Benefits

[roverstillidie91]

From someone i heard on one of the work programmes said at a4e

Stated cos he has been on drugs and this applies to alcoholics, get £25 a week for being on a methedone ( think thats how you spell it ) programme and someone down my street was a drug usr yet gets £91 a week or something which constitutes to incapacity benefit and never had to do anything

Yet law abiding citizens such as myself get no extra financial help with anything such as driving lessons and training courses that aren't fully funded by the colleges

Total joke honestly

[Thinwhiteduke]

All benefits should be paid in vouchers NOT cash/ bank transfer.

Vouchers for food
Vouchers for Clothes
Vouchers for kids toys
Vouchers for Electric/ Gas
Vouchers for essentials

Nothing for Booze.
Nothing for Cigs.
Nothing for a smartphone/ monthly smatphone tarrif.

Simple as that.

[RedJ]

I like the idea of putting it on a prepaid card and having certain things banned from it.

[5minstogo]

All benefits should be paid in vouchers NOT cash/ bank transfer.

Vouchers for food
Vouchers for Clothes
Vouchers for kids toys
Vouchers for Electric/ Gas
Vouchers for essentials

Nothing for Booze.
Nothing for Cigs.
Nothing for a smartphone/ monthly smatphone tarrif.

Simple as that.

This is/was done for asylum seekers but a lot of the time they are sold on for cash.

[jucyberry]

Basic ESA is paid at a rate of £56.26 for a person under 25 and £71.00 for one over 25 for the first 13 weeks. This is the assesment phase..After that the claimant is called in to see the charming folk at their nearest ATOS center....

The assesment is nothing short of stupid, people with mental health issues are asked to raise their hands over their heads and a multitude of other totally irrelevent questions.

If you are lucky enough to have a support worker they will take you more seriously, otherwise you are marked fit even tho you might be dying. These assesments are not necessarily done by a doctor, it is the luck of the draw who you get.

The whole thing is done on a points system, from 15 down to 0 over 15 and you will be placed in the support group, lower and it's either the work related activity group or nothing. If this happens it's back to JSA.

So, I would think the lad you were talking to has been through this system and is in the wra group. Depending on his age his money will have risen to £99.15, depending of course n his circumstances.. For instance if he is a householder with non dependants..Money will be deducted if that is the case..

This money will be given on condition, I would think in the case of the Heroin addict, the placment on a methadone course. I have read that alcoholics have to attend compulsory AA to avoid being sanctioned.

Oh and altho the Daily Mail does like to foster the view that every person claiming esa/jsa is a dope/fag smoking, boozing, 52' tv toting social misfit that simply isnt the case.

One piece of bad luck healthwise, one accident could leave anyone in the position of having to leave their dignity at ATOS's front door..
Do they really then have to go through the indignity of vouchers too?

[Sprotyrover]

Basic ESA is paid at a rate of £56.26 for a person under 25 and £71.00 for one over 25 for the first 13 weeks. This is the assesment phase..After that the claimant is called in to see the charming folk at their nearest ATOS center....

The assesment is nothing short of stupid, people with mental health issues are asked to raise their hands over their heads and a multitude of other totally irrelevent questions.

If you are lucky enough to have a support worker they will take you more seriously, otherwise you are marked fit even tho you might be dying. These assesments are not necessarily done by a doctor, it is the luck of the draw who you get.

The whole thing is done on a points system, from 15 down to 0 over 15 and you will be placed in the support group, lower and it's either the work related activity group or nothing. If this happens it's back to JSA.

So, I would think the lad you were talking to has been through this system and is in the wra group. Depending on his age his money will have risen to £99.15, depending of course n his circumstances.. For instance if he is a householder with non dependants..Money will be deducted if that is the case..

This money will be given on condition, I would think in the case of the Heroin addict, the placment on a methadone course. I have read that alcoholics have to attend compulsory AA to avoid being sanctioned.

Oh and altho the Daily Mail does like to foster the view that every person claiming esa/jsa is a dope/fag smoking, boozing, 52' tv toting social misfit that simply isnt the case.

One piece of bad luck healthwise, one accident could leave anyone in the position of having to leave their dignity at ATOS's front door..
Do they really then have to go through the indignity of vouchers too?

