"This is how much the law says you need to live on"

ceridwen

mizzbiz wrote: »

I happen to unfortunately work slap bang in the middle of a council estate. It's not that I'm stereotyping, but I find it hard to believe my eyes when I go for lunch (at 1:30 pm) to see people hanging around in dressing gowns, people sunbathing in their gardens, kids (post school age) just 'knocking about'.

I get the impression that people can live comfortably on benefits if they know what they're doing!! When I was unemployed for 1 month I got JSA only - no sunbathing or midday tea for me on that amount. I had to find work.

Only if they have children and/or earn a bit "on the side".:(

For those of us who are childless and wish to stick to the "straight and narrow" if we possibly can - it just aint possible for long at all (if at all....)....:(:mad:

My own personal estimate as to how long I could remotely manage to survive on childless person benefit level for without resorting to either "work on the side" or raiding savings would be about 2 months I think.....after that there would simply be no option whatsoever BUT to do one of those two things....and if the chance wasnt there to do either (ie no savings and no chance of "work on the side" - then...eeek....eeek....eeek....and I literally couldnt do it...and thats from someone who has been very cynical and prepared and prepared and prepared again for "just in case" scenario/how economically can I possibly survive?)

dawyldthing

If you live frugally, I think you can live on £67.50 a week. When I was a student the maximum I got a year (if I didn't work) was £5750 roughly I think it was, or £110.57 a week. Because of being a student I was exempt from council tax, but lived in a house with others as it was what I could afford. By the time I took off the rent (cheapest I could find at £52.50 per week) it left me with £58.08 per week and out of that had to pay out all the bills that everyone has to pay. How did I do it? Have the heating on as little as I could and sit with a blanket on, switch all lights off that were not in use and simple things like that meant that we had bills of less than £1000 for electric and gas combined for the year. Food - you can live off £15 a week if you buy fresh and think creatively. Travel is the most expensive, but it depends on where you live and if you can walk it (as its surprising how many people get a taxi for short distances when its walkable or can be cycled). It's just about trying to cut down as much as possible, but it is an alright amount to live on as if it was much more i think more people would just stay on it if they could

diable

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Housing is more expensive in London but other things like food and fares are not.

Beer, entry fee to night clubs, parking permits etc etc etc all cost more.......

ManicMum

surely you can afford a nearly new car on that too? I know of someone who just bought one plus designer labels, posh holidays and generally lives a good life. Amazing what benefits provide for these days.

ceridwen

1. Can I ask how long ago you were a student?

2. Once one is well into adulthood - then various commitments/lifestyle things/etc have come into play and you are simply "too old" to do bare bones economising ...(yep...it even boils down to at student age group one can wear any darn clothing going and look okay and fit in with student "ethos". But - once one gets to middle age onwards - that simply is not age appropriate/suitable any more).

3. Living at a very bare bones level for one's own purposes (ie to do a course of study) is wildly different to being forced by the Government to do so. With the best will in the world - knowing one is forced by such an exterior agency to do this WILL result in "rebellion" and the odd purchase you absolutely shouldnt make/cant afford to make - but (being human) WILL make because it wasnt your choiced/wont be to your benefit to be in this situation (ask me how I know:( - I am particularly strongwilled and good with money - but even I couldnt stop myself from EVER thinking "I WILL not live like this - I cant stand it anymore" and getting the odd little treat. Even the most strongwilled of us ARE "human" and will rebel occasionally at being forced to try and live on such money...

4. It is simply not reasonable to expect people to put up with being cold in their own homes - we all need enough to be able to keep homes at an at least tolerable level temperature-wise.

5. Older people likely own their own homes - and will then find that those homes will cost them odd bits and pieces of maintenance money (ie an expense students dont have).

6. Older bodies get ill more frequently - and require money spent on medical care that younger people probably dont need. I am now middle-aged and comparatively healthy - BUT my health care costs are a LOT higher than they were when I was in the student agegroup. I got away with spending "peanuts" on healthcare at that age. At my age - I know of a certainty that (even in an average sort of year) that I will need hundreds of £s per year for healthcare (in ways that the NHS will refuse to cover the cost of - even for unemployed people).

