Politics Today

[angelic upstart]

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.

Yet millions of working people manage it. Millions of self employed manage it, throughout this pandemic.

 

[angelic upstart]

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.

Yes, in some circumstances. Others get nothing, and I'm not entirely sure what happens to them (other than find temporary employment) my wife's cousin's husband is one of them and was in the papers regarding this whole saga. Roughly 3 million people remain unable to work, are self employed and get UC, or nothing. I'm led to believe this anyway.

 

[DB9]

Yet millions of working people manage it. Millions of self employed manage it, throughout this pandemic.

If they are on UC managing and they have had little or no savings, I'd imagine they haven't managed, They have probably begged, borrowed and even stole to make ends meet plus the goodwill of friends and family and even maybe a very high interest loan to be paid back when they're back on their feet, A noose round their neck for years.

 

[angelic upstart]

If they are on UC managing and they have had little or no savings, I'd imagine they haven't managed, They have probably begged, borrowed and even stole to make ends meet plus the goodwill of friends and family and even maybe a very high interest loan to be paid back when they're back on their feet, A noose round their neck for years.

I’ve been on the dole loads in my life, it’s not that bad. Depends on what you spend your money on I guess. We should all be able to cut back if there’s no savings. I sympathise with them, but it is what it is.

I’d rather not have myself, and my children pay others furlough through our taxes for the next 100 years, almost certainly ensuring my state pension will be little more than UC, a cut back NHS and little infrastructure changes forevermore.

 

[Hermann]

I’ve been on the dole loads in my life, it’s not that bad. Depends on what you spend your money on I guess. We should all be able to cut back if there’s no savings. I sympathise with them, but it is what it is.

I’d rather not have myself, and my children pay others furlough through our taxes for the next 100 years, almost certainly ensuring my state pension will be little more than UC, a cut back NHS and little infrastructure changes forevermore.

It's not just a matter of cutting back though. My wife and I earn a lot but are still careful with our money. Our mortgage is around a 5th of our pay after tax, well under the recommended 28%. UC wouldn't have covered the mortgage, let alone utilities and food.

 

[DB9]

It's not just a matter of cutting back though. My wife and I earn a lot but are still careful with our money. Our mortgage is around a 5th of our pay after tax, well under the recommended 28%. UC wouldn't have covered the mortgage, let alone utilities and food.

I have no idea what £75pw would cover, If that was the limit for the furlough scheme, Things would look very dark now for a lot of people.

 

[angelic upstart]

It's not just a matter of cutting back though. My wife and I earn a lot but are still careful with our money. Our mortgage is around a 5th of our pay after tax, well under the recommended 28%. UC wouldn't have covered the mortgage, let alone utilities and food.

The mortgage would effectively be frozen, and the govt pay the interest so you don't lose out per se (overlooking the obvious), there's no council tax to pay, you'd then get £600 a month give or take (assuming you have savings under a certain level and are living with a partner) whilst I'm not gonna sit here and pretend it's a king's ransom it's enough to eat and pay the remaining bills. If you have savings you dip into them when necessary. This isn't factoring in the additional £20 a week which has temporarily been provided. As I say, I sympathise as it's not going to be easy, being on the dole/UC never is, but it's manageable.

We Brits have to recognise as the world becomes more global, we need to consume less. As our wages stagnate and other countries play catch up. It's proper head in the sand stuff from most of the western world. AI is gonna change everything in the next decade or so, and the average Joe will lose out even more.

Incidentally, I had to check my mortgage percentage and it's 25% and will be lower in a couple months once my current deal ends.

 

[Rosencrantz]

The mortgage would effectively be frozen, and the govt pay the interest so you don't lose out per se (overlooking the obvious), there's no council tax to pay, you'd then get £600 a month give or take (assuming you have savings under a certain level and are living with a partner) whilst I'm not gonna sit here and pretend it's a king's ransom it's enough to eat and pay the remaining bills. If you have savings you dip into them when necessary. This isn't factoring in the additional £20 a week which has temporarily been provided. As I say, I sympathise as it's not going to be easy, being on the dole/UC never is, but it's manageable.

We Brits have to recognise as the world becomes more global, we need to consume less. As our wages stagnate and other countries play catch up. It's proper head in the sand stuff from most of the western world. AI is gonna change everything in the next decade or so, and the average Joe will lose out even more.

Incidentally, I had to check my mortgage percentage and it's 25% and will be lower in a couple months once my current deal ends.

The government don't pay the interest until after nine months as I explained earlier. As to getting the mortgage frozen, that's down to the lender. You do get Council Tax reduction of 85% although they are always behind as they get their information from the DWP so are normally a month or two behind recalculating. I was still generally paying the same percentage of a normal months wage In Council Tax.

Water, Gas and Electric don't change. If you are locked into contracts of any kind for TV/Broadband etc (and everything about UC is online, every day) you can't get out of it without just accepting them sending it to a debt collection agency or finding a way to see the contract out.

As I said before it's the sudden drop that is the worse. Your income drops drastically, but your outgoings take longer to come down accordingly unless you simply don't pay some bills or rack up debt.

If you are only on it for a short time, you can ride it out and get things straight again over a short time. Longer term, I wouldn't wish it on anyone as you simply stop living and start just existing.

 

[IndoMike]

Don’t bring in daft rules in the first place but I can see why the scheme was bound to be flawed being introduced necessarily in a hurry.

80% of pay for not working is too generous. Little wonder Lockdowns are so popular.

It's too generous for the people who can afford to lose 20% of their salary. but for those who are already living on a tight budget, losing 20%
of their salary/wages can make one helluva difference. Also it is unfair and not data-based to say that many people are happy to stay at home
and get the 80% rather than go to work. The inference that these people are lazy is elitist and shows no solidarity with those who have been forced to stay at home due to the impact of a pandemic and to government instructions.
I don't think sweeping generalisations on this topic should be made, quite frankly, and I am surprised that you would say that.

 

[IndoMike]

Ex-minister Johnny Mercer says ‘almost nobody’ tells truth in Johnson’s government
Former veterans’ minister says it was ‘most distrustful, awful environment I’ve ever worked in, in government’.

And that's even without Lord Cummings of Barnard