Will I get my money?

shoe*diva79

debrag wrote: »

I thought American food stamps were kids of all ages and families on low income?

Healthy Start is UK. I dont know whats in place in America.

debrag

shoe*diva79 wrote: »

Healthy Start is UK. I dont know whats in place in America.

sorry thought you were saying we have the same over here.

AnxiousMum

kevin137 wrote: »

SO they would starve then...! The money the Government give syou is teh minimum, if they wanted to "sell" there vouchers to get cash for a lesser value for cigarettes and booze, then they will starve, and i would have no sympathy...!

Once you have been provided for, it is your decision wether you screw yourself, i just don't like that everyone on benefits is given cash to do with as they please...!!!

Maybe a better way to do it, would be that you get it paid as Cash the 1st 6 months, then you are deemed long term unemployed and get switched to vouchers... I know i would not want to use them, but gives the people who need short term help the dignity of being able to pay with cash, yet the long term who most probably don't have any intention of working the suffering while still being provided for..!

If you are on 'welfare' in Canada, then you are certainly 'long term' unemployed.

If you have worked for two years, and paid your social insurance premiums, if you lose your job (through no fault of your own), you are then paid the equivalent of 80% of your salary (commencing after any severence pay/holiday pay entitlement period) for a period of 12 months. This gives you a year to sort your finances - to retrain, to start your own business, to really job seek while maintaining your current lifestyle (you don't have costs of getting to work, dry cleaning etc. to worry about) and you have no excuse not to be spending your 37.5 working hours per week looking for work, retraining etc. After that runs out - well you had better have used that year to prepare yourself for no money - 'cos what you get on welfare/food vouchers will have you lining up at the foodbank the day before your next cheque looking for more food.

Also though - if you are a single parent, you'd better name the absent parent - 'cos they will go after them for child support, but ensure that the PWC is receiving full funding of it from them as well as lone parent payments. But.....don't be on benefit and go getting pregnant - they will ONLY cover you for the ones you have when you apply, or one that you might be pregnant with. No more money coming if you find yourself with more kids you can't afford to feed.

There are homeless people in downtown Vancouver - they're very plain to see. But having worked with the police there in Vancouver for many years, they are there because they want to be. There are numerous shelters, which often are not full. You could tell when they were full, as the ones who really wanted to be off of the street would call in, let us know where they were, then you'd hear glass smashing, adn they'd tell us they'd just thrown a brick through a gas station window, and they'd wait for us to come and pick them up. They had committed a crime, and would do this to get a nice cosy jail cell for the night while they awaited court in the mornng.

kevin137

That is a very good system 2 tier, but gives the people that contribute the chance to have a better life while searching after there misfortune...!

That is the kind of thing i would suggest for the UK...!

Own_My_Own

I am expecting a back lashing for this post, but here goes.

I am a single parent of 2, it sometimes does not pay to work in this country.
Up until Christmas I had 2 part time jobs. One day, one evening.
Then I got the chance to do more hours in my day job. I could have kept doing the evening job, but I would have been worse off doing so.

Because I claim HB, it would have cost me to go to work.

The way they work out my rent/ctb is like this

My income minus what I would get signing on. They then disregard £40. For every £1 I earn over that, I have to pay 60p more towards my rent and 25p towards my council tax.

So on a basic wage of £6.19 an hour, I keep roughly 93p. The job I did was for 2 hours every evening and was 4 miles away.
Over the course of a week I would keep £18.60, but have driven 40 miles. There was no way of using public transport or walking.

Now I know there are some people who are going to go on about their taxes and my pride. But would any of them actually go to work 5 evenings a week and be no better off at the end of it ? I very much doubt it.

Ps -Still waiting to hear from the CSA

labyrinth84

Own_My_Own wrote: »

I am expecting a back lashing for this post, but here goes.

I am a single parent of 2, it sometimes does not pay to work in this country.
Up until Christmas I had 2 part time jobs. One day, one evening.
Then I got the chance to do more hours in my day job. I could have kept doing the evening job, but I would have been worse off doing so.

Because I claim HB, it would have cost me to go to work.

The way they work out my rent/ctb is like this

My income minus what I would get signing on. They then disregard £40. For every £1 I earn over that, I have to pay 60p more towards my rent and 25p towards my council tax.

So on a basic wage of £6.19 an hour, I keep roughly 93p. The job I did was for 2 hours every evening and was 4 miles away.
Over the course of a week I would keep £18.60, but have driven 40 miles. There was no way of using public transport or walking.