The older one is - the more expensive life is. That applies with the best will in the world and economising the best one possibly can. This will be the case even if the person concerned has absolutely iron willpower and never ever "breaks out" and thinks "Darn it - its not MY choice/fault I'm in this situation - so I'm going to spend a few £s on a treat".

DCFC79

mizzbiz wrote: »

I happen to unfortunately work slap bang in the middle of a council estate. It's not that I'm stereotyping, but I find it hard to believe my eyes when I go for lunch (at 1:30 pm) to see people hanging around in dressing gowns, people sunbathing in their gardens, kids (post school age) just 'knocking about'.

I get the impression that people can live comfortably on benefits if they know what they're doing!! When I was unemployed for 1 month I got JSA only - no sunbathing or midday tea for me on that amount. I had to find work.

maybe thats because they are lazy to find a job,

real1314

ceridwen wrote: »

BUT you will still be up against the attitude that the DWP refuses to give a breakdown of what is the minimum amount people need to live on - because they know very well that they would be "setting themselves up for a fall" because the discrepancy between amount needed and amount given would be so noticeable. Employers' organisations would soon be lobbying as well to prevent any such breakdown being given as well - because some employers would instantly be shown up as not paying their employees enough to live on (even in the case of peeps who no longer require money for rent/mortgage).

You are mistaking the adminstrators of the law for the creators of the law.

DWP cannot give you a breakdown as it does not exist. It does not exist because there is no law stating what it is, and the DWP are bound by the law.

The law is created mainly by the government (occasionally by other MPs) and is passed by parliament.

cassieB57

teabelly wrote: »

Benefits aren't supposed to be easy to live on. We as a nation do not need people living comfortably on benefits. We want people earning their own money. If you are a single person on benefits the idea is that you would be living with someone else: parents, friends etc rather than being independent. Then you can survive on £67 a week plus housing benefit + lha and whatever else. You aren't expected to have a life, run a car or do anything but look for work and live on soup and noodles.

If you did have £5999 in savings the moment your benefit was in your hand then you'd be over the threshold so you need to have less in the bank....

Only if you didn't spend it to live on. 'income' is not the same as 'capital' and cannot be treated as 'capital' until the end of the period it is paid for, so 2 weeks money paid in on day 1 is still income up to day 14. Any left after that becomes 'capital.

The amount you can have in total is £6000, so £6000.01 means £1.00 taken off the weekly benefit figure

dawyldthing

1) for 4 years

2) have live adulthood for a deferred year and this past year too. Still don't feel the need for a car/expensive clothing/ don't smoke/ don't really drink/ go out on the cheap (ie comedy for £6, volunteering with oxfam for the festivals, going to cheap quizes, bingo at the local social club). I don't feel the need to have that many expenses really as I live within my means and still probably spend the same amount as what I did when I was a student as I don't feel the need to keep up with the Joneses

3) after working most of my student life I still don't feel the need to make a rash expense really as I want to save as much as I can.

4) It can be, but we only used to put it on in the really cold parts in winter, as heating is really expensive and although not a luxury it eventually will be.

5) Thats true, but the more you save for a deposit while young means a lesser term on a morgage meaning that when your older you won't have as many outgoings and can enjoy life more when older. Most things can be done on the cheap including holidays as long as they are budgeted in. I also think in years to come there will be more people sharing houses/accomodation as it is cheaper to share than live on your own somewhere without being maxed out money wise.

6) theres healthcare plans that can cover this though from £20 per month I believe that will pay out a range of benefits depending upon what is wrong, but I do agree that there will possibly be more to spend out healthcare wise. Theres also pre-payment certificates for prescriptions too which can save money (costing around £2 a week, but admittedly needs to be paid for upfront).

and its true about the treat, but i only treat myself if i can afford it as if i can't theres no good me getting into debt for it as it will cost me more in the long run.

