Warning! Big benefit payments shake-up: frequency and pay-day will change for most

simple_living

dmg24 wrote: »

Budgeting loans are not for buying Christmas presents with! Any points you may have made in your post have been completely invalidated by this comment.

excuse me!! they can be for many things
are you thinking of the criteria for Grants from the Social Fund?

How do you suggest that people on sickness or disability benefits etc buy Christmas presents for family then?

or should our kids and widowed mom's etc go without?

seven-day-weekend

simple_living wrote: »

I've just read the whole of this thread and am shocked at the patronising 'advice' given so glibly by some who are obviously not in the position of knowing what it's like, from actual personal experience, to be on benefits long term [which is different to short term as large expensive things like furniture and white goods and electricals wear out and pack up and need replacing].

Also, I noticed someone using their son as an example, saying because he was single he didn't get tax credits etc
quite...as he won't have children to provide for - will he?
not a good example to give to parents on here who may be on disablement benefit [like us] and still have dependant children at home.

I plan and buy food in for 7 meals out of what is left after paying the meters and bills, so to say to us that finding money for another 7 days food is easy to budget for, is ridiculous.
Yes, if it's just one person, ourselves, we have to think of...that would be fine.....but when you have kids who need busfares etc..and a growing lad like mine who is now into size 12 shoes and whose feet have grown about 3 or 4 sizes in the last 18 months [this is just an example of the detail of living]...
there is a poster who seems to be a Christian, as I am, judging from the sig words under her/his posts, but I detect no Christian compassion, only a superior attitude from someone who is not in the same boat...
the superior attitude must come from being up that mountain in Spain.
Well some of us are stuck here in the good old U.K. living on U.K. benefits whilst also coping with the pain and weariness and chronic stress that long term painful illnesses bring.

thanks to the person that pointed out that budgeting loans can take more than 4 weeks to come through...this is FACT - if it weren't for budgeting loans we would not be able to get Christmas gifts for family...
as for holidays home or abroad ...long ago we had to give up on them.

I assume you are referring to me?

I made what i I considered to be a sensible suggestion that people can buy just one or two extra non-perishables every week, and then after a few weeks they will have enough extra food to live on for a few days if necessary. I think that is just sensible budgeting. We have done it ourselves and have had times when we've had to live on our storecupboard ingredients.

How do you know we are not in the same boat as regards income? Mine and my husband's income is actually below what some authorities say is the poverty line for a couple - certainly less than the £190 plus housing costs that pension credits will give in the UK. At this precise moment we have less than 400 euros in our Spanish bank account and nothing to come in until around the twentieth; we have dd's to go out exactly like everyone else, so it will be storecupboard for this week.

My husband suffers from long-term stress and depression, that is why we took early retirement and came to live in the middle of nowhere in Spain, for the peace and quiet. We have an adult son with a mild disability who lives in the UK, we have to subsidise him sometimes too.

I haven't bought Christmas presents for years. If I was living solely on benefits this would not change. We gave our son an IOU once for Christmas when we were broke (he was about twelve), he was OK with that once we explained and is not materialistic now he is an adult.

As to whether my posts come over as Christian, well I'm sorry if you think they don't as that is not a good witness,but I have not intended to be superior - I have nothing to be superior about!

Oh and our house in Spain cost not much more than some people spend on a new car.

I do not have to justify our life to anyone, but have done so, so that you may see that I do understand what it is like to live with a disability and a small budget. I hope that my post has had that effect.

KimYeovil

_by_IvorGlyn__ wrote:

You can't even organise monthly DDs around it as the date changes every month.

Yes you can. Budget - you should have more than four weeks in savings and a working budget. If you haven't messed up your finances then may also have access to a cheap approved overdraft on an occasional mess-up/emergency.

simple_living wrote: »

I know that you might miss out on the slight discount that having DD's brings
but I would never use DD's in our position of being on a limited income of benefits.
I use the online banking option of 'Payment Transfer' - quite easy to set up for whoever you want to pay...and then you are in control of what day and when something is paid..
.. it takes away the risk of money not being in the account to pay the DD and incurring a bank charge.

Budget and also you should be only using the amount of gunk you can afford. Transfers are fine but being organised can be cheaper. And disciplining yourself to have savings as well is even more beneficial.

Cut your cloth yadda yadda.

Fran

***Boardguide comment***

A reminder of what this thread is about:

Benefit payments shake-up: frequency and pay-day will change for most

If you would like to talk about other issues please use Discussion Time

Eddie_Doherty

I read with interest, the news about the benefit payment changes, but thought that it would not affect me as i was already getting paid every 2 weeks. However, when I checked my bank account, I noticed that I had last been paid on Tuesday 24th March, and it was now 3 weeks later. I phoned them up in Belfast and they said they would speak to the relevant people and get them to phone me the next day. They never did. I did get paid again 24 April. I phoned them again last Friday and they said it was just a computer glitch and that I would be paid as normal on the following Tuesday and every 2 weeks after that. I checked that this would include the payment for the missing 2 week period and they said it would. I relaxed.

