Motor Insurance Bureau (5 years later).

It definitly needs to change, but maybe concentrate on helping the people who do deserve it and really need their safety net…

unless you have a big family and live in a big house and dont want to work.

“Oh, I say, that’s rotten!”

This policy, which is backed by the Labour Party, represents the triumph of tabloid-fueled moronic thinking. And very neatly fits into the strategy of blaming the victims for the government’s failures.

Ernie you were doing well with your argument up to this point and I think that this illustrates the problem with the debate. It is polarised around left versus right.

It shouldn’t be.

What people should or should not get in benefit is as irrelevant to the average income as it is to how they got there in the first place.

It’s not the government’s ‘fault’ it might not even be anyone’s fault. It’s just how it is.

The right would do much better to stop polarising the argument around the issue of fairness compared to average household income and the left would do much better to stop polarising it around ‘it’s the government’s fault’.