MIF - Minimum Income Floor

[Nomad]

I can sympathise with the OP, our local benefits office has a team dealing with disabled claimants - I know 2 disabled people personally who have been given good financial advice by that team (sadly the advice was to turn down paid jobs they had been offered as they would be worse off financially if they took the jobs as their benefits would drop/stop, and if they found the job was too much for them they wouldn't be able to go back on the benefits payments they were getting now).

One of the few times I applied for help (between jobs) I spent 3 months trying to get them to accept that a dormant account of mine with £3 (yes, less than a fiver !) in it was not significant, they also refused to accept that the money from my house sale (banked in a dedicated "house sale" account while I was looking for another house) did not count as savings when they were working out if I qualified for any benefits. In the end I cancelled my application and lived off my rapidly dwindling savings. Lesson learned: it caused my a lot of stress and grief and the end result was I got nothing from them. Why bother trying again in the future .... Maybe the lady in the original post has had similar experiences as me in the past ?

Edit: in the case of the lady above I can sympathise, when most of my work was self-employed, some months I made good money, other months I had other priorities so did no work (income honestly declared as £ Nil). The benefits system finds it difficult to cope with changing situations, it is designed more for someone with a regular income & expenses. Anyone doing occasional paid work when they are fit & able will find it difficult to access benefits.

Without getting political, the whole benefits / welfare system needs to be wiped out and replaced by a new - fair & reasonable - system.

 

[gaz1]

your not going to like this

i know she works like some shop owners and work hard for very little even if they like the job as many do it

what happened years ago was the work programme who decided in there bright idea was to farm out the dolers onto self employed all to get there payments without any proper calculations of what they should be earning

it had a knock on effect tax man got wise to it and therefore blocked it if your not earning enough you cant claim many stuff as your not earning enough to self sustain

credits to your account was removed to be replaced with means tested search for work even if you was a part timer
council tax also fell into the bracket of minimum wage less at start up for the self employed but you have to start to produce enough for the minimum income floor

as whats happened above they loose there benefits as they are supposed to earn mif due to being self employed, if not its called give it up

 

[gaz1]

One of the few times I applied for help (between jobs) I spent 3 months trying to get them to accept that a dormant account of mine with £3 (yes, less than a fiver !) in it was not significant, they also refused to accept that the money from my house sale (banked in a dedicated "house sale" account while I was looking for another house) did not count as savings when they were working out if I qualified for any benefits. In the end I cancelled my application and lived off my rapidly dwindling savings. Lesson learned: it caused my a lot of stress and grief and the end result was I got nothing from them. Why bother trying again in the future .... Maybe the lady in the original post has had similar experiences as me in the past ?

Without getting political, the whole benefits / welfare system needs to be wiped out and replaced by a new - fair & reasonable - system.

the old system was fine but the disabled part wanted an update to get many off of it who shouldnt be claiming it

I mean the drinkers and drug users they have the reducements with the smokers and therefore can do the same for the ones already said

i face the same if the house is sold im over the threshold of 10-16 grand in savings therefore cannot claim anything until below that threshold or get a job

the new system is unfair and the jcp will try anything to gain a cheap sanction to make you conform to there whims yes you can apeal there sanctions but you are put into destitute until its sorted then you get it back but that can last 2 years before then

 

[premmington]

I would say the same!
But apparently it was cheaper just to pay everyone than it was to pay the costs of working out who needed it and who didn't.
So apparently it saved the tax payers money.

It wasn't 'real money' - they just told the banks to print some more. Hence a load of people had extra cash they didn't earn or even need.
Hence why the prices of everything shot up..

Your quote "
It wasn't 'real money' - they just told the banks to print some more. Hence a load of people had extra cash they didn't earn or even need.
Hence why the prices of everything shot up..


Not really thought about it as you described - but I would agree 100% with you.

I bought the max holding of premium bonds with mine. Paid the tax on it as income - now the government pays me winnings monthly on mine.


Money could have been better distributed - I know they only had a little time to pour some money into the economy - while it was not perfect. I know of "now one that went skint thru covid" - so maybe I being a bit too critical. @hotponyshoes Maybe what they did was good/right/proper....?

 

[premmington]

I can sympathise with the OP, our local benefits office has a team dealing with disabled claimants - I know 2 disabled people personally who have been given good financial advice by that team (sadly the advice was to turn down paid jobs they had been offered as they would be worse off financially if they took the jobs as their benefits would drop/stop, and if they found the job was too much for them they wouldn't be able to go back on the benefits payments they were getting now).

One of the few times I applied for help (between jobs) I spent 3 months trying to get them to accept that a dormant account of mine with £3 (yes, less than a fiver !) in it was not significant, they also refused to accept that the money from my house sale (banked in a dedicated "house sale" account while I was looking for another house) did not count as savings when they were working out if I qualified for any benefits. In the end I cancelled my application and lived off my rapidly dwindling savings. Lesson learned: it caused my a lot of stress and grief and the end result was I got nothing from them. Why bother trying again in the future .... Maybe the lady in the original post has had similar experiences as me in the past ?

Edit: in the case of the lady above I can sympathise, when most of my work was self-employed, some months I made good money, other months I had other priorities so did no work (income honestly declared as £ Nil). The benefits system finds it difficult to cope with changing situations, it is designed more for someone with a regular income & expenses. Anyone doing occasional paid work when they are fit & able will find it difficult to access benefits.

Without getting political, the whole benefits / welfare system needs to be wiped out and replaced by a new - fair & reasonable - system.