Now I know there are some people who are going to go on about their taxes and my pride. But would any of them actually go to work 5 evenings a week and be no better off at the end of it ? I very much doubt it.

Ps -Still waiting to hear from the CSA

Depends on individual views.

I was too a single parent, 1 child. Had been a single parent since she was under a year old.

I worked a 40hour week at £7.00 per hour...which after tax/ni was about £210.00.
I received £140.00 tax credits, but my childcare was £120.00... so £210, plus £20 left of tax credits, and £20 Child benefit. £250.00.
My rent was £125.00 per week, my council tax £25 per week. So i worked for £100 a week to pay gas, electric, debts, food and other stuff.

Yes, I'd have probably had that if I decided not to work. But I wanted to earn myself. When I wanted a car, I took a bar job friday and sat nights...which lowered my tax credit entitlement.

But it was worth it for me. Everyone is different

Own_My_Own

labyrinth84 wrote: »

Depends on individual views.

I was too a single parent, 1 child. Had been a single parent since she was under a year old.

I worked a 40hour week at £7.00 per hour...which after tax/ni was about £210.00.
I received £140.00 tax credits, but my childcare was £120.00... so £210, plus £20 left of tax credits, and £20 Child benefit. £250.00.
My rent was £125.00 per week, my council tax £25 per week. So i worked for £100 a week to pay gas, electric, debts, food and other stuff.

Yes, I'd have probably had that if I decided not to work. But I wanted to earn myself. When I wanted a car, I took a bar job friday and sat nights...which lowered my tax credit entitlement.

But it was worth it for me. Everyone is different

I still do the same amount of hours I used to, only at one job instead of two.
My point was I was not worth me keeping BOTH jobs and doing the extra hours.

AnxiousMum

It is tough if you look at it that way OMO. But.....if you take a positive outlook on it - if you had done the evening job as well, could that have possibly led to more hours, to a promotion, to a valuable addition on your cv? I think that if people look at the 'today' only, then alot would see it as not worthwhile. If we look at tomorrow and the future, then it will mostly, be seen as worthwhile. I think most mums in general give up something of their earning potential when we have children - and unfortunately, this spills over to be even more obvious if in custody of children after a break up.

Out of curiosity though - how long have you been split up, and how long ago did you apply for child support? I hope that doesn't take too long to get sorted for you.

In the meantime, if you're conscientious about it, you can use some of the extra time you have available to increase your skills so that you might be able to apply for something with more hours.

Take every opportunity you can in your present job to take on extra responsibility - it SHOULD pay off in the end.

Own_My_Own

AnxiousMum wrote: »

It is tough if you look at it that way OMO. But.....if you take a positive outlook on it - if you had done the evening job as well, could that have possibly led to more hours, to a promotion, to a valuable addition on your cv? I think that if people look at the 'today' only, then alot would see it as not worthwhile. If we look at tomorrow and the future, then it will mostly, be seen as worthwhile. I think most mums in general give up something of their earning potential when we have children - and unfortunately, this spills over to be even more obvious if in custody of children after a break up.

Out of curiosity though - how long have you been split up, and how long ago did you apply for child support? I hope that doesn't take too long to get sorted for you.

In the meantime, if you're conscientious about it, you can use some of the extra time you have available to increase your skills so that you might be able to apply for something with more hours.

Take every opportunity you can in your present job to take on extra responsibility - it SHOULD pay off in the end.

The evening job was agency cleaning. So no chance of promotion. It was really a means to a ends while waiting for more day hours to come up.

I have been single 15 years. My youngest was 4 weeks old. My oldest was 4. He is now 19 but has ASD which can also makes working difficult. I am lucky in my day job that they are very understanding of my circumstances.

Back when I became single you had to apply for CS. They never really chased him, and I never chased them. We have had little contact, and £15 in payments in those years.
The CSA phoned me out of the blue last year to say my case was being reviewed. They have made contact with my ex but he has simply been abusive to them on the phone. They are asking him pay for 12 months arrears, but he thinks this is too much.
It would appear they are now looking at going to court.

Time will tell.

kevin137

This is the kind of attitude that is good for the country though, you ARE working, and this is not to be frowned upon, i understand the difference between claiming and doing nothing and claiming while supporting yourself... There is a big difference...!!!

Think about it in a different way if you can, if you lived in India as an example... What would you do there...? The same in China... Or anywhere else in the developing world, you would have no choice but to work, and that is how it should be in the UK, if work is available you should do it, but you should not be punished and worse off because of it...! But you definitely need to do something...