CH4 to pay claimants £26K benefits in one annual lump sum.

[Puggit]

CountZero23 said:

£26,000 is enough to start a small business, get trained up in a trade, move to India and live like kings for a couple of years.

Or...


"Scott and Leanne with the beach bar they installed in their back garden."

In fairness, it doesn't look like it even came close to being a £26k beach bar

[nicanary]

Justayellowbadge said:

nicanary said:

Yes, it's £16k. I retired recently, and applied for housing benefit to help pay the rent. I was declined because I had given my daughter about £20k earlier in the year as a house deposit. It's called notional capital. How the hell I'm supposed to get my hands on it I don't know.

Sorry. personal whine and OT. Except I now have about £20 per week to live on, after rent, utilities, car running costs etc.. It's a stupid system, unless you're one of those scumbags who know how to "play" it.

I have to ask.

Why did you think you could give away 20k and expect the state to subsidise you?

Edited by Justayellowbadge on Wednesday 3rd February 17:53

That's a reasonable point and one I'm quite prepared to answer. I simply didn't think they would take it into account - I had promised my daughter for some time that I would help with cash if she decided to buy a house, but it didn't occur to me that I was doing anything wrong. I knew from the Housing Benefit website that the threshold was £16k, and I do appreciate that some people would deliberately hide or spend their savings to get this help. I'm naive in that way. I do things by the book and was completely open with the Benefits people about what I'd done.

I mistakenly thought that, as a taxpayer and NI payer all my life, when I retired they would want to help me as opposed to the layabouts who claim in a sometimes fraudulent manner. I thought that the subsidies were a way of paying back suitable claimants who had contributed through their working life.

I'm dumber than I thought.

[BlackST]

Ari said:

battered said:

Ari said:

'...who are each given a lump sum of £26,000 - the maximum any one family can receive under the Government's benefits cap.'

Is it really the maximum though? My understanding is that there are a myriad of loopholes, exceptions, 'special cases' and work-arounds for more money if you know the system (and have enough kids of course).

Yeah, right. Everyone on benefits gets loads of money, there are a myriad of loopholes, etc. I have first hand experience of living on benefits for a protracted length of time in 2010-11 following a road accident when I couldn't work. My total benefit received in the year between my last salary payment and 52 weeks later was about £3,600. Yes, three thousand six hundred pounds. Give or take. Total. My rent over this period, which came out of that sum, was £5,400. Leaving a deficit of £1800 to pay bills, buy food, etc. Yes, that's a negative sum. Good thing I had savings.

The "living on benefits is easy money" brigade ought to f**ing try it before they hold forth about how easy it is. Do some people abuse the system? Of course, just like some people fiddle taxes. But "easy money"? No. I saw enough Netto bloody chicken to last me a lifetime. The proportion of benefits claimants getting *anything like* £26k is vanishingly small. Families of 6 in West London, 1 of whom is severely disabled and needs 24 hour care, maybe. How many of them are there? Most benefits claimants get rent paid, CT paid, maybe heating/elec paid, £70pw. In a small place in say Leeds this is £5400 + £1000 + £600 + (£70 x 52). £11k, give or take. That's a lot less than £26k. Now go and live on it.

Oh, and this isn't a pop at you, Ari, it's a pop at the Daily Mail sponsored attitude that all on benefits are scroungers who've never done a day's work, it's easy money, blah blah blah, and a pop at exactly this kind of benefits porn.

How many kids do you have..?

Single mother I'm related to has 4 children. One has some hyperactive disability so she receives £xxxx a month in benefits for her. Nothing wrong with the child in the few times that I've spoke to her.
Rent paid for free.

A couple with a mortgage who have worked all their life and been made redundant won't get much help. Unfortunately that's not how the system works.
Most simple scam is, woman gets pregnant. Says she doesn't speak to the father anymore. Father works full time and lives in the house that gets paid for them.
House paid for plus child support. £1500+ a month with no rent coming out isn't too bad for 2 parents and a child who are career claimants who only have cigarettes and alchohol to pay for.

