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Has anybody else got the DWP letter yet?
Yesterday my mum recieved a letter from the DWP to tell her that her benefits would be capped to £500 a week. Now before I get the usual response of good and scrounger and so on and so forth my mum has MS diagnosed 4 years ago, up until that point she had worked full time from the age of 14, she is now 46. She has 6 children including myself. Obviously at the time of having these children she was not on any benefits at all and she is a carer for my eldest brother who has autism. We figured out yesterday that she would be losing £260.00 a week, over £1000.00 a month but obviously still be expected to pay the same bills and clothe and feed her children in the same way as she has been.
The only way to have any sort of reprieve is if she claimed DLA in her own right, and had somebody else care for my brother, which I would obviously help out with but as I work full time and earn too much I wouldnt be considered. I know they have given a years notice as the changes wont happen until April 2013, but surely the fact that prices rise on a day to day basis in a year rents will have increased again as will the price of just about everything but benefits will be cut, in our case between myself, my partner and my grandparents we will do our best to help my mum out but in others cases who dont have that support are we going to see the crime rate increase even more so?
Also going off on a tangent here but if anybody had any information regarding the benefits cut or if my mum is able to claim for something else I would be most grateful.
The only way to have any sort of reprieve is if she claimed DLA in her own right, and had somebody else care for my brother, which I would obviously help out with but as I work full time and earn too much I wouldnt be considered. I know they have given a years notice as the changes wont happen until April 2013, but surely the fact that prices rise on a day to day basis in a year rents will have increased again as will the price of just about everything but benefits will be cut, in our case between myself, my partner and my grandparents we will do our best to help my mum out but in others cases who dont have that support are we going to see the crime rate increase even more so?
Also going off on a tangent here but if anybody had any information regarding the benefits cut or if my mum is able to claim for something else I would be most grateful.
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Citizens Advice Bureau will tell you what you are eligible to claim in State Welfare and how to claim it, what forms etc.
Charities will know what additional support is available such as respite care or living aids, alterations to the house or transport to clinics. MS or other neurological focused charities and Autism charities. Is your mother a single parent? You could also try Gingerbread.
Regarding the policy, I tend to agree in principle, there at least needs to be parity of income with people who are working.
theres a special place in hell for bankers and tories
Yes I think it includes housing benefit. As it makes up the bulk of benefit.
26k a year for doing nothing is pretty good income
while it is sad she is 'losing' a grand a week , 26k is still adequate , im sure there are plenty ways she can survive off lower income, cancelling cable tv/internet, mobile phone contracts etcetc
she could even move to a cheaper house to rent to increase her spending money
OP your mum in no way sounds like a scrounger - from what you say she's definately paid her dues but that's a hell of a lot of money. It's likely that most of the taxpayers who subsidise it have to survive on a lot less.
Where do you draw the line? £500 a week is not exactly peanuts.
I was just thinking that. Im working and earn £10,000 per year
if i was getting 500£pw id be over the moon
dont think i even get half as much
Dont get me wrong £500 is a large sum of money a week, but as I said before its quite a drastic cut of 260.00 a week which even if you are working and took that cut would cause a range of problems. My mum is currently privately renting, with the cuts she would have to go on the council list for a house, so that will mean having to be put up in a hostel or b and b with 5 kids until a property becomes available whenever that may be. More needs to be done in regards to landlords increasingly huge rent demands and the connection with landlords and estate agents who accept DSS, not only for my mum but for other people who are on benefits this is going to have a huge knock on effect.
the capped benefit of £26,000 a year is still a relative income that many don't earn even after putting in a full week's work. after tax, what would the relative salary be to come out with that kind of money? what more do people want?
assuming he is still alive cant he pay money towards kids
Infantile remark.
£260 a week is a lot to lose, and I'm sure it's a real headache. There has to be a limit, however, to what the State can provide - especially in times like these. What's more - nobody is obliged to have 6 kids. I think it's too many.
If people want huge families, then fine. They cannot expect the State to pick them all up when unfortunate circumstances arise.
It must be difficult for you with five kids to support and to be a carer for another.
I also earn less than that and I work bloody hard but as far as I am concerned my mum worked and paid her taxes for almost 30 years, and MS is not a disease that declares itself as soon as it arrives, it took months no years of tests and treatment and diagnosis before somebody finally got it right. But that is beside the point the point is that the cut is immense and as I said before that if it was to happen to anybody in any type of situation i.e working, not working, part time working it would be a problem.
You'd need a salary of around £50 000 to get £720 per week after deductions.
Must be.
That is a pertinent point but we do have to balance responsibilities. Having children is almost always a choice. The state already takes on responsibility for health and education and general welfare. If things do not work out right it may be incumbent on others to help financially but too often we see those receiving aid having a more comfortable lifestyle than those who through their taxes provide that aid. I do not pretend it is easy.
Do you believe the State should pay limitless amounts of benefits to people no matter how many kids they choose to have and under any circumstances?
Just wondered.
I knew that the usual its too much, and paid for doing nothing, and the usual brigade would be on this thread. I just hope that nothing like this ever happens to you, my mum went from a spritely 40 year old with her own business to a hardly moving jointly inflamed unable to work and lost everything 43 year oid who walks and moves slower than my 76 year old nan but still has 4 children under the age of 11 and an autistic son to take care of.
I could understand if she was a young mum who had numerous