Why Can't People Manage On £500 Per Week?

[magsmay]

So - the Cap on Benefits will commence, along with a chorus of moaning minnies who say they can't possibly manage and will have to cut down on food and heating -so bloody what!!! If two working people had the misfortune of one of them losing their job they would have to cut down until things got better - your weekly cheque is a benefit For Funks Sake not a wage - Some WORKING couples barely clear £500 after off takes -this makes my blood boil -people these days are like spoilt children when they get their sweeties taken away - Quote from one moaning minnie this a.m. on TV '' I've tried to get work in the past but for me its not an option'' -then suck it up madam- if you want the State to provide for you then cut down and budget like the working families have to.

[bednobs]

i know lg, i was just illustrating that people who have restrictions just don't tell the mortgage company, and the world doesn't explode. All this "most of...." and "few, if any of" is just misleading

[emmie]

the cap includes all rents, so the woman with three children interviewed on the news was paying 350 a week rent, not sure whether she was married, divorced, but she will struggle to make ends meet now. I also don't know whether she gets the max as she would be classed as a single mother, so that is a lot less, though one assumes she gets child benefits, so if that is in total take out the rent that leaves 150 a week to pay everything else. Won't be easy with three children, paying utilities, food and so forth.

[emmie]

not sure where anyone got the idea that landlords won't take people who get housing benefit. Suppose the person was working, then lost their job, will the landlord chuck them out, no of course not, same as social housing, unless he is a totally heartless bstard. One thing that did surprise me, not much does, is that if you are on benefits, one can still get a mortgage, at least according to the housing booklet that i received from the council, how can that work, seeing as how your benefits can stop at any time.

[EDDIE51]

In London and some other large cities the rent for a small house or even a one bedroom flat is over £500 a week. People are already having to move to cheaper areas. Remember this applies to people who are in full time work as well, over 80% of housing benefit recipients are working but on a low wage. people in this situation are having to leave homes and jobs and move away and live on benefit somewhere with cheap rents.

[emmie]

i know all that from living here and being at the sharp end of this.

[emmie]

you can find properties under 500 quid, and social housing generally rents are no where near that, having said that getting a council place is becoming nigh on impossible. As i already said i don't know anyone who can afford that kind of money, even those with decent enough jobs. Even moving out of the capital is a double edged sword if your job is here, as you will pay through the nose for the privilege of being shunted in a cattle truck, commonly called a commuter train for your pains.

[EDDIE51]

em10 Yes I know. problem is most on here and on TV last night think it only applies to people who don't work . Few realise that families who have lived in London all their lives and where one parent has always worked full time are now going to be forced to leave London for somewhere cheaper, with the working parent being forced to give up work and go on the dole in a place with very little chance of getting another job. The entire thing has been done just to please those who see housing claimants as 'work shy scroungers' ( just look at some of the comments on here)
Not just London , Cambridge near me is the same with sky high rents

[EDDIE51]

em10 From here in North Herts a years ticket to London is just under £6000 , and you would have to pay that out of taxed income ! if you had to move out and keep working in London. Parking at the rail station is another £3500 a year, that is nearly £10,000 a year just to get to work .

[emmie]

Eddie i have had the same problem, pay or move, i have been having a breakdown over this, and that isn't meant to be funny or indeed untrue. So for the moment it's pay, but who knows for how long. I know any number of others who have worked their whole lives and are in the same position, husband, or wife passed away, and might have to upsticks, i really don't see how this is going to work. Some councils are not implementing it, ours has.

[emmie]

Eddie, i know about rail fares too, season tickets are so expensive, if those who move out of the capital, say to the outskirts but want to keep their London job then they won't be any better off.

[emmie]

if you don't drive either then you are well and truly up broccoli creek without a paddle.

[sandyRoe]

Sections of the press are fed stories about Old Mother Hubbard families who have 50" televisions, 2 cars, and two holidays abroad each year, but have never done a days work in their lives. These set the scene for benefit reductions.
The reality is that the majority who will suffer from these cuts will be working families on benefits.

[emmie]

and those who are recently single through being widowed, those whose children may have moved out but live close by. so the mum or dad can move where exactly, perhaps in with their children, however what if they don't have the space as they have children of their own. So many pitfalls with this, and i for one am sick at heart.

[1ndex]

A dermatologist, GP wife with 2 children now settled in suburbs but commute as they cant afford city life. Why should those in SH be afforded city life at tax payers expense.

[emmie]

ok let's move them all out, to where firstly, secondly what if those people are elderly, infirm, mentally ill, or lets say they worked for 50 years so paid rent, rates, or council tax, and then the husband or wife dies, so we send them elsewhere, where do you have in mind.
or is it the so called benefit scroungers, those who have never worked, is that it, very likely far and few in between in this city, there will be some that is for sure. But one thing i do know, there is little you can do here with a small amount of dosh.
love the shove em all out of the capital idea, who will be left to do the work, you know sweeping the streets, or cleaning the nobs houses, or dinner ladies at the schools, many of those will likely be on low wages, so need help...

[emmie]

i am well and truly hacked off, and the post above me has confirmed what i have thought all along, that some think that there are millions getting something for nothing, and it just ain't so.

[emmie]

sorry about that, that should be Index's post, are you the dermatologist i wonder? i think i will go and get a bar of chocolate, i really need to keep calm and breathe.