Politics Today

[Hermann]

Would Housing Benefit cover a proportion of Rent/Mortgage ?

I believe so. The only way a system like this would work is if the government paid your full mortgage/rent and then UC on top of that. A complex way of doing things and making a lot of work for the DWP (or whoever they're outsourcing to these days).

 

[Alistair20000]

I said at the very beginning, give whatever it would have been on the dole/universal credit. I get that more folk would abuse the system but it would give us a clearer system of job losses etc far quicker.

I think that is going too far.

If the State stops you doing your work or running your business there should be some recompense but 80% is too much. Take out tax and NI saved on the 20% of salary lost and the take home pay on furlough is around 86% of net pay compared with working normally. Which is why a lot of people do not want to go back to work.

 

[DB9]

I think that is going too far.

If the State stops you doing your work or running your business there should be some recompense but 80% is too much. Take out tax and NI saved on the 20% of salary lost and the take home pay on furlough is around 86% of net pay compared with working normally. Which is why a lot of people do not want to go back to work.

Again you're saying employees have the choice to be on furlough, Its the employer who made the decision and its his also to call back their employee.

 

[Alistair20000]

Again you're saying employees have the choice to be on furlough, Its the employer who made the decision and its his also to call back their employee.

The choice is to accept furlough or have no job at all in many cases.

 

[DB9]

The choice is to accept furlough or have no job at all in many cases.

It was not a choice in my case, They just said to us because they'd been ordered to close (March 2020) we were being put on furlough until such times they'll start to bring us back, At no time were we given the ultimatum to take furlough or lose the job and as an employee that's what we did and when people started to go back, People never said "No thanks, I'll stay on furlough" if your boss said come back to work, That's what you did.

 

[Rosencrantz]

I believe so. The only way a system like this would work is if the government paid your full mortgage/rent and then UC on top of that. A complex way of doing things and making a lot of work for the DWP (or whoever they're outsourcing to these days).

You don't get Housing Benefit to cover any mortgage payments. From bitter experience I can say the only help you get for mortgage payments on UC is Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). Essentially they pay the interest on your mortgage direct to the mortgage provider as a loan.

To qualify you have to be claiming UC for 39 weeks (9 claim periods/months essentially) without break and without any earnings at all. I got a temp job which only lasted less than a week (it was supposed to be two weeks but it changed) which meant my UC was reduced but obviously still claimed and paid but that was enough to go back to the start of the 39 weeks. When I did reach the desired qualifying period they don't send the forms you have to contact them and wait, then send on to your mortgage provider to complete their bit and then send back to DWP to process. They still hadn't started it seven weeks later when thankfully I got a permanent full time job.

Luckily my mortgage is relatively small and by drastically limiting spending on the weekly shop and a very helpful/understanding bank (froze two payments whilst rearranging my outgoings) I got by. It wasn't living, simply existing. There was no way I could have afforded to see City play if we had been allowed in!

The problem with UC and JSA is the drop off in earnings. It is incredibly steep and sudden. If you have no savings because you are just getting by or no one to help, you end up in debt very quickly.

 

[Hermann]

You don't get Housing Benefit to cover any mortgage payments. From bitter experience I can say the only help you get for mortgage payments on UC is Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). Essentially they pay the interest on your mortgage direct to the mortgage provider as a loan.

To qualify you have to be claiming UC for 39 weeks (9 claim periods/months essentially) without break and without any earnings at all. I got a temp job which only lasted less than a week (it was supposed to be two weeks but it changed) which meant my UC was reduced but obviously still claimed and paid but that was enough to go back to the start of the 39 weeks. When I did reach the desired qualifying period they don't send the forms you have to contact them and wait, then send on to your mortgage provider to complete their bit and then send back to DWP to process. They still hadn't started it seven weeks later when thankfully I got a permanent full time job.

Luckily my mortgage is relatively small and by drastically limiting spending on the weekly shop and a very helpful/understanding bank (froze two payments whilst rearranging my outgoings) I got by. It wasn't living, simply existing. There was no way I could have afforded to see City play if we had been allowed in!

The problem with UC and JSA is the drop off in earnings. It is incredibly steep and sudden. If you have no savings because you are just getting by or no one to help, you end up in debt very quickly.

Fair enough. Reinforces my point that giving everyone on furlough the standard package of benefits is not realistic.

 

[DB9]

Fair enough. Reinforces my point that giving everyone on furlough the standard package of benefits is not realistic.

Remember last Feb (2020) Before this Government realised that the virus was going to have a huge impact on everything, Their first idea of "Helping" was to put those who were going to be laid off (Before Furlough was thought of seriously) on UC which is £75 pw, That was the only help offered, Then they realised they had to come up with better. Even though UC was increased (Temporarily) by £20, There was no way any working person could survive on that, I dare anyone to say they can. If say a couple on min wage suddenly saw their income fall off the edge of a cliff the debt, The non payments of rent, mortgages, energy bills just to live would have gone through the roof. The Furlough scheme was needed, Simple as that.

 

[angelic upstart]

I think that is going too far.

If the State stops you doing your work or running your business there should be some recompense but 80% is too much. Take out tax and NI saved on the 20% of salary lost and the take home pay on furlough is around 86% of net pay compared with working normally. Which is why a lot of people do not want to go back to work.

What of the millions of self employed on UC?

 

[DB9]

What of the millions of self employed on UC?

Did the self-employed ever qualifiy for UC during this crisis? Genuine question as i thought they have had the bum deal with this whole thing.