observer Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Could you live on under ?60 pw as a young lad, out of work? I'm told a well known hostel charges ?28 per night - is this taken into account in the amount of dole paid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 lets see. yes it probably is as you can claim for rent which is paid to the landlord, ditto council tax. at present i and missus sid are jumping through the hoops. having lost my job just after christmas and mrs sid having had a second seizure and being diagnosed with hypoparathyroidism. called job centre and made appointment to sign on for jsa at job centre was told that rules have changed and that mrs sid had to claim as well. i informed them that she was unfit for work and was advised for her to claim incapacity with me as dependent. called hotline again and they sent out forms but instead of incapacity we had to claim ESA. which is employment support allowance. filled in forms and sent off with details of monies saved etc and sick note for mrs sid for 12 months. recieved reply that we had been granted ESA. totalling for the two of us ?94.00 per week less pension and such so we are getting now ?4.00 per week. in addition to that mrs sid has got to go for a job based interview despite the fact she has not worked for over thirty years, cannot lift her left arm much above waist height and has hypoparathyroidism. cannot wait for the medical will be great fun. as for me getting a job i do not know. would be very worried about mrs sid having another seizure. had i not been out of work she would have had the last one whilst i was on my way to work and would have been on her own for eight hours or so until i got home. maybe i should look into claiming disability for her instead. on the bright side i still have to get up at half seven to walk the dog but i enjoy that bit. so a young lad having to live on ?60.00 should be no problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 I think Sid summarises the "chaotic" benefits system that we have rather well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Your right, it's overly complex, hence old folk arn't claiming their righfull benefits. But I listened to the Minister's answer to a commons question on this: which went something like this:- If young people receive unemployment benefit as compensation for loss of earnings, such high rates would be a disincentive to work (but what work is that at the moment?), and in any case, young people's outgoings are considerable less than older people (is that cos they can live off their parents?). I suspect the incentive will be for a young lad to support his accustomed life style by "any means", which suggests a rise in criminal activity - so once again, this bunch of detached middle class elite politicians, apply their ivory tower theories to a situation without being able to work out the logical consequences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Sid, you should get Mrs Sid one of the carecall pendants that the council install. My mum has one and it is great comfort that she has something to get help if she were to fall while she is on her own at home. Would probably be free if you are claiming benefits already As a sub note, took mum to the dentist today and because she doesn't get any benefits other than her standard pension; she will now have to pay ?198.00 to have her new false teeth made (only the top ones too because she still has all her own bottom teeth!!) Surely it isn't right to have to pay that much at 86? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevofaz25 Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 no wonder dentistry is in such a mess- people xannot/ will not pay the prices- why was it ever agreed that they could charge?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 sid, get on the gov. website and look into getting carer's allowance. not sure how it affects other benefits, but def. worth checking. and then it's about doing the maths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 How is it, that you can get FREE prescriptions in Scotland and Wales, free higher education too; but not in England? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 if you are on benefit then you do not pay for prescriptions. i had a prepaid prescription card when i was working that cost ?102.50 per year. sounds a lot but when you have five items on a prescription every month it soon proves to be a big saving. strangely enough a person with heart problems cannot get an exemption vertificate but a person with hypoparathyroidism can. as for carers allowance yes i could claim it but the money i get for it would be deducted from the money that mrs sid gets so i would not be any better off money wise. swings and roundabouts. those alarm buttons are great when they work. we had one for my mother but when she set it off by accident it took us half an hour to stop it dialling the numbers. it would not be any good for mrs sid as when she doe have seizure she cannot remember anything that has happened from the time she got up and doesn't even realise that anything has happened to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 As a side note, literally 20 minutes after posting my rely above, I got a call from the carecall control centre that mums button had been pressed and they couldn't contact her. I am first person they contact and drove round to find she had had a fall and cut her arm...... they couldn't talk to her because she had fallen in the garden and was out of speaker range but the system saved her from being outside all night! Many thanks are due to the folks at Carecall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrdy Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Sid,take a look at this site :- http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/ well worth the ?20 to join as you will get that back in one week with a succesfull claim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryLightweight Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Could you live on under ?60 pw as a young lad, out of work? I'm told a well known hostel charges ?28 per night - is this taken into account in the amount of dole paid? You can survive...but it isnt living. I'm not a young lad nor do I have parents to fall back on, I live alone in a 1 bed flat and after I have paid my gas, electric, food, water etc I have enough left to live on toast for the most part until my next payment. My car is broken down outside a friends house which I cannot afford to have fixed. I have applied for over a dozen jobs in the last 2 months and heard nothing back. Depressing? Yes ! On average I am up against about 6000 applicants for every job I am applying for ( according to a man on the inside ) and these aren't all school leavers we are talking skilled tradesmen who have also fell foul of the credit crunch. The crazy thing is that I cant get any help from 'The Jobcentre' until I have been unemployed for 6 months ( unless Im foreign or addicted to drugs or alcohol or an ex con ) White middle aged single English male = bottom of the bucket. Thanks for nothing Gordon !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Think you underline the difference between "living" and "existing" - perhaps it would be better to use the money to subsidise employers to keep jobs open? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 lets see...... you can claim for rent which is paid to the landlord Not quite. Housing Benefit is now paid to the claimant and they get to decide whether to pay their rent with it - or go to the pub. I had a tennant once who did just that. It took nearly twelve months to evict them and, being on benefits, they got Legal Aid to fight the eviction. I had to spend over ?6,000 making the place habitable once I got it back (on top of a year's lost rent, which the council made no atte mpt to reclaim from the tennant). Then I decided to sell the house rather than risk another one like the last. So that's one less home available for an affordable rent - no wonder there's a shortage!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 How is it, that you can get FREE prescriptions in Scotland and Wales, free higher education too; but not in England? Always wondered that too considering that the likes of Gordie and his side kicks are Scottish At least they know they will be ok if they move back home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 With all the infrastructure modernisation schemes required, all the jobs that (looking around) one can see need doing - why is there a problem with "job creation"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 depends what jobs are being created (Have a look at the latest WBC waste of money in the local section!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Not quite. Housing Benefit is now paid to the claimant and they get to decide whether to pay their rent with it - or go to the pub. I didn't know that...rules need changing....but then maybe it is deemed to infringe a tenants human rights if the landlord knows that they are claiming benefits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 The landlord still knows, and has to provide proof of the level of rent and length of contract to the Housing Benefit people. It just doesn't make sense. Housing Benefit is also paid on a 4 weekly basis - when virtually everyone's rent is due monthly. It's always great fun trying to work out the difference each month and then explain it all to a less than bright tennant, especially when the rent is slightly above the level which Housing Benefit will pay - so the tennant is supposed to be "topping up" from other incomes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Wonder how Said from Halton manages?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevofaz25 Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 Has the campaign for an English Assembly ceased to be?? Would only be fair to let us have the same as the Scots, Welsh and Irish. this in the week when we are supposed to celebrate our patron saints day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted April 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 So England with a population of 50million, would have a "parliament" equal in powers to Scotland (pop 5million), Wales (pop 1million). A false Nationalism is the cause of the present nonesense with Scotland, who believe themselves to be a Nation; when in reality they are no more than a Region of the UK, with a smaller population than N/W England (7 million). Devolution was supposed to be about UK regionalisation; which Prescott failed to introduce; had he done so, we may have had free prescriptions, and free university places in the N/West by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Prezzer was too busy fighting and playing croquet, to get any work done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sha Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Obs we are having regionalisation! But if you think we are going to benefit from it - think again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted April 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 No we're not, cos Prezzer bodged it up! He gave it to London, Scotland and Wales; then started having referenda for the rest, who simply couldn't understand it. Result - a total dog's breakfast, with 7million Scots. Welsh and Irish having regional Government and 50million English who havn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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