Thread: Rise in inflation but its ok your benefits are going up!

Inflation soars, but means higher state benefits


So once again those on benefits get a 'pay rise' to recognise the rise in inflation while those in the public sector are still on the pay freeze and as a general rule aren't entitled to any of the benefits that have gone up.

I thought the government wanted to encourage people off benefits not keep giving them more reasons to stay on them. This country drives me crazy sometimes.

That works out to about an extra £182 a year... The same price of a weekend in a Blackpool esq European city. Here have a holiday on us!

Now now Ladies, that is not what it means at all. That nice Mr Osborne has still to announce what the rise (if any) in benefits is going to be for next year. The figures given today are the ones for September which are usually the ones used to calculate any rise in benefits next year. There is nothing to stop TNMO ignoring that and allowing either a much smaller rise or no rise at all, in line with public sector pay.

I live on pension nowadays and this time last year I was fairly comfortably financially, not well off by any means, but not worried. This year I am counting every penny and sometimes robbing Peter to pay Paul (or in most cases asking both to call back some other time!)

There is a lot being said about energy companies putting up costs by 19% or thereabouts. I just wish that that was the case - in my situation the cost of my gas & electricity, by some magic, increased by nearly 90%!! When I spoke to the company involved (and I won't mention EON) I was told that they wanted me to build up a credit in their bank account rather than pay as I got it!! I invited them to shove it and changed suppliers - but I believe that this is endemic in the industry.

On top of that the cost of food has soared. These are the two items that take most of my income so changes in those have drastic effects on my life style.

So be careful when you decry benefits as some people are not in a position to change things and the decisions do not center round whether to buy a cheaper bottle of wine for dinner, it is about what do we cut from dinner!

Ah, that's better, and all donations to this poor pensioner can be forwarded to me in the usual manner

You have a point A_Y. I was horrified at the cost of Gas & Electric when I looked at uswitch for when we move back to UK. I used to pay a third of what it would cost and thought that was expensive!

However the cost of food I thought was cheap. It may well have gone up since I left the UK but it is about a quarter of what we have to pay in Cyprus.

Car insurance is going to be double what I was paying when I left as well. *Sigh* oh well, will have to suck it up next year.

Oh no, I'm all for the pension and the needed rise in that! My Nanna is already worrying about not putting the heating on because of the massive bill she'll be getting and I just keep telling her to put the damn thing on if she is cold, I'll pay the bill!

Its just job seekers. I am very much so of the mindset that there is always work for the willing, you have to go out and find the jobs, they don't come to you. It may not be the job that they want but it is a job. A girlfriend of one of my friends opted to join the dole queue one month after getting citizenship here and having lost her job through redudancy and got a massive payout that she wasn't actually entitled too. She's now going to Miami next month... Meanwhile my mother dearest who got made redudant before the summer, didn't claim anything even though she was entitled to it, had a few unpaid months off, and went and got a job by actually getting off her ass for it and going there and speaking to the manager.

Whilst I do agree with A_Y, unfortunately job seekers is often and well known to be used and abused. Some people do need it because they have been really unfortunate with their job. Others just abuse it, role up to their manditory interviews, making no effort what so ever. By not making times hard for them, they are not going to actually earn a living, and will continue to sap the system dry. If we can't get more people off job seekers, then in the years to come when the cost of living continues to soar, we will not be able to give money to those that need it most.

And like ST says, all in the public sector are on a pay freeze, they have had to crimp. Whilst these rises may not actually be set in stone yet, it is a bit harsh to say the least that those in the PS have to make do with what they have got whilst those on job seekers are given more so that they don't have to worry about the cost of living that much.

You do have a point A_Y and I should aplogise for generalising. Perhaps it's because I don't really consider a pension to be a 'benefit'. Most people claiming a state pension have worked damn hard and paid enough money into the system in their working lives to be thoroughly entitled to get something back out of it.

Jobseekers and income support are a different matter though. Again I generalise because I do know that there are people really working hard to try and find a job and just getting no-where but by the same token there are definitely people who sit and milk the system for all it's worth. The 'noo i don't want a cleaning job' type people who stay on benefits rather than accept whats available until something better comes along.

Energy prices are getting beyond ridiculous and are probably going to be responsible for putting a whole lot of people in massive debt this winter or even the death of pensioners who are too frightened to put their heating on for fear of not being able to afford it. Food prices are also getting beyond a joke to the point that everytime i do my monthly shop it actually makes me wince when the total amount comes up!