[Carthage]

nicanary said:

That's a reasonable point and one I'm quite prepared to answer. I simply didn't think they would take it into account - I had promised my daughter for some time that I would help with cash if she decided to buy a house, but it didn't occur to me that I was doing anything wrong. I knew from the Housing Benefit website that the threshold was £16k, and I do appreciate that some people would deliberately hide or spend their savings to get this help. I'm naive in that way. I do things by the book and was completely open with the Benefits people about what I'd done.

I mistakenly thought that, as a taxpayer and NI payer all my life, when I retired they would want to help me as opposed to the layabouts who claim in a sometimes fraudulent manner. I thought that the subsidies were a way of paying back suitable claimants who had contributed through their working life.

I'm dumber than I thought.

And you didn't think that this was trying to defraud the system so that your daughter would effectively benefit from state subsidy?
I'm shocked.

[nicanary]

Carthage said:

nicanary said:

That's a reasonable point and one I'm quite prepared to answer. I simply didn't think they would take it into account - I had promised my daughter for some time that I would help with cash if she decided to buy a house, but it didn't occur to me that I was doing anything wrong. I knew from the Housing Benefit website that the threshold was £16k, and I do appreciate that some people would deliberately hide or spend their savings to get this help. I'm naive in that way. I do things by the book and was completely open with the Benefits people about what I'd done.

I mistakenly thought that, as a taxpayer and NI payer all my life, when I retired they would want to help me as opposed to the layabouts who claim in a sometimes fraudulent manner. I thought that the subsidies were a way of paying back suitable claimants who had contributed through their working life.

I'm dumber than I thought.

And you didn't think that this was trying to defraud the system so that your daughter would effectively benefit from state subsidy?
I'm shocked.

My coat is on my back as I type. The gift was made many months before I decided to retire. No malice was intended. I don't think I know any retired person who is renting who doesn't get some portion of their rent paid. It's perfectly normal.

Mind you, this is Ulster, once called by Harold Wilson a nation of spongers.

[Sheepshanks]

Carthage said:

And you didn't think that this was trying to defraud the system so that your daughter would effectively benefit from state subsidy?
I'm shocked.

He didn't try and defraud the system - he told them what he'd done.

[Oakey]

Nic, I hate to ask, but what happened to the fruits of your labour? You've retired but don't own a property yet have £20k to give your daughter? Did things go wrong somewhere along the line? Sorry if that's a bit personal.

[CorbynForTheBin]

Trends in the photos...

1. fat
2. feckless-looking

[austinsmirk]

the other error with this, is this: £26k is the maximum.

so a single person would be getting nowhere near that amount. they wouldn't even get full HB, but just shared room rate if under 35 (I think)

anyway leave Nic alone.

[nicanary]

Oakey said:

Nic, I hate to ask, but what happened to the fruits of your labour? You've retired but don't own a property yet have £20k to give your daughter? Did things go wrong somewhere along the line? Sorry if that's a bit personal.

My apologies to the OP for taking over his thread.

Things did go wrong. Three marriages and three divorces. I haven't owned a house since around 1990. Unemployment and then working in the grey economy meant I was not able to obtain a mortgage. I did however manage to pay into a small pension plan, and this and an inheritance provided the capital to assist my daughter, my only child. This is not a sob story, but I reckon lots of people have similar backgrounds.

I hadn't allowed for the benefit office asking to see the past year's bank statements! What's this, giving your daughter a helping hand in life? Not allowed mate, to the Gulag with you!

[PAULJ5555]

JPJPJP said:

Is the £26k over and above the benefits they receive from the government?

Or is that it, no more money for 12 months, no matter what?

It looks like they will still get their government benefits, so its just CH4 giving them a 26K price and filming them for 4 months - not 12 months.
Theirs no need for them to budget the money because they will not get caught short at the end.

Bit of a stupid idea really if theirs no risk of them loosing their home.

They should call it "people on benefits win 26K prize"

[Ari]

That can't be right surely? It would make the premise of the show utterly pointless.

The whole experiment is about giving people a years worth of benefit up front instead of drip feed over the year and see what they do. To give them a years worth and then continue to pay them every week or month or whatever it normally is would make a nonsense of it.

[Oakey]

nicanary said:

My apologies to the OP for taking over his thread.

Things did go wrong. Three marriages and three divorces. I haven't owned a house since around 1990. Unemployment and then working in the grey economy meant I was not able to obtain a mortgage. I did however manage to pay into a small pension plan, and this and an inheritance provided the capital to assist my daughter, my only child. This is not a sob story, but I reckon lots of people have similar backgrounds.

