Woo. Free £326 !

I'm fairly sure the only free money I'm getting is 400 pounds for electricity.

But as everyone gets that surely it isn't free money?

I mean isn't that how people get in bad CC debt?

"ooh look at this free money. 5k free"
*orders 5ks worth of hookers and BJ*
... Months pass..
"what's a ccj? Did I catch it from one of those hookers?"
 
robgmun said:
So those on benefits get yet more handouts while the grafters still get ziltch? Nice :/
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Work smarter, not harder.

Honestly though the whole benefit system is broken. If your on or near NMW and working 35 hours a week or more your shooting yourself in the foot. You'd have just as much money every month working half the time and claiming universal credit, the difference between the two choices isn't that much at all, when you factor in everything you'd lose not being able to claim UC. I believe the difference is around £70 a month after tax/ni is paid.
 
MadMossy said:
Work smarter, not harder.

Honestly though the whole benefit system is broken. If your on or near NMW and working 35 hours a week or more your shooting yourself in the foot. You'd have just as much money every month working half the time and claiming universal credit, the difference between the two choices isn't that much at all, when you factor in everything you'd lose not being able to claim UC. I believe the difference is around £70 a month after tax/ni is paid.
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Surely you can't work part time and pick up the rest on universal credit? at least not for a sustained period of time? When I briefly went on to universal credit about 4 or so years ago it was made very clear to me that part time work would not cut it and that i had to be applying for full-time work to qualify.
 
mrgubby said:
As long as you don't complain about whoever gets in power...
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I've heard this argument before and I still think non-voters have that right. Bring in proportional representation and you may have a point.

I have 'tactically' voted once or twice and it was just a wasted vote. The system is ****.
 
Lysander said:
I've heard this argument before and I still think non-voters have that right. Bring in proportional representation and you may have a point.

I have 'tactically' voted once or twice and it was just a wasted vote. The system is ****.
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This is unfortunately true.

My MP is always going to be conservative unless something like an alien invasion happens. I'll still go out and vote for either whoever is likely to come closest to beating him. At least the council elections are a little more likely to have a chance.


Re the cost of living payments, I know a few people who have some savings and are going to try and get some serious home improvements to help save energy done, things like improving their insulation.
One of the (many) stupid things about our benefit system is that it's largely set up to punish those that can't work and many of the benefits haven't really been looked at as "real world" cases in 20-40 years, so things like an assumption for every £500 in savings you're earning a pound a month in interest (IIRC pension credit does this) is a nonsense as you can have 5k and not be getting a pound a year, meanwhile almost all of the benefits are basically worked on various assumptions about the cost of living that is often a complete nonsense so any supposed "excess" built into the calculation is immediately used for essentials (the fact that the increase in benefits is worked out several months in advance and done once a year means that like this year it was off by several percent before it even came into effect).
 
Werewolf said:
Re the cost of living payments, I know a few people who have some savings and are going to try and get some serious home improvements to help save energy done, things like improving their insulation.
One of the (many) stupid things about our benefit system is that it's largely set up to punish those that can't work and many of the benefits haven't really been looked at as "real world" cases in 20-40 years, so things like an assumption for every £500 in savings you're earning a pound a month in interest (IIRC pension credit does this) is a nonsense as you can have 5k and not be getting a pound a year, meanwhile almost all of the benefits are basically worked on various assumptions about the cost of living that is often a complete nonsense so any supposed "excess" built into the calculation is immediately used for essentials (the fact that the increase in benefits is worked out several months in advance and done once a year means that like this year it was off by several percent before it even came into effect).
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I think the big question is will benefits be going up by the rate of inflation this year in time for next April? I know pensions will go up that much, but benefits? I suspect not.
Even with the help this year people will be really struggling, and now Boris is gone I'm not sure there'll be any more cash for the poor next year.
 
Werewolf said:
This is unfortunately true.

My MP is always going to be conservative unless something like an alien invasion happens. I'll still go out and vote for either whoever is likely to come closest to beating him. At least the council elections are a little more likely to have a chance.


Re the cost of living payments, I know a few people who have some savings and are going to try and get some serious home improvements to help save energy done, things like improving their insulation.
One of the (many) stupid things about our benefit system is that it's largely set up to punish those that can't work and many of the benefits haven't really been looked at as "real world" cases in 20-40 years, so things like an assumption for every £500 in savings you're earning a pound a month in interest (IIRC pension credit does this) is a nonsense as you can have 5k and not be getting a pound a year, meanwhile almost all of the benefits are basically worked on various assumptions about the cost of living that is often a complete nonsense so any supposed "excess" built into the calculation is immediately used for essentials (the fact that the increase in benefits is worked out several months in advance and done once a year means that like this year it was off by several percent before it even came into effect).
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Do you think disability payments should be higher then?
 
