General Chat

I'm on annual leave today - didn't want to be, but had an unexpected 2 weeks off after an op, and they won't let me take it over to next year (starts April 1)

Phone rang when I was in the garden - did 1471 - it was work!!

Blubby cheek!!

let me give you an example.

my dad worked but mum didn't as there were six of us kids to look after all at school age.

when i left school i went on to college to train as a teacher.

because the amount my dad earnt and the kids he had to support i got ema.

without the ema i would not of been able to go college and would of ended up in a dead end job.

the ema gave me a bit of freedom to beable to pay my own fare buy my own school books and have a bit of pocket money without it i might of gave up the course to get a job instead as my parent's would not of been able to fully support me money wise.

sorry but what does ema stand for?
catherine
xx

Catherine

its Educational maintenance allowance

its given to teens who stay on in school or attend college to help them with transport, books etc

education maintenance allowance.

oh right thanks
c
xx

from what I understood EMA is on three levels depending on the parents income, £10, £20 and £30

up to £20,817 per year £30 per week
£20,818 - £25,521 per year £20 a week
£25,522 - £30,810 per year £10 a week
more than £30,810 per year no entitlement to EMA

Yes thats right Dawnie its means tested

but they only get it if the teen attends plus twice a year if they have good attendance and have handed in all coursework by the deadline they get a bonus which is about £100.

when i got it you would get a £50 bouns every term for full attendance and work but that was 8 years ago now.

My daughter was one of the first to receive EMA - it was a godsend. Unfortunately, she was also one of the students, who, was caught in the middle of government 'fiddling'. Between 1998 and 2005 maintenance grants were abolished, so students who went to Uni during those years have the biggest debt ever!!

There will also be a lot more people claiming benefits after April. The government's tax cuts help those earning over £17000 a year, but as they have managed these cuts by increasing NI contributions and getting rid of the personal allowance. Anyone earning less than £17000 will be a lot worse off!!
Bit of a bummer when you work full time isn't it?
And, as I have mentioned before, my pay has been frozen for 2 years, this will include me.
Not really an incentive to work.

maggie

A new medical test, to be introduced in October alongside the new employment and support allowance, will assess what an individual can do - rather than cannot do. This is expected to cut by almost half those that claim incapacity benefit. I dont know much about incapacity but I know that this is upsetting a lot of people.
Those people who claim DLA will agree those forms are a nightmare to complete however I wouldnt complain if they were to request my daughter to be checked because she is entiltled to it, surley it is those who are on the fiddle who object to these kind of changes.

As I see it, the problem is that many benefits are paid according to the number of children, either in total or in age brackets, and are not capped.

So if you have eight kids you get eight lots of child benefit etc.

The other thing is that the value of free services and supplies are not brought into the equation, so that if you are on income support it opens up a Pandoras Box of free school meals, medical treatment (prescriptions, glasses, dentist etc.), subsidised rent, and so on, which everyone else gets charged for. Add those in and the total value of cash benefits and freebies can actually be worth over £40,000 salary gross.

I wrote a letter to my MP earlier today challenging why people are being penalised for going to work.

My 19 year old daughter currently has a Saturday job which pays £36 per week. Even though this is all she earns and she is actually seeking a proper job, we are now liable for Council Tax and Rent. If she didn't have that blooming Saturday job, she would qualify for Job Seeker's allowance of £46.83 per week AND we would still get ALL our rent and council tax paid. Of course she is not allowed to give up her Saturday job as that would mean making herself jobless.

For the record, I am a single parent and I too have been busy retraining and applying for work. Unfortunately I've found that most of the jobs on offer are short-term contracts - not that I have any problem applying for such jobs. It usually transpires that there is no actual vacancy, merely the existing person's contract has ended and the employers are obliged to readvertise the post before taking on the same person.

All the jobs are so poorly paid, that we will still remain on benefits in some form even if we are all working. To me this is all totally depressing madness!

Well we are retired and I get DLA, we are not rich.
But because we have always had to struggle even when Hubby was working 16 hours a day sometimes (and he never refused overtime) we are very very good with money.
We don't smoke or drink, and entertainment is reduced to an occasional night at the theatre (perhaps twice a year... on a good year.) AND the TV.

I would never complain about what anyone gets , as I have been so in need in my life that I have been very pleased to get the help.
We never know when we might need the help.

Deanna X

The benefits system has a major flaw in it which makes us different from many other countries. It pays most to those who sit on their backsides doing nothing, and penalises those who make the effort to go out and work.

Other countries have a different approach. Yes there is some support for those who are genuinely unable to work but the most benefits are paid to those who do make the effort to go out to work, and need their pay topping up.

Simple

I get Incapacity Benefit and £3.05 Income Support. Doesn't amass to anything like that amount.

If I didn't get IS, I would have to pay for every prescription I get.

I get Council Tax rebate, but as I own my home, I don't qualify for full benefit of that.

I even had to go for a medical when they stopped my benefit, as they thought I was fit for work, and wanted me to sign on as fit for work.

All that when I was still undergoing treatment.

So where is the government going with their figures and ideas on benefit.

Heres the reprt from the mail

From next April, child tax credits will increase £50 a year above inflation for the poorest households.
And from October next year, child benefit will not be taken into account when calculating income for housing and council tax benefit.
This will boost the income of the poorest working families by £17 a week.
At present, there is no incentive for those on benefits to go to work, because their housing and council tax handouts would be cut.
But the rule change means they would still receive all three benefits - and can boost their incomes by going to work.
Meanwhile, child benefit will increase to £20 a week for the first child from April 2009 - a year earlier than planned.
The rise in child tax credits means families with two children and a household income below £28,000 will be more than £130 a year better off - at least £2 a week.
Families with incomes up to £14,495 a year qualify for the maximum of £1,845 a year for each child, which is gradually lowered for families with higher incomes.
From April, the income threshold rises to £15,575 per year.
The limit at which child tax credits are paid stays at £50,000. There will also be a new better-off-in-work credit for second earners and partners of the unemployed.
Couples with children in the poorest areas will receive payments of £40 per week, or £60 in London, if the main claimant starts working 24 hours or more, or if the partner does 16 hours or more.
The increase in child benefit has been brought forward from April 2010 - inviting speculation that it is timed to coincide with a General Election in the spring.
It is 6.4 per cent above the figure of £18.80 that was due to come in next month. But families will be only £2 a week better off than at present.
Payments for other children will remain the same, at £12.55 a week

Child benefit payments are still benefits:) I could ask why people get money because they have children - it's not compulsary and those who have children cost the country far more than those who don't. Perhaps those of us who don't have kids should be rewarded:)

I think these sort of figures are deceiving. As they count up all of those on benefits of any description and then add up all the benefits they each receive and then average the figure.

Also remember that these figures were printed in the newspaper - who are out to get as much profit as possible by people who will buy them and read and take what is printed as read. Which it is not always the truth.