The UK Government’s Department of Work and Pensions has said it will write to those affected by a new cap which will limit the amount of benefits a person can have.
From April 2013, the benefit cap will stop people from claiming more in benefits than the average households earns – £500 a week for couples and those with children and £350 a week for single people without children. The DWP has said the cap of £26,000 will be the equivalent to average earnings of £35,000 before tax.
Benefit spending grew to £8.7bn last year in Wales with housing benefit costing £956m.
Lord Freud, Minister for Welfare Reform, said: “People in Wales will be shocked by the scale of the benefit bill and the fact that thousands of people claim enough in benefits to put them in the higher rate of tax is astonishing.
“The benefit cap will return fairness to the welfare state and ensure people know there is a clear limit on what they can claim.
“People who do the right thing and move into work will not be affected, and we have ensured disabled people will continue to receive the right support.”
The DWP is now writing to benefit claimants who may be affected by the benefit cap to provide support to help them into work and to explain how much their claims may be reduced by.
Practical help for people to get into work will come from Jobcentre Plus, the Work Programme and Work Choice.
People claiming working tax credits are exempt from the benefit cap
The benefit cap will also not apply to people who claim Disability Living Allowance, as well as some other benefits, in recognition of the extra costs disabled people face, as well as people who receive a War Widow’s or Widower’s Pension.
Well it might dissuade those with a mind to become pregnant every time the job centre decides its time they started looking for work.
That aside then I suspect there are so many exceptions to the rule as to make it worthless. It certainly doesn't effect the baby making machines with a partner working the minimum needed to claim working tax credits.
Breeding doesn't constitute a career, though you could be forgiven for thinking tax credits a salaried bonus in some cases.
I suspect there are NO benefit claimants in Wales entitled to claim the maximum benefits at the cap level of £26,000.
This level includes ALL benefits of course including housing and council tax benefits, but, for Lord Freud, Minister for Welfare Reform,to say “People in Wales will be shocked by the scale of the benefit bill and the fact that thousands of people claim enough in benefits to put them in the higher rate of tax is astonishing", is, completely incorrect, and without any factual foundation whatsoever, it is the myth