My point (badly made i know) is that if they put up benefits to reflect the rise in inflation then they need to remove the public sector pay freeze for the same reason.

Edited to add and put up minimum wage

I hope that you never have to claim benefits, (although you probably do, knowingly or not), and have people just assume you are scum, just because you do so.

And to the person who didn't sign on when unemployed, bad mistake. Your stamps will most probably be out of kilter now, and may effect your pension. Check it out and make up the payments as soon as you're able.

Believe me I have been there done that. Neither of my parents worked when I was a kid. My mum had always been the home-maker and my dad was diagnosed with depression meaning he couldn't work (don't get me started on that, I am not the most sympathetic person to his plea). I know the stigma of living in a housing association house, queueing up to sign for your dinner token at school and wearing a school jumper 3 sizes too big that used to belong to your elder brother. I've been there, done that and got the oversized jumper!

So when 4 years ago my life went to shit and I ended up a single mum on income support I was determined to drag myself back up get out to work and give my son better than I had. And I did. I claimed benefits for a year while i sorted myself out then I took the first job I was offered and grafted my arse off.

So I'm glad that I was teased for being poor as a kid and I'm glad that I was looked down on as a single mum on income support because it made me push myself to want more for myself and my child.

I am not saying that everyone claiming benefits is scum or that they shouldn't. More that benefits should be in place for those that need them not those that just want them and the government should be working harder to differentiate between the two. They should be a last option not a lifestyle choice.

*clambering carefully down off my soapbox*

Without, I hope, sounding patronising S_T, that is fantastic and you should be rightly proud. There are however, people who can't do what you did for whatever reason. I truly believe that now, with everybloodything costing an absolute fortune, with the very real lack of jobs out there that would and is near on impossible to achieve.

I have worked since I was 16 years old, have never been unemployed, right now have a good job which means I am able to pay two mortgages, support three brats, have no debts and lead a 'nice' lifestyle.

Tomorrow if I lost my job I'd claim for everything I'm entitled to, with no shame as I have paid into the system to do so.

Originally Posted by golden_showers

And to the person who didn't sign on when unemployed, bad mistake. Your stamps will most probably be out of kilter now, and may effect your pension. Check it out and make up the payments as soon as you're able.

I was actually "told off" by the person at the job centre when I signed on (luckily got a job a week later) as I'd left it 4 months after losing my job to do so. It seems that "I hoped to have found a job by now already, and was living off my savings" wasn't a legitimate reason?!

In the one meeting I went to though, it was the strangest experience. I waited for ages and person after person came in and treated it almost like a social club. Doing the whole, "alright mate, lets go out for drinks after we've finished here", "see you next time then, I know I'll be back here!" It was the strangest attitude to finding work that I've ever come across.

I claimed my 26 weeks of JSA and was then told that my husband would have to keep me. I could have continued to sign every fortnight to get my NI stamp but I refused, very much doubt the NI stamp will count for diddly squat when I retire!

Originally Posted by golden_showers

I hope that you never have to claim benefits, (although you probably do, knowingly or not), and have people just assume you are scum, just because you do so.

And to the person who didn't sign on when unemployed, bad mistake. Your stamps will most probably be out of kilter now, and may effect your pension. Check it out and make up the payments as soon as you're able.

Excuse my ignorance about this sentence, but I really don't know the answer to this. So, if I want I can pay the stamps I have missed due to be at home looking after the children (ie 2007 til now), is this right? Thanks.

TLC x

Not 100% sure but I believe so. My sister has had a few letters over the years say x amount of months/years there haven't been any payments into her NI, it was xxxx amount and she could pay it now, or risk paying a higher sum later, OR risk her state pension being less than it could/should be.

Well worth getting in touch with department of works & pensions to find out.

Little bit of info here

Should I make up my National Insurance contributions? | UK Savings Blog | Save Our Savers

TLC if you have a child under 12 and in receipt of child benefit, you'll get HRP NI stamp protected payments.

Beat me to it GS, just found the HMRC link....

HM Revenue & Customs: Do you need to top up your National Insurance contributions?

Worth knowing and finding out what you are up to because it would be a bit gutting to reach a pensionable age only to find out that you missed the top rate by a tenner!

