The end of Council Tax Benefit!

seven-day-weekend

speedyturtle wrote: »

I dont really know the current rate of JS and how much weekly they are paid but it was somewhere around £115 for fortnight. I am not trying to defend anyone here or put anyone down but with things going more and more expensive and household bills going up do you think £115 is enough for fortnight and than on top of that pay the council tax as well? Unless people are suggesting that people should even stop watching tv or using phone and walk rather than using bus?

And £115 per week for a couple. I'm sure there is something at least one of the couple could do to earn money, even if it is being a lollipop and/or dinner person, and/or mowing lawns, and/or cleaning cars, and/or walking dogs and/or taking in a lodger. I understand this will not be much money, but it will be more than JSA, surely?

I know these things are possible because I have done several of them. I have been a lollipop lady and a dinner lady and had a lodger, all at the same time, to help supplement family income.

Of course if one or both of the couple are unable to work through sickness or disability then they will not be on JSA and will have more money than £115 a fortnight.

I think it is much more difficult for single people.

antrobus

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I am astonished after receiving a letter from my local Council. It states that the government is abolishing Council Tax benefit, ....

It's in the Local Government Finance Bill currently making its way through Parliament.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

...which up to now has been paid by central government. Instead, local councils will have to decide how much help to give to people who cannot afford council tax, and of course the cost of such help will come out of the various services that the council provides.

That's not actually correct. Instead of paying the full cost of CTB as at present, each council will get a fixed grant amounting to 90% of CTB expenditure in 2013/14. It's that 10% cut that's the issue.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

..Furthermore, it seems that individual councils will be able to decide what level of assistance to give to different claimants, with the possibility that everyone of working age will have to pay something towards their council tax.

Every council will have to decide what level of assistance to give to different claimants - the bill will (if passed in its current form) oblige each local authority to have a local CTB scheme.

Voyager2002 wrote: »

...This is a major change, likely to cause severe hardship for many claimants and to affect everyone who uses the services provided by local government. Yet I have not seen any discussion of it in the news media, nor on this site.

Agreed. It may or may not cause hardship to claimants depending on the precise details of the local scheme. It won't effect pensioners however (apparently) and obviously won't directly affect anyone who pays full CT at present. And I think the proposals only apply to England. The Scots do their own thing and the Welsh Assembly will please themselves as to what they do about it.

Irn-Bru-Kid

annie1975 wrote: »

We dont get housing benefit of any kind, but I think its unfair to expect people to pay something out of £71 a week. On the other hand if you are a family,or someone with children and getting quite a bit then yes you should cough up a bit.
A man I know lost his job,split from his partner,found rented accomodation,(cheapest he could )..rent is £450 a month and HB pay something like £350-£375 towards the rent.he has to put the rest to it himself out of his JSA.They said he should have got a 1 bed flat while hes on his own (Though the rent on that could have been more).But he has his children stay over at weekends and sometimes in the week so needed extra bedrooms.
Makes you wonder what this government will think up next to make peoples lives worse than they already are.

But he doesn't receive £71.00 per week. He receives around £86.00 housing benefit and no doubt council tax benefit of say approx £20.00 per week. So his total weekly benefits is around £177.00 - £9204.00 pa.

A person working full time on the minimum wage takes home around £10900 pa after tax.

This is where the problem lies. Why should someone work full time and be less than £2k a year better off than someone who doesn't work?

speedyturtle

I think we should look at it at a wider level than just JS. I know i mention js cause i thought they are getting less money. My problem isnt with people working or people on benefits but i dont feel that its right that our government is spending money in different countries and giving so much money to to banks but why not when british people are there to pick up the pieces. I think we should stop all these benefit system and giving them money. How about we make hostels and put all those single people in there and rather than giving them money we should give them food. They dont need bus passes as they can walk, no need to give them tv as they cant have luxuries in there lives and the government would save more money as well:beer:

princessdon

I sooo posted on the wrong thread - oops

Mersey_2

Liverpool City Council has said the same - that working age will contribute, but others will be protected - although, interestingly with the caveat that they won't pursue any debtors with bailiffs!

So, I assume other Councils may follow this route, in metropolitan (Labour-controlled) authorities?

earthbound_misfit

speedyturtle wrote: »

I think we should stop all these benefit system and giving them money. How about we make hostels and put all those single people in there and rather than giving them money we should give them food.

Yes, and we could have work for them to do, like factories... oh hang on, the Victorians tried this didn't they? And couldn't work out why people still became destitute when the prospects were so unappealing...

Whether they are housed with small luxuries or starving on the streets, there will always be very poor people unless we start to look at things from the other end of the equation. At present, there are not enough jobs to go round - oh I know there's people who prefer not to work, but even if they all did there are not enough jobs.
So what to do to create jobs? And what about in-work poverty? If there is not enough work to go round, how about cutting the standard working week to 30hrs (for instance) so there is work for all. Minimum wage would need to go up to compensate for this, perhaps introduce a maximum wage too (around 10x minimum maybe) and then re-jiggle the wages inbetween so it all adds up. Parents would have more time to look after their own children, and disabled people may be able to keep up a working week of 30 hrs (or less, the new Economics Foundation suggests 21hrs) or possibly scrape by on less (rather than being stuck on JSA at present). Take away the need for benefits, not benefits.

We have enough, it's just not very evenly shared, causing resentment and fighting over the scraps...

I'll get of my soapbox now :rotfl:and sorry if I missed the sarcasm - it's been a very long day already!

Mersey_2

Irn-Bru-Kid wrote: »

But he doesn't receive £71.00 per week. He receives around £86.00 housing benefit and no doubt council tax benefit of say approx £20.00 per week. So his total weekly benefits is around £177.00 - £9204.00 pa.

A person working full time on the minimum wage takes home around £10900 pa after tax.

This is where the problem lies. Why should someone work full time and be less than £2k a year better off than someone who doesn't work?

The low paid DO receive Housing and Council Tax Benefit, as it's an in work benefit, largely.

There are only 1.6m JSA claimants. I think there are over 9m in receipt of CTB.

sammyjammy

speedyturtle wrote: »

I dont really know the current rate of JS and how much weekly they are paid but it was somewhere around £115 for fortnight. I am not trying to defend anyone here or put anyone down but with things going more and more expensive and household bills going up do you think £115 is enough for fortnight and than on top of that pay the council tax as well? Unless people are suggesting that people should even stop watching tv or using phone and walk rather than using bus?

You're kidding, I work. I pay my tv licence as its my main form of entertainment (when there is something worth watching that is!), I have to walk everywhere, I don't catch buses and I only use the phone after 7pm when its free.

annie1975_2

Irn-Bru-Kid wrote: »

But he doesn't receive £71.00 per week. He receives around £86.00 housing benefit and no doubt council tax benefit of say approx £20.00 per week. So his total weekly benefits is around £177.00 - £9204.00 pa.

A person working full time on the minimum wage takes home around £10900 pa after tax.

This is where the problem lies. Why should someone work full time and be less than £2k a year better off than someone who doesn't work?

Its because people are working for peanuts, thats the problem.
The point I am making is how do they expect people to survive on £71 a week and expect them contribute towards rent etc.
Im not saying hes ONLY on £71, aweek, im saying thats what he has to live on,its not a great deal after him working all his life.