It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

The_Thrilla

mardatha wrote: »

I found it the most humiliating thing I've ever had to do, was to go through an appeal for DLA. much much worse than having 3 kids. I won't go through it again no matter how much money I lose. Some things matter a lot more than money
I think the budget was ok, could have been worse.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I have deliberately got my income down, and I found out I was elegible for Council Tax Benefit. They are doing a review of my benefit at the moment, and they are saying that I have been overpaid over the last year by over £100. (Their fault.) I think their real problem is that my savings and investments have risen over £2,400 since last year, but are still under the threshhold of £16,000; so they think I have more money than I originally declared. (I don't. I just know how to invest money. That's all. Whereas their managers have mismanaged the council's funds on diverse fripperies, and the council is now bust.) I further wind them up at interviews because, having had "a good education", I don't speak like their other "clients" do. For my part, I read in the local paper that there are going to be council redundancies coming down the pike, so I make sure I remind them about it! It is ridiculous. Because these folk have a tuppeny-ha'penny job for the local authority, they think they are better than we are.

Moving on to the budgie. I was very disappointed. This is not going to do anything for the economy. I was listening to one of the government's mouthpieces, BBC Radio 5 Dead, today; and they were saying that the "deficit" was only £155 billion. I thought this strange, because it was seven hundred and seventy-odd billion a couple of weeks ago. It turned out that £155 billion was only the deficit for this year so far, and what I thought was the "deficit", they were calling "the debt"; which they now say is over £900 billion. So much for transparent government. I suspect that the government will continue with inflation (a.k.a. quantitative easing); and will continue to have the Bank of England buy UK government bonds to keep the interest rates low. Meanwhile the million strong army of civil servants and the NHS office workers can continue to invent things for them to do.

What no one has mentioned so far is that the hike in VAT will really hit people with utility bills.

smileyt_2

The_Thrilla wrote: »

Ye better than we are.
What no one has mentioned so far is that the hike in VAT will really hit people with utility bills.

Isn't fuel still at 5%?

Hmmm, will have to check that one.

morag1202

The_Thrilla wrote: »

What no one has mentioned so far is that the hike in VAT will really hit people with utility bills.

The 5% rate is unchanged.

Hippeechiq

The_Thrilla wrote: »

I don't speak like their other "clients" do. For my part, I read in the local paper that there are going to be council redundancies coming down the pike, so I make sure I remind them about it! It is ridiculous. Because these folk have a tuppeny-ha'penny job for the local authority, they think they are better than we are.
.

You go girl! :T :T :T

ETA: My apologies if you're of the male persuasion

mumoftwo

ginnyknit wrote: »

We already went through hell to get DLA and carers allowance etc am dreading having to justify ourselves again. Think it will push OH over the edge. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Just keep on going guys doing what we do. Oh flip I wanted a 62 inch tv next year - not a chance, I have better things to look at like my veggies growing and my chickens!

We are in a similar situation.These forms are such an absolute pain to complete and now having to have some "idiot" access you, doesn't bear thinking about really, Surely if you already given all your consultants names, they can contact them etc. I know there are people who are taking advantage but there always will be in all sorts of benefits claims, not just DLA.

ceridwen

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Can i just say (in a very small voice) I work in a jobcentre but I aren't 'orrible - customers often tell me that they request to have their appointments with me cos I'm so nice! But I aren't permanent staff either .

I do understand where you are coming from with your comments - there are a lot of long serving staff who certainly have 'attitude' ...not just to customers - temporary & fixed term staff are tolerated by the old timers as a necessary evil.

I do have to say - in their defence - about Jobcentre staff that I never had any "attitude" problems with any of them. It was a LONG time ago now since I had to sign on for benefits - but I only encountered one problem (though that was a factual one - rather than an attitude one). At the outset of my first claim I got told I would be receiving less money than I was due for - as it was..I knew exactly how much money it was due for and what each constituent element was "worth". I just turned round and pointed out that she had omitted to mention "such and such" an element, that was worth so much to me. She promptly put it right. So - I was glad that I was well informed as to how exactly how much I was due for and how it was made up (though that was back in the days - YEARS AGO - when benefit was rather higher than now and actually enough to live on even for childless people:cool: and was made up of all sorts of different add-on elements that are no longer applicable).

So - apart from that factual error (which would have cost me quite a bit of money if I had believed that she was right:eek: - but she did promptly put it right when I pointed it out) - I never had the slightest suspicion of "attitude" from any of them. Maybe it was because I didn't expect any "attitude" - as I was so obviously in shock that unemployment had happened to someone like myself and had clearly expected that I would reach retirement without ever having experienced it even if I was doing jobs outside my normal "range". I do recall, at one point, that I made a point of going in to thank a particular Jobcentre employee who had helped me get the job I had just been offered/taken - and left her sitting there blushing and smiling.

Thankfully - I've not had to ask for any disability payments - as it sounds like some people are unjustifiably "put through the mill" if having to do that (I'd hate to be in a system that denied genuinely ill people money they were entitled to/needed - whilst still giving out money to some people who weren't actually ill....and don't know the answer as to how to find compassionate/fair ways to ascertain who was genuinely ill and who was a "faker").

ceridwen

smileyt wrote: »

:rotfl:Oh my goodness - if this is a compliment Ginnyknit, I'd hate to see an insult. I am sure mardatha is thrilled to be compared to a truss!! Roflmao! I'm afraid it conjures up some rather ...odd... images lol!

I think Mardatha won't mind WHAT sort of compliments she gets - as long as there are some sweeties accompanying it......:rotfl::rotfl:

ginnyknit

smileyt wrote: »

:rotfl:Oh my goodness - if this is a compliment Ginnyknit, I'd hate to see an insult. I am sure mardatha is thrilled to be compared to a truss!! Roflmao! I'm afraid it conjures up some rather ...odd... images lol!

Its from the Good Life, and of course was meant in the nicest possible way :):):)

Reverbe

Well we have had the Budget now. VAT was the real pain. I am actually for a lot of cuts and think more could and should be made but wat kept me awake was the prospect of benefits like JSA being cut etc... I have commented on here recently about food becoming a luxury and prices going upa least 5-7p and in some cases up by a lot more. I have been living on 9p noodles and the price going up alone has doubled the cost.

I got glared at last night as we entered the local pub quiz last night for the first tie and came second winning £12. They wanted to spend it on a round but I had a full drink and preferred to take my share.Sorry folks but that means a lot of meals to me. Of course I didnt say it as we were in the company of someone with a good job who we dont know that well and I didnt want to show myself up.

I cannot get over how I thought my life was going to be by this age and I never suspeced that finding themoney for food would be this hard before old age.

mardatha

I'm broken hearted I'm UPSET! I'm a truss ! I cant go on!
I need emergency sweetie parcels to stop me going into a decline !
I am bad
I don't know about the DLA thing though. A lot of illnesses don't show up at medicals, besides mental illnesses - like ME & RA. They haven't said how they are going to do this... it might not be as easy as just giving everybody a medical . Unless its a sneaky way to just get the numbers down & get people off it. But what they save on DLA they will spend on fees for medicals !
The child benefit being frozen will not help people with kids at all, will it? Does VAT go on toys? I can see people having to tighten a bit further next christmas ....and once VAT goes up, it wont come down again.
All in all, its just another turn of the screw innit :mad: