Benefit sanctions

[Mr Rational]

I will assume you are not trolling.

£1000 is not that much once you fall behind, you end up chasing your tail, paying late charges, trying to keep your head above the water.

It's not the food that gets you into difficulties, it's the rest of the bills that do and when you are struggling to keep a roof over your head, food and or heating is normally the first essential thing to go.

As for payment plans etc, once you are on the slope down, it can be very hard to get off it it. He still had responsibilities, he had commuting costs and a few other things which I won't go into on here, all of which cost money.

Sometimes the difference between eating and starving can be inconsequential, for a lot of folk, things are that tight.

Don't believe me? Go volunteer at a food bank one weekend. Listen to the folk coming through the doors, listen to their stories, what happened to them.

Then get back to me.

[invergowrie arab]

The vast majority of people my team and I refer to foodbanks are due to benefit delay and sanction.

Even allowing for that looking at someone's gross earnings is moronic. You have no idea about someone's outgoings, debts and who they are responsible for.

It's only going to get worse. I had a briefing on universal credit 2 weeks ago. For those unaware there is a waiting period of 6-7 weeks for claims to be processed. So the single people in Dundee who moved onto UC at the beginning of November won't get paid til mid December. When the dwp rep was asked how they should live he replied hardship loans and foodbanks. If I hadn't been at work I might have hit him. So, by the time UC gets into the bank accounts of these people the will already be in debt to the council or god knows who.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Thats around £1000 earnings per month you are talking about there assuming minimum wage. How can you not feed yourself on that amount?

Pensioners have to get by on half that.

As for the unexpected bill, we all get those but surely he could negotiate a payment plan of some kind?

The poor pensioners chat is pish. I've worked in Welfare Rights for 3 years and there's been literally one foodbank referral for a pensioner. We do benefits checks several times a week for pensioners when helping them out with AA claims and very very few are struggling financially to the extent that intervention is required.

The vast majority of our foodbank referrals are for sanctions, often for absolutely ludicrous reasons.

As someone above pointed out, we are all one incident away from total disaster. I recently took a food parcel out to a 55 year old 8 stone alcoholic. Three years ago he had a successful business until he sustained a brain injury in car crash, his wife left him and absolutely fucked him in the divorce.

He'll probably be dead within a couple of years .

[Ad Lib]

Thats around £1000 earnings per month you are talking about there assuming minimum wage. How can you not feed yourself on that amount?

Pensioners have to get by on half that.

As for the unexpected bill, we all get those but surely he could negotiate a payment plan of some kind?

£1000 per month when you have dependants isn't very much.

Let's look at rent, probably £300 a month per head, bare minimum in an urban area. If you live alone, could be £500-600.

Then council tax, typically £130-150 a month.

Then electricity/gas, typically £50-60 a month.

Then transport costs, about £40 a month per person on public transport. Probably at least the same when running a car if not more.

That's bare minimum. We are talking £740 a month just to have a roof over your head. Then you've got to clothe yourself. Let's allow £40 a month for that, which gets you two pairs of shoes a year, 4 or 5 jumpers, 3-4 pairs of jeans, underwear and maybe a suit, 2-3 shirts and some t-shirts. That's you up to just shy of £800.

Even if you're spending £50 a week on food, the minimum wage only just gives you a fairly rudimentary standard of living. If you have a dependent you have £4 for food per day. If you have a child who has a school dinner and you buy a coffee on the way to work, you have about £1.50 per head to provide breakfast and dinner. I'm no economist, but that doesn't exactly sound like Ubiquitous Chip.

Let's say your washing machine breaks down. This has happened to me twice before. To have a handy-man come out to look at it, and fix a relatively common fault, you're probably paying about £80-90. Or say the heating element goes on your cooker. Likewise. Let's say your car's clutch fails on your way to work. £300. The last time I checked, joiners and garages don't tend to do credit as a matter of course in their businesses.