Your quote:

Without getting political, the whole benefits / welfare system needs to be wiped out and replaced by a new - fair & reasonable - system.



I would agree - I am a high rate tax payer - I not against benefits at all - it only by the "grace of god" and "good luck" and "good health" I don't need them myself.

But the whole thing looks too complicated. Too long winded for people taking short term jobs. Unfair on the people who are ill.

Work must pay - people who take paid employment even for a short while - must not loose out.

The people who need it and can't work thru ill health should be supported.

 

[addjunkie]

Your quote:

Without getting political, the whole benefits / welfare system needs to be wiped out and replaced by a new - fair & reasonable - system.



I would agree - I am a high rate tax payer - I not against benefits at all - it only by the "grace of god" and "good luck" and "good health" I don't need them myself.

But the whole thing looks too complicated. Too long winded for people taking short term jobs. Unfair on the people who are ill.

Work must pay - people who take paid employment even for a short while - must not loose out.

The people who need it and can't work thru ill health should be supported.

Exactly….youve got my vote, when you standing!

 

[ajlelectronics]

fair & reasonable - system.

Unfortunately, the word fair is a moveable goal. Fair generally seems to mean "I get more than you" rather than we both get the same regardless.

 

[Nomad]

Unfortunately, the word fair is a moveable goal. Fair generally seems to mean "I get more than you" rather than we both get the same regardless.

If everybody got the same regardless there would be a lot less bad feeling about the system.

A lot of the resentment from people I know who have paid into the system is that they (for various reasons) will be unable to access the benefits if they need to.
This is made worse when they see (and have personal knowledge of) families who have never held a full time job, and who get paid more by the state for doing nothing than many full time workers earn in a week.

Not a political post as I don't see this as being driven by any political party, it is what it is and I can't see any painless way to change the system.

 

[addjunkie]

If everybody got the same regardless there would be a lot less bad feeling about the system.

A lot of the resentment from people I know who have paid into the system is that they (for various reasons) will be unable to access the benefits if they need to.
This is made worse when they see (and have personal knowledge of) families who have never held a full time job, and who get paid more by the state for doing nothing than many full time workers earn in a week.

Not a political post as I don't see this as being driven by any political party, it is what it is and I can't see any painless way to change the system.

To change any system, in any country requires one thing…..a drive to change.

In reality governments of elected folk dont really change things, they fiddle about doing what employees of the civil service tell them is required. The elected just tell the civil service which bits the want to fiddle with first.

 

[Smallfry]

It could be made fairer, but unfortunately not everyone is honest. Too many milking the system for all its worth and getting away with it. I am sure most of you know of someone who is getting benefits but shouldn't be. Thus depriving, and making it difficult for those in genuine need.

 

[roofman]

During bird flu i got the "bounce back loan" from my bank just in case work dried up, only 20% of what i could of got. The flu period turned out to be the busiest 2 years ever and i never used the money. It was an interest free repayment back to the bank loan and it is still getting paid back via DD each month and finishes end of this year.

 

[ajlelectronics]

During bird flu i got the "bounce back loan" from my bank just in case work dried up, only 20% of what i could of got. The flu period turned out to be the busiest 2 years ever and i never used the money. It was an interest free repayment back to the bank loan and it is still getting paid back via DD each month and finishes end of this year.

I did the same but another 21 months until mine is cleared. Cheaper to get 5.1% on investment and pay 2.5% on the BDL.

 

[DAPPH]

Only free money I have had self employed in nearly four decades - was the covid money - two rates grants (one large ish - one small) and several (five) SEISS grants. I have always paid a lot of tax and the SEISS grants were sizeable.

Without being too political - I did not think that sort of money should have been paid out - yes I took it with open arms (greedy little paws). But I did not need it - and the money would have been better poured at more needy people than me....

Sometimes it works a out heck of a lot cheaper for a government /organisation to give blanket money grants than have to employ zillions of paper pushers for decades on pensions as well to decide if they want you to have the money .
My war pension took almost four years to get it partially sorted and seven to finally get it completed get sorted .

Yet there was proof of the damage to me & disability from the day I left the Army . I got the feeling that having my paper work shovelled around the UK from Scotland , N. Ireland , Blackpool , Ipswich Cumbernauld & Swansea they were trying to cover the UK in waste paper .

 

[barracuda816]

I know nothing about the subject, but thought it was a scam at first the way that letter is written.

 

[Onoff]

I know nothing about the subject, but thought it was a scam at first the way that letter is written.

Nope, 100% genuine from the local district council.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Netherlands I believe has a temporary unemployment support which pays a percentage of your earnings...I think it tapers down over 2 years.

Think it's basically designed to be a good level of support in the short term for workers...which is what 99% of people actually need I suspect.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Netherlands I believe has a temporary unemployment support which pays a percentage of your earnings...I think it tapers down over 2 years.

Think it's basically designed to be a good level of support in the short term for workers...which is what 99% of people actually need I suspect.

Have to say, I knew several Dutch guys on 'disability' who were working full time in the Algarve. Very occasionaly, they had had to leg it back to the Netherlands to prove they were 'disabled'.
Part of the problem is that the system needs to make it easy for genuine people to access it, Which tends to make it very easy for 'less disabled' scammers to live comfortable lives.

 

[angellonewolf]

It could be made fairer, but unfortunately not everyone is honest. Too many milking the system for all its worth and getting away with it. I am sure most of you know of someone who is getting benefits but shouldn't be. Thus depriving, and making it difficult for those in genuine need.

could name more than one im thinking id need more fingers and toes