I do wonder what will eventually happen to the pension, I mean like seriously, people say that in years to come it'll be gone, but really? How on earth will pensioners live?

Why do people assume everyone on benefits, is living a life of luxury? I am affraid this is not true.

I don't think thats the perception at all Jo, for me the issue is that while inflation is rising my company yet again have chosen not to give their staff a payrise, so overall I'm effectively taking a paycut as the money I earn is worth less. Add to that the fact that min wage has gone up and my pay hasn't been increased by the same amount so I feel that the work I do has been devalued by the people who need me to do it!

Overall myself and others in my postition have been left feeling that from every direction it's a case of 'they don't mind they'll just take it' and then we hear that those not working are getting a 'pay increase' via their benefits to bridge the gap - well sorry but why on earth should I be getting paid less, feel that I'm worth less to my employer and then be told that the money I put in the pot via my taxes and NI are being used to increase the value for those claiming from the communal pot when I'm not entitled to anything except to keep tightening the proverbial belt?

Originally Posted by Josephine

Why do people assume everyone on benefits, is living a life of luxury? I am affraid this is not true.

In my opinion, but also not trying to generalise...(At the moment I'm unemployed, and don't claim, I was savvy with money with all my jobs so have money in savings, plus with the way me and my partner work, we can afford to live pretty cheap) It is true, I would say 85% of people i know on "benfits" whether it be Jobseekers or Income support, seem to live an even better life than me. I wouldn't say i struggle, but i don't have such luxuries as having a bottle of wine every friday night or treating myself to a nice top when i go shopping, if i want things like that I have to save for considerable amount of weeks to be able to afford that. My understanding of Jobseekers is that it's to help you get work for example, buying envelopes, stamps for CVs, bus fair ect to Job interveiws, but the people i know seem to think it's to go and waste it on getting drunk on pound a pint night or gallavanting then complain for the next 2 weeks they are skint and can't get to interveiws ect. I don't understand "the youth of today" (i'm only 19 myself) but i think that it's a joke the way other young people just piss money all over! I think benefit it meant to help you out of a situation not an easy way out! I don't sign on because I don't want to be tarred with the sponger brush I'd rather look for a job myself, rather than someone checking up on me doing it to so i can get £30 payed into my bank account. I did sign on in January, and it was the most degrading thing ever, hence not going back this time, people i spoke to there turned up in tracksuit bottoms, scruffy clothes, not to mention lambrini bottles left out side of the center and picked back up on the way out, can you honestly say these people deserve a benefit? I turned up smart each time, so i was took seriously in 2 weeks i had found a job, i honestly couldnt jusify going there for the 2 weeks for £30 and finding a job myself anway, people said they'd been on the system months, yet sat there in tracksuit bottoms. I just don't understand it, nor do i think it's fair that people are alowwed to be on the job seeking system for months on end. Sorry, slight rant, but i totally agree, if benefits are going up with inflation, so should peoples wages who actually have a job and get off their arses everyday to make a livving.

Originally Posted by blondiie

if benefits are going up with inflation, so should peoples wages

Just slightly simplistic. An awful lot of employers are operating hand to mouth just now and I included the Armed Forces in that. If they're forced to increase wages then you can expect to see (more) redundancies. Employed with no increase or redundant and on job seekers? I know which option I'd go with.

It seems that the whole benefit system needs an overhaul, my best mate has had a child with her boyfriend who I must say is a complete loser and it seems can't be bothered to work (which is annoying when I have don't see mine for months on end in order to keep a roof over our heads). But I went to visit her the other day and with the said child being nearly one, she said she had been offered a full time job at B&Q and lazy ass a position at an upcoming opening of a KFC!! (much to my shock horror lol!). But after speaking to her, couldn't believe that she then proceeded to say, 'oh, we are thinking of not taking up the work as we have worked out we will be around £50-£100 worser off working, oh and we will have to pay full rent...'.

I was pretty gobsmacked as obviously pride would come into it for me for having managed to get a job, but then thinking about it, if I was in that position... would I do the same? would it be worth working for less money...? It seems that the gov't needs to rethink the system... obviously I can't comment too much as I don't really understand the system but seeing from my friends viewpoint, it seems a lot of people are better off claiming the dole rather than working as its not just the weekly benefits, its all the rent and council tax that gets paid for them too and they are better off not working and lets face it, the pride of having a job just doesn't seem to cut it for some people anymore.