Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
Payment for and use of essential services should not be linked. Applying this principle would mean the sickest people in society would have to pay towards their NHS care, whilst unable to work.
The money that those on benefits receive towards their rent depends on their circumstances. Some are on Housing Benefit and some receive help via Universal Credit.
The remainder of their income is for day to day living expenses, so making them pay towards their rent and between 20 to 30%* of their Council Tax means going without essential things (as does the frozen period of benefit uprating that is currently being carried forward yesr on year).
The weekly amount is so finely tuned that only one bath/shower a week is catered for within the allowance!
There are indeed working families in poverty; 40% of those on Univetsal Credit are working. They would face the double whammy of their wages and benefits not keeping pace with inflation whilst prices are skyrocketing.
It is simply not possible to claim out of work benefits without suspensions or sanctions by packing in your job, losing it through misconduct or not being availablr for or actively seeking work. Regular checks are made via form enquiries, checking efforts that are input online, interviews and requirements to attend training courses to improve employability.
Such sanctions are brutal and include a man being refused benefits because he had a heart attack during an interview, a lone parent who was late because her child needed to use the toilet and a man with cancer who was forced to choose between attending the jobcentre or going to a hospital appointment. He chose the latter and was sanctioned.
In this situation it's hardly surprising that people are breaking the law in order to survive, I know I couldn't survive on today's benefits alone.
The 5% figure quoted is said by the Government to be the current rate of wage increases.
* Help towards the council tax now varies across the country. This used to be met in full under the Council Tax Benefit scheme.
The Cameton Government essentially slashed the budget for this, handed the amount remaining to local authorities and said "do what you will with it". The maximum amount of help available is, bizarrely, now dependent upon where one lives!
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Why shouldn't everyone have to make a degree of contribution to services that they use ?
Why should there be exceptions? People who have a relatively small degree of savings are getting hit more and more and are having to make cutbacks, and not just to luxuries such as netflix.
So you agree there is a housing component and rent doesn't necessarily come out of 'other living expenses'
You've massaged the 5% figure. the actual stats are
In real terms (adjusted for inflation), growth in total and regular pay fell on the year in April to June 2022 at 2.5% for total pay and 3.0% for regular pay; this was a record fall for regular pay. Average total pay growth for the private sector was 5.9% in April to June 2022, and 1.8% for the public sector.16 Aug 2022
I'm not arguing that some of the methods involved have had catastrophic impact to individuals, however, the examples you give are of edge cases . This of course by no means lessens the impact felt.
I also via SWMBO see people who are sanctioned, why? because they refuse to travel outside of a three mile area for work, because they refuse to work shifts (not that they have compelling reasons such as childcare, simply because they don't want to work shifts) people who refuse to work because they don't want to work weekends . For every example you give of those who really do need our support, there are an equivalent number of people who are quite simply abusing the system because they can't be bothered. there are those also who are desperate to work including people in 'Group 1'
People who cannot work should get every single piece of help available, but still make a contribution to the services if they consume, even if it's 50p
TL
R the whole system is screwed, it's needs rebuilding from the ground up