Benefits changes from next year

Russe11

Charityworker wrote: »

Does anyone actually think this UC is actually going to come in and be as bad as everyone says? Sounds a bit scaremongery. I know 2 people who work in benefit offices and one of them is quite high up and neither of them have been trained in UC or have any idea of anything thats set in stone. It's only 3 months away and people doing the job dont know anything.

Its on a need to know basis, benefits delivery is simply reading off what it says on the screen and what the rules are you have to follow.

Morlock

Russe11 wrote: »

Why are people still going on about this benefits cap, there is no cap and there never will be...

theoretically there will be a cap at £500 per a week, but because there are so many exclusions it never will apply to those with high welfare payments.

To begin with its only for new claimants so its another year before it will then be rolled out.

The benefit cap was on track, until recently, to be introduced nationally in April 2013 and will apply to all claimants, not just new claims, with some exemptions.

That date has now been confirmed for a roll-out starting in four boroughs of London, and rolled-out across all of London by September 2013. The date for national implementation is soon to be confirmed.

Your post is severely lacking any facts.

Charityworker

Russe11 wrote: »

Its on a need to know basis, benefits delivery is simply reading off what it says on the screen and what the rules are you have to follow.

Can anyone point me to an ACCURATE calculator as I work in a job which involves benefit advice. It seems there isn't one. Thats because no one knows what the rates will be when theres only 3 months to go.

Morlock

gay_guy wrote: »

2) Housing Benefit - I read somewhere that people under 25 will get they housing benefit cut, is this true? and also they will need to pay part rent if they got a spare bedroom that they don't use (This doesn't apply to me as I am 26 and I only live in a 1 bedroom flat)

Anyone living in social housing and deemed to have a spare room or more, will receive a reduced rate of housing benefit, needing to top up the rent from other income or move somewhere else. This doesn't affect those in the private sector, who can have spare rooms without the need to top-up rent, if the LHA covers full rental costs.

gay_guy wrote: »

4) Jobseekers - People who don't follow the JCP advicer and don't apply for all the Jobs they givin they could be tougher sanctions even up to 3 years!

This has already been implemented, the maximum benefits sanction is currently three years, not just for Jobseekers but also ESA claimants, and Universal Credit claimants when UC is introduced.

Gentile

gay_guy wrote: »

Excuse me but you don't know anything about me, I am on jsa because there is no jobs out there at the moment, I apply for 5 - 6 Jobs a day, I am no sky work.

I hate been on JSA, I would love for you to be in my situation and if you get your housing benefit cut, how would you cope if you end up can't afford your rent and end up homeless? You wouldn't like it would you? :mad:

If you was my advicer at the Jobcentre I would show you lots of proof of Jobs I have applyed and I will show you all my application on my Universal Jobmatch.

I am no scrounger, I am on jsa to get help with bills that is all. :mad:

Oh btw you say I am enjoying life? well first of all I can't afford sky, and I am lucky to get a top up every now and again.

I have bt which cost around £41.94 every month for my phone line and broadband and before you accuse me, I have broadband to apply for Jobs because from next year when this universal credit comes into force people need internet to create a universal jobmatch account and if they can't then they will get sanctioned and I have also heard people need to do Jobsearch for 35 hours.

Also I don't smoke, I don't drink and I have no aerial in my flat at the moment so If I am enjoying life on JSA like you stated In my situation then you are so wrong.

Get a job in Mcdonalds, pubs, bars, Subway whatever. At 26 you can get any job you want. What sort of jobs are you applying for ? Apply to Sainsburys etc they all always want unskilled labour. If the benefits safety net wasnt there would you have chosen to die of starvation ? Nope ! You would have gotten off your butt and gone and got a job. So do that.

underling

gay_guy wrote: »

Excuse me but you don't know anything about me, I am on jsa because there is no jobs out there at the moment, I apply for 5 - 6 Jobs a day, I am no sky work.

I hate been on JSA, I would love for you to be in my situation and if you get your housing benefit cut, how would you cope if you end up can't afford your rent and end up homeless? You wouldn't like it would you? :mad:

If you was my advicer at the Jobcentre I would show you lots of proof of Jobs I have applyed and I will show you all my application on my Universal Jobmatch.

