£26,000 A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

[has]

What do you think about that? I would love to take home that amount per year, but my full time salary is FAR below this.
Are we really supposed to feel sorry for these people?
That woman who's just been on the BBC news, ahh, how my heart bleeds...like hell it does!! How has she got the nerve to do this interview? Scum.

[daffy654]

I'm not sure what you are talking about here.

[sandyRoe]

Benefits for families, including rent, will be capped at that figure. Where will all the poor people from London go when the exodus begins?

[Maydup]

Its the proposed cap on benefit daffy. No-one should be paid more than £26k pa in benefits in the future. That includes paymens, housing benefit council tax relief etc.

The idea is to make it more attractive to get a job.

I think £26k is way too high and should be reduced much further than this even for a large family. They should put a stop to greedy landlords too who get paid via Housing Benefit.

[annadomino]

It would stop those people who live in fantastic houses (come on, we have all seen the articles in the papers) while not earning. That seems only fair.
Why on earth would an out of work family need what ammounts to a mansion?

[sandyRoe]

I believe London rents are very high. Accommodation large enough to house a big family could be more than £400 a week. How's that same family supposed to survive on £100 a week?

[has]

daffy - Obviously you have not watched the 6pm news.

redhelen - Anyody who thieves money from the taxpayer is scum.

sandyRoe - Thousands of workers pour in to London everyday from the suburbs. Haven't you noticed the packed trains & roads? These are the workers who live within their means. If you can't afford to live in a posh area, move out! That's common sense. If you can't afford to run a large car, you buy a smaller & older one. Easy isn't it?

[spotsandstripes]

They are trying to make cut backs in all places to help with the current financial mess of our economy. Note how they have cut the public sector jobs, police, teachers, nurses etc...How about they cap MP's wages to 26k a year!!! They are far too over paid to begin with! While 26k capping has benefits to some, such as the lazy will get a job it is of disadvantage to others who cannot work etc. How about capping footballers and MP's pays instead!!!

[sandyRoe]

Is all of London posh? Does anyone know what size of a property could be rented there for £400 a week?
If these people can't afford to live there where will they go?

[sandyRoe]

And while they're at it they could cap the remuneration of the people who run the banks.

[Philtaz]

£26k? Seems like getting sacked wouldn't be such a bad option after all!

[has]

Just apply to the local authority that you need to move to somewhere affordable. I'm sure they would be only too willing to help you, therefore they would have a substantial sum of money to buy food. If I can't pay my mortgage, eventually my house will be re-possessed. I wouldn't expect to be bailed out by the tax-payer. Fact.

[sunny-dave]

So the logic seems to be "get a job" (London is lucky in that employment is still relatively easily available) or "move somewhere cheaper".

The interesting philosophical point being "at what point does society say - 'we can't afford to support you in unemployment if you insist on living in a particular area' " ?

Not an easy conundrum - and I'm not sure the proposed policy is either fair or humane - but in straitened times how do you balance the needs of the recipients of benefit with the ability of those who are paying into the system to support them?

There is also an element of "how far can you presume on the aquiescence of the payers-in" before they just refuse to pay in any more ?

[daffy654]

Thanks for clearing that up.

[B00]

I'm always scared of posts that have lots of !'s in 'em :-(

[spotsandstripes]

has I agree with you, totally. I bust my ass at uni to have a better job when I am older, to realise all along the people who live off our system make more money anyways. Its not right. Nurses don't even make that much and they work hard 12 hour shifts each night. Our system is wrong!! I think they should be a mitigating circumstance application to fill out for certain people who are excluded in the 26k capping so that everyone has their circumstance taken into consideration prior to the capping. It would prevent homeless situations occurring. Only they should cut the MPs wages too!

[has]

I feel the same way about the bankers but unfortunately we can't use this arguement everytime a social issue comes up. The last socialist Government, for a painful 13 years, did NOTHING in every sense of the word, except spend, spend, spend.
So that does not give the right for tax-payers money to be stolen in another way.
I.E. living the good life without a job & continuous childbirth.

[has]

Plumbers? Find me one who wouldn't rip me off.

[Postdog]

Has AOG got a new ID I wonder....