Can you save for your children and be on benefits .

Strebor123

I was on benefits for a few months after finishing university and I had more in my bank account at the end of those 3 months than I did at the start. I think a lot of people are so used to a comfortable living they can't possibly comprehend that you can live off £35-40 a week.

Just look at how many people on JSA smoke for example, that means they must be living off less than they're given in order to buy cigs.

I think a lot of people just need a much better education regarding things like finances, budgets and a frank conversation about what's a luxury and what's a necessity.

scootw1

HappyMJ wrote: »

TV Licence £13 pm, Food and other groceries £210 pm, Gas/Electricity £55 pm (what it would cost on income based jsa it's £67 if I'm working that's 12,000kWh gas and 2,500kWh electricity), water £23 pm, Mobiles £24 pm, home phone and broadband £18 pm plus £182 pm (£3 per day each) random spends on misc items, days out, meals out, visits to pub, ciggies (don't smoke many), self insurance (don't have any insurance) and savings - Total £525 pm (£121 per week). When on income based JSA I'll just cut the drinking by 1 pint a week each and that should balance the budget perfectly or in reality I'd just raid the penny jar.

Fine though I can't imagine what sort of day out you would get for 3 pound each. Even on rollies you would spend 3 days worth of budget for one pouch and 3 pounds would get you 1 pint only so not really worth the bother. Frugal yes, much of a life, I would argue, no.

Batman_100

When I was last on JSA is was able to get by whilst still having about £20 left over at the end of the week to go into my rainy day fund. Although this was entirely due to me living with my parents at the time and not having housing costs.


I've always felt that this is an issue that gets overlooked when debating the benefits system. Yes some (and probably most) people on benefits are struggling, but there are people in some situations for whom the welfare system is overly generous.

HappyMJ

scootw1 wrote: »

Fine though I can't imagine what sort of day out you would get for 3 pound each. Even on rollies you would spend 3 days worth of budget for one pouch and 3 pounds would get you 1 pint only so not really worth the bother. Frugal yes, much of a life, I would argue, no.

Yes on rollies and a pouch lasts a month as I said I don't smoke much. Lately we've got a day ticket on a bus and gone to nearby towns approx 20 miles away and had a look around having a pub lunch with a couple of pints usually a cheap pub such as Wetherspoons. I'm not saying it's great it's certainly not equivalent to a day out to something like Alton Towers for hundreds of pounds but you can get by and have the opportunity to get out of town and do something that you would think only employed people could ever do. As I said I always had money left over at the end of each fortnight to be able to do that and usually on my signing day when I had the bus ticket anyway so took advantage of it. I work now and to be honest I don't have that much more than I had when I was on JSA.

Batman_100

tea-bag wrote: »

I have been saying this for years! I have just moved to a disability hot spot (17% claiming some form of disability benefit) in Wales (cheap rental while house is renovate), it is a joke. New cars outside, smoking ,walking the dog, down the pub, there is nothing wrong with these people. In two weeks of living here my wife has found a job in a shop so there is work. Most of the time the only thing wrong with these people is they are bone idle. And please don't give it all the "0.5% fraud rate", and the "do you realise how hard it is to claim" thes people all talk together and know how to play the system. Why work? It is also very hard to take benefits away from the disabled but they are TOO GENEROUS and we can't afford them. I would say AT LEAST half of the claiming working age could work.

But the problem is that in days gone by the government did make it very easy for people with minor conditions to claim disability benefits and the problem was out of control.


Take my brother for example. After his first term at university, one of his lecturers advised him to go and book an appointment with the uni's welfare officer as her suspected he might have some form of autism. This had been suspected when he was at school but wasn't followed up. Anyway, the welfare office arranged for him to undergo tests and assessments with the relevant professionals and in the end he was diagnosed with a very moderate form of Asperger's syndrome. So moderate in fact he only just made it over the threshold for a formal diagnosis.


Anyway, once the medical side of things had been sorted out the welfare office told him that he might qualify for DLA and gave him an application form and much to the delight of a poor student he found himself in receipt of £300 a month in disability benefits.


Now years latter he finds that his condition has no effect on his work or family life and he questions whether his original diagnosis was accurate or not. He's phoned up the DWP to report a change of circumstance when he started work and when he recently changed jobs but they keep telling him that because he has a lifetime award there is nothing they can do to review his claim. So he's now stuck getting £300 a month for a 'disability' which he feels has no affect on his daily life and he can't help but feeling that he's cheating the system. He's now waiting for them to start transferring people over to PIP, something which he has no intention of applying for.

nannytone_2

if what you say is true, then your brother is telling porkies!
a lifetime/indefinite DLA award actually means nothing .... merely that a date hasn't been set for reassessment.
these claims can be stopped at any time should the claimant feel they no longer meet the criteria

so one of you is fibbing