What happens to state benefit in a recession

Badger_Lady

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I for one don't begrudge it. I do think, though, that when she says she "only" has £110 a week after housing costs, she doesn't appreciate that a lot of people who do work have less than that.

Very true - I've had two very difficult periods in my life despite always being employed and frugal...

The first time was when trying to care for a partner with mental illness who, as part of his illness, refused to seek medical help and therefore couldn't work but had no benefit entitlement. I was so grateful when my single-mum-on-benefits friend brought round a food parcel for me - just tesco value pasta and tinned tomatoes, but I literally had no money to buy food at the time! I felt awful taking it from her then but I do the same for her now (the odd bottle of wine etc). The only way I ever managed to get through that period was by applying for credit cards and building up debt that would take me years to pay back.

The second difficult period, I was working three jobs - one from 7-10am, one from 10am-6pm and another casual job evenings and weekends. I was barely managing to clear housing (1 bed flat) and food costs, and felt complete despair about my future quality of life. It's difficult to fathom now why I struggled so much then... pretty much I was just living in an expensive city with low wages, but at the time it was all I knew.

However, in both those situations, I was in control. Because I was working rather than depending on benefits (which I couldn't get anyway, as a childless singleton), I was able to work my way out and end up in a much more cushty position, in fact one where I can now choose to work part time because my salary is so much higher!

Sorry, anecdotal ramblings there with very little point to make, but hopefully entertaining reading

shirlgirl2004

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Sorry, anecdotal ramblings there with very little point to make, but hopefully entertaining reading

Always an entertaining read BL :beer:

whathavewedone

I just think in the case of DID she has a valid reason not to work at the moment. We are in a recession. She doesn't have a skill or a degree level education. She has a toddler and is a single parent. This seriously limits her job choices - she can't work for the minimum wage and pay for childcare and rent and bills out of her own pocket. It simply isn't possible.

So she can either work for the minimum wage and get top ups in working tax credit plus help with childcare payments or not work.

I wouldn't blame her if she didn't even try to look for work because she is doing a full time job already in parenting her toddler. However she is looking for a job and is also trying to improve her prospects by doing an open university degree.

Give her a break eh? I know that some people manage on less than £110 a week but really it's not a huge amount to bring a child up on and it doesn't sound as though she's living a champagne lifestyle to me.

Maybe though DID you could pick up some money saving tips on here and find somewhere better to rent/manage to have the heating on more often?

SingleSue

That was our experience too BL, money was very tight when I returned to work after having my 3rd son, in fact initially we were worse off but within a very short space of time it improved. If there was any kind of big outlay coming up, I could work extra shifts to pay for it. If something went wrong with the car or cooker for example, we could cover it by doing the same, we also received bonuses twice yearly, so this made it easier to arrange for holidays, newer cars etc.

As you say, if you are in work, you have control and can work that little bit extra/harder to get yourself into a more positive position. Not working (and not being able to work) the choices are more limited, you fear the day something breaks down or an event such as Christmas as you are not able to increase your earnings easily to cover it.

I don't know what the answer is to be honest, whatever any government does, some will like it and some will hate it, some will win and some will lose....it's the way the cookie crumbles!

Prudent

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I for one don't begrudge it. I do think, though, that when she says she "only" has £110 a week after housing costs, she doesn't appreciate that a lot of people who do work have less than that.

I would agree totally with that and with people who have pointed out the value of a very young child having full time care from a parent.

The point above was really my opinion, but much more succinctly put

£110 is more than I have had as a single mum working full time. It is not a champagne lifestyle, but is nevertheless very liveable on.

As Singlesue said, there is no easy formula that is fair to everyone and protects the vulnerable adequately.

Damzel_In_Distress

Yoshua wrote: »

Did you teach him yourself? Hope he can spell alphabet and in fact! Sorry to appear cruel but your post just sums up the attitude that is wrong with this country.

You say you only get 100 odd quid a week to live on, but you probably get rent and council tax paid as well.

My wife and I also have a baby and I work damn hard to cover the rent and council tax and all the bills, after all the tax I pay I think you have more money to live on than us.


I have travelled the world and in other countries if someone cant support themselves then family has to or they just have to work. Maybe you should just have rice and water just to stay alive until you can get some work enough to just buy some bread as a luxury as you share a room with 16 other people who are not working. You think I am extreme but this country is not far from this.

