For all the benefit frothers out there

StevieJ

moggylover wrote: »

TBF, the "brands" are no more expensive than anything else on the high street and many of them are much better lasting/quality. Much as Lonsdale (for instance) get a lamping as "chav", their leather trainers are excellent and cheap (around £20 so long as you are not looking for this years model) and last ages, and their clothes keep their shape and don't need constant mending at the seams:D My gardening baggies are Lonsdale and I have had them years:o:o

I think there are brands and brands

StevieJ

carolt wrote: »

Who does that refer to, dopester?

Here I guess?

http://charliecroker.wordpress.com/

kabayiri

lynzpower wrote: »

A job paying 11k PA here in London will bring you out with £792.85 , most people realise a houseshare room ( unregistered hmo style!) is around 500per calendar month plus bills. A studio flat would be unobtainable on this salary.

Maybe in the short/mid term those jobs should not be in the expensive S.E/London areas?

There are a myriad of reasons why there has been a London centric policy for the richer jobs to gravitate to the capital, but the fact remains they have.

I work with people who earn 12K, the sort of amount you quote. You can live on that amount as a single person in Manchester, and no doubt places like the Midlands/Yorkshire/Nth East etc.

A one-size fits all policy no longer applies to the UK. We have had mini-economies running at different speeds for several decades now, and it won't be easy to reverse that over night.

I firmly believe that in the short term we need to make it uber cheap for people to be able to commute to work using public transport; then people on lower incomes can afford to live in cheaper outlying areas. Subsidising accommodation isn't really a solution ; it ends up pushing up prices and creating the anomalies we see in the Daily Wail.

StevieJ

dopester wrote: »

I can't even justify paying the £70 odd passport fee or a holiday abroad, where others in work with very little savings think nothing of it. Another foreign holiday they deserve, skirting with immediately being on JSA if they lose their job because they've got no savings.

Dopester you sound like a right tight git deep pockets, short arms.

carolt

StevieJ wrote: »

Here I guess?

http://charliecroker.wordpress.com/

Sounds rather harsh. I don't recall him being particularly sorry for himself - he tried hard, got another job sharpish.

!!!! happens; he got on with it.

lynzpower

kabayiri wrote: »

Maybe in the short/mid term those jobs should not be in the expensive S.E/London areas?

There are a myriad of reasons why there has been a London centric policy for the richer jobs to gravitate to the capital, but the fact remains they have.

I work with people who earn 12K, the sort of amount you quote. You can live on that amount as a single person in Manchester, and no doubt places like the Midlands/Yorkshire/Nth East etc.

A one-size fits all policy no longer applies to the UK. We have had mini-economies running at different speeds for several decades now, and it won't be easy to reverse that over night.

I firmly believe that in the short term we need to make it uber cheap for people to be able to commute to work using public transport; then people on lower incomes can afford to live in cheaper outlying areas. Subsidising accommodation isn't really a solution ; it ends up pushing up prices and creating the anomalies we see in the Daily Wail.

That jobis in the london area, it is a domestic violence support worker. I saw it the other day when browsing. It is not a government job, but one run by a charity.

Something that cant be shunted off to the "cheap" parts of the UK, like most care jobs that deal directly with very vulnerable people.

kabayiri

lynzpower wrote: »

That jobis in the london area, it is a domestic violence support worker. I saw it the other day when browsing. It is not a government job, but one run by a charity.

Something that cant be shunted off to the "cheap" parts of the UK, like most care jobs that deal directly with very vulnerable people.

No I understand that. There are always jobs like that. There are other jobs already being shunted off to other regions though, you just have to see some of the building program around the city here.

But the fact remains, what do you do to make that job sustainable? Is the charity only offering 12K knowing it is not a livable wage, but that the employee will be able to claim support through tax credits etc?

It all feels a bit broken somehow.

treliac

dopester wrote: »

Have these people never heard of building up savings to fall back on?

I can't even justify paying the £70 odd passport fee or a holiday abroad,

So how would you be able to build up a stock of savings in the first place then?

Many of us only manage to get by on our earnings, let alone put anything aside for that possible rainy day.

I know you're saving hard for a deposit ds. As you go through life and perhaps have a family, with all the expense it brings, things can change. It's not so clearcut.

If you've got no money you've got few friends. That was what I was told growing up.

Not heard this before.... what a sad thought.


.....

dopester

carolt wrote: »

Sounds rather harsh. I don't recall him being particularly sorry for himself - he tried hard, got another job sharpish.

!!!! happens; he got on with it.

Fair use from his blog.

Or so I thought. Turns out it’s not quite like that. An hour on the phone to the benefits call centre and it transpires that my careful and parsimonious life of graft entitles me to the princely sum of £64-30 a week and my council tax covered.

We had all the justifications in his thread why benefits should be higher for those who've paid tax for years, and resentment, perhaps fair, at others milking the benefit system in his epic thread.

Despite his starting a blog about his lot on benefits, seemingly very resentful at just £64-30 to pay house bills and feed himself after paying taxes since 16 years of age, the depressing process of signing on every 2 weeks and being asked stupid questions... he did land a new job (great).

Yet about one year later isn't satisfied with a perfectly fine company car, and has raided savings to by a little weekend convertible to whizz about in. The guy must have no memory about the months he was frugally getting by in the benefit system between jobs, and in an industry which is still prone to drop in sales, job losses / pay-cuts.

His 20 years+ work for a top car dealer selling £60K luxury cars to £250K super cars, making an epic deal about clearing his original £40K (from memory) mortgage. To me he, and many others, are crisis prone to culture shock of JSA just being enough to live on because they've spent too much instead of having saved. That weekend convertible car purchase with the new wind deflector fitted, when already having an adequate company car, just seals it for me. It's time now for people who've saved, not people who expect to be supported by others to keep demanding more.

treliac

tessie_bear wrote: »

thats an unusual choice for a screen name

:rotfl: And, as expected, s/he's already been 'retired' to the MSE loony asylum.