My Dad got killed down Pit when I was ten,I used to get free school meals, that entailed standing in a separate queue to the kids whose parents could afford to pay
It was humiliating and degrading,having said that I did it because I new I was helping my mum out, if i'd kicked off about it she would have stumped up the cash from her pitance. I dont think its fair on families on benefits to make em have to use vouchers it stigmatizes the kids,speaking from experience.

[roverstillidie91]

All benefits should be paid in vouchers NOT cash/ bank transfer.

Vouchers for food
Vouchers for Clothes
Vouchers for kids toys
Vouchers for Electric/ Gas
Vouchers for essentials

Nothing for Booze.
Nothing for Cigs.
Nothing for a smartphone/ monthly smatphone tarrif.

Simple as that.

Question is, im guessing your in work. Would you agree to that if you was unemployed

[redwine]

.....and sure I read recently, that., 60% of housing benefit is paid to people in work. That is truly mind boggling. So in effect the government are subsidising companies to employ, rather than the companies paying a living wage

[BobG]

Yes Redwine. Housing Benefit is plain crackers. We, the tax payer, are subsidising, through our taxes and the payment of HB, the profits of corporations, companies and other probably right wing groups rather than ensuring a wage is paid commensurate with both the job and the cost of living. I know the argument about competitiveness - but ultimately, I have been led to question just who's benefit society is for these days? Even more stupidly, for the last couple of years or so, HB is  paid direct to claimants. So any landlord who don't get his rent cos the poor sap receiving he benefit has either blown it or used it to pay other bills is then forced to evict the tenant and so make him an even greater expense on the local Council... It's madness. Utter madness.

BobG

[jucyberry]

Wait till next year when the universal credit is rolled out nationwide. If you think things in the private rental sector are bad now you will see it can get a hundred times worse. How many on low income are going to be made homeless by this latest bit of tomfoolery? Landlords aren't going to reduce rents, they wont have any need to. People chasing houses to rent are going to increase massively.  Already we are reading of landlords evicting tennants on HB. They know that when universal credit comes in and people are losing even more of their benefits that in a choice between food on the table and paying the rent that 9 times out of 10 food will win. Not having enough food to feed your children is the worst of all feelings.

 Round here the average private let is between £450 & £650 pcm. a family with two children can expect to get £119 per week rent rebate, any rent above that has to be found from what ever money comes into the house. ALso if it is considered that you are in a house that is too big, ie with a spare bedroom the council can refuse to issue housing benefit at all. Come april if you have a spare bedroom they will be deducting money off your hb. Round here it will be a tight squeeze, I can only imagine that in areas where the rents are almost monopoly money figures that it will be a case of the poor being squashed like bugs. Afterall, as Glyn has pointed out, the majority of hb claimants are working for crap wages. It isn't just people on esa and jsa that this is going to hit its the little people who keep this country ticking .

[Dagenham Rover]

Yes Redwine. Housing Benefit is plain crackers. We, the tax payer, are subsidising, through our taxes and the payment of HB, the profits of corporations, companies and other probably right wing groups

BobG

and there Bob, is the hammer hitting the nail on the head, we are all in it together unless you have a string of rental properties etc etc etc.  The ordinary worker in the street is in it, end of....................queue  Madmick 

[jucyberry]

It doesn't help that the papers spout their familiar mantra of the mythical average wage of £26k a year..

I'd love to know what part of utopia these average workers come from because I would have had to work my 35 hour week for three years to earn that..

Now we have IDS's latest gem, that workers on tax credits are also spongers..suddenly if you are on the minimum wage you can't do right for trying.

[Dagenham Rover]

I'd love to know where this "average" apears from,  Its a bit like our attendance at Preston last Saturday......fiction

[jucyberry]

Trouble is middle aged, middle english torys believe it.. the same as they believe there are tens of thousands of families with 50 kids and even bigger t.vs.

There is a story in the Mail today about the homeless addicts sleeping in tombs in a Cambridge graveyard..Any decent person would think oh god, poor souls to be forced to find such meagre shelter from the cold...
Not the creatures that sit so smug at their keyboards in their nice warm homes, to them the homeless are vermin and isn't it a disgrace that the graves are violated...

