The state benefits system mega-thread.

Originally Posted by Damien

Not this guy, after all the policy hadn't come into effect. I mean generally, the idea is that this is the normal benefit aside from housing benefit and any additional disability allowance or child benefits. Which would mean the £56 is for bills, travel, food, drink and any other expense apart from housing.

Are we talking about the same thing ?

I am talking about David Bennet who challenged to IDS to live on the same income (£53pw) as he does .It turns out that Bennet does not live on £53 pw his net income is £53 pw that is after bills ,his gambling and blowing his inheritance on the gee gees

Originally Posted by martyh

Are we talking about the same thing ?

I am talking about David Bennet who challenged to IDS to live on the same income (£53pw) as he does .It turns out that Bennet does not live on £53 pw his net income is £53 pw that is after bills ,his gambling and blowing his inheritance on the gee gees

Yes but other than this guy, who earns additional money on the side, people will need to live on £53 a week excluding housing costs and council bills. I am talking about if someone can live on £53 a week, realistically.

Originally Posted by Damien

Yes but other than this guy, who earns additional money on the side, people will need to live on £53 a week excluding housing costs and council bills.

oh i'm sure some will ,in fact i'm dam sure i've been close to that myself .

---------- Post added at 17:22 ---------- Previous post was at 17:17 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

Yes but other than this guy, who earns additional money on the side, people will need to live on £53 a week excluding housing costs and council bills. I am talking about if someone can live on £53 a week, realistically.

Sorry missed your edit

As long as bills like housing and CT are paid and all you have to buy is food then yes ,like i said it would be a crap existence but you would not starve .£20-25 pw and a trip to farmfoods will feed a single person for a week

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by martyh

oh i'm sure some will ,in fact i'm dam sure i've been close to that myself .

Interesting. on a scale of 1 to 10 how close to death were you?

Originally Posted by martyh

oh i'm sure some will ,in fact i'm dam sure i've been close to that myself .

---------- Post added at 17:22 ---------- Previous post was at 17:17 ----------



Sorry missed your edit

As long as bills like housing and CT are paid and all you have to buy is food then yes ,like i said it would be a crap existence but you would not starve .£20-25 pw and a trip to farmfoods will feed a single person for a week

20% council tax payable now by those on benefits. Gas Electric Water TV licence internet to look for work bus fairs to and from the job centre you will be luck to have much more than a tenner.When I refer to the £53 a week I refer to IDS claim not the joker

---------- Post added at 17:40 ---------- Previous post was at 17:40 ----------

Originally Posted by martyh

It does not

In IDS claims it does

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by martyh

As long as bills like housing and CT are paid and all you have to buy is food then yes ,like i said it would be a crap existence but you would not starve .£20-25 pw and a trip to farmfoods will feed a single person for a week

Sounds like a life support thing. as long as you're still breathing and have a pulse. that's all that matters

[Osem]

For anyone prepared to cook food themselves that sort of money could properly feed a person for a week using stuff like potatoes, pasta, rice, fresh/frozen vegetables, chicken, cheap mince (horse styleee ) oats, tinned fish, cheese, eggs milk etc.
Certain convenience foods, branded goods, red meats, takeaways etc. tend to be much more expensive and therein lies part of the problem - many people seem unable or unwilling to prepare simple healthy food for themselves.

Originally Posted by Osem

For anyone prepared to cook food themselves that sort of money could properly feed a person for a week using stuff like potatoes, pasta, rice, fresh/frozen vegetables, chicken, cheap mince (horse styleee ) oats, tinned fish, cheese, eggs milk etc.
Certain convenience foods, branded goods, red meats, takeaways etc. tend to be much more expensive and therein lies part of the problem - many people seem unable or unwilling to prepare simple healthy food for themselves.

how much are you talking about?

[Osem]

£50

[Gary L]

Well you can buy a loaf of bread for 50p. but it won't be as fresh as it should be after a couple of days so you'd have to buy another one.
and then there's way too much bread to eat. so you probably wouldn't want to eat anything else if you had to eat all the bread.

which means you wouldn't be hungry enough to eat the 'healthy and vitamin rich' foods.
saying that you can buy a bottle of vitamins.

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:51 ----------

Originally Posted by Osem

£50

Are we stealing the gas and leccy?

Originally Posted by Osem

£50

If I had £53 a week to feed off yes I concede that can be done quite easily but when IDS made his claim he stated live off not just feed himself off they are 2 different things afterall no one knew what this guy got till well after IDS made his claim

JSA claimants have to manage on £70 now none of them are likely to have a spare room so unlikely to fall foul of bedroom tax however those who live away from home will fall foul of the new council tax rules leaving them on around £67 a week this to me is around the bare minimum you can run a bedsit off and eat when you include utilities and internet or daily travel to job centres and libraries

I worked it out yesterday on £53 a week I would be able to pay my way if I lived in a bedsit and buy 2 loaves of bread 2 bottles of milk and a few tins of beans for the week

If I lived in this house I would be £20 in debt every week

[Osem]

I was just addressing the food bit, not what IDS said or meant by it. Clearly if your bills etc. also come out of that sum then you're not going to be adding to the burden on the state through obesity.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

I worked it out yesterday on £53 a week I would be able to pay my way if I lived in a bedsit and buy 2 loaves of bread 2 bottles of milk and a few tins of beans for the week

But is that healthy and good for you?
it's not as if were in the 40's and waiting till the war's over or anything. we're in 21st century Britain.

it shouldn't be where we're just about surviving and registering a pulse.
that's in the very poor countries that we raise millions of pounds for every year. isn't it?

Originally Posted by Gary L

But is that healthy and good for you?
it's not as if were in the 40's and waiting till the war's over or anything. we're in 21st century Britain.

it shouldn't be where we're just about surviving and registering a pulse.
that's in the very poor countries that we raise millions of pounds for every year. isn't it?

no

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

If I had £53 a week to feed off yes I concede that can be done quite easily but when IDS made his claim he stated live off not just feed himself off they are 2 different things afterall no one knew what this guy got till well after IDS made his claim

Let's not forget in all of this that IDS did not stand up and make a claim about anything. He was ambushed by someone who was pretty soon afterwards discovered to be lying.

He answered a direct question and said "If I had to, I could". Within that short sentence there is room for endless interpretation, and it seems to me that a lot of people are interpreting it a little generously, making very long lists of 'essentials' and then proving with paper and pencil that you can't live that list of 'essentials' on £53.

A fairer way of looking at it would be to see IDS affirming he would be able to cope on equal terms with the man in question (terms which, as we now know, are a little less straitened than £53). Or, better still, you could take his words at naked face value. Yes, you *could* live on £53 for a week, if you *had* to, because if you *had* to, then you would simply prioritise what you need to stay alive and buy that first. Everything else, even some of the things you might class as 'essential' such as internet access, become extras that you may or may not be able to afford.

I have no doubt that someone as intelligent and resourceful as IDS, especially with his military training, *could* live on £53 if he *had* to.

---------- Post added at 18:46 ---------- Previous post was at 18:45 ----------

Incidentally, I've been going back over our online grocery receipts (as we get everything delivered) and a fair estimate of our average weekly grocery bill, ie. all our eating and cleaning, is somewhere between £80 and £90 for a family of five.