Serious question, benefit cuts.

whodathunkit

dippy3103 wrote: »

I thought it replaced married mans tax allowance.

I think it's unfair that my friend (they both work) can't afford to treat her child from time to time. Once everything has been paid they have very little left.

If she wants to buy treats she should probably work full time to pay for them.

Indie_Kid

specialboy wrote: »

Reading all the replies so far it looks like benefits haven't really been cut unless you are a high earner so why is there such a big outcry each and every day against the cuts? JSA is still the same, tax credits are still generous, DLA hasn't been reduced, ESA is still there etched etc so what's the problem?

ESA isn't really there though. Not if you're in the WRAG and have a partner earning £7500 a year. You can't claim ESA during a mandatory reconsideration either now, which could be weeks without any income.

Benefits really have been cut - they're only going up by 1% a year.

You're right - DLA hasn't been cut - it's been scrapped for new claimants, all people aged between 16 & 64 will lose it and many won't be entitled to PIP.

missapril75

specialboy wrote: »

Reading all the replies so far it looks like benefits haven't really been cut unless you are a high earner...

Really? Here's a few excerpts from replies so far.

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

...benefit claimants now pay up to 30% of their Council Tax liability where before they got 100% benefit

So that's a cut in means tested (low income) benefits.

Indie_Kid wrote: »

DLA is being scrapped for people aged 16 to 64 and is being replaced by PIP. The Government are hoping to save 20% by doing this.

Sounds like a cut.

blondebubbles wrote: »

Tax credits has had a lot of changes... Now the limit is £26,000

That's around average wage so not just a cut to high earners.

LocoLoco wrote: »

...people who are too ill/disabled to work now being told they're fit enough and losing sickness related benefits to be moved to JSA.

So means tested benefits at a lower rate when one considers add-ons and discretionary payments lost through no longer being sick.

There have been numerous instances of people being sanctioned for all sorts of reasons which means they get no money at all for varying lengths of time.

And being sanctioned for trivial things that previously didn't get sanctions.
No money for a period constitutes a cut in most people's eyes.

Robbie64 wrote: »

Increases in the majority of benefits have been pegged to 1% per year for three years which is a cut in monetary terms.

So, actually quite a few additional examples of cuts for average and lower income folk.

dippy3103

whodathunkit wrote: »

If she wants to buy treats she should probably work full time to pay for them.

She works 25 hours a week. If she went full time what she'd pay out in childcare (childminder is £4.50 per hour on average round here she can't earn much more than that nett)

So not just those on out of work benefits or those on high incomes affected but those on fairly average wages.

zagfles

dippy3103 wrote: »

She works 25 hours a week. If she went full time what she'd pay out in childcare (childminder is £4.50 per hour on average round here she can't earn much more than that nett)

So not just those on out of work benefits or those on high incomes affected but those on fairly average wages.

Yeah, if you totally ignore their £1400 saving in tax through the personal allowance increase. Would they rather have the family element of CTC but a £6475 tax allowance?

heartbreak_star

£26k is an average wage? Get me one o' them jobs!!

HBS x

Indie_Kid

dippy3103 wrote: »

I think it's not so much the amount paid to someone, but the number of people who's benefits have been stopped.

For example my friend and her husband are only just over £26k with one child (both work, him full time her the twilight shift) and they used their family only element to pay for treats. It was only £550 ish a year but it hit them when it stopped. We lost ours under similar circumstances- we both work full time so child care is high- that was our days out money.

A lot of people have to manage on a lot less than that.

Your friend should be grateful she's not in the situation where she's a single person living on JSA who has to pay some rent and council tax out of it. I have a friend in that situation.

dandelionclock30

26K is the average wage and its not that much if you have a big mortgage to pay.
Regarding treats can the family look at doing some free/cheaper things like going for walks, picnics in the better weather, home baking etc. You dont have to spend loads of money to have fun

zagfles

heartbreak_star wrote: »

£26k is an average wage? Get me one o' them jobs!!

HBS x

Depends what you mean by average. Mean for all jobs is about £26k, median is about £21k.

For full-time jobs only, mean is about £33k and median is £26k.

The mean tends to be skewed by a few very high paid jobs, so the median is generally thought of as a more useful figure.

missapril75

heartbreak_star wrote: »

£26k is an average wage? Get me one o' them jobs!!

Hard to believe but it's true.