Lysander said:
I've heard this argument before and I still think non-voters have that right. Bring in proportional representation and you may have a point.

I have 'tactically' voted once or twice and it was just a wasted vote. The system is ****.
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Sometimes I think it would be better not to vote. To show how disengaged the public are with the current system.
 
Uther said:
I think the big question is will benefits be going up by the rate of inflation this year in time for next April? I know pensions will go up that much, but benefits? I suspect not.
Even with the help this year people will be really struggling, and now Boris is gone I'm not sure there'll be any more cash for the poor next year.
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I said that from the start, Boris going will put an end to any decent benefit rises.
 
robfosters said:
I said that from the start, Boris going will put an end to any decent benefit rises.
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That £20 a week rise put UC probably where it should be as a minimum, then Sunak took it away again, which was cruel in the extreme. He's not going to be handing any cash out to the poor. Even people like IDS were saying it should have been permanent!
 
robfosters said:
Do you think disability payments should be higher then?
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For the COL payments?
I would say yes, if you're disabled you're likely to be using more energy than normal due to things like reduced mobility (less able to keep warm by "moving around"), more likely to be in your house, more likely to be using electrical appliances that have manual alternatives.

I'm probably biased on this for several reasons, including the fact I remember how my mother used to have to keep the house a lot warmer because she would get thoroughly chilled when out on her mobility scooter (no matter how warm she wrapped up) and it would take her hours to warm up again (and the cold made her hip hurt more), and in the house she was a lot less mobile than most people. She got DLA but most of that went on things like maintaining her electric scooters*.


*Which can be surprisingly expensive in the "secondaries", for example you need somewhere to store and charge them which meant for her a variety of small outbuildings/works attached to the house ("pagoda" on the front of the house, then a large custom made shed by the back door).
 
Uther said:
That £20 a week rise put UC probably where it should be as a minimum, then Sunak took it away again, which was cruel in the extreme. He's not going to be handing any cash out to the poor. Even people like IDS were saying it should have been permanent!
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And he didn't even apply it to hundreds of thousands of people on DLA or PIP, because apparently it was "too hard" (yet they do that every year for smaller amounts).
 
Werewolf said:
For the COL payments?
I would say yes, if you're disabled you're likely to be using more energy than normal due to things like reduced mobility (less able to keep warm by "moving around"), more likely to be in your house, more likely to be using electrical appliances that have manual alternatives.

I'm probably biased on this for several reasons, including the fact I remember how my mother used to have to keep the house a lot warmer because she would get thoroughly chilled when out on her mobility scooter (no matter how warm she wrapped up) and it would take her hours to warm up again (and the cold made her hip hurt more), and in the house she was a lot less mobile than most people. She got DLA but most of that went on things like maintaining her electric scooters*.


*Which can be surprisingly expensive in the "secondaries", for example you need somewhere to store and charge them which meant for her a variety of small outbuildings/works attached to the house ("pagoda" on the front of the house, then a large custom made shed by the back door).
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Not so much the COL paymeats, I mean the disability component of UC and ESA, and PIP rates.
 
Werewolf said:
And he didn't even apply it to hundreds of thousands of people on DLA or PIP, because apparently it was "too hard" (yet they do that every year for smaller amounts).
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Disabled people are always going to get the ****** end of the stick, and that's not going to change any time soon.
Being villified as a 'benefit scrounger' must be horrible for someone who can't work due to illness or disability.
 
imtoooldforthis said:
Surely you can't work part time and pick up the rest on universal credit? at least not for a sustained period of time? When I briefly went on to universal credit about 4 or so years ago it was made very clear to me that part time work would not cut it and that i had to be applying for full-time work to qualify.
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You can.
 
Uther said:
Disabled people are always going to get the ****** end of the stick, and that's not going to change any time soon.
Being villified as a 'benefit scrounger' must be horrible for someone who can't work due to illness or disability.
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And if disabled people spend their benefits on "luxury" goods, they are wasting taxpayer's money on rubbish as if disabled people have to live with nothing pleasurable. I get the impression that if they can pay for food and rent, that is all they should get in benefits.
 
Cromulent said:
And if disabled people spend their benefits on "luxury" goods, they are wasting taxpayer's money on rubbish as if disabled people have to live with nothing pleasurable. I get the impression that if they can pay for food and rent, that is all they should get in benefits.
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Don’t I know it, I’ve had this thrown at me loads of times. I just ignore it now. It’s horrible ignorance. So what if I’ve got a high end gaming PC and a big QLED tv. I am stuck in pretty much 24 hours a day. I can’t go on holiday, to the shops, to the pub or even take a walk in the park.

But according to some, I should spend my days staring at the walls
 
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