Tories are certainly getting stuck into our benefits system...

StevieJ

ILW wrote: »

We do in effect bring them in by having "spare" jobs that people already here are given the option of refusing to do and taking benefits instead.

Not true, I know at least one employer that will only employ Polish workers because they don't mind being treated like crap :eek:

Matty23

There lots of differences views on disabled people doing jobs that they could do and i agree, But what if it not the job they want?, I was having a conversation the other day with a boy in his young teen, Fully deaf without speech, So i asked him what wrong, he said to me all the jobs he would love to do, he cannot, I was like of course you can, whatever you dream go for it, So he listed me a long list of what he could'nt do compared to what he could do, i was pretty amazed, e.g what he cannot do is, Play football at a high level (Commuication), Become a jet pilot, Join the army front line, Become a policeman, Be a firefighter, work in an ambulance, Work in an operation room,
My point is disabled people are denied the same choices that abled people are allowed to do, I mean fair enough a few of us work in central london in offices get decent wages, But i'm sure most disabled people would rather be doing the job they dreamt off.
I believe the tories at the start were the right people for the job, But cutting back benefits so quickly surely aint they cleaverest idea is it?.
That my view anyhow. How to sort the benefit system out?, Dig deep and find the cheats rather than start the whole process again.

gravitytolls

lemonjelly wrote: »

Not really to be honest:

The LHA cap is nominal, & will afect virtually no claimants.
They have reduced income support eligibility to when a child reaches 5. - Actually, no they haven't. This remains 7. What they have stated, is that when an eldest child reaches school age, they expect the parents to make themselves available for work.
They have scrapped the HIP £190 grant - meaningless, as will affect so few people.

They have scrapped the SMG of £500 for additional children over the 1st.
They have scrapped the CTF (No issue with either of these)

They have frozen child benefit for the next 3yrs - will only affect the poorest.

They are ordering a full review of DLA claimants to double check eligibility - no issue with this (see my follow up comment next)

They are cutting incapacity benefit - not quite. Actually, what they are doing is pushing through Labours idea to increase conditionality for benefits claimants. ie there will be harsher conditions & an expectation of increased co-operation by benefits claimants.

As a person who works with benefits claimants, I think their suspicions that 1 in 5 ICB claimants could work is underoptimistic. I'd argue that there are more than this tbh. Also, DLA can & should be re-assessed, as there are many I see who (imo) don't necessarily qualify.

Big test for them, is how it is done. This will be key imo. If they do it carefully & fairly, & do root out the real lead swingers who are putting it on, then they will be praised. However, the fear is that there will be cases where genuinely disabled people will be extremely harshly treated, and the benefits system will be over-zealously policed.

In my view, it is all pandering to the masses though. I doubt that what has been announced thus far will reduce the defecit/government expenditure. Want a real way to reduce spending? Reverse Tatchers idiotic removal of fair rent assessment in the 80's, where she introduced the notion of the market rent in housing benefit legislation. THIS is the reason why we have thousands of private lets charging excessive rents of hundreds of pounds each week. And the bill is being paid by the taxpayer. Excessively high rents is covered by housing benefits owing to Thatchers change to the benefit rules, which has lead to a significant drain of tax funds into the pockets of private LL's via the benefits system.

Address this, save the country tens of thousands every day.

(Which, has also impacted on the building of BTL empires, & associated housing shortage we see, blah blah.)

How come no government since the 1970's has had a housing policy?

Agreed.

We are by no means living in poverty, nor are we by any stretch of imagination, well off, therefore we don't mic with empire owners. Nonetheless, we are friends with 2 people who have managed to buy BTL properties, and almost all have the mortgages covered by HB.

lemonjelly

Alan_Cross wrote: »

Exactly.

A situation the Tories love more than any other party, you can bet your life.

At least Labour brought in a minimum wage safety net, something fought against tooth and nail by the Tories..

Completely correct.