WRONG!!!!

I just checked my account after seeing the latest post on MSE and see that they did indeed pay me yesterday... a grand sum of £87.50. This isn't the full amount due for 1 week, let alone including the missing 2 weeks. I am very confused, and, given my depression, it doesn't take much these days. I have not had a letter about dates changing or going from advance to arrears payments.

I had a letter dated 14 Jan 09 stating that "my circumstances have changed" (have they?) and that from 24 Dec 08 I would be getting £189.48 per week (£94.95 + £36.85 for being sick and £57.68 for my mortgage interest) But from 28 Jan 09 they will continue to pay me £131.80 Income Support. But. due to another change in rates , from 8 Apr 09 I will get £140.10 per week.

All clear so far?

Then I get a letter dated 02 April 09 stating that they previously told me I could be taxed on my benefit (did they? I don't remember) So from 01 Apr 09 my Incapacity Benefit is taxable and they would be deducting tax at £0.00 per week from my gross rate of £93.40, leaving me with £93.40! Gee, thanks for the heads-up guys! But where did the £93.40 come from anyway? I keep hearing about this Incapacity benefit and thought from a previous medical, that it was something I had to qualify for in order to get the Income Support and NI contributions. Is it? I never really understood the relevance of it.

Anyway, even though I never got the phone call I was first promised, another letter did arrive dated 21 April 09 stating (yes, you've guessed it- their favourite saying) There has been a change in my circumstances (I wish they would explain this). So, from 01 April I will now get £38.40 but this will change on 08 April to £44.18 because there is a change to the money I have coming in AND the amount the law says I need to live on (Yes. They changed it apparently. I certainly didn't!). But, due to a further change, from 15 April, I will get £43.75 per week due to a change in the Incapacity benefit I have coming in!

My head hurts.

In my last phone call I pointed out that I have NEVER had a separate payment of Incapacity Benefit. All I have ever been paid is a single payment into my account every 2 weeks and it has been marked with my NI number and DWP IS at the end. She didn't understand this and neither do I. Says it all really. All I know for a fact is that I was getting £263.60 every 2 weeks up to 24 March, then nothing until £258.13 on 24 April, then £87.50 on 05 May. Was it something I said?

And they wonder why I am still suffering from depression?

HEEELLLPPPPP!!!!!

ians1

Strange they should backtrack on this when the whole idea was to save the government money!

It was actually announced sometime last year but only made websites in January for some reason.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/01/21/110481/benefits-changes-in-april-2009.html

I wonder when they will publish this "reassurance" because the information is still on JCPs website

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_016121.pdf

and its STILL talking about 2 weeks in arrears for some benefits that were paid in advance.

Wait and see I suppose...

ians1

As an update to this, weekly paid customers have not got as much to worry about as fortnightly paid customers:-

On the DWP website it states

"
Weekly in advance paid customers converting to weekly in arrears paid
To ease the movement from being paid weekly in advance to weekly payment in arrears, customers will be automatically paid a non-recoverable payment equivalent to their normal weekly benefit. No action from the customer is required to get this payment."


http://dwp.gov.uk/supplyingdwp/what_we_buy/notice_to_providers_paydays170209.asp

bestpud

I realise benefits are not meant to provide a life of luxury but why oh why do so many people think being on benefits means they should have everything handed to them on a plate?

Plenty of people have to budget and plan ahead for things.

People on benefits (on the whole) are not helpless and can take responsibility for themselves and their finances as much as the next person.

Why do people feel think they must lie down and let the state pick them up again and again?

Jeez, we are lucky to have what we do in this country! And disability benefits are actually not that bad.

Maybe its time people were made to realise they can survive ok and then we won't need threads like this one?

donnac2558

My IS is paid fortnightly in arrears always has been. Pay day is a Monday.
IB is again fortnightly in arrears but on a Tuesday.
DLA has always been four weeks in arrears on a Tuesday.
So going by my NI number I will change to a Wednesday for all benefits which will stay in either fortnightly or monthly arrears.

I take it from this I will only have two days to wait at most when the change happens?
I try to keep frozen pies etc well stocked in my freezer incase of the unknown.

Zara33

simple_living wrote: »

excuse me!! they can be for many things
are you thinking of the criteria for Grants from the Social Fund?

How do you suggest that people on sickness or disability benefits etc buy Christmas presents for family then?

or should our kids and widowed mom's etc go without?

nope i can't see where on the list christmas presents are covered by a budgeting loan

You can get a Budgeting Loan if you need help with:

• furniture or household items
• clothing and footwear
• rent in advance or removal expenses to secure fresh accommodation
• home improvements, maintenance or security
• travelling expenses
• looking for or starting work (including childcare costs)
• repaying hire purchase (HP) or other debts that have been taken out to pay for any of the above.

You won’t need to list individual items or services that you need or explain why you need them. But you will need to say how much money you want to borrow.
If you need money for any other reason than the general categories above, we will not be able to pay you a Budgeting Loan.