Housing benefits cap, will you be affected?

[icklemonster]

My mums affected by it, she's got to pay £80 a month towards her rent now. Hopefully she's not out of work to long, £80 doesn't sound much but it is :/

Are you sure this isn't bedroom tax? Just thinking it is a bit of a coincidence that it is £20 extra per week per room....

Kaybea - I fully believe this, I went over to my best friend to help her make a spreadsheet of her ingoings and outgoing being a single, full-time working Mum. After all of her outgoings she was left with £40 a month to buy clothes for her and LO, and ANYTHING extra.
Luckily, she has just been offered a new job which is a few grand extra. I was absolutely appalled before she got this new job, she is exactly what the government rant on about wanting in society, and yet she could barely afford to survive.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Not currently affected but I think we would be exempt as get hrc x

 

[KayBea]

My mums affected by it, she's got to pay £80 a month towards her rent now. Hopefully she's not out of work to long, £80 doesn't sound much but it is :/

Are you sure this isn't bedroom tax? Just thinking it is a bit of a coincidence that it is £20 extra per week per room....

Kaybea - I fully believe this, I went over to my best friend to help her make a spreadsheet of her ingoings and outgoing being a single, full-time working Mum. After all of her outgoings she was left with £40 a month to buy clothes for her and LO, and ANYTHING extra.
Luckily, she has just been offered a new job which is a few grand extra. I was absolutely appalled before she got this new job, she is exactly what the government rant on about wanting in society, and yet she could barely afford to survive.

after 2 months of me being a single mum i thought this isnt right, every single mum i know can afford to go out atleast twice a month so im over spending. but no i went through everything & did a spread sheet & i was right, i truly am skint.

i hate it, but i cant afford to go back to work because i cant afford a deposit or uniform for LO to attend nursery (i qualify for the FEET funding - 15 hrs (i think its 15) free a week) & all the CMs in my area are rubbish & poor ofsted reports etc. x

 

[Tasha]

If my husband was to lose his job then we would be, our rent is £350 a week, so that would leave £150 a week for council tax (£25 ish a week), electric (£15 a week), gas (£10 ish a week), leaving £100 for water, tv license, food, and obviously bills we already have that we cant just suddenly get rid of because he loses his job.

We are desperately trying to save so if any thing does happen we have a nice cushion to fall back on but when your rent is that high it is impossible to save much, we are moving because of this but any where in the area is expensive and jobs aren't all that easy to come by. We're hoping our next rent will be around £1000-£1200 -pcm which will make it easier to save.

It is easy to say leave your home if you lose your job, I know it sounds simple but if you are privately renting then you are tied into a contract.

 

[Pearls18]

Sorry is the cap £500 all benefits? I thought from the thread it was just housing benefit? If it's all benefits then I could absolutely see how it would be very difficult for those in London, perhaps they should cap it after a set time so a family in London (or similar) has chance to try and find work so not forced out of their home prematurely?

 

[6lilpigs]

I looked into this a bit more last night and have to correct my 1st post,it does NOT include Child Benedit or any Maternity benefits, I cannot access the site I got the original info from to see why I got that confused but they seem to be seperate.

I'm tryon to see when the natural migration begins? which is the move to UC when a new baby comes in, I'm dreading it due to the self employed needing to give monthly figures in, I am terrible at keeping up with the bookwork!

 

[6lilpigs]

Correcting my self again, CB and mat may be included in the cap??? Its so conflicted out there??

Taken from mumsnet

Benefit cap
On top of this there will be a benefit cap. This is designed to make it impossible for anyone to receive more on benefits than the average weekly wage after tax and national insurance.For couples and lone parent households the cap will be £500 a week
For single adults the cap will be £350 a week
The benefit cap will be brought in nationwide in April 2013 and reductions will be made to housing benefit payments until universal credit takes over in October 2013.

Concern:
*The benefit cap will hit larger families who live in comparatively wealthy areas the hardest, and may result in ghettoisation of poorer working people and some people being forced to leave their homes. Estimates from Disability Rights UK have suggested that 67,000 households will be affected in 2013-14 and 75,000 in 2014-15, with 54% of these being households in Greater London.

Other benefits that will be included in the amount to be capped during the changeover to universal credit are:
Bereavement allowance
Carer's allowance
Child benefit
Child tax credit
Housing benefit
Income support
Jobseeker's allowance
Maternity allowance
Employment and support allowance (except where the support component has been awarded)
Guardian's allowance
Incapacity benefit
Severe disablement allowance
Widowed parent's allowance
Widow's benefit

 

[Pearls18]

It should really be geographical I think, you could live like a king in my home town on £2000 a month but in London it would be a different story, I totally understand the logic to it but seems unfair it's going to hit families very differently like a postcode lottery?

 

[babycrazy1706]

Wow IF all those are included a lot of people will be homeless!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

That's awful when rent is high like tasha x

 

[6lilpigs]

Especially if people are unaware of any full changes and timescale! I know its national by 2017 but phased in gradually before through certain locations, unemploment and natural migration which on bnb could be quite a few. Imagine if through 'natural migration' ie new baby, you update the Cb and tax credit and are told that you have been early moved to UC but have a 6 month grace period to get used to it and better start looking for new jobs and accomadation 100 miles away!

 

[Tasha]

Sorry is the cap £500 all benefits? I thought from the thread it was just housing benefit? If it's all benefits then I could absolutely see how it would be very difficult for those in London, perhaps they should cap it after a set time so a family in London (or similar) has chance to try and find work so not forced out of their home prematurely?

Yes all benefits. I totally agree about capping it after a set time, then it would give people a chance to find a job and not lose their homes, it is doing what the benefit system should be there for and not allowing people to make it a lifestyle choice.

 

[Tasha]

It should really be geographical I think, you could live like a king in my home town on £2000 a month but in London it would be a different story, I totally understand the logic to it but seems unfair it's going to hit families very differently like a postcode lottery?

I think their argument is move to some where cheaper but like I said it really isn't that simple because a) you may be tied into a contract and b) everyone knows that moving is expensive, rent up front, deposit, moving vans etc, it all costs a lot, so if you've lost your job then it is unlikely you will be able to afford it.