"I'm afraid you didn't get 15pts" - EADD Benefits Thread

[Allein]

Has anyone tried to apply for a blue badge, it looks like I will have an ongoing problem with walking more than a few metres for sometime, possibly permanently after a nasty argument with the road.

Looking at the online application it seems "your eligibility will need to be assessed by your local authority. This may mean that they ask you to attend a mobility assessment" anyone know what criteria they use ?

If I had a blue badge I could use the train station again which would really help with work as at them mo I can't get into London for meetings un shit, I have to drive to the station, a taxi would be expensive as it's so far away and the only parking is a multi storey with no lift the disabled bays are right outside the door, I'm running into the same issue more and more now I'm trying to get back to some kind of normality.

 

[Cornishman]

I don't get whatcha mean?

NSFW:

 

[Treacle]

Seems fair enough, you put in a full weeks shift of around 37hrs a week at a min wage job you'll only get seven hundred and odd quid a month after tax. Getting half that for not working isn't too shabby.

No, it sounds like it includes housing benefit. If your rent is 350, you get no dole. That sounds fucking unreal, is this actually happening?

 

[StretchOutAndWait]

^ Yes, it looks like it's really happening. It's £350/week for single people and even worse £500 week for households: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/hb-benefit-cap-draft-regs-2012-memorandum.pdf

Regulations still in draft stage but fortunately at the moment it looks like at least some people will be exempt from the cap, specifically people receiving DLA (or its replacement PIP), the Support component of ESA (a good reason to appeal being placed in the WRAG), and Working Tax Credits. Think that applies to a few people in this thread.

Also the usual ones about War Widows, Armed Forces Compensation and Industrial Injuries, not sure if that applies to anyone on here. Oh and Attendance Allowance (which is DLA for people over 65 - not sure if anyone in EADD is?).

I really hope something changes before this becomes law because I don't understand what's going to happen when this comes into place.

Also, Treacle, not that it really makes much difference but the money will technically come out of claimants' Housing Benefit rather than from out-of-work benefits. Obviously it amounts to the same thing, particularly when Universal Credit comes in, although it's slightly worse because obvs JSA/ESA seems to get stopped/sanctioned/paid late more often than HB and people will be more fucked over when this happens.

And yes as others have said this is particularly going to affect people in expensive areas like London and also large families, and disproportionately black and minority ethnic families. Birmingham, Tower Hamlets, Barking, Luton etc. all going to look pretty different in 10 years (particularly with the pegging of Local Housing Allowance rates to RPI rather than CPI). God writing this post has depressed me.

 

[parttime crackhead]

^ Yes, it looks like it's really happening. It's £350/week for single people

Shock horror. £1400 a month? C'mon now. That's a fair bit more than a standard full time wage. In fact, it's about double what someone would take home on a minimum wage job. Surely you're not complaining about that, am I missing a point somewhere?

Unless you have crazy special needs that require all sorts of extra payments for things then no-one needs to get more than £1400 a month for benefits. Sorry. But they don't.

Folk were talking earlier as if it was £350 a month.

 

[StretchOutAndWait]

Yeah I pretty much agree re single people. Although I think your caveat is important - lots of people do have crazy special needs and while theoretically they should be on DLA/ESA(S) and therefore exempt from the cap, it's pretty clear from BL alone that people who are eligible for these benefits spend a great deal of time not actually receiving them for all sorts of reasons. The time it takes to do a successful appeal is easily long enough to get evicted for arrears.

But yeah, as I say, it's mostly families who are fucked.

 

[swanhaggisman]

Shock horror. £1400 a month? C'mon now. That's a fair bit more than a standard full time wage. In fact, it's about double what someone would take home on a minimum wage job. Surely you're not complaining about that, am I missing a point somewhere?

Unless you have crazy special needs that require all sorts of extra payments for things then no-one needs to get more than £1400 a month for benefits. Sorry. But they don't.

Folk were talking earlier as if it was £350 a month.

£350 a week in your pocket equates to an annual salary of over £23,000

 

[TheSpade]

Folk were talking earlier as if it was £350 a month.

That's what I thought it was, a month! Is it really £350 a week?

I was earning less than £200 a week in my last full time, horrible as fuck, soul destroying, call centre job. I'm going straight to the docs tomorrow to tell them about my anxiety, insomnia, social anxiety, panic attacks and all this other stuff, it's all true anyway. Get myself a line saying I'm unfit to work and start raking in disability benefits. Currently getting £280 a month whilst on JSA to look for work.

 

[parttime crackhead]

I've had dozens of lines from my GP saying that I am unfit for work. The giro-cunts won't give two fucks about that though.

 

[StretchOutAndWait]

That's what I thought it was, a month! Is it really £350 a week?

Currently getting £280 a month whilst on JSA to look for work.

Including Housing Benefit? The weekly cap is not just for out-of-work benefits, it includes most income from local and central gov. A single person living in, say, a 1-bed private-rented flat in Tower Hamlets can claim £240/week in Local Housing Allowance. If they're getting ESA in the Work Related Activity Group that's another £99.15/week, bringing us up to a total of £330ish/week. So yeah I agree it's pretty much fine for now - but when rents rise faster than the LHA rate (which they will because of the RPI/CPI interest rate calculation I mentioned above) people will be in trouble.

But yeah, again, I'm not arguing £350/week is not enough for most single people. The problem will be with families. Take a family with four kids also in the private sector in Tower Hamlets. Local Housing Allowance for a 4-bed is £400/month. Leaving them with £100/month for everything else. This includes JSA, ESA, Child Benefit and Income Support - they will only be able to get £100/month more unless someone is disabled/chronically ill claiming DLA or ESA(S). Clearly it is impossible to feed and clothe six people on £100/week - as Marmz has said, they'll have to move to somewhere significantly cheaper. (And the £100 figure assumes rents will remain lower than LHA - they often don't.)

