Cost of Living Crisis

[Clown Job]

 

[doulikefish]

6 hours ago, Clown Job said:

 

"Fake news" the Tories have said that if nobody gets a pay rise it will solve inflation and it's all the train drivers fault 

[Clown Job]

 

[Clown Job]

I do kinda laugh at people thinking the UK Government must do something to help them

The same government who not long ago removed £20 from people on Universal Credit and had to be publicly shamed by Marcus Rashford into feeding children over the school holidays 

[Salt n Vinegar]

4 minutes ago, Clown Job said:

I do kinda laugh at people thinking the UK Government must do something to help them

The same government who not long ago removed £20 from people on Universal Credit and had to be publicly shamed by Marcus Rashford into feeding children over the school holidays 

Now, now, we know who the guilty parties are when it comes to the state the country is in... 

(checks notes, deep breath..)  Trades Unions, the unemployed, those on benefits, immigrants, refugees, Europe in general, the French in particular, judges, lawyers, universities, woke folk, train drivers, bolshy nurses, Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP, Martin Lewis and just today, cyclists. 

Seriously, inflation at its highest since 1982, unaffordable energy prices threatened, hospitality on its knees...  and Grant Shapps plays the "don't look over here, look over there" card and has a go at cyclists. 

[Salt n Vinegar]

9 minutes ago, Snafu said:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-record-number-universal-credit-27751114

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-denies-326-cost-living-27728030

This looks like a national scandal the way the DWP runs this especially if there have been deaths.

 

"But no, look over there - migrants!" 

[DA Baracus]

6 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

"But no, look over there - migrants!" 

I hear that migrants are trying to cross the channel on bikes.

[Clown Job]

20 minutes ago, Snafu said:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-record-number-universal-credit-27751114

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-denies-326-cost-living-27728030

This looks like a national scandal the way the DWP runs this especially if there have been deaths.

 

Plus don’t forget..

Government admits Jobcentres set targets to take away benefits

DWP's new law that's set to sanction more benefit claimants

[Salt n Vinegar]

1 minute ago, Clown Job said:

Plus don’t forget..

Government admits Jobcentres set targets to take away benefits

DWP's new law that's set to sanction more benefit claimants

Policies guaranteed to appeal to the base Tories.  Sorry, the Tory base. 

[Paco]

The government are still trying to find those thousands of formally employed people in the UK who vanished during the pandemic and when Brexit was 'got done' and still can't figure out what happened to them. People have to go somewhere, they can't just vanish of our database why aren't they showing up as unemployed, why aren't they claiming, isn't there supposed to be a high number of unemployed workers right now?
I take it the likes of Amazon are complaining about not finding enough staff now.

The UK can’t be a kick in the arse off effective full employment right now. In Scotland there are just 90,000 jobseekers registered. Out of that number, of course you’ll have a small feckless group who have no intention of ever picking up a job but how many will also be officially “job-seeking” only to tick a box and please the DWP? The possible reasons for this are probably endless but single parents with young children and no access to free or cheap childcare, parents who work part-time to cover childcare, zero hour contract workers getting very few hours, cash-in-hand workers engaging in a nice bit of fraud, etc etc etc.

The number of people who are completely unemployed and looking for full-time work is as small as it’s ever been, and perhaps as small as it’ll ever get.

The real problem with the welfare system is it’s now needed to prop up people in full-time work. Wages are too low, so millions receive a wage top-up via Universal Credit. Childcare is too expensive so millions receive childcare contributions. Rents are too high so millions receive housing benefit.

Exactly like giving everyone £400 towards energy bills, the government time and time again treats the effects of the system they’ve merrily created, does nothing about the cause, and then whines about how much it costs. Businesses can be told to up minimum wage, nurseries can be nationalised, rent controls can be introduced, energy price caps can be frozen. None of these things are easy but they simply can’t be arsed with that and instead choose the worst of all worlds - things get worse, and it costs the taxpayer more.

[Father Ted]

1 hour ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

Now, now, we know who the guilty parties are when it comes to the state the country is in... 

