Living on £53 a week.....

lippy1923

What happened in the old days, before a benefits system even existed? I guess people just died out? Survival of the fittest etc etc

grizzly1911

robmatic wrote: »

So they wouldn't be affected by the benefit cap - good. It still seems grossly unfair that we pay some people in some areas benefits that are more than the median net income.

Presumably that is what some government statiscian has decided is needed to make ends meet.

Average and median net incomes will always encompass earnings from second wage earners who may choose to do lower paid work for a variety of reasons.

I am not saying the system doesn't need revising just that a scalpel may be more effective than a chain saw.

grizzly1911

lippy1923 wrote: »

What happened in the old days, before a benefits system even existed? I guess people just died out? Survival of the fittest etc etc

In the old days a lot more people had nothing to start with and gruel didn't cost the same as it does today.

Adam, Eve and an apple comes to mind.

Yes no doubt a lot more did die young.

danielanthony

Between me and my employer, I pay £30,000 a year in income tax + NI. This amount is totally outrageous and I don't live a lavish lifestyle at all, in fact according to https://www.listentotaxman.com I'm going to be £30pm worse off this financial year than last year, plus I'm loosing £120pm from child benefit cuts so where's all the outrage and media attention about that???

So I'm £150pm down, heat or eat etc etc....

grizzly1911

danielanthony wrote: »

Between me and my employer, I pay £30,000 a year in income tax + NI. This amount is totally outrageous and I don't live a lavish lifestyle at all, in fact according to www.listentotaxman.com I'm going to be £30pm worse off this financial year than last year, plus I'm loosing £120pm from child benefit cuts so where's all the outrage and media attention about that???

So I'm £150pm down, heat or eat etc etc....

We are all in this together.

lemontart

mildredalien wrote: »

I genuinely can't tell if you are being sarcastic....

If you assume rent and utilities are paid (water, gas, council tax, electric.) then £53 a week isn't an awful lot for every other expense you may need. Food and household goods, bus/train fares or running a car (if you want people to get jobs they need to be able to get to interviews), you'll need access to the internet to be able to search for jobs and apply online, a phone to contact potential employers or the job centre (or perhaps even family or friends!!). Even if someone on benefits has no social life, no method of entertainment, never does anything that gives them the slightest enjoyment out of life that's still not a great deal to live on each month.

If you have a mortgage and are out of work you also have that to pay and any property maintenance such as boilers, fires - my fire broke couple days ago, brakes on car need doing and council tax to pay - not everyone chooses to be out of work I fell down my stairs 3 months ago, and to top that off now waiting for medics to sort out tests to see if lumps in leg that are breeding at speed are benign or not ..........much rather be at my desk working rather than here in pain, scared and on ssp stressing about bills

exarmydreamer

grizzly1911 wrote: »

In the old days a lot more people had nothing to start with and gruel didn't cost the same as it does today.

Adam, Eve and an apple comes to mind.

Yes no doubt a lot more did die young.

I believe they sold their hair,teeth and bodies. Died of once common diseases like typhoid, sent to work houses, lived on the street with the sewers.

Uneducated children were shoved up chimneys, the dead were grave robbed and almost all had TB, small pox, polio, syphilis, dysentery, cholera and scurvy. Most did not live past their 30's.

Most children were sold into domestic service, Navy or other dubious child labour.

I don't think we are quite there yet.:)

danielanthony

grizzly1911 wrote: »

We are all in this together.

Yep, my boss wonders why we aren't enthusiastic about doing on call and overtime when we are going to be taxed at 42% on our earnings so not much motivation to give up our weekends just so we can pay for people to have extra bedrooms they don't need!

In with the obligatory heat or eat, blah blah blah

GillyR-J

There are some bright stars on here aren't there? So everyone who has to claim JSA is a scrounger are they?...well actually no they are not. My husband and I were forced to claim when his company went belly up after he had a serious accident. It was a joint claim so our rent and council tax were paid and we had £70 a week to cover all the other bills.
We both managed to get occasional casual days work. I was supply teaching he was working for a former colleague and we declared these days each time we signed on.
I sold all my clothes and shoes bought in more lucrative times and sold most of my books.
I stopped shopping at supermarkets and used pound shops and the local market.
We had a set routine each day and were upping and doing by 7.30am each day,checking for jobs,writing applications etc. I also did a lot of baking and cooking,knitting and sewing from my stash collected in better times and now used to clothe us through a bad winter and ensure we didn't use the central heating at all . We didn't go out ,we don't drink or smoke any way.
Xmas came and went with a few handmade gifts and a branch dragged from the woods and painted white.
It took just under six months to get off JSA and I would say it will take a further twelve months to be properly back on our feet. Do I feel a scrounger...? No I don't! I have worked for thirty five years and this provided my contributions for the six months we needed it.
My husband has now restarted his company and although I help with some administration I also have two non teaching posts.
I think because we had had a reasonable standard of living before the accident and because we didn't have debt, it gave us a degree of insulation that other people may not have. Whilst I was grateful for the short term financial support I don't think it would be easy to be on JSA long term.

danielanthony

GillyR-J wrote: »

There are some bright stars on here aren't there? So everyone who has to claim JSA is a scrounger are they?...well actually no they are not. My husband and I were forced to claim when his company went belly up after he had a serious accident. It was a joint claim so our rent and community tax were paid and we had £70 a week to cover all the other bills.
We both managed to get occasional casual days work. I was supply teaching he was working for a former colleague and we declared these days each time we signed on.
I sold all my clothes and shoes bought in more lucrative times and sold most of my books.
I stopped shopping at supermarkets and used pound shops and the local market.
We had a set routine each day and were upping and doing by 7.30am each day,checking for jobs,writing applications etc. I also did a lot of baking and cooking,knitting and sewing from my stash collected in better times and now used to clothe us through a bad winter and ensure we didn't use the central heating at all . We didn't go out ,we don't drink or smoke any way.
Xmas came and went with a few handmade gifts and a branch dragged from the woods and painted white.
It took just under six months to get off JSA and I would say it will take a further twelve months to be properly back on our feet. Do I feel a scrounger...? No I don't! I have worked for thirty five years and this provided my contributions for the six months we needed it.
My husband has now restarted his company and although I help with some administration I also have two non teaching posts.
I think because we had had a reasonable standard of living before the accident and because we didn't have debt, it gave us a degree of insulation that other people may not have. Whilst I was grateful for the short term financial support I don't think it would be easy to be on JSA long term.

So you have just shown that with determination you CAN get off JSA, you haven't found that there are absolutely no jobs that you can do and are back in employment and supporting yourselves like good productive members of society.

The problem is those who spend YEARS leaching off the system, I think your example shows why there should be a time limit on out of work benefits as clearly there is always some work available if you're willing to look for it.

I have no problem with my tax money being spent on supporting people like you, its the long term lifestyle choices of others on benefits which I have a problem with.