On a basic budget I recogn (even sharing) you could get away with
£15 - electric a week
£2 - pre-payment certificate for medicines (if needed)
£15 - food a week
£4 - water rates a week
£10 - gas a week
£5 - healthcare plan (if needed) a week
£5 - household insurance

= £56 - leaving £11.50 surplus, or £598 to do as you please (which isn't bad really)

Plus when you consider how much rent is and council tax benefit is (I would guess an average of £80 a week rent and £20 council tax) would mean that you would need to earn roughly £190 a week (before tax and national insurance) before you would break even. Also people on jobseekers get free prescriptions mostly I believe, so its not that bad really as most minimum wage jobs would only come out with £25 more after tax and national insurance has been taken off (but, admittedly, most people would get working tax credit on a minimum wage job once being 25 years old or older.

ceridwen wrote: »

1. Can I ask how long ago you were a student?

2. Once one is well into adulthood - then various commitments/lifestyle things/etc have come into play and you are simply "too old" to do bare bones economising ...(yep...it even boils down to at student age group one can wear any darn clothing going and look okay and fit in with student "ethos". But - once one gets to middle age onwards - that simply is not age appropriate/suitable any more).

3. Living at a very bare bones level for one's own purposes (ie to do a course of study) is wildly different to being forced by the Government to do so. With the best will in the world - knowing one is forced by such an exterior agency to do this WILL result in "rebellion" and the odd purchase you absolutely shouldnt make/cant afford to make - but (being human) WILL make because it wasnt your choiced/wont be to your benefit to be in this situation (ask me how I know:( - I am particularly strongwilled and good with money - but even I couldnt stop myself from EVER thinking "I WILL not live like this - I cant stand it anymore" and getting the odd little treat. Even the most strongwilled of us ARE "human" and will rebel occasionally at being forced to try and live on such money...

4. It is simply not reasonable to expect people to put up with being cold in their own homes - we all need enough to be able to keep homes at an at least tolerable level temperature-wise.

5. Older people likely own their own homes - and will then find that those homes will cost them odd bits and pieces of maintenance money (ie an expense students dont have).

6. Older bodies get ill more frequently - and require money spent on medical care that younger people probably dont need. I am now middle-aged and comparatively healthy - BUT my health care costs are a LOT higher than they were when I was in the student agegroup. I got away with spending "peanuts" on healthcare at that age. At my age - I know of a certainty that (even in an average sort of year) that I will need hundreds of £s per year for healthcare (in ways that the NHS will refuse to cover the cost of - even for unemployed people).

The older one is - the more expensive life is. That applies with the best will in the world and economising the best one possibly can. This will be the case even if the person concerned has absolutely iron willpower and never ever "breaks out" and thinks "Darn it - its not MY choice/fault I'm in this situation - so I'm going to spend a few £s on a treat".

THEking

How much money the law says you need to live on each week
£102 75

we take away £81 because you have £5,000 savings in the bank and £250 in a joint account


we paying you £21 62 per week


The £250 is in a joint account pays our Direct Debit two water bills fluctuates sometimes down to just £5 and we feed it with money from the other account

The £5000 constantly changes because one my partner has her 16 hours shop assistant wage paid into the account £386 pm

That account has direct Debit outage of £1000 a month taken out that we need to live , rent council tax and our £30 a month £30 every week in the winter electric meter heating bill TV and £60 a month food bill comes out of.

If we had a car everyday running cost looking for work would add to the mayhem they say get rid of the car.
Bus fares to work cost you more than running a car


If the law says two people can live on £102 75 why don't they take a wage cut and try and live on it To sort the mess they got us in . It was not all our doing.

Just think those politicians are going to announce there wage rise of 13 percent they say they need to carry out there duties soon while saying we can only have 2%

BTW were both not young Both got heart disease loads of medication. So my partner lucky she has a job and why would anyone want to employ me a 60 year old in my condition when there are bright young guys leaving college and school looking for work . Who are going to give them greater work longevity.

Do you know to add to all this the tax people have told us to repay £6,500 tax credits. my partner only ears £4,800 a year so if we have to pay this back, we going to pay it back 50p a week we going to be dead before they get it all.