(checks notes, deep breath..)  Trades Unions, the unemployed, those on benefits, immigrants, refugees, Europe in general, the French in particular, judges, lawyers, universities, woke folk, train drivers, bolshy nurses, Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP, Martin Lewis and just today, cyclists. 

Seriously, inflation at its highest since 1982, unaffordable energy prices threatened, hospitality on its knees...  and Grant Shapps plays the "don't look over here, look over there" card and has a go at cyclists. 

Yeah everyone but who is actually causing the problem. Rich elites and the current never ending shambles that is the Tory government.

Personally i think that quantative easing, a turbocharged shovelling of public funds into private pockets, Brexit, greed of chief executives, the rise of these executives, greedy shareholders and myriad of other shady goings on are ENTIRELY to blame for this mess.

While I think Joe Public should receive help regards the cost of living crisis. This shovelling of public funds into energy help outs. These funds are for the NHS, public services, etc. Effectively these public funds are just going into the pockets of private companies to continue their robbery.

Don't ever expect the current government to actually provide meaningful help. As they are up to their eyeballs in corrupting the public purse and have actively caused this situation.

This country requires radical change.

#Toryscum

[Brother Blades]

47 minutes ago, Father Ted said:

Yeah everyone but who is actually causing the problem. Rich elites and the current never ending shambles that is the Tory government.

Personally i think that quantative easing, a turbocharged shovelling of public funds into private pockets, Brexit, greed of chief executives, the rise of these executives, greedy shareholders and myriad of other shady goings on are ENTIRELY to blame for this mess.

While I think Joe Public should receive help regards the cost of living crisis. This shovelling of public funds into energy help outs. These funds are for the NHS, public services, etc. Effectively these public funds are just going into the pockets of private companies to continue their robbery.

Don't ever expect the current government to actually provide meaningful help. As they are up to their eyeballs in corrupting the public purse and have actively caused this situation.

This country requires radical change.

#Toryscum

This is so true, continually rewarding the private sector with money from the public purse, is completely wrong. These fuckers have been making money from virtual monopolies for decades & now when times are tough, god forbid they need to tighten their belts, nah it’s us that need to cut back or worse, die!

 

 

[Clown Job]

Tory UK pre pandemic 

Austerity in England linked to more than 50,000 extra deaths in five years

Tory UK today 

 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

6 hours ago, Snafu said:

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/single-mum-universal-credit-rushed-7478314

'A single mum who lives on just one meal a day has been hospitalised twice with malnutrition. Kelly Thomson says the 10.1 per cent inflation rate will cripple her family - and she might have to start begging.

The 43-year-old says she can only afford to eat one meal a day on the £40 per week she has left over for the family’s food budget after paying bills on rent. The mum-of-two says rising food prices have made it near impossible for her to feed herself as well as her own kids.

She has lost two stone in weight because she only eats once a day and was forced to take her daughter's birthday gift to Cash Converters to get money for food. Twice she has ended up in hospital suffering with malnutrition, she claims - even needing blood transfusions to replenish her depleted iron levels because she can't afford fresh food, reports the Echo.'

 

"bUt sHe cAn tAkE hEr kId tO tHe fUnFaiR" - The average Tory.

 

 

[Boo Khaki]

10 hours ago, Snafu said:

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/single-mum-universal-credit-rushed-7478314

'A single mum who lives on just one meal a day has been hospitalised twice with malnutrition. Kelly Thomson says the 10.1 per cent inflation rate will cripple her family - and she might have to start begging.

The 43-year-old says she can only afford to eat one meal a day on the £40 per week she has left over for the family’s food budget after paying bills on rent. The mum-of-two says rising food prices have made it near impossible for her to feed herself as well as her own kids.

She has lost two stone in weight because she only eats once a day and was forced to take her daughter's birthday gift to Cash Converters to get money for food. Twice she has ended up in hospital suffering with malnutrition, she claims - even needing blood transfusions to replenish her depleted iron levels because she can't afford fresh food, reports the Echo.'