You need to stop talking down the lives of others. You're showing yourself up as a really unpleasant individual.

[Gordon EF]

oaksoft's basically a pound shop Stuart Dickson.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

oaksoft's basically a pound shop Stuart Dickson.

Insult to Dickson IMO

[sophia]

and you buy a coffee on the way to work

^

First Word Problems thread for this promulgation.

Baby boomer Tories who don't give much of their time to imagine the reality of life for others less fortunate could be forgiven for their laziness.

For the Lib Dems to give the Tories a platform for this nonsense is unforgivable.

[Ad Lib]

^

First Word Problems thread for this promulgation.

Baby boomer Tories who don't give much of their time to imagine the reality of life for others less fortunate could be forgiven for their laziness.

For the Lib Dems to give the Tories a platform for this nonsense is unforgivable.

[Mr Bairn]

Thats around £1000 earnings per month you are talking about there assuming minimum wage. How can you not feed yourself on that amount?

Pensioners have to get by on half that.

As for the unexpected bill, we all get those but surely he could negotiate a payment plan of some kind?

Most pensioners aren't paying a mortgage, don't have to pay travelling expenses to get to/from work, don't have to buy suits for work etc etc

[Fide]

£1000 per month when you have dependants isn't very much.

Let's look at rent, probably £300 a month per head, bare minimum in an urban area. If you live alone, could be £500-600.

Then council tax, typically £130-150 a month.

Then electricity/gas, typically £50-60 a month.

Then transport costs, about £40 a month per person on public transport. Probably at least the same when running a car if not more.

That's bare minimum. We are talking £740 a month just to have a roof over your head. Then you've got to clothe yourself. Let's allow £40 a month for that, which gets you two pairs of shoes a year, 4 or 5 jumpers, 3-4 pairs of jeans, underwear and maybe a suit, 2-3 shirts and some t-shirts. That's you up to just shy of £800.

Even if you're spending £50 a week on food, the minimum wage only just gives you a fairly rudimentary standard of living. If you have a dependent you have £4 for food per day. If you have a child who has a school dinner and you buy a coffee on the way to work, you have about £1.50 per head to provide breakfast and dinner. I'm no economist, but that doesn't exactly sound like Ubiquitous Chip.

Let's say your washing machine breaks down. This has happened to me twice before. To have a handy-man come out to look at it, and fix a relatively common fault, you're probably paying about £80-90. Or say the heating element goes on your cooker. Likewise. Let's say your car's clutch fails on your way to work. £300. The last time I checked, joiners and garages don't tend to do credit as a matter of course in their businesses.

You need to stop talking down the lives of others. You're showing yourself up as a really unpleasant individual.

Excellent post. Oaksoft showing himself up as either comically ignorant or stupendously arrogant on here.

[Mortar Bored]

Excellent post. Oaksoft showing himself up as either comically ignorant or stupendously arrogant on here.

I agree, although Oaksoft will undoubtedly pick holes in Ad Libs synopsis as he didn't factor in booze/fags/drugs- as we all know, they are the MOST crucial factor in food bank use.

[Fide]

I agree, although Oaksoft will undoubtedly pick holes in Ad Libs synopsis as he didn't factor in booze/fags/drugs- as we all know, they are the MOST crucial factor in food bank use.

You forgot Sky Television, widescreen televisions and i phones.

Remember, people on benefits should live in squalor. That's very important to your average hardworking family.