Anyway, off to the pub. Will check back on this later. Apologies in advance if drinking all day makes me belligerent.

 

[Ham420]

That's what I thought it was, a month! Is it really £350 a week?

The first post said £350 p/m. This is not enough.

If it is £350 per week then someone hit me with a fucking crowbar because I want in.

 

[TheSpade]

I can't believe there's an issue with people, who are claiming benefits, getting £350 a week. It's money for nothing. A min wage job doesn't pay anywhere close to that so there's no way benefit payments should.

 

[Myshkin]

A min wage job doesn't pay anywhere close to that

Which to me says more about the utter inadequacy of the minimum wage than anything else.

 

[TheSpade]

Indeed the min wage is shockingly low but if someone who's working is supposed to be able to live off that (working usually means more expenses as you need food, transport etc) then I don't see why someone on benefits can complain about getting a lot more than that.

If it is £350 per week then someone hit me with a fucking crowbar because I want in.

You don't actually have to be disabled, just pretend your mental.

 

[brimz]

Including Housing Benefit? The weekly cap is not just for out-of-work benefits, it includes most income from local and central gov. A single person living in, say, a 1-bed private-rented flat in Tower Hamlets can claim £240/week in Local Housing Allowance. If they're getting ESA in the Work Related Activity Group that's another £99.15/week, bringing us up to a total of £330ish/week. So yeah I agree it's pretty much fine for now - but when rents rise faster than the LHA rate (which they will because of the RPI/CPI interest rate calculation I mentioned above) people will be in trouble.

But yeah, again, I'm not arguing £350/week is not enough for most single people. The problem will be with families. Take a family with four kids also in the private sector in Tower Hamlets. Local Housing Allowance for a 4-bed is £400/month. Leaving them with £100/month for everything else. This includes JSA, ESA, Child Benefit and Income Support - they will only be able to get £100/month more unless someone is disabled/chronically ill claiming DLA or ESA(S). Clearly it is impossible to feed and clothe six people on £100/week - as Marmz has said, they'll have to move to somewhere significantly cheaper. (And the £100 figure assumes rents will remain lower than LHA - they often don't.)

Anyway, off to the pub. Will check back on this later. Apologies in advance if drinking all day makes me belligerent.

I would like to thank you & Marmz for your input in this thread. Your links & up to date knowledge has been very useful . I was very well versed in the old system & need to get this knowledge , i hate it as it makes me very anxious but it's real this time so it can't be ignored.

The "One payment system " as i call it is going to be a logistic nightmare . The rents where i live are one of the highest out of the capital so i can see many people under 25 moving back with parents . I'm over 35 so hopefully my rent won't be a problem but i can see loads of other ones on the horizon.

 

[been head]

Shock horror. £1400 a month? C'mon now. That's a fair bit more than a standard full time wage. In fact, it's about double what someone would take home on a minimum wage job. Surely you're not complaining about that, am I missing a point somewhere?

Unless you have crazy special needs that require all sorts of extra payments for things then no-one needs to get more than £1400 a month for benefits. Sorry. But they don't.

Folk were talking earlier as if it was £350 a month.

Word.

It makes me fucking angry reading about this shit. I have know idea why cunts think they should be able to have a decent quality of life without working. Why should people that work hard have to pay for people who can't be fucked to work. You live where you can afford to live, i think it's right shipping blaggers out of exspensive homes. I know plenty of people who work fulltime on a low wage that have to live in shared accomadation because thats what they can afford which is fair enough.

 

[spudgun]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought housing benefit was available to anyone, working or not, to enable people to have basic accomodation in the area - which is surely fair?

All this benefits = scrounging rhetoric is classic tory divide and rule bullshit, designed to detract attention from the real scum at the top, those who rob the big bucks from the system. There's a tiny minority who abuse benefits, but it amounts to chickenfeed amounts when you look at the big picture, and a small price to pay to live in a civilised society.

 

[been head]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought housing benefit was available to anyone, working or not, to enable people to have basic accomodation in the area - which is surely fair?

All this benefits = scrounging rhetoric is classic tory divide and rule bullshit, designed to detract attention from the real scum at the top, those who rob the big bucks from the system. There's a tiny minority who abuse benefits, but it amounts to chickenfeed amounts when you look at the big picture, and a small price to pay to live in a civilised society.

You don't really believe that do you? you're deluded if you do.

 

[brimz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought housing benefit was available to anyone, working or not, to enable people to have basic accomodation in the area - which is surely fair?

All this benefits = scrounging rhetoric is classic tory divide and rule bullshit, designed to detract attention from the real scum at the top, those who rob the big bucks from the system. There's a tiny minority who abuse benefits, but it amounts to chickenfeed amounts when you look at the big picture, and a small price to pay to live in a civilised society.

Yes HB is available to all regardless of employment status . With the new rules it sounds much more unfair . For instance if your living in an area that is deemed to expensive say West London ? then you will be made to move somewhere else . This will have huge impact on familys who will have to find new schools for their kids . This is how i understand things so don't quote me .

I couldn't agree more with your second paragraph . If only more folk would see this huge scam that is and has been going on for years.

 

[spudgun]

In fact, if the government had any interest in being fair, they would bring back rent caps and build more social housing, which would ultimately save the public purse and stop landlords creaming ridiculous amounts of unearned money from the benefits system.

The fact that they don't do this says it all.