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would i be ripping offf the state?
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SMC wrote:I have had them but not every year.
They don't send them routinely, it is your legal obligation to make them aware of any change in circumstances. Failure to do so is dealt with quite harshly. And yes they do have access to all your financial assets and bank accounts as when I was claiming they investigated (and found nothing incorrect may I add just incase anyone wonders) and they had every detail and statement of all our bank accounts and savings etc going back several years.
As for the quotes on Income support. I know of a single parent of 2 who has DLA income etc and she also gets rent (apart from £10 per week as house is expensive rent that she lives in) council tax, prescriptions etc paid and her cash income including the Income support, Child Benefit & DLA is over £350 a week. If that doesn't leave her with £40 a week disposable income she's going seriously wrong somewhere with spending.One day I might be more organised...........
GC: £200
Slinkies target 2018 - another 70lb off (half way to what the NHS says) so far 25lb0 -
My view is more help needs to be given to working parents and less help to stay at home parents, I do get the impression that some women have children at a very early age just for the reason of getting themselves a council house to live in and their benefit income setup. This is also from personal experience of someone I know who is very well off and is a single mother who stays at home. Single childless people by comparison get a lot less benefits and are a much more vulnerable group, but the government is very pro family so spends their money on helping children.
I dont know the solution, but I think it should be dynamic and adaptive, many things wrong with benefits is they are a one size fits all approach which isnt fair, this will mean for some people its very generous and for other people it isnt enough to live on. Income support is supposed to be only used in circumstances where the primary form of income isnt suitable for the cirumstances and their is an aweful lot of parents qualifying for income support which suggests something is wrong somewhere.0 -
I am afraid that Premium Bonds definately count as capital, and you wont be able to reclaim until your savings have dropped under 16,000. To try and claim without declaring this capital is fraud, and will lead to prosecution. I am afraid you will just have to live off the capital.
The DWP and local authority know you own a property - after all they are paying your mortgage interest and council tax payments. If you claim their first question will be - what has happened to the equity in your former property?0 -
How does someone stand if they have a lottery win thats large enough to exceed 16k but not large enough to mean they can be self dependant for the long term, and they then spent loads of it on luxuries. Would they fall under depreciation of capital?0
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Chrysalis wrote:How does someone stand if they have a lottery win thats large enough to exceed 16k but not large enough to mean they can be self dependant for the long term, and they then spent loads of it on luxuries. Would they fall under depreciation of capital?
yes it would be depreciation of capital, and a small amount of interest would be earned aswell, they would be expect to make the whole of it last to support themselves.0 -
It's a bloody joke, just like everything in this country. They encourage you to save, but what incentive do you have?
You go without now to save up some money for your future, but then you lose your job and you need to use the money you've saved to live on .......... once it's all gone you then qualify for income support.
On the other hand, you've got someone who was earning the same as you but spending it as quick as they were making it. When they lose their job they qualify for Income Support right away.
And then you've got the lazy barstewards who've never worked a day in their lives who qualify for EVERYTHING because they know how to work the system.0 -
I admit the depreciation of capital thing seems very harsh, if I won say 30k on the lottery and was expected to use the whole lot for living costs or be banned from claiming benefits the first thing that would come into my mind is how to hide it from the state, its no wonder fraud exists.
Now would I still claim benefits? yes because the weekly income I have would still remain the same, interest on 30k would still be a tiny amount. Having 30k in the bank is not the same as earning 30k a year, its not a income. Perhaps the solution to this is to raise the savings threshold to something more sensible like 160k. With the amount you can claim reducing in steps so if you have 150k you wouldnt get full rate housing benefit for example.0 -
Chrysalis wrote:Having 30k in the bank is not the same as earning 30k a year, its not a income.
but to the benefit system it is, and you would be expected to give yourself a weekly/monthly allowance from that to live on, then when you're savings fall to around the £8,000 mark you can 'sign on' or whatever
call me old fashioned, but I thought benefits were for those who fell on hard times :rolleyes:0 -
I am surprised how much discussion this thread has generated, it seems to me that the original question was a genuine and honest question. Unfortunately there are so many people who intentionally defraud the government (and thus the individual taxpayer). In the job I do (health service) a large majority of customers/patients/clients/service users are legitimately defrauding the government and there is nothing I can do about itIt's nice to be important but it's important to be nice!
If u think my post has been helpful, push my 'thanks' button cheers0 -
keith234 wrote:I am surprised how much discussion this thread has generated, it seems to me that the original question was a genuine and honest question. Unfortunately there are so many people who intentionally defraud the government (and thus the individual taxpayer). In the job I do (health service) a large majority of customers/patients/clients/service users are legitimately defrauding the government and there is nothing I can do about it
"legitimately defrauding" is this possible?0
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