If benefits stop as the government have no money

bestpud

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Hang on - we're talking about the 70s, not the 30s you know. Outside loos and metal baths, you must be joking! Avocado bathroom suites and shagpile carpet perhaps but the 70s weren't a time of great poverty. Different certainly but not necessarily worst.

I'm going way OT now, but I can confirm that point, as this is a late 70s/early 80s house and we still have the original avocado bathroom suite!!

Hideous thing that it is!

Sorry to anyone who has one through choice!

Oldernotwiser

bestpud wrote: »

I'm going way OT now, but I can confirm that point, as this is a late 70s/early 80s house and we still have the original avocado bathroom suite!!

Hideous thing that it is!

Sorry to anyone who has one through choice!

But better than a tin bath and an outside loo!

Titch89

Chrysalis wrote: »

DLA is notoriosly hard to get when you havent got a reliable diagnosis.

Not true. I was diagnosed with something at the age of 4 years old. (when I believe not much was known about the illness) I applied for DLA last year and got turned down because they believed there was 'nothing wrong' with me - even though I'm registered as being partially sighted and will never be able to legally drive. I know many people who are in the same situation - same diganosis as me and got turned down, because apparantely, there's nothing wrong.

bestpud

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But better than a tin bath and an outside loo!

Absolutely! We had a downstairs loo once and I was too frightened to use that during the night so goodness knows how I'd cope with an outside one! :rotfl: I was an adult at the time too, but perhaps shouldn't admit that!

krisskross

We got our first indoor loo and bathroom in 1967. The council rehoused us as they were knocking our house down as 'slum clearance'.

Funny how tastes change. i remember that having a coloured bathroom suite was the height of elegance and a sure sign you had a bob or two. Mortified I was that we had a plain white one, and certainly couldn't afford to change it. In fact we had it re-enamelled to give it a longer lease of life, much cheaper than buying new. All those years ago I was a moneysaving expert......just didn't know it:rotfl:

Oldernotwiser

bestpud wrote: »

Absolutely! We had a downstairs loo once and I was too frightened to use that during the night so goodness knows how I'd cope with an outside one! :rotfl: I was an adult at the time too, but perhaps shouldn't admit that!

Completely agree; running around the house in the dead of night always spooks me. We spent a fortune putting in an upstairs loo for just this reason.

Loopy_Girl

krisskross wrote: »

Problem with trying to save on Retirement pension is that it is actually an entitlement with criteria that have to be met. Take me for instance, although I worked and paid NI from age 16 to 59 I only get £52pw pension as I was silly enough to only pay the small married woman's stamp. Most people claiming SRP will have to meet the criteria and most will have paid in for many many years. So as I said not so much a benefit as an entitlement.

Child related benefits on the other hand merely call for the existence of a child, actual child benefit is completely non means tested and child tax credits are paid up to a very healthy income level. There is no requirement to ever have to pay any contributions to receive these payments and surely this shouldn't happen?

I'm sorry but I have to dispute this. It has been said many many times that the benefit system is not a 'pot' you pay into for a withdrawl later on. Your stamp that you paid then was paying for pensioners then...my money I pay pays for the pensions now...you are going to get just under 3K a year - do you really think that you have paid that in stamp over the years? no, and the tax payers (this generation that you say have it so good!) are paying your pension now. And if for any reason when you are a 'senior' and hit retirement you are not due the state pension then you would be due IS. But of course Pension Credit has tried to make it that pensioners, like many families with WTC, don't live in poverty.

I wondered when the state pension isn't a benefit was going to get dredged up....there's not going to be a state pension when I am older so I put 10% of my salary into a pension fund so I am paying for my pension now and many other people's pension...but I don't begrudge it.

Loopy_Girl

bestpud wrote: »

Hmm, I saw a mother with four children (oldest looked about 5/6) in our local co-op last week and each child had a packet of crisps and fruit shoot, and the oldest two had a chocolate bar and an ice lolly for their breakfast.

The she told one of them off for giving the baby (around 9mths I'd have said) a packet of normal crisps, as he was 'too young'. She'd bought mini cheddars for him instead, she said!! :eek:

I felt quite sad about it tbh.

That is very sad although very common unfortunately...I work with families in a deprived area of Scotland and some of the things I hear my jaw is dropping to the ground....my 'fave' was that the young mothers were melting down Mars Bars and making the teats on the bottles bigger to feed to the babies...reason being was that they were stuffed to the eyeballs with all the choccy bar and so slept through the night....now it only takes one of them to do that and then it spreads like wildfire....myself and my colleagues hearts sank when we reaslised that Caolpol had brought out a night time sleepy version...it is so getting abused where I am it is unreal...

seven-day-weekend

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

That is very sad although very common unfortunately...I work with families in a deprived area of Scotland and some of the things I hear my jaw is dropping to the ground....my 'fave' was that the young mothers were melting down Mars Bars and making the teats on the bottles bigger to feed to the babies...reason being was that they were stuffed to the eyeballs with all the choccy bar and so slept through the night....now it only takes one of them to do that and then it spreads like wildfire....myself and my colleagues hearts sank when we reaslised that Caolpol had brought out a night time sleepy version...it is so getting abused where I am it is unreal...

Although this is awful, it is actually nothing to do with poverty, and the amount of money they have on benefits, is it? Mars Bars are not a cheap option! It's just bad/chavvy/couldn't care less parenting.

lilac_lady

"When I was young" (get the violins out) a Mars bar was beyond most people's means as a treat to their children and I'm talking about working people. No benefits like the ones on offer today. How times have changed - maybe not for the better.