I am no scrounger, I am on jsa to get help with bills that is all. :mad:

Oh btw you say I am enjoying life? well first of all I can't afford sky, and I am lucky to get a top up every now and again.

I have bt which cost around £41.94 every month for my phone line and broadband and before you accuse me, I have broadband to apply for Jobs because from next year when this universal credit comes into force people need internet to create a universal jobmatch account and if they can't then they will get sanctioned and I have also heard people need to do Jobsearch for 35 hours.

Also I don't smoke, I don't drink and I have no aerial in my flat at the moment so If I am enjoying life on JSA like you stated In my situation then you are so wrong.

You should look in to the bt basics tariff for your phone line if you haven't already as it may be cheaper. It's only available to those benefit and I believe its only about 5 pounds per month.

dktreesea

OP, transitional arrangements apply. Though do keep in mind UC is very fluid. Things do change from time to time, and the transitional arrangements are set in stone yet.

Anyone who is already in a one bedroom flat, for instance, even if they are under 35, would get to keep their current level of housing benefit, assuming their circumstances don't change. So no, you won't lose your flat.

So how would this work? Take the portion for housing in your UC payment. Say your rent is £90 a week, fully covered by your HB/LHA entitlement because, at the moment, you are entitled to a 1 bedroom flat. Say, once UC comes in, had you been looking right then and there you would have only been entitled to £70 a week for a shared room. What would then happen is you would continue to get £90 a week towards your accommodation, but not get the cost of living increases each year, until either you reached 35 and were entitled to the 1 bedroom rate, or until the shared house rate exceeds the £90 a week awarded to you as part of the transition arrangements.

If your circumstances change, e.g. you move out of your flat, then you would drop down to the shared room rate.

So, imagine a situation where, once UC comes in, the rates for shared room and one bedroom flats increase ion your area as follows:

Shared house/single room rate per week
2013 £70
2014 £73
2015 £77
2016 £82
2017 £87

One bedroom flat rate per week:

2013 £90
2014 £95
2015 £101
2016 £108
2017 £117

During that entire transition period, you would only ever get £90 a week towards your housing, because the shared room rate you are entitled to has never caught up to the £90 a week you were getting prior to UC coming in.

There are some implications. If the housing association puts up your rent during that time, as it stands, in spite of Cameron's assistance that no one will be worse off during the transition period, you would need to fund the increase out of the rest of the UC that you receive.

dktreesea

Gentile wrote: »

Get a job in Mcdonalds, pubs, bars, Subway whatever. At 26 you can get any job you want. What sort of jobs are you applying for ? Apply to Sainsburys etc they all always want unskilled labour. If the benefits safety net wasnt there would you have chosen to die of starvation ? Nope ! You would have gotten off your butt and gone and got a job. So do that.

Ahh, there speaks the voice of someone who perhaps has never applied for a job at the local Sainsburys. Our local supermarkets are inundated with job applications every single day. They never advertise because they don't need to.

MacDonalds and Subway probably wouldn't hire a 26 year old. They favour 16 and 17 year olds because of their low wage rates.

Telling someone they could get any job they want is ludicrous and doesn't pay enough attention to the detail of what kinds of people the particular employers you are suggesting to the OP are looking for.

princessdon

Our local sainsbury's advertise - my neice got a job there in the last month (initially for Christmas) and has been kept on around her Uni hours.

She also wanted some extra cash this week and is working tonight and tomorrow in a bar at £10 ph. £15 hours work there so £150 for a few days work, with casual as and when promised in the future as she is covering for a member off staff off ill with the sickness bug.

The difference is that she isn't reliant on benefits and so can take "any work" as it doesn't mess up benefits or housing.

That is what I hope Universal Credit can go some way to addressing as people are losing out on casual work that can lead to more for fear it messes up their benefits and they are left with nothing whilst being sorted out.

sammyjammy

Charityworker wrote: »

Does anyone actually think this UC is actually going to come in and be as bad as everyone says? Sounds a bit scaremongery. I know 2 people who work in benefit offices and one of them is quite high up and neither of them have been trained in UC or have any idea of anything thats set in stone. It's only 3 months away and people doing the job dont know anything.

I work on the Universal Credit Programme. I can tell you now its coming, nothing will stop it. It would be political suicide. It only comes in in April for a very small number of claimants in a small area of the country.