I read the mail so I can always see how foul some in this country are...then in bed i read the Guardian , that way I sleep at night.

[Filo]

All benefits should be paid in vouchers NOT cash/ bank transfer.

Vouchers for food
Vouchers for Clothes
Vouchers for kids toys
Vouchers for Electric/ Gas
Vouchers for essentials

Nothing for Booze.
Nothing for Cigs.
Nothing for a smartphone/ monthly smatphone tarrif.

Simple as that.

You did a U turn with your opinion of the Tories when you realised that you were going to be affected, I`m sure you`d do a quicker U turn on those opinions if you were to become unemployed!

[mjdgreg]

and there Bob, is the hammer hitting the nail on the head, we are all in it together unless you have a string of rental properties etc etc etc.  The ordinary worker in the street is in it, end of....................queue  mjdgreg 

Anybody can have a string of rental properties just like me. They weren't given to me. The difference with me and all you lot is that I've worked hard and saved all my working life and not spent every penny I've ever earned (or borrowed to subsidise a lifestyle I couldn't afford). I've gone without the flash car and the fancy holidays abroad. I am now reaping the benefits of my thrift.

It's a good job there are people like me about keeping a roof over Polish workers heads. I'm housing the people that do the work that the lazy English benefits scroungers won't do.

By the way, that should be 'cue' not 'queue'.

[BobG]

No Mick. You own properties that you have worked for and you are entitled to do that. I own 14 properties that I have worked for. I am entitled to that. But you also own opinions that are illogical, unsubstantiated, selfish, immoral and harmful. I recognise that I may make money one day on those properties - and that others are paying the mortgages for me. But I don't glory in it. I see at least some of the weaknesses and stupidities of the system. I am tolerant of people who can't/won't/don't pay the rent when they are pressured from too many directions at once. I let it go. Do you?

BobG

[Dagenham Rover]

By the way, that should be 'cue' not 'queue'.

I know   

and just for the record I was more refering to large companies etc and those that play the system as opposed to the likes of Bob and Mick who actually worked for their properties and presumably play fair with it,

[mjdgreg]

I play more than fair. All my tenants pay below the market rate. I have never evicted anyone. I am constantly asked if I've got any more houses as I am viewed as a model landlord. My tenants bring me back presents if they go on holiday etc.

There seems to be a view among most lefties that all landlords are evil. I'd remind you  that most of you live in council houses.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I'm with TWD.  My sister often tells me of the kids at the school she works at not having enough school uniform and I often see people not giving kids dinner money.  Yet the parents rock up in £125 a pair jeans - madness.  I also know of a friend who's never had a job and her other half doesn't either.  They have a nice house (at £500 a month rent), plenty of cash,  nice big TV etc.  They bring in far more money than me, yet never work, there's still something wrong there.

[Filo]

I'm with TWD.  My sister often tells me of the kids at the school she works at not having enough school uniform and I often see people not giving kids dinner money.  Yet the parents rock up in £125 a pair jeans - madness.  I also know of a friend who's never had a job and her other half doesn't either.  They have a nice house (at £500 a month rent), plenty of cash,  nice big TV etc.  They bring in far more money than me, yet never work, there's still something wrong there.

The thing is bfyp, the media, and politicians focus on the very small minority like these people, but the huge majority who genuinely need help are being persecuted and labelled by people that it does n`t affect, it would do some of these high and mighty`s like TWD to experience the true hardships of unemployment, I`m absolutely positive that he`d change his mind pretty sharpish!

[Glyn_Wigley]

I also know of a friend who's never had a job and her other half doesn't either.  They have a nice house (at £500 a month rent), plenty of cash,  nice big TV etc.  They bring in far more money than me, yet never work, there's still something wrong there.

If you think they're getting all that from benefits then you're an idiot. They're up to something illegal to get that.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I also know of a friend who's never had a job and her other half doesn't either.  They have a nice house (at £500 a month rent), plenty of cash,  nice big TV etc.  They bring in far more money than me, yet never work, there's still something wrong there.

If you think they're getting all that from benefits then you're an idiot. They're up to something illegal to get that.

Yeah popping kids out every 5 minutes.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Or on the rob, or dealing drugs...

