Benefits cap. The answer to UK Benefit Concerns?
Discussion
The government are like their predecessors talking a good job on ending the Benefits society that successive governments have created.
Mr Osbourne has suggested a Cap on every family of some £26,000 benefits.
My concern here is to discuss whether, like the current debacle in NHS reforms, the devil in the detail will effectively prevent such an overall cap being introduced.
And also to discover whether this cap is actually an OVERALL cap. I would have though that for VAST numbers in London the Housing benefit claims exceed this amount in themselves.
I think it is universally understood by taxpayers that the current situation where benefit claimants are permanently more secure and better provided for by being unemployed than by taking a job cannot continue.
BUT is this Cap the answer.
I personally very much doubt it but it is a good headline to smooth the troubled waters of UK politics.
Mr Osbourne has suggested a Cap on every family of some £26,000 benefits.
My concern here is to discuss whether, like the current debacle in NHS reforms, the devil in the detail will effectively prevent such an overall cap being introduced.
And also to discover whether this cap is actually an OVERALL cap. I would have though that for VAST numbers in London the Housing benefit claims exceed this amount in themselves.
I think it is universally understood by taxpayers that the current situation where benefit claimants are permanently more secure and better provided for by being unemployed than by taking a job cannot continue.
BUT is this Cap the answer.
I personally very much doubt it but it is a good headline to smooth the troubled waters of UK politics.
Just for simple unemployment benefit, I'd like to see a sliding scale, based on previous salary.
0 - 25k
25k - 50k
50k +
then start weekly unemployment benefit at £100 pw, £150pw and £200pw
Then after an initial month each month of claim, remove £5 from the weekly allowance.
Incentivised, fair, consistently applied. Reflects the fact that there are more Jobs at less then £25k per year etc
voyds9 said:
By the time it actually arrives so many things will have changed that the cap will be unworkable.
I can imagine a system where certain benefits aren't counted,eg £26,000 + disability +carers allowance +housing benefit etc.
Still, it makes a good headline which is all that seems to matter in politics these days. The current way of going about things is:I can imagine a system where certain benefits aren't counted,eg £26,000 + disability +carers allowance +housing benefit etc.
1 - set up an expensive policy review;
2 - propose some changes which actually make sense and seem logical;
3 - 'review' the initial review and water down the policy so much that we're effectively back to the beginning.
Then when people complain about it blame coalition politics, labour, the economy, the EU.........
And round and round we go.
hyperblue said:
£26,000! You'd need a salary of £35k to take that home, which is significantly above the median wage. 
Yes, many claiments are on far more than that. Far more.What the government needs is a policy that makes us think they are doing something, the spongers think they will do nothing, and ideally something they can agree on.
I have no illusions that a single thing will change for the better.
maniac0796 said:
If you can't manage your finances on £35k without government help, then you need a really big reality slap.
Very true. My first first Job paid a very high £13k... Needless to say I went into shared accomodation for cost reasons.
Luckily for ne I only lasted at that level for 4 months before getting into the £20k's.
Can you survive on £26k net? Family say two kids one wife Boone working? Area you choose to live in does play a huge amount ie certain parts of London would eat hugely into that so you either move away pay less in rent more for food and living expenses.
Or you risk it stay in that area but land the job the job would pay more than elsewhere in the UK generally. But if you have no intention of looking for work make your bed and deal with it
Btw £26k is too much. It should be a cap per person but also a cap on a household to avoid pregnancy machines.
Um the £5sliding clawback would be an admin nightmare sadly. What I'd say is if you are on benefits the dw&p would pay tv lic council tax rent electric and gas directly leaving then with the food costs only. Too many cannot budget then need emergency help on top. This way bread and water for a week job done
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8571806/C...
The Government pledged that no household living on state handouts should earn more than the average family, after a number of reports of large jobless families claiming more than £100,000 a year in welfare payments.
But yesterday Lord Freud, the Tory welfare reform minister, told the BBC's Politics Show that it would be unfair to punish larger families, and that there would be some exemptions.
The Government pledged that no household living on state handouts should earn more than the average family, after a number of reports of large jobless families claiming more than £100,000 a year in welfare payments.
But yesterday Lord Freud, the Tory welfare reform minister, told the BBC's Politics Show that it would be unfair to punish larger families, and that there would be some exemptions.
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