We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide
Is it legal that the NMW is lower than the benefits cap?
Comments
-
Mr_Lawnmower wrote: »As has been pointed out, very few people will get anything like that amount. £18200 is the maximum a single person who does not fall into an excepted group can get in benefits, not a baseline entitlement. The benefit cap primarily applies to those with a large number of children.
Parliament has absolute discretion to set the law as it sees fit, subject to the precedence of EU law in the those areas where EU law applies, and the potential need to declare new legislation as incompatible with the Human Rights Act 1998. There is nothing I can think of in EU law or the Human Rights Act to prevent Parliament from setting benefit entitlements above national minimum wage - though doing so would be utterly stupid. If the baseline benefit entitlement was above minimum wage for a typical 37 hour working week, it would become almost impossible to fill minimum wage jobs.
Benefit entitlements are often much less than someone without experience of the system might think. If you lost your job, are in good health and had no dependent children or caring responsibilities, you should be entitled to Jobseeker's Allowance at £71.70 per week based on the NI contributions you've paid whilst working. That's a whopping £3728.40 per year - except that these payments are limited to six months.
After six months you would be assessed for a means-tested Jobseeker's Allowance that starts out at £71.70. Any income you have is deducted from this allowance, as is £1 per week for any £250 (or part thereof) you have in capital over £6000. If you have more than £16000 in capital you will not get a weekly payment from this system.
Help with rent and council tax is on top of this figure, but this will never exceed the actual costs you have to pay and may not meet it. Help with mortgage payments is now very limited.
Do you still think the benefits system is generous?
When I went to the job centre to see if I could claim as my hours had dropped way below the 16 hours they told me that I could not receive any JSA as I had not paid in enough in contributions and I would not get income based as well...talk about a kick in the teeth!!!!!....As for the whole NMW v BC debate the government wants to make work pay but yet when it comes to the crunch work still doesn't pay. As for housing I am of NO fixed abode as I cannot afford to rent, my council class me as not in need and if I could private rent I would not be able to afford bills because of the nature of my work. I am a reformed alcohol-dependant who three years ago quit drink and has been trying to rebuild my life since...but because of my age and my work circumstances I hit a brick wall every time.
Tell me is that fair?0 -
When I went to the job centre to see if I could claim as my hours had dropped way below the 16 hours they told me that I could not receive any JSA as I had not paid in enough in contributions and I would not get income based as well...talk about a kick in the teeth!!!!!....
You can't get income based because your income is too high.
Benefit cap has nothing to do with NMW.Sealed pot challenge #232. Gold stars from Sue-UU - :staradmin :staradmin £75.29 banked
50p saver #40 £20 banked
Virtual sealed pot #178 £80.250 -
I'm not really sure where you get your sense of entitlement from - the most modest bit of number crunching shows your opinion isn't feasible implemented as policy. This country spends billions on lone parents each year with fathers notoriously poor at contributing towards their broken families. The state, trying to fill the void that comes from absent parents (90% male), cannot extend much largesse to those in low paid employment because of this huge commitment.
Out of my meagre wages I still pay CSA and the debts that I accrued whilst drinking.0 -
You can't get income based because your income is too high.
Benefit cap has nothing to do with NMW.
Benefit cap has nothing to do with Minimum Wage, that maybe, but the two are intrinsically linked due to Cameron/Clegg claims that work needs to pay. How can work pay when the benefits cap is still too high? Now if there was and moral sense NMW would rise to take in the ever-spiralling cost-of-living, Benefits for those who work and those who genuinely need the help should be topped up to the living wage and those who can work but don't should be dropped to minimum wage standard with no extra benefits, some of which should be paid in food vouchers.0 -
Means tested benefits (subject to the cap, in most circumstances) can be obtained whether in work or out of work.
In fact, for anyone working over certain hours and in receipt of WTC, the cap does not apply.
If you have a problem with 'out of work benefits' per se, then DT is probably the best place to express this lol
They love a good moan down there. :T
Lin
You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands..........for instance, if they are placed around your throat, she's probably slightly upset.
0 -
Out of my meagre wages I still pay CSA and the debts that I accrued whilst drinking.
Well, you should pay child support, the amount of which is calculated by your income, and anyone in debt, whether working or not, has to deal with them.
Lin You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands..........for instance, if they are placed around your throat, she's probably slightly upset.0 -
This is what UC is supposed to address - much bigger earnings allowance before benefits are reduced and much lower marginal reduction rates. They've not addressed the mortgage interest support cliff edge (in fact they've made it worse) but apart from that it will make those who work significantly better off than those who don't.Benefit cap has nothing to do with Minimum Wage, that maybe, but the two are intrinsically linked due to Cameron/Clegg claims that work needs to pay. How can work pay when the benefits cap is still too high? Now if there was and moral sense NMW would rise to take in the ever-spiralling cost-of-living, Benefits for those who work and those who genuinely need the help should be topped up to the living wage and those who can work but don't should be dropped to minimum wage standard with no extra benefits, some of which should be paid in food vouchers.
That's of course if it ever gets off the ground (cue long boring stories about what a disaster the IT is...)0 -
This is what UC is supposed to address - much bigger earnings allowance before benefits are reduced and much lower marginal reduction rates. They've not addressed the mortgage interest support cliff edge (in fact they've made it worse) but apart from that it will make those who work significantly better off than those who don't.
That's of course if it ever gets off the ground (cue long boring stories about what a disaster the IT is...)
So in work benefits will still be high?
Why doesn't the government address the low wages issue so that fewer workers need top ups?0 -
Probably because even NMW isn't that low on an international scale and they don't want to push even more jobs abroad?StormyWeather wrote: »So in work benefits will still be high?
Why doesn't the government address the low wages issue so that fewer workers need top ups?0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.6K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.5K Spending & Discounts
- 247.5K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.6K Life & Family
- 261.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards