Comments on: Could you live on £60 per week? And could your MP?

By: Welfare reform, and speaking up for the mentally ill « Benefits Culture

Welfare reform, and speaking up for the mentally ill « Benefits Culture — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:18:47 +0000

[...] who are trying to earn that extra £100 they need to cover their basic needs. As Oxfam asked, could YOU live on £60 a week? (People on disability benefits get a little more, almost £90 a week, but that’s still a far [...]

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:16:18 +0000

I have my 9 year old daughter living with me for half the week, I was awarded joint residency by a judge. I had to quit my job to be able to take and collect her from school as my employer wouldn’t/couldn’t change my hours. I have no family to help me and we are expected to live on £60 a week. I dont get child benefit or child tax credit, my ex partner gets it. I dont eat for one or two days a week so that my daughter can. It cost me £25 a week in bus fares to get her to school which I cant avoid paying. This leaves me with £35 to pay for gas, electric, water and food. Its impossible to live like this. MP’s dont live in the real world as they have no idea of the hardship that living on benefits causes or I suspect that they do but don’t really care. The last poster, Ben Henderson is a fool.

By: Ben Henderson

Ben Henderson — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:05:13 +0000

I’m A 22 Year Old male, i have damaged my back at work (in a steel factory)
i’m willing to stay at work doing light duties but they can’t accommodate me/give me any “meaningful” tasks, my doctor signed me off for 3 more weeks, with statutory sick pay, all i will get for the whole 3 weeks is �210 SSP which is what i would normally make in 3 days. i really don’t know how i will survive next month, that is going to have to cover my rent, gas, electic and water bills let alone food. If i dont take the sick leave and go back to work before my back is healed and have an accident then i will be dismissed for negligence as it will be seen as my fault for woring with an injury and then i’ll be out of work, then i wont be entittled to sign on jobseekers for six weeks as it will be seen as my fault for loosing my job, by that time i will be homeless. i have worked since i was 16 and have always paid tax and NIC, my NIC added up to �1682 just for the last tax year – april 2008 to april 2009.
I’m not saying everybodies the same but most the people i now on jobseekers or incapacity benefits are quite comfortable on them, my friends on them go out more then i do and some of my mothers friends have been on them since before i can remember. after i’ve paid tax, NIC, rent, household bills and food a significant amount less then 60.50 a week, and definatley not enough to save for a situation like the one im in now, not that i ever thought i’d have to. and im a hard working citizen who as i said before has always worked. now i am in need of help there is nothing for me, noone to pay my rent or bills, this makes me physically ill thinking of the state i’ll be in very shortly. Especially seeing as all that has come out about the MPs expenses recently! i alway thought living in england, as it is supposed to be a ‘democracy’ that there would be support for someone like me, but apparntly not.
i also live with my girlfriend who also wors full time, so if i do lose my job we will both lose our flat as she couldn’t afford to pay for both of us.
My girlfriends mother has an honours degree and has been a registered social worker for 15 years, she has worked very hard to get where she is now. she’s on 33,000 a year of which she sees 18, 480 after 44% taxes and that doesn’t inclued NIC. so after NIC at 11% she gets 16, 447.20. she also has to pay a mortgage of at the moment 1000 a month, leaving her with a discusting 4447.20 for the year! that makes 85.52 a week, which she still has to pay all household bills with, plus school meals for both children and uniforms. most people on benefits get a school dinner allowence for children as well as a uniform allowence. she has two young children aged 6 and 13 as well as her 24 year old son leaving at home, who at the moment is unemployed. her eldest son has also always worked but has recently lost his job so i do understand how hard it is for people to find work at the moment but on as little as she is getting after essenstial expenses it seems there is no hope either way. she is a single parent only getting 120 from the father as child maintinance for the younger child. as she is earning over 31, 800 a year so she is not entitled to any benefit other then child benefit and when my girlfriend was in college she was not entitled to EMA. to me it seems there is absolutly no point getting a degree and professional job if thats what you are going to be left with! i can’t actually remember the last time she went out as she simply can’t afford to. she has been diagnosed with depression and is seriously struggling to survive. so sorry if this seems completely out of order but personally if i was having my rent/mortgage paid and the getting an extra 60.50 a week i would be very happy especially if i was single without children, and not having to pay tax or NIC.

By: E.P.

E.P. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:24:56 +0000

I am a ‘migrant’ from Eastern Europe, Lithuania. I came to this country to find equality and democracy which was rarely seen twelwe years ago in Lithuania. But now I can’t find it here either. All financial problems are likely to be blamed on new entrants to the EU. We still have no access to ‘means tested benefits’ and housing. So if I have worked as self employed builder for the last 10 years with some intervals, now when I’ve got into the crisis like everybody else, I have to starve. Is it becouse I am Lithuanian? Or is it becouse I have paid more than �200 per week in taxes?
Now all I have is �51 a week in Working Tax credits, shared room and empty fridge.
I have tried to get benefits, but foun out that ‘For the benefit purposes I have no right to live in UK’. And that’s after 10 years of paying taxes and hard working?
Thanks god I am mortgage free. Freedom is my fortune.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:08:12 +0000

What can we do??? I am desperate. I live in a rural area- no neighbours and no public transport the nearest town to shop is a 20 mile round trip petrol costs �1.06 a litre I am unable to work due to illness and disability and have used up my statutory sick pay it costs �40 to fill the car up I feel so hopeless is there any help out there?

By: jenny

jenny — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:03:19 +0000

I can honestly say hand on heart that i am struggling severely with trying to live on 60.50 a week, i have a 3 bedroom property and a 19 year old son who was made redundant, my gas is �15 a week, my electric is �15 a week, thats half my money gone, thats without direct debits, and then managing to eat, i am now thinking about downgrading my house to a bungalow to try to save on fuel costs, and everything else that is classed as a luxury, just has to go, i cannot remember the last time i went out with friends, becoming a depressed recluse seems to come with jsa etc, the government should take a look a what their mps are spending on all there xtra houses and the materials they require to furnish them, there million pound pensions etc, give some back to society, they have the cheek to call us scroungers, and subsequently charge people with benefit fraud, what the hell are they doing?

By: sarah

sarah — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:55:10 +0000

I currently exist on jobseekers allowance. I spend all my time just tring to survive when I should be trying to find a way forward into work but sometimes I cannot even buy food or afford transport. When I go to the jobcentre they treat me like scum and threaten me. I am a graduate but the’help’ for unemployed people is inappropriate for people like me. I have never been told about suitable training by them. All job applications are by internet now and it has taken me 4 years to get the money together to get online to apply for jobs

By: Will

Will — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:25:59 +0000

Neil – I think you’re right that teaching budgeting skills is vital, but watching Maria’s (really touching) story brought home just how much effort is involved in getting by on a low income. Her envelope system sounds like it worked incredibly well, but must have taken a huge amount of time and effort. One of those vicious cycles – the less money you have, the more time you have to spend looking after it, which means the less time you have to look for work, get skills etc…

By: Tony Rhodes(The National Carers Forum)

Tony Rhodes(The National Carers Forum) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:39:11 +0000

Tony McNulty has admitted he could not live on 60 quid a week, What about carers who look after their sick and disabled relatives, carers are expected to live on just over fifty quid, this benefit and to get it they must do a minimum of thirty five hours per week, my fiance works seven days per week and never has any time off.
The benefits system does not allow for people to participate in society, one just exists, while ministers like Purnell say the new welfare reform will help millions of people we all know this is a load of tosh, the new welfare system is just another way to persecute the poor , the sick, the least able, we are now starting to hear the same sort of voices of the 1930s in europe.
During this reccession the poor and the least able will be targetted by the government and all the parties, the elderly and the pensioners and the poor are now to be made the scapegoats for all our countries ills.

By: Neil

Neil — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:00:58 +0000

Short answer – no. I reckon I could get by on £90 a week in the medum term, but not £60.
I am budgeting as a single person with no dependent children, it is probably easier for couples as some costs are shared – but I am counting in some things which are “needs” for me but others might be able to do without.
As a Citizens Advice adviser, I see those who can and those who cannot manage on benefits, and the reasons why.
Teaching good budgeting lifeskills is the biggest factor in helping people to cope on less, and to deal with the nasty surprises which life may send us, and there are an increasing number of groups who provide this.
Try Maria’s Story on YouTube for an example of someone for whom this training did make a difference. She doesn’t say it was easy, though …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAIGbM1sWBU