[MuckleMoo]

Universal Credit went live for new claimants in Dundee at the start of November. I'm currently supporting a young single guy who is currently going through the process. Nice lad, no issues with drugs or alcohol and is desperate to get into some kind of work. He is not entitled to any payment for the first 7 days of his claim. He must then wait a further 4 weeks for his first payment as Universal Credit is paid on a monthly basis. He can claim for an advanced payment, however, Universal Credit allows for higher deductions to be taking off at source for things like rent arrears and budgeting loans. Unfortunately, he has both. We've calculated that after these are taking off his benefit he will have around £35 a week to live off of. Put simply, he's gubbed financially for the foreseeable future. Other than the Trussell Trust (food bank) there's feck all else out there to help him

[Fide]

Universal Credit went live for new claimants in Dundee at the start of November. I'm currently supporting a young single guy who is currently going through the process. Nice lad, no issues with drugs or alcohol and is desperate to get into some kind of work. He is not entitled to any payment for the first 7 days of his claim. He must then wait a further 4 weeks for his first payment as Universal Credit is paid on a monthly basis. He can claim for an advanced payment, however, Universal Credit allows for higher deductions to be taking off at source for things like rent arrears and budgeting loans. Unfortunately, he has both. We've calculated that after these are taking off his benefit he will have around £35 a week to live off of. Put simply, he's gubbed financially for the foreseeable future. Other than the Trussell Trust (food bank) there's feck all else out there to help him

I fucking HATE what the Tories have done to this country

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Universal Credit went live for new claimants in Dundee at the start of November. I'm currently supporting a young single guy who is currently going through the process. Nice lad, no issues with drugs or alcohol and is desperate to get into some kind of work. He is not entitled to any payment for the first 7 days of his claim. He must then wait a further 4 weeks for his first payment as Universal Credit is paid on a monthly basis. He can claim for an advanced payment, however, Universal Credit allows for higher deductions to be taking off at source for things like rent arrears and budgeting loans. Unfortunately, he has both. We've calculated that after these are taking off his benefit he will have around £35 a week to live off of. Put simply, he's gubbed financially for the foreseeable future. Other than the Trussell Trust (food bank) there's feck all else out there to help him

Try giving DWP Debt Management a call. They can sometimes reduce the required repayments if you can use an income-expenditure sheet to show he's unable to realistically manage. On the other hand, you might get a completely unhelpful c**t.

0345 850 0293

[DA Baracus]

It"s alright lads. The Tories are going to announce a twelve billion pound increase in 'defence' spending.

That will surely help things

[Fide]

It"s alright lads. The Tories are going to announce a twelve billion pound increase in 'defence' spending.

That will surely help things

#priorities

We're better together.

[MuckleMoo]

Try giving DWP Debt Management a call. They can sometimes reduce the required repayments if you can use an income-expenditure sheet to show he's unable to realistically manage. On the other hand, you might get a completely unhelpful c**t.

0345 850 0293

Cheers Jupe. To be honest I've referred him onto our money advice team, my head was busted with it! I'll keep that number on speed dial though.

[kevthedee]

Universal Credit went live for new claimants in Dundee at the start of November. I'm currently supporting a young single guy who is currently going through the process. Nice lad, no issues with drugs or alcohol and is desperate to get into some kind of work. He is not entitled to any payment for the first 7 days of his claim. He must then wait a further 4 weeks for his first payment as Universal Credit is paid on a monthly basis. He can claim for an advanced payment, however, Universal Credit allows for higher deductions to be taking off at source for things like rent arrears and budgeting loans. Unfortunately, he has both. We've calculated that after these are taking off his benefit he will have around £35 a week to live off of. Put simply, he's gubbed financially for the foreseeable future. Other than the Trussell Trust (food bank) there's feck all else out there to help him

The wellfare rights team in dundee did meetings with us about a year ago about the universal credits and how it would work and they had serious issues with it.

Their biggest concern was people getting one single benefit payment per mth and its all gone after one week because people for whatever reason are unable to manage it.

[MuckleMoo]

The wellfare rights team in dundee did meetings with us about a year ago about the universal credits and how it would work and they had serious issues with it.

Their biggest concern was people getting one single benefit payment per mth and its all gone after one week because people for whatever reason are unable to manage it.

That and the fact that housing benefit will now be paid to the claimant rather than to the landlord/housing association and you have a recipe for an almighty clusterfuck!