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IPAs and new benefit limits
Comments
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The whole thing is nuts really - at the lower earnings level the figures for IPA's, benefits and tax when employed don't really 'match' from what I can work out. There is definitely a financial disincentive at very low income levels - I worked out that if I earned £100 a week in wages I would actually wind up worse off than if I earned £50 a week. That's not to say I wouldn't do it anyway for reasons of self-respect etc, but from a cold hard cash perspective it doesn't add up.
Am I being blonde? I don't understand your CAB remark!
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Hehe - I think it's because when I went to my local CAB for help, they set me up with a free appointment with an insolvency practitioner - which was very good of them but I think they did it because my case was too complicated - especially as I haven't heard anything from them since!
sorry, read whole thread, not just most recent posts....No, I don't think all other drivers are idiots......but some are determined to change my mind.......0 -
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I am bemused by the fact that..although my pay has 'stood still' for a few years......I take home slightly less than the maximum deemed for benefits payments..per individual!
Perhaps this figure [£350 per week?] should be deemed as everybody's 'right'.....and when working, tax should only be levied on amounts over this?
Maybe that's why I didn't get an IPA? [even though under the 'old' rules, I still wouldn't qualify even today!!]
BTW, to get further feedback from CAB, individuals must ensure they are placed on the local CAB Christmas card list.
not sure what figures you base that on, but a single person on JSA gets £71 if over £25, £54 I think it is if under 25, the £350 figure, if correct is based on housing benefit too.
If living in London etc then your rent would take most of that, only £71 would go to the benefit claimant, I don't hold high rents in some areas of the country against the benefit claimant.
Rents even in non London areas are out of control, the average must be over £100 a week, add the £71, then yes you are getting very never the min wage but isn't this a rent and wages problem rather than thinking someone on £54/£71 getting to much benefit.0 -
not sure what figures you base that on,
your very own figure [benefit cap?]
And..no, I would not be able to live in London on my salary...but then, I'd have a London weighting allowance, a posh office with sumptuous canteen, and probably Costa vouchers as well....at my grade, too!
As it is, I live somewhere where rents are a lot cheaper, have little or nothing in the way of staff facilities, and cannot stand Costa coffee....and pay for it in a low salary, with any side benefits being constantly eroded.
Am seriously considering dramatically reducing the quality of my output to match....in other words, the Government will get what they pay for from me in future!No, I don't think all other drivers are idiots......but some are determined to change my mind.......0 -
your very own figure [benefit cap?]
And..no, I would not be able to live in London on my salary...but then, I'd have a London weighting allowance, a posh office with sumptuous canteen, and probably Costa vouchers as well....at my grade, too!
As it is, I live somewhere where rents are a lot cheaper, have little or nothing in the way of staff facilities, and cannot stand Costa coffee....and pay for it in a low salary, with any side benefits being constantly eroded.
Am seriously considering dramatically reducing the quality of my output to match....in other words, the Government will get what they pay for from me in future!
I only quoted someone else's figure, that were given in this thread, so not my figures.
I understand your argument, but feel that the facts do not stand up to the picture you paint, as said a single person on JSA gets £71 a week, even someone living in London, most live in an area you and me wouldn't even walk down the street, never mind live there, so the one liners about Costa and £350 a week quotes, sound good but just don't stand up on closer examination.0 -
they weren't meant to stand close scrutiny...or any comparison with JSA, or any other individual benefit.
I commented on the benefit cap, that's all.
And...its relationship to my own salary!
And that comment was intended to be an indictment against the wages employers pay these days.
Where that pay level is close to , or beneath, what experts reckon to be the maximum for basic living expenditure.
And not a comment [adverse or otherwise] on existing individual benefit levels, or those claiming benefits.
Indeed, I will be the first in the queue when the time comes for me to make such claims.....and I have no qualms about receiving benefits from the State...I've paid enough in over time!No, I don't think all other drivers are idiots......but some are determined to change my mind.......0 -
they weren't meant to stand close scrutiny...or any comparison with JSA, or any other individual benefit.
I commented on the benefit cap, that's all.
And...its relationship to my own salary!
And that comment was intended to be an indictment against the wages employers pay these days.
Where that pay level is close to , or beneath, what experts reckon to be the maximum for basic living expenditure.
Indeed, I will be the first in the queue when the time comes for me to make such claims.....and I have no qualms about receiving benefits from the State...I've paid enough in over time!
Well maybe start and you can stop dreaming of those Costas you don't even like
Seems a bit daft to compare the single person cap to your wages without
scrutinizing the figures to know what you are comparing.
Knowing all but £71 of that £350 goes to the landlord, it may make you look at your wages differently.0 -
Knowing all but £71 of that £350 goes to the landlord, it may make you look at your wages differently.
well, no, it doesn't make my wages 'look any different'...it makes them look even worse!
Because, by the same token, all but ''£71'' of my weekly salary would go in rent!
It really doesn't matter where the benefits are accrued..or whether the same sum is gained for working a 40 hour week.
The costs are the same!
I get the impression you really want to say, how I must consider myself 'lucky' to be in employment?
Well, I don't consider myself 'lucky' to be in work.
Luck has nothing to do with it.
There is no need to do any scrutinising of benefits for a comparison..the cap is a cap, and a figure has been placed on it.
That figure has been arrived at by assiduous calculation, from no doubt vast research.
It defines a level of 'poverty'.
Anyone actually on, or below that level of income is considered 'poor'.
It is truly amazing that this level of poverty actually equates to a middle management grade in our Civil Service.
Something really is wrong with the system if poverty has risen in value to such a degree.No, I don't think all other drivers are idiots......but some are determined to change my mind.......0
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