ESA claimant question's about how I am expected to pay for everything etc.

elvis86

I have to say I think you have an awful attitude. If your current situation is so intolerable and casusing you so much stress, and you just aren't able to claim enough in benefits to maintain the lifestyle to which you are accustomed (IMO, a car is a luxury and someone on benefits shouldn't be able to afford to run one! I work full time and I can barely afford it!), perhaps actually returning to work would be the lesser of two evils?

I'm afraid life isn't perfect, you cant expect to be freed of the "stress" of working, but also excused the "stress" of being broke!

mitchaa

Your heating should be turned off coming into May so your electricity bill should halve. Put on a jumper on instead of whacking the heating on.

You need to be more frugal, no £10 takeaways and £6 on a pack of fags every week. Loaf of bread is 70p, 4 tins of cheap beans for £1. Water is free from the tap.

You can survive if you really need to. It's just some think it should pay for their smoking addiction, nights out, luxury eating, mobile phone etc.

How are you managing to type this thread for example? Internet is a 'luxury' that you should not have on £64pw, it's about prioritising.

You have a car:eek:

Be grateful you have a FREE roof over your head and that your council tax paid is paid for. I'd love to have that 'luxury'

jetty

My partner has an ongoing illness and claims the sick benefit (long term) And altho i could claim the carers allowence, i don't, because i don't have to look after him to that extent - we aren't all spongers and benefit grabbers so you should watch what you say. If you come on here looking for help, you shouldn't be snarky to the people who try to help you.

i'm currently doing an OU course so i can earn the right amount of money to keep my family (i'm a woman with only shop work as a qualification! and if i went back to this, we really wouldn't be surviving! Oh and i went straight into a full time job at 16 so am doing my degree now) I have 3 kids and we live on £60 groceries a week, bearing in mind one is in nappies. My electric is DD monthly and only £30, maybe you can get a discount for DD payments? I have been to the edge with depression and know how it can make you feel when you are at your lowest. The main thing you should be concentrating on is getting better and then maybe things won't look so bleak?

jetty

Oh, and we don't drive or have a car, we have to walk a couple of miles to the nearest tesco and carry it all back as we can't even afford the bus...

Oldernotwiser

barney_stubble wrote: »

Sorry guys but yeah, while I appreciate 'cut back' I am already living on 1/6th the national minimum wage, which is about 1/6th of the true cost of living. Short of turning to crime, I dont see how I am expected to survive here .. Sorry if that makes me snarky.

But you're not actually living on 1/6th of NMW though, are you? Minimum wage for a 35 hour week would bring in about 170.00 per week, out of which you'd have to pay your rent and council tax (or at least most of it) and your working expenses.

No single person on minimum wage or benefits is going to be well off but your problem is more about budgeting and financial expectations.

jetty

when i was 17 i was getting just £124 a week for a 39 hour week :eek: (and then i was doing the managers job for him!)

carpedieme

The OP should get a life, my husband has been unemployed for more than twelve months and gets no JSA at all as I work ( he even has to pay for his prescriptions ) We have a large mortgage and all the usual bills and have managed with difficulty and no luxurieshatsoever tokeep our heads above water, we spend twenty pounds a week on food for two of us and our electricity is 32 pound a month dd my daughter will soon be back from uni and unemployed and then there will be three of us living on a modest wage and we will stillmanage, the op shouldnt run up debts he cant pay later and his attitude stinks!!!

Indie_Kid

carpedieme wrote: »

( he even has to pay for his prescriptions )

Does he have more than 14 in 12 months? Pre-payment certificate might be cheaper than £7.20 a time.

Water is free from the tap.

Do you not pay water bills?

elvis86

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But you're not actually living on 1/6th of NMW though, are you? Minimum wage for a 35 hour week would bring in about 170.00 per week, out of which you'd have to pay your rent and council tax (or at least most of it) and your working expenses.

No single person on minimum wage or benefits is going to be well off but your problem is more about budgeting and financial expectations.

Exactly! The OP needs to get a grip on his spending and lose his stinking attitude. On £170.00 a week, a person who worked and had to pay their own rent and council tax would be left with as little if not less than you! Especially if they were under 25, so I'm led to believe. Because of the discriminatory tax credits system which is based on a ridiculous presumption that one's living costs are substantially lower prior top one's 25th birthday!

misty_blue_2

barney_stubble wrote: »

Hello.

I have recently become unemployed due to mental health issues (stress related depression and anxiety). I am currently claiming ESA and have just put in a claim for housing benefit and council tax benefit - this according to the advisors at the council will be approved as my rent is within their thresholds for single persons etc.

I am now concerned about utilities.

At present I get only £60 pw which has to feed me, pay all my domestic expenses, bills and travel etc.

Obviously its nowhere near enough.

I live alone, I do not have a spouse or partner so I can't claim the 'cushy' carers allowances. I am also not severely disabled in respect that my mobility is impaired.

My electricty bill is around £30 pw. I am fortunate to be all electric storage heating etc. No gas.

I am currently not in arrears but I have no savings and, frankly, there is no way I can pay the electricity bill out of the £60 a week that goes mostly on food and domestic expenses. There's not enough left.

I live in a modest one bedroom apartment.

I understand there are Social Tarrifs from some suppliers such as British Gas but these only offer reductions in the costs, which honestly, wont make a dent in my deficit.

Is there any additional benefit or help that I can get on a re-occuring basis to help prevent me from falling into arrears with my utilities? I haven't even factored in water yet .. oh man.

£64 a week is not enough to live on if you have to pay £35 a week on electric and water and still expect to eat and travel and buy clothes, cleaning goods, replace worn out and broken items etc etc etc.

I feel because I am not elegible for mobility and carer 'top ups' which in most cases doubles your income to an almost sustainable level, I am going to simply spiral out of control and in to debt before long and the very thought of this is already putting me under intense pschological pressure and I am laying awake at night worrying about stuff I really can't handle. I'm already medicated up to the nines and being harrassed 12 hrs a day by credit card collections and other aggressive creditors who I am in arrears with ..

Can some kind soul explain to me if there is anything I can do about this ridiculous short fall in my living expenses? If not I will just give up I think and they can all go to hell!

For someone who has health related problems yourself you are not very sympathetic toward others are you ?

As for "cushy carers allowances" this is an insult to all carers out there working very hard to help their loved ones/friends and family live life as best as they can and in the meantime saving this country millions if not billions of pounds a year .