breadline

merlin68

Exactly, I have 2 kids and 2 with dissabilities and get £370.

happe

After being made redundant in september i find myself out of work for the first time in 30 years. I am the single mother (in process of divorce after a 22 year marriage) of 2 teenagers 18 & 15. I certainly dont see the £100s a week people report. I get monthly £260 JSA, £376 TC and £134 CB so around £670 monthly. Take normal household bills from this and Im left with around £550 a month to feed, clothe and entertain what is essentially 3 adults. Its blooming difficult. I read in amazement what some proclaim others are receiving or am i missing out on something?

Person_one

Kellynov1978 wrote: »

I'm not being funny here but how can anyone on benefits be classed as living in poverty???? My sister has never worked, has 5 kids, a 4 bed detatched house with a garage that she gets full HB and CTB for and she gets over £600 a week in tax credits and benefits on top of that!! It makes me sick, my husband is working in a job he hates just to make ends meet for us, its a joke!!!

Are you not embarrassed to be posting something so cliche and trite?

(You forget to mention the plasma TV)

pipkin71

Kellynov1978 wrote: »

I'm not being funny here but how can anyone on benefits be classed as living in poverty???? My sister has never worked, has 5 kids, a 4 bed detatched house with a garage that she gets full HB and CTB for and she gets over £600 a week in tax credits and benefits on top of that!! It makes me sick, my husband is working in a job he hates just to make ends meet for us, its a joke!!!

It's because of the children that her tax credits are so high.

How many children do you have, what job do you do and how much do you claim in tax credits?

I do agree with you about people on benefits shouldn't be living in poverty, although debt is a big reason for some people finding themselves with limited funds.

BAFE

What does "breadline" mean?

p00hsticks

BAFE wrote: »

What does "breadline" mean?

Basically, the most basic financial level that a person can live at - it stems from the days when the poorest would queue in line to receive free bread.

chris1973

happe wrote: »

After being made redundant in september i find myself out of work for the first time in 30 years. I am the single mother (in process of divorce after a 22 year marriage) of 2 teenagers 18 & 15. I certainly dont see the £100s a week people report. I get monthly £260 JSA, £376 TC and £134 CB so around £670 monthly. Take normal household bills from this and Im left with around £550 a month to feed, clothe and entertain what is essentially 3 adults. Its blooming difficult. I read in amazement what some proclaim others are receiving or am i missing out on something?

You are quite fortunate in some ways, but agreed, perhaps not so in others. You don't mention any contributions towards your Children's well being from your soon to be Ex - hopefully he is meeting his obligations?

I'm single and work 39 hours a week for a little over £900 a month 'take home' pay - so just the one income into the household. By the time i've taken off the mortgage, Council Tax and main bills, i've probably got just slightly less than the £550 you have, some months with lower utility bills (summer) I may have just slightly more, but it will probably average out the same over the year.

Okay, i've not got any kids, but in order to work, I do have other expenses that you may not have either. The price of diesel at the moment means the 1hr 45 minute each way commute to work on a rolling 6 day shift pattern means I pay well into 3 figures for fuel every week, and that is increasing and would actually be more than that, if I didn't already run it partly on biodiesel.

I have an ill parent living close by and other family committments here , which also means that I can't move to be any closer to work, neither do I fancy a 1 3/4 hour commute becoming a 4 hour commute by using public transport. I already don't see daylight as it is!.

In between juggling shift work, over 3.5 hours a day of commuting and making biodiesel, I don't get any time to socialise and entertain. Clearly you do, as you mention it in your own post, so in this respect yes, you are very fortunate because not every life quality has to have a price tag, Time is a very valuable asset too

I get £0 JSA (as you would expect), Only Single Persons Discount off the CT, and princely sum of £0 in other benefits.

My employer doesn't pay sick pay, nor do we have a pension scheme, so any days missed through being sick or taking my Mother for hospital treatment are my loss and any shortfall has to be funded from anything i've put aside from any surplus the previous month. If i'm expecting any kind of pension when I retire then I need to find and fund this privately also.

At 38, I still don't have a pension, and never been in the position to afford one and probably never will - despite working since I was 16. So any real hardship is highly likely to kick in when I can least handle it - namely old age or infirmity due to it. Lets hope they permit Euthanasia by then eh?, as I certainly won't be able to retire nor afford to be old!.

The company who employs me, like most others, is struggling, so nobody has had a pay rise for 2 years, and not even a cost of living / inflation related increase in their pay packets. This year, (if we even make it to April) is likely to be the third year on the same wages.

Some months I probably have £120 - £150 / month of my own to spend on 'me', not that it is really 'mine' as the majority of which I put in a bank account and save for those unexpected bills like car breakdowns, washing machine repairs, CH boiler servicing and car insurance increases. For me a car isn't a luxury its the means of being able to keep a job for 39 hours a week, If I don't get into work I simply don't get paid. I don't smoke, and my only vice is a beer, drunk in front of the TV at the weekend.

In some ways i'm probably still better off than some people, but its hardly the House of Elliot either - and whats a 'holiday'?. My main point is, that working people and more so low earning single people, can also be juggling money and not living a life of luxury either but are often overlooked, especially on these forums, as they are entitled to zero help financially.

I'm not complaining, I'm fortunate to still have a job, and couldn't imagine life any other way, however I am striking a balance and showing from my own personal experience, that its not all greener, happier (or Richer) on the employment side either!.

Another point, lots of people talk about being on the 'breadline' but I don't see any parents with their children sleeping in the streets or lining up for food - I do see plenty of single people doing so though, so I suspect that I know roughly where the real breadline forms. Not that i'm suggesting that parents and kids should be kicked out on the streets, just that if the system really worked, nobody would have to, no matter what their status.

Can anybody also tell me, in detail, as a Single person, exactly what I could claim should the company go out of business and I was made redundant?.

nannytone_2

i see living on the breadline as something that affects low paid workers and not benefit claiments.
surely existing on benefits should just 'sustain' life and not afford a lifestyle? ( disabled people that are unable to work and people with pre school kids excepting)

the problem is that by having multiple children, some families are able to have a 'lifestyle'
i cant really see any way of stopping the bad behaviour of the few who misuse it.
unless you limit people to 2 kids whilst in receipt of benefit.
but then some say 'oh only the rich can have kids!'
no the poor can have kids too, as long as they do their best to support them rather than sitting back and letting the taxpayer do it!

ok, rant over lol

Indie_Kid

chris1973 wrote: »

Can anybody also tell me, in detail, as a Single person, exactly what I could claim should the company go out of business and I was made redundant?.

£65.45 JSA, CTB, help with mortgage interest.

Are you not entitled to tax credits?

chris1973

Are you not entitled to tax credits?

No idea, never looked into it until now.

Assuming the information is correct, it seems that i'm entitled to £535 per annum in tax credits or £44.58 a month.

Covers most of the gas bill at least.

Thanks for the tip