 

I can't shake the feeling there's something more to this story. I've no reason to doubt the bones of it are true enough, but I wonder if she's had a welfare check carried out because it sounds like there's something she's entitled to but isn't claiming, or her SSP entitlement has run out, or some other shortfall in her income.

She'll be getting CB for both kids, UC in lieu of or to top up her income, possibly housing benefit, and the father should be paying maintenance. Quite possibly that last part that's the issue because it's not unusual for feckless and indifferent dads to either drop their job or deliberately sit on the dole in order to avoid CM payments. Possible she's also a widower as well.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Your Toaries -

[vikingTON]

4 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

I can't shake the feeling there's something more to this story. I've no reason to doubt the bones of it are true enough, but I wonder if she's had a welfare check carried out because it sounds like there's something she's entitled to but isn't claiming, or her SSP entitlement has run out, or some other shortfall in her income.

She'll be getting CB for both kids, UC in lieu of or to top up her income, possibly housing benefit, and the father should be paying maintenance. Quite possibly that last part that's the issue because it's not unusual for feckless and indifferent dads to either drop their job or deliberately sit on the dole in order to avoid CM payments. Possible she's also a widower as well.

There's also another explanation sitting within the story:

Quote

has been struggling to get by since getting long covid in December 2020, when she was signed off from her job as a cleaner.

Check your 2022 bingo cards off for 'long Covid' inevitably making an appearance in any and all settings. 

I suspect the passive voice of signed off is doing some heavy lifting there, when the reality of the 'but... my long Covid!' charade meant that she was simply no longer viewed as an active employee by potential agencies. That's not a permanent state of reality though. 

It's clearly not a great place to be in to start with, but starving yourself while mewling about long Covid is not a rational response to either personal health or raising a family. Some people just can't see the wood for the tree of Injustice. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by vikingTON

[Benjamin_Nevis]

5 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

I can't shake the feeling there's something more to this story. I've no reason to doubt the bones of it are true enough, but I wonder if she's had a welfare check carried out because it sounds like there's something she's entitled to but isn't claiming, or her SSP entitlement has run out, or some other shortfall in her income.

She'll be getting CB for both kids, UC in lieu of or to top up her income, possibly housing benefit, and the father should be paying maintenance. Quite possibly that last part that's the issue because it's not unusual for feckless and indifferent dads to either drop their job or deliberately sit on the dole in order to avoid CM payments. Possible she's also a widower as well.

It's quite possible she's already on her max entitlement:

• Standard Allowance - £331pm
• Child Element - £234pm
• Child Benefit - £93pm
• TOTAL - £658

Housing Costs should be covered unless she's in a private tenancy, the landlord is taking the piss with rent and the local authority aren't paying a DHP for the shortfall. 

Fathers paying maintenance is pretty rare in my experience, probably happens in around a quarter of the benefit checks we do for women in this situation. 

£650-odd a month is pretty scant when fuel prices are going mental, you've got a kid and food is becoming dearer. There may well be some creative journalism going on there, but it certainly wouldn't be an uncommon experience imo.

ETA: Another likely factor is UC deductions - eg if she's still within the first year of her claim, she's almost certainly had to take an advance and will be losing a chunk of it to that each month, might have some DWP debt, old crisis loans etc. She could be losing as much as £83 a month of her UC to deductions.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Day of the Lords

[Duries Air Freshener]

There'll be more to the story than is in the article, but nevertheless it'll still be an awful situation.

Sounds like her landlord is an utter walloper and that friends and family are doing nothing to help.  A sad reflection on society.

I''d happily throw some money into a justgiving page if there is one.

[Jacksgranda]

36 minutes ago, Duries Air Freshener said:

There'll be more to the story than is in the article, but nevertheless it'll still be an awful situation.

Sounds like her landlord is an utter walloper and that friends and family are doing nothing to help.  A sad reflection on society.

I''d happily throw some money into a justgiving page if there is one.

Friends and family are maybe struggling themselves.

However, going by DotL's figures, £151.84/week isn't a lot of money.