Author Topic: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.  (Read 6619 times)

brian54

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #30 on: Feb 20, 2020, 02:48:20 PM »
I watched a documentary in Universal Credit yesterday. When one woman got her money her first act was to upgrade her phone but I didn't think there was a fault with her current one. Someone else was smoking. These people need to sort their priorities out!
I dont smoke. I have an occupational and a state pension. My smart phone is nearly 3 years old.

klondike

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #31 on: Feb 20, 2020, 02:56:28 PM »
You waste money feeding dogs and grandchildren though...
So long and thanks for all the fish

digitalis

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #32 on: Feb 20, 2020, 02:58:36 PM »
I know it goes against the grain,but some people just haven't got the full packet of marbles. That's just how it is. They had an impoverished upbinging,parents who were themselves not the full packet. Gene malfunctions. We cant all be as perfect as us here! OTOH,we've got the gifted and the ne'er do wells. Lets say you or your partner or daughter have got something serious going on around your boob areas...and if MPs were doctors. Your choice: who u gonna trust? I private practice? Grant Schaps or IDS or Jeremy Corbyn? I didn't vote for Corbyn,but I'd rather consult and trust Ozzy Osbourne that the the first two. Think about it. Chancers or someone with integrity(maybe misplaced?) Who helped and gorged themselves on MPs expenses? And who claimed less than they should.

Stories we could tell,eh.

klondike

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #33 on: Feb 20, 2020, 03:02:37 PM »
Stories we could tell,eh.
well you certainly bang out a few  :)
So long and thanks for all the fish

Diasi

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #34 on: Feb 20, 2020, 03:22:32 PM »

If I did not know what I would be getting for my first UC payment I would get a piece of paper and calculate my approximate weekly/monthly needs, and apply for the minimum advance. I would not be spending it on new shoes, a phone, a hairdo or treats for the kids. I would be cutting back drastically on any luxuries like smoking or fancy food (I don’t smoke) until I know what my normal monthly payment was likely to be.

It's nothing new, the majority of the unemployed were the first people to get Sky TV when it was launched around 1989 / 1990.

I could drive round an area & see where the claimants lived by looking for the Sky dishes before I actually got close enough to check the street numbers.
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GrannyMac

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #35 on: Feb 20, 2020, 06:13:59 PM »
Some of the tenants I visited who had rent arrears had strange priorities.  Long term benefits claimants were used to having their rent paid directly to the council and if they found work sometimes struggled with the concept that it was their responsibility to pay rent, and actually not a free house! 


Big tellies with Sky, kids in designer trainers, takeaways etc are tangibles. Rent isn't until threatened with eviction!
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brian54

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #36 on: Feb 20, 2020, 10:19:43 PM »
You waste money feeding dogs and grandchildren though...

I don't think Dogs Trust and the NSPCC would agree.

biglouis

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #37 on: Feb 20, 2020, 11:20:40 PM »
Yes I did myself wonder why the "advance" is repayable as a loan. After all surely if the claimant is transferred onto UC because of a change in circumstances they are still entitled to benefit for the 4 weeks when they are awaiting their entitlement to be calculated. However I understand UC is paid a month in arrears.
My mother could never get her head around monthly budgeting whereas I never knew anything different. I used to pay my essential bills at the beginning of the month and then divide up what was left into the 4 weeks.


Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools.

Diasi

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #38 on: Feb 21, 2020, 06:58:30 AM »
Yes I did myself wonder why the "advance" is repayable as a loan. After all surely if the claimant is transferred onto UC because of a change in circumstances they are still entitled to benefit for the 4 weeks when they are awaiting their entitlement to be calculated. However I understand UC is paid a month in arrears.
My mother could never get her head around monthly budgeting whereas I never knew anything different. I used to pay my essential bills at the beginning of the month and then divide up what was left into the 4 weeks.

An advance on wages would be a loan that had to be paid back & UC is no different.
Make every day count, each day is precious.
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal".  (Cassandra)

Sheila

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #39 on: Feb 21, 2020, 07:43:57 AM »
Some of the tenants I visited who had rent arrears had strange priorities.  Long term benefits claimants were used to having their rent paid directly to the council and if they found work sometimes struggled with the concept that it was their responsibility to pay rent, and actually not a free house! 


Big tellies with Sky, kids in designer trainers, takeaways etc are tangibles. Rent isn't until threatened with eviction!

Did you try to help them to take responsibility for budgeting or was it a lost cause?  Someone who I know worked on the council emergency out of hours phone line.  She would get demands for someone to come immediately to make a minor repair and if she said 'No, it's not an emergency' would get abuse and demands for her name.

brian54

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #40 on: Feb 21, 2020, 08:12:48 AM »
It's nothing new, the majority of the unemployed were the first people to get Sky TV when it was launched around 1989 / 1990.

I could drive round an area & see where the claimants lived by looking for the Sky dishes before I actually got close enough to check the street numbers.
I never had time for Sky Tv in 1989 / 90. I worked.

Scrumpy

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #41 on: Feb 21, 2020, 08:27:43 AM »



The (big) lady who lives down the road has a carer.. He is her husband. She has a bigger and better car then most around here... They seem to live well and go on holidays often.
 Jealous !  You bet... Because I contribute to their style of living..
I save for my holidays.. and my little old motor is kept in good shape ..


I think their car is serviced free and the tax is also paid for them.. I could be wrong..
Perhaps Gonetoseed will put me right.  Where is the guy, haven't seen his name here for a while..!!
Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, its not the end.

David G

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #42 on: Feb 21, 2020, 08:34:42 AM »
That'll be the Motability scheme. I run a V reg Mondeo, nearly 20 yrs old.
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klondike

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #43 on: Feb 21, 2020, 08:55:43 AM »
Perhaps Gonetoseed will put me right.  Where is the guy, haven't seen his name here for a while..!!
Probably off on a state funded holiday somewhere.
So long and thanks for all the fish

GrannyMac

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Re: Benefit Freeze coming to an end in April.
« Reply #44 on: Feb 21, 2020, 09:30:11 AM »
Did you try to help them to take responsibility for budgeting or was it a lost cause?  Someone who I know worked on the council emergency out of hours phone line.  She would get demands for someone to come immediately to make a minor repair and if she said 'No, it's not an emergency' would get abuse and demands for her name.

Sheila, most tenants were fine. We reckoned we spent 90% of our time on less than 10% of residents.  A lot of that was trying to resolve neighbour issues.  We did try and help with budgeting, with form filling, or by signposting to debt specialists and credit unions.  When there were rent collectors, arrears were less of a problem, but the job became quite unsafe, (a female rent collector was murdered by a tenant in Rotherham in the 1990s) plus more people had access to other methods of payment.

When I first started as a housing officer tenants could get new sink and bath plugs and toilet seats within the repairs budget.  Most didn't bother and just bought their own, but some must have had market stalls selling the things!  Luckily the council saw sense eventually.  I'd have to try and get people to tidy up their gardens, and it seemed like sod's law that those in the corner houses were the worst.

Later I worked for a while in another council's one stop shop, dealing with all sorts of issues from homeless assessments to planning enquiries and blue badge applications.  Front line of the council - great target for abuse.  Threats, name calling, spat at, shouted and sworn at.  All in a day's work.  ;D   Some cases were difficult, vulnerable people with few of the tools we need to deal with the world.  We even had staff collections for bus fares, or bought someone a sandwich if it was obvious they needed it.

 
Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right.

R. Gervais