Alan_Cross wrote: »

The truly astonishing thing in this assault on average and lower incomes is that they have not got around to abolishing it - a fact we can probably put down to Libdem agonising over not wanting to perform yet another sell out.

Combined with the ongoing trend towards part time employment, which will inevitably put an additional strain on households, & can lead to increased poverty.

hanvic

gravitytolls wrote: »

Agreed.

We are by no means living in poverty, nor are we by any stretch of imagination, well off, therefore we don't mic with empire owners. Nonetheless, we are friends with 2 people who have managed to buy BTL properties, and almost all have the mortgages covered by HB.

how did they manage to do that when housing benefit check the land registry?

ash28

hanvic wrote: »

how did they manage to do that when housing benefit check the land registry?

Perhaps the tenants receive HB not the people owning the BTL.

Generali

hanvic wrote: »

how did they manage to do that when housing benefit check the land registry?

Have the properties owned by a company?

If you were super-sneaky you could have the properties owned by a company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of a non-UK company. That should be sufficient to prevent anyone performing a simple check from finding out ownership.

gravitytolls

ash28 wrote: »

Perhaps the tenants receive HB not the people owning the BTL.

Yes, sorry for not making it clear.

The point I'm trying to make is that the 4 or 5 properties were bought with BTL mortgages, rent covers the mortgage, HB covers the rent, when the taxpayer has cleared the mortgage, the owners have a nice little pension pot, which has cost them nothing!

mbga9pgf

Matty23 wrote: »

There lots of differences views on disabled people doing jobs that they could do and i agree, But what if it not the job they want?, I was having a conversation the other day with a boy in his young teen, Fully deaf without speech, So i asked him what wrong, he said to me all the jobs he would love to do, he cannot, I was like of course you can, whatever you dream go for it, So he listed me a long list of what he could'nt do compared to what he could do, i was pretty amazed, e.g what he cannot do is, Play football at a high level (Commuication), Become a jet pilot, Join the army front line, Become a policeman, Be a firefighter, work in an ambulance, Work in an operation room,
My point is disabled people are denied the same choices that abled people are allowed to do, I mean fair enough a few of us work in central london in offices get decent wages, But i'm sure most disabled people would rather be doing the job they dreamt off.
I believe the tories at the start were the right people for the job, But cutting back benefits so quickly surely aint they cleaverest idea is it?.
That my view anyhow. How to sort the benefit system out?, Dig deep and find the cheats rather than start the whole process again.

Life is tough.

I could find out I have cancer tmmrw.

If anyone however thinks they have a bum deal however, I suggest they visit Afghanistan, and witness kids who have been blinded by their parents with broken glass so they can get more money begging, or visit Selly Oak, and meet some of the amazing people we have in this country that sacrificed far more than their hearing in the name of this country.

Do I ever hear moaning from them? Do I hell. Just positivity, amazing humour and a "not going to let this get me down" about it.

Hey, I wanted to be a formula one driver. Unfortunately, it was never going to happen, not talented enough. Did I sulk? Did I hell. I found something else I wanted to do.

Perhaps your deaf chap should stop whining about what he cant do and start thinking about what he CAN do, in comparison to people far, far worse off than himself. Met a fair few triple amputees this year, and not ONE of them have complained about what they cant do.

Almost every one though has a mental picture of how they are going to be the best at what they CAN do.

leveller2911

StevieJ wrote: »

Not true, I know at least one employer that will only employ Polish workers because they don't mind being treated like crap :eek:

You will always get the odd bad employer but don't think all employers are like that.

It is very,very difficult for small businesses (which is the future for this country) to stay in business and make any money at all.We need to cut the red tape that the last government put in place.

Many employers go out of their way to help their employees.....

Where I live there are 19 houses in our cul-de-sac of those 19 houses 7 don't work , not incapable just choose not to(5 have not worked for more than 6 yrs and 2 have never worked at all)..Its quite shocking really they all get benefits, 5 have cars 1 has 6 kids,1 has 3 kids and the rest have 2 kids......Great role models ...