Universal Credit for [merged]

Killmark

zagfles wrote: »

They won't means test the state pension. Period.

ok some numbers, assuming you earn the average wage of approx 26k then in a year you contribute £2.5k, assuming 35 years of employment you've paid in approx 79k which at £140 a week works out at roughly 11 years. A good comparision is to think of annuity rates on a pension pot of that size

Now I know not everyone will live to claim a pension or that NI isn't invested but society has changed and we live to long for the system to be sustainable. How about the fact that tax paid today pays for the pensions of yesterdays workers.

Their has to be a tipping point if birth rates continue to decline and the numbers of pensioners increase? Whats the solution increase pension ages? Have people in their seventies on JSA? Even then your effectively means testing pensioners by other means.

What about public sector pensions etc?

Not saying they will means test in the next 20 years but can see it happening within the next 40.

zagfles

Killmark wrote: »

ok some numbers, assuming you earn the average wage of approx 26k then in a year you contribute £2.5k, assuming 35 years of employment you've paid in approx 79k which at £140 a week works out at roughly 11 years.

What about employer's NI? Besides which NI is a tax, what you put in and take out bear very little relation to each other.

A good comparision is to think of annuity rates on a pension pot of that size

Nope - annuity rates relect life expectancy at the time you buy it. Not average life expectancy at birth, or while you're paying into the system while working.

Now I know not everyone will live to claim a pension or that NI isn't invested but society has changed and we live to long for the system to be sustainable. How about the fact that tax paid today pays for the pensions of yesterdays workers.

Their has to be a tipping point if birth rates continue to decline and the numbers of pensioners increase? Whats the solution increase pension ages? Have people in their seventies on JSA? Even then your effectively means testing pensioners by other means.

Have you read the Turner report? Do you really think he didn't consider these things? It was quite clearly shown to be sustainable subject to increases in the state pension age. This govt have restored the earnings link - which in the long run will increase the state pension significantly. They have also been talking about raising the state pension to a flat £140 or thereabouts, probably incorporating SERPS. All this is costed carefully. If it wasn't the likes of the IFS would rip the proposals to shreds. They haven't.

What about public sector pensions etc?

Reflects what's been happening in the private sector for the last 10 years. And also as recommended by Turner. Nothing to do with the state pension.

Not saying they will means test in the next 20 years but can see it happening within the next 40.

Virtually no chance. Everything is moving in the opposite direction. Even in a time of austerity and cuts the govt have restored the earnings link which will increase the state pension for the workers of today, and they are talking about increasing it even further. Whereas in practically everything else the talk is of cuts.

bambammy

The last landlord association meeting I was at got very heated because of the concerns that Tenants will be paid their rental LHA entitlement, benefits etc once a month, and they won't pay their rent.

Here's a few forum links discussing it

http://www.landlordreferencing.co.uk/discuss/community-forum/the-welfare-reform/

http://propertytribes.ning.com/forum/topics/are-you-worried-about-the-universal-credit

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I don't understand how the proposed Universal Credit works.

Is it just combining several Benefits under one umbrella? So that for example if someone claimed £200 a month Housing Benefit and £300 a month Jobseekers' Allowance they would get £500 a month under UC? In which case it is just a change of name.

Does the amount they are entitled to depend upon their circumstances, the same as now?

quintwins

sorry me bumping this up again, after a talk with my in laws i have a few question.

if in a few years our in laws we're to give us a gift of money, would this effect our universal credits, it's expected to be well over the £16k mark?

if we were then to use that money to pay off a small mortgage we hope to have by then, and to buy a plot of land (we hope to sell the first smaller house to fund building) would this be classed as deprivation of capital ?

if they we're to buy pay our mortgage for us, and buy us a plot of land and we received no money (and they lived for the next 7 years so in inheritence issues) would this have any effect?

i'm a planned i like to plan ahead and we will most likely pay our mortgage down and buy anyway, if we lose money we would struggle threw (easier with no rent/mortgage) but i would just like to know if anyone knew where we would stand if these things were to happen

Sixer

quintwins wrote: »

sorry me bumping this up again, after a talk with my in laws i have a few question.

if in a few years our in laws we're to give us a gift of money, would this effect our universal credits, it's expected to be well over the £16k mark?

if we were then to use that money to pay off a small mortgage we hope to have by then, and to buy a plot of land (we hope to sell the first smaller house to fund building) would this be classed as deprivation of capital ?

if they we're to buy pay our mortgage for us, and buy us a plot of land and we received no money (and they lived for the next 7 years so in inheritence issues) would this have any effect?

i'm a planned i like to plan ahead and we will most likely pay our mortgage down and buy anyway, if we lose money we would struggle threw (easier with no rent/mortgage) but i would just like to know if anyone knew where we would stand if these things were to happen

The proposals are that UC will have capital rules, like most means tested benefits now, but unlike tax credits. So you wouldn't be able to claim it with capital over £16k. Presumably, then, it's possible you could fall foul of deprivation rules.

quintwins

Sixer wrote: »

The proposals are that UC will have capital rules, like most means tested benefits now, but unlike tax credits. So you wouldn't be able to claim it with capital over £16k. Presumably, then, it's possible you could fall foul of deprivation rules.

thats what i was thinking, it seems unfair that we will suffer for wanting to save and own a home, when people who spend like it's going out of fashion have no issue , thank you, atleast i know it's coming if need be we can keep back some money to live off and hope things come good in the end

Sixer

quintwins wrote: »

thats what i was thinking, it seems unfair that we will suffer for wanting to save and own a home, when people who spend like it's going out of fashion have no issue , thank you, atleast i know it's coming if need be we can keep back some money to live off and hope things come good in the end

I believe the briefing notes say they considered the saving-for-a-house-deposit issue and rejected it. So yes, I hear you.

quintwins

Sixer wrote: »

I believe the briefing notes say they considered the saving-for-a-house-deposit issue and rejected it. So yes, I hear you.

yes it did so based on that we have decided to buy a cheaper house, and overpay it rather than save, as they also said they would disgregard money from house sales for 6 months, so we felt this was the best way foward for us.

i do agree that if someone has £16,000 in there savings they shouldn't need 'help' but i also think tax credits are different to other means tested benefits and to umbrella them in is a real pain :mad:

sosad1968

I work 19 hours a week, term time only. I think I can increase my hours to 35 which will mean I meet the minimum £ conditionality, but only in term time!

Will we term-time workers (and there are thousands of us) be expected to find employment in school holidays?

Sixer

sosad1968 wrote: »

I work 19 hours a week, term time only. I think I can increase my hours to 35 which will mean I meet the minimum £ conditionality, but only in term time!

Will we term-time workers (and there are thousands of us) be expected to find employment in school holidays?

At present, term time workers meet the tax credits hours-per-week thresholds using the hours they work IN term time, not averaged over the whole year.

I don't recall seeing this specific circumstance in the UC briefing notes. It may be that the £ threshold will be counted weekly and you'll be treated the same as tax credits (what you earn in a week when you are working).