[jucyberry]

No that isn't correct at all.. for one thing on income based jsa/income support the children would be entitled to free meals.

"Free school meals are offered to children of families who are on low income in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (Income Related), Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance (Income based) or Guaranteed Element of State Pension Credit. They are also offered to children of families who are in receipt of Child Tax Credit only, but who are not entitled to Working Tax Credit, and whose annual income (as assessed by the Inland Revenue) does not exceed £16,190.00. If you are in receipt of Child Tax Credit, you will need to attend one of the Council's Customer Service Centre’s and present your Child Tax Credit award notice."

I always think it is extremely disengenious to lump in the housing benefit as this goes to the landlord, I would hope we are not yet living in a country where the poor are seen as having no right to a roof over their heads.

[BobG]

Trouble is Jucy, Housing Benefit doesn't go to the landlord any more. It goes to the claimant. whether or not he/she then pays it to the landlord is in the lap of the Gods. Hence my point above about this wonderful new system encouraging landlords to evict people to become an even greater charge on the state.

BobG

[jucyberry]

I know Bob, this is one of the things that worries me greatly. It is a social disaster in the making. The government really has no idea just what it is like having to choose between food and rent because there isn't enough to pay for both. At least when the money went straight to the landlord there was hopefully some protection now that is to be stripped away.

I've seen it happen first hand these past couple of months. My Adam has finally found a nice girl (you all know about the trouble we have with his foul skanky ex) She too is divorced with a little girl same age as tyler, so are now a perfect family unit. They have been together nearly two years now. Anyway, her rent has always gone into a seperate account and then by standing order out again without her seeing it to the vile little shyster calling himself a landlord.. A man so foul that two weeks after his wife blew her brains out with a shotgun last year imported his Spanish girlfreind over barely two weeks after,.... anyway because They told the rent and benefits agencies that they were moving in together the rebate stopped instantly, taking six weeks or more for it to be sorted.. In that six weeks knowing full well it would be sorted the little bas**rd evicted them. Six days before christmas. To add insult to injury Marie had looked after the mans father till he died saving him a fortune in nursing home fees. Thank god they managed to find something else by the skin of their teeth, but its out if the village and they have no transport so it isn't the best solution.

All the council could say was if they hadn't managed to find anything all they could offer was a hostel in Kings Lynn. My nephew is in it at the moment since the breakdown of his relationship, he has been robbed twice since he has been there, once at knifepoint.
I honestly don't understand how this government can demonise families the way it does, making the very exception look like the norm in the press so that the intolerant masses have no sympathy for little children only resentment that they have been born.
As for people on the fiddle, well as far as I can see from all that Adam has gone through, honesty only leads to suffering. I don't in any way condone it but more than ever now I understand why people do it.

[MrFrost]

and there Bob, is the hammer hitting the nail on the head, we are all in it together unless you have a string of rental properties etc etc etc.  The ordinary worker in the street is in it, end of....................queue  mjdgreg 

Anybody can have a string of rental properties just like me. They weren't given to me. The difference with me and all you lot is that I've worked hard and saved all my working life and not spent every penny I've ever earned (or borrowed to subsidise a lifestyle I couldn't afford). I've gone without the flash car and the fancy holidays abroad. I am now reaping the benefits of my thrift.

It's a good job there are people like me about keeping a roof over Polish workers heads. I'm housing the people that do the work that the lazy English benefits scroungers won't do.

By the way, that should be 'cue' not 'queue'.

What a load of b*llocks.

[mjdgreg]

What a load of b*llocks.

Only if you have the mindset of a leftie loser. Anyone can own properties if they've got an ounce of intelligence and get up and go. It's very easy to do and is a much better investment option than a private pension.

[mjdgreg]

Anyone who rents needs their heads looking at (I accept that renting does suit certain people but the vast majority would be better off buying their own property). We live in a part of the world where house prices are cheap and owning a house is a very realistic proposition for the vast bulk of people.

For example a two bed terraced would typically be £400 per month in rent whereas a mortgage on the same property would only be £175 and would eventually be paid off. The mortgage would get easier to pay due to the ravages of inflation whereas the rent will go up in line with or higher than inflation. It's a no-brainer.

Why are renters so stupid?