It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

ceridwen

Gigervamp wrote: »

Hmm, I'll have to look into this. My mum is on the basic state pension, lives in London and gets housing benefit. Although her rent is several hundred pounds cheaper than the other identical flats around her due to some sort of protected rent thingy, it's still almost £700 a month. There's no way she'd be able to pay that if the HB was stopped.

It was just the one mention - so I would personally want to find further stuff on this from other commentators before I started thinking "Ooooh ...dear...:eek:".

Would be just as well to check out all the "quality" newspapers to see what they have to say about this - or otherwise...

I would imagine that if there is going to be a time limit on housing benefit payable that it would just apply to those of "working age" and not pensioners - ie providing an "incentive" to "working age" people to get a job (along the lines of "You have so-and-so long to get a job in before your benefit gets cut"...).

So - just worth mentioning that I saw that one mention of this - but there werent any details - hence the need for crosschecking - in case that one commentator got it wrong....

EDIT: think you would find a clue as to Govt thinking on this if you check out the time limit that I know there already is on how long mortgage interest gets paid to those who are buying (rather than renting) their home. I think the time limit already there for home-owners with a mortgage is somewhere along the lines of a maximum of 1 or 2 years????? before the DWP starts getting shirty about it. I assume this time limit is only applicable to those of working age????? I'm afraid I didnt take in the details of this when I saw it get implemented a coupla years ago - I only recall thinking "Thank goodness I havent got a mortgage any more and that there was no time limit around like that for as long as I HAD a mortgage - whew!"

Larumbelle

Gigervamp wrote: »

Hmm, I'll have to look into this. My mum is on the basic state pension, lives in London and gets housing benefit. Although her rent is several hundred pounds cheaper than the other identical flats around her due to some sort of protected rent thingy, it's still almost £700 a month. There's no way she'd be able to pay that if the HB was stopped.

Gingervamp, the way I read it she'll be fine. Because she's under £250/week, paying less than than the flats around her, and she's not working age.

The_Budget wrote:

1.102 Housing Benefit is often criticised as making excessively generous
payments that damage work incentives. To address this, the Government will
remove payments that trap benefit claimants in poverty instead of providing
incentives to work as well as being unfair to the millions of families on low
income who do not depend on welfare. The Government will introduce a
package of reforms to Housing Benefit from April 2011 onwards. This
includes changing the percentile of market rents used to calculate
Local Housing Allowance rates, and uprating these rates by CPI from
2013-14, capping the maximum Local Housing Allowance payable for
each property size, time-limiting the receipt of full Housing Benefit
for claimants who can be expected to look for work, and restricting
Housing Benefit for working age claimants in the social rented sector
who are occupying a larger property than their household size
warrants.

2.50 From October 2011, Local Housing Allowance rates will be set at the
30th percentile of local rents. (29)
2.51 Deductions for non-dependents will be uprated in April 2011 on the
basis of prices. This will reverse the freeze in these rates since 2001-02. (30)
2.52 From 2013-14, Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated in line
with CPI. (32)
2.53 From April 2013, housing entitlements for working age people in the
social sector will reflect family size. (31)
2.54 Housing Benefit awards will be reduced to 90 per cent of the initial
award after 12 months for claimants receiving Jobseekers Allowance. This will
be introduced in April 2013. (33)
2.55 From April 2011, Housing Benefit claimants with a disability and a nonresident
carer will be entitled to funding for an extra bedroom. (34)
2.56 From April 2011, Local Housing Allowance Rates will be capped at £250
per week for a one bedroom property, £290 per week for a two bedroom
property, £340 per week for a three bedroom property and £400 per week for
four bedrooms or more. (35)
2.57 The Government contribution to Discretionary Housing Payments will be
increased by

Gigervamp

Thanks to you both. <breathes a sigh of relief>

charlies-aunt

silvercharming wrote: »

Charlie's Aunt - I am sincerely sorry if you felt that I was lumping all staff in together, I really didn't intend that. Thank goodness there are people like you there! I know from experience that 'the attitude' is really tough on other staff, because they have to put up with it all the time. So good on you, and don't let people like them (or people like me) get you down! :grouphug:

IMHO the way you treat the least fortunate people you encounter is a measure of you as a human being (or as a government department, or as a society.) I think that too much of this budget will hit the less fortunate disproportionately.It made me really angry, Osborne rebutting this criticism by saying that 'we all have to do our bit' as if somehow poorer people were trying to wheedle out of their share.

