General Chat

GB,

It is £350-00 a week.x 52 = £18,200 according to my calculator.

GlitterBaby ....More like under £3700 per year???

How do I work that out?

It is many years since I went to school & made a mistake with my maths... I forgot to add on the £700 for the two weeks
£350 a week for single people = £17,500 (for 50 weeks) not a year

£350 x 52 weeks actually comes to £18,200

Universal credit replaces:
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Income Support
Working Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit
Housing Benefit
The cap of £ 500 applies to a household regardless of the number of people living in it including children.

A married pensioner couple, both with full entitlement, get £ 214 / week. £ 175 where only one has entitlement. ON TOP of that they will get full housing benefit, council tax credit. Even without winter fuel benefit this is worth a lot more than £ 500 / week.

The change to the "universal credit" does not save any money at all - on the Treasury's own admission it will cost substantial sums in its early years and may never break even so as to say. For that reason the Treasury was strongly opposed to the idea.

So why is it going ahead?

The basic idea has nothing at all to do with UKGov balance sheet but a great deal to do with displacing the working class of London from the many social housing projects in central London and Tower Hamlets. It is a sort of fracking bonanza for the private property market ( to which the Tories are well plugged in ) with the bonus of altering the voting make up of central London too. That the great majority of people in social housing work is ignored by the D.M. and others, so is the insiduous way that the manner in which social housing rents is calculated is also forcing people out not only in London but other parts of the country.

Rose..............it is up about £36 per annum.

There are 3 of us living here, my husbands work makes a lot of washing as does having a teenage girl in the house.

That plus 21 showers and 21 good washes between us per week all adds up :-(

I refuse to wear dirty clothes, sleep in dirty bedding and smell just to save a few bob :-D

Southern Water doesn't come cheap

Where does this figure come from ?

£350 for single people = £17,500 a year

More like under £3700 per year

Kitty have you had a check that there are no leaks your side of the water meter? Unless you have a full house it should work out cheaper. It might be worth checking as when we were renting the meter was faulty ( registering £1000s lol) and had to be replaced.

We are in the same boat Maggie, husband has been on the same pay for 5 years and me for 3...........I "might" get 1% pay rise next year *sighs*

Meanwhile all our outgoings except the mortgage go up annually and to top it all we now have a blooming water meter which means we are even more worse off!! *sulks*

Money, they say makes the world go round..............we are going in the opposite direction :-(

Hey ho....that's life, so we make the best of it :-)

I've tried it - I try it every year, but may now be entitled to workers tax credits - but need a pay slip to check.
I bet the 1% pay 'rise' will put it just out of reach :-(

Always worth a try Maggie

https://www.gov.uk/apply-universal-credit

...just wondered, if my wage is lower than the benefit, whether I may be able to claim benefit.
Bet I cant!! Bet the government forgot about low earners claiming!!!
My take-home pay is the same as it was when I first started work here 11 years ago!!

Of course utility bills, public transport fares & rent have risen exponentially

same here maggie income is lower than £500 but to high to clame any benefits
government seem to forget that working peolpe have to pay full cost for every think

The government are talking out of their backsides again.

From a pensioner that doesn't claim any benefits.

I live in the south and work.
My income is lower than the benefit received by a single householder on maximum benefit - mainly caused by all admin losing £1000 pay 5 years ago, during a 'restructure' - ie lower the pay of the lower earners and increase the pay of the management.
AND I've been on a pay freeze for 4 years.
Due to get a pay rise next year - 1% WHOOPEE!!!

...now, what's 1% of p*ss all?........

The Labour party is now talking about it being our 'Human Right' to claim benefits.

(Don't suppose that means we will all get it!!!!!)

Did anyone watch this program last Thursday.?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b036yrm8/Nick_and_Margaret_We_All_Pay_Your_Benefits_Episode_1/

I found it very interesting and a bit of an 'eye opener' on the subject of benefits that people receive.

The equation between the cap for the unemployed and pensions is unfair,
the cap includes housing benefit, whereas the basic pension is just that - the basic,
housing benefit & pension credit is not included in the figure!

I fully accept that pensioners get a raw deal when it comes to the taxation of private pensions and the amount saved before they qualify for any top ups, but it is not reasonable to pit one group against the other.

75 will be ok for me, it should just about avoid the long slow decline that is potentialy much worse than a quick departure , but give me just enough time to pay off the mortgage. :-D

Budgie
i think that idea could well catch on ;-) ;-)

Carol.
l like your equating ... ie £500/£350 as against state pension £110. :-)

How about euthanasia for all those reaching 75? or has this government already got that in the pipeline. :-D :-D :-D

"£500 a week for couples/lone parents "

Speaking as a 'lone parent' I don't know where these figures come from, but I sure as hell did not get that kind of money!



WHat happens when you lose your job and can't meet the rent?

what happens when you are too ill to be able to work...but classed as 'fit for work ' by ATOS?

What happens when you give up work to look after a disabled parent? But still need to live in athe same high rental area to do so?

What happens when you move out of the area so that you can afford the lower rents but lose the 'support system' of family, who 'could' do the child care if you found a job?

The problem is, as always, that generally 'good ideas' like this take no account of individuals or individual circumstances.

50% of those affected will be lone parents..... but there is, for many of those, STILL no effective CSA, still very few jobs that will pay enough to cover rents and childcare ( esp in London) ...and if there ARE...it still doesn't mean that a huge amount of money will be saved because those parents in part time work at basic wage will STILL have their wages topped up with working tax credits and housing benefit.

I'm not saying cuts shouldn't be made, but it isn't as 'obvious' as it looks.