Why should those working and paying tax pay for those not working?

can i just state that i do not have £110 a week left after my council tax and rent are "paid as well" ....i pay the £100 a month rent myself out of money ..so i get £110 a week which comes to £440 a month..THEN i take the £100 from that and am left with £340. which comes to £85 a week!
I have a gas meter which costs about £10 a day if i want to have heating like a normal person,....if anyone thinks they would be "better off on benefits" well why dont you try it? ...ill stay here and wait for you to come back saying.."sorry you were right"...i dont no who these people are who manage to get more money than i do,trust me its NOT possible! i wish it were,i often dont eat so my son can! £340 for four weeks?? which bills out of it like this -

TV lisence - £20 a month
Gas - £80 a month (sometimes more)
Electric - £40 a month
Food- around £150 a month
Water - £25 a month
all comes to £315 a month! ! so thats £25 i have left for other things my son needs,or for travel to the supermarket etc...
i can assure you,ive sometimes gone 5-7 days with nothing at all left!!

Just wanted to add that i no alot of you will say £150 a month is a lot for food and household items,and yes i no it can be done cheaper!..part of the reason its that much is because my son still have to wear nappies as he has a slight kidney problem which causes him to wee on a frequent basis which cannot be helped at all.

Prudent

Damzel_In_Distress wrote: »

can i just state that i do not have £110 a week left after my council tax and rent are "paid as well" ....i pay the £100 a month rent myself out of money ..so i get £110 a week which comes to £440 a month..THEN i take the £100 from that and am left with £340. which comes to £85 a week!
I have a gas meter which costs about £10 a day if i want to have heating like a normal person,....if anyone thinks they would be "better off on benefits" well why dont you try it? ...ill stay here and wait for you to come back saying.."sorry you were right"...i dont no who these people are who manage to get more money than i do,trust me its NOT possible! i wish it were,i often dont eat so my son can! £340 for four weeks?? which bills out of it like this -

TV lisence - £20 a month
Gas - £80 a month (sometimes more)
Electric - £40 a month
Food- around £150 a month
Water - £25 a month
all comes to £315 a month! ! so thats £25 i have left for other things my son needs,or for travel to the supermarket etc...
i can assure you,ive sometimes gone 5-7 days with nothing at all left!!

Just wanted to add that i no alot of you will say £150 a month is a lot for food and household items,and yes i no it can be done cheaper!..part of the reason its that much is because my son still have to wear nappies as he has a slight kidney problem which causes him to wee on a frequent basis which cannot be helped at all.

Your budget is very similar to mine. I take out £100 which includes £20 petrol for work. When petrol prices were higher it was £25 - £30 which was crippling. Have a wee look at your food bill because it is on the high side. I do wonder if you could help with nappies or nappies provided as a lot of parents with children with special needs get free nappies. Nappies must be a big outlay for you.

Your tv should cost £11 per month - check you are not overpaying as this could help a wee bit.

Your combined gas and elec are high. I pay £60. This may be because you have damp accomodation. Would it be worth paying a bit more rent and saving on the gas and elec?

MrDT

Damzel_In_Distress wrote: »

TV lisence - £20 a month
Gas - £80 a month (sometimes more)
Electric - £40 a month
Food- around £150 a month
Water - £25 a month
all comes to £315 a month! ! so thats £25 i have left for other things my son needs,or for travel to the supermarket etc...
i can assure you,ive sometimes gone 5-7 days with nothing at all left!!

Just wanted to add that i no alot of you will say £150 a month is a lot for food and household items,and yes i no it can be done cheaper!..part of the reason its that much is because my son still have to wear nappies as he has a slight kidney problem which causes him to wee on a frequent basis which cannot be helped at all.

Hi DID, TV licence seems a bit high. If you pay monthly by DD it should be around £12 a month, I think it's higher if you pay on a weekly/quarterly basis in the post office etc. £8 a month might not be much, but when you're stretched, not to be sniffed at.

The food bill could maybe be cut down a bit, consider having a look in the oldstyle board, or the 4k challenge in the debt board. Would reusable cloth nappies help much? Maybe worth asking on there if anyone has experience with them.

Is there any alternative to where you're renting at the moment? The place doesn't sound great, definitely not somewhere you'd expect to pay £100 on top of HB for.

Hope you find the mse website and forums useful and manage to save some money that can be put towards keeping you and your child warm and fed. Lots of tips available, but this particular subforum maybe isn't the right place for you, we're all bitter twisted nutters in the houseprice ghetto dontchaknow

SingleSue

How old is your little one Damzel?

As Prudent says, you can get free nappies if your child has an illness or special need, speak to your health visitor or specialist as they will be able to refer your child to the service which provides them.

Badger_Lady

DID, slightly off-topic but I'm really worried about the place where you're living... there are three adults living in my 3-storey, single-glazed, poorly insulated period townhouse. Someone is always at home all day and we keep the whole house at a comfortable temperature, yet our gas bill is half what you're paying.

It's not right for you to be cold and suffering from damp whilst still paying £80 a month gas... I assume you're on central heating and a traditional boiler? Can you change your gas supplier, and is there anything you can do to help with keeping your heat in? I've recently learned about a couple of techniques that I'm going to employ on my windows to insulate them...