....

No offence taken I try hard to do my job as a Civil Servant - to serve my customers in civilised manner. I try to treat others as I would like to be treated myself

I get a bit sad sometimes because I think that there is very little guidance out to help people claim the appropriate benefit... for example - parents who have been struggling to care for and cope with a disabled child for years...and no-one has told them that they are probably eligible to claim DLA / Carers Allowance / Income Support.There are some 'professional' claimants but they are a minority....

mardatha

My doc told me to apply for it. But it isnt widely advertised is it... almst as if they dont want you to claim. LOL!

charlies-aunt

mardatha wrote: »

My doc told me to apply for it. But it isnt widely advertised is it... almst as if they dont want you to claim. LOL!

I agree - and its the same with attendance allowance - I don't understand why.

It would be helpful if there was an 'Idiots Guide to...Benefits" .

Hippeechiq

I would also like to apologise to charlies-aunt - I meant no offence to you personally

Optimisticpair wrote: »

The govt website

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_PublicNoticesAndInfoSheets&propertyType=document&columns=1&id=HMCE_CL_000118#P67_4124

gives details of at least some edible items that are zero rated and standard rated.

Thanks for that Optimisticpair - makes interesting reading

Hippeechiq

The_Thrilla wrote: »

Apology accepted.

Oh dear - I am sorry about my mistake The Thrilla - it's very sexist of me to assume that all posters are female

sammy_kaye18

charlies-aunt wrote: »

....
...... for example - parents who have been struggling to care for and cope with a disabled child for years...and no-one has told them that they are probably eligible to claim DLA / Carers Allowance / Income Support.There are some 'professional' claimants but they are a minority....

My mother in law was in this position. She took in her grandson after his parents couldn't cope with him - he has aspergers/autism and ADHD - and her and her husband were struggling to make ends meet and I mentioned one day that Iw as paid my child benefit the next day and said 'oh you should get yours tomorrow possibly too then' and she told me she didn't get any benefits for her grandson. Her daughter hadn't even told her she was entitled to money to care for him and was still pocketing it herself despite seeing her parents struggle so I told her abotu child benefit, tax credits etc and the entitlement criteria and she spoke to a benefits officer who set it up and now she receives child benefit, tax credits, DLA and carers allowance.

ceridwen

charlies-aunt wrote: »

I agree - and its the same with attendance allowance - I don't understand why.

It would be helpful if there was an 'Idiots Guide to...Benefits" .

Some time back I came across something or other that indicated that it is a deliberate policy not to inform claimants of all possible benefits they are entitled to. This was back in the days of yore - when there was a lot more "add-on" benefits than there have been for many years now. I believe the reasoning is in order not to help the "deliberately unemployed" any more than possible - in order to ensure they have an "incentive" to get into work. It possibly worked back then - but these days the female "deliberately unemployeds" have been finding a way round that for years by just having child after child in order to stay on benefit (not sure if the male "unemployables" have found some legal equivalent of that....:cool:). So - the people that that "lack of information policy" hits are more likely to be the "unemployed against their will - as opposed to the deliberately unemployed". Those who are unemployed against their will are much less likely to "know their rights" I would think and just tend to assume that benefit money is enough to live on and they will automatically be paid everything due:cool: (until they get the shock of their lives - like I did - and find they have been put on the Dole Queue as well...).

I was aware of this back in the days when I had to sign on - hence had checked exactly how my benefit money was due to be made up - in order to ensure that I received all constituent parts of it. I was surprised to find that a very large and obvious constituent part of it had been omitted from the calculation the (then) DHSS employee made - but restrained myself from asking "Do I LOOK as if I am someone who would be deliberately unemployed/lazy?:mad::eek:" and just politely pointed out her "error" and it was instantly rectified.

There IS an Idiots Guide to Benefits - but it wasnt a quick/easy read even back then - ie before they complicated things no end.....
- It's the Child Poverty Action Group Welfare Rights Handbook. These days its a rather lengthy and expensive book and its a lot more difficult reading than it used to be before the massive round of Welfare cuts there was back in the 1980s.