I hadn't allowed for the benefit office asking to see the past year's bank statements! What's this, giving your daughter a helping hand in life? Not allowed mate, to the Gulag with you!

I lost everything a few years back and it's been a bit of a struggle since but I'm in my 30s so hopefully plenty of time to get back on track. My mother, who was gifted a house by her parents and spent 30 odd years mortgage free decided to sell it for peanuts and rent it back, something I can never get my ahead around as she now works two jobs to keep the roof over her head. It's always interesting to hear about other people who have been through similar and I guess reassuring that no matter how low you feel you're not alone and there are other people going through the same sort of things.

Is there some kind of time limit now before you can apply again?

[nicanary]

Oakey said:

nicanary said:

My apologies to the OP for taking over his thread.

Things did go wrong. Three marriages and three divorces. I haven't owned a house since around 1990. Unemployment and then working in the grey economy meant I was not able to obtain a mortgage. I did however manage to pay into a small pension plan, and this and an inheritance provided the capital to assist my daughter, my only child. This is not a sob story, but I reckon lots of people have similar backgrounds.

I hadn't allowed for the benefit office asking to see the past year's bank statements! What's this, giving your daughter a helping hand in life? Not allowed mate, to the Gulag with you!

I lost everything a few years back and it's been a bit of a struggle since but I'm in my 30s so hopefully plenty of time to get back on track. My mother, who was gifted a house by her parents and spent 30 odd years mortgage free decided to sell it for peanuts and rent it back, something I can never get my ahead around as she now works two jobs to keep the roof over her head. It's always interesting to hear about other people who have been through similar and I guess reassuring that no matter how low you feel you're not alone and there are other people going through the same sort of things.

Is there some kind of time limit now before you can apply again?

I think they work on the basis that the notional weekly rent allowance is deducted from the savings balance until it dips below £16k. In other words, what I would have received in housing benefit (about £90 pw) is totalled up until the point where the threshold is reached, so after a year I would have received about £4500 in benefits, and my notional savings would be reduced by this sum.

That's how I read the regulation. It should be September this year - until then my daughter feeds me. It's an interesting experience, but luckily I don't smoke or drink socially, so my expenses are low.

[Oakey]

Well good luck with it all.

[Rick101]

BlackST said:

A couple with a mortgage who have worked all their life and been made redundant won't get much help. Unfortunately that's not how the system works.
Most simple scam is, woman gets pregnant. Says she doesn't speak to the father anymore. Father works full time and lives in the house that gets paid for them.
House paid for plus child support. £1500+ a month with no rent coming out isn't too bad for 2 parents and a child who are career claimants who only have cigarettes and alchohol to pay for.

You missed a trick here and it was something i was once advised to do by a very rich accountant.

Are you married? No
Has your partner got kids? No

Get some kids from somewhere, she acts as legal guardian for niece/nephew. I was to register living at home with Mum or elsewhere. BTL Mortgage with her living in rental. No legal link between us so she is effectively a single mother in rented accommodation and the Housing benefit paying the costs and council tax.

Winner.

[Richyboy]

Our future is ghetto Britain once turkey opens up for business properly. I wonder why I bothering worrying about my future, should just give up and live like there's no tomorrow.

[ILoveMondeo]

theboss said:

It would be interesting to see an equivalent production whereby the 'typical' PHer as depicted on the recent thread, was given his annual net salary in one lump sum.

Haha, that' would be so boring...

1) Money goes in mortgage offset
2) sufficient to cover monthly outgoings withdrawn each month.
3) Fin.

or the lunatic fringe of PH may be

1) Buy elephant
2) rent to indian weddings

Which would be more fun!


This is of course just car crash TV, not any kind of "social experiment".

[beanbag]

If you give idiots money, they'll do idiotic stuff with it....all for our amusement.

This is just about creating cheap entertainment for Channel 4.

[Oakey]

On a similar theme I saw an advert for a show about the worlds most weirdest Council houses. Things like flats in tower blocks where the interior has been done like the Sistine Chapel, that sort of thing. I'll try and find more information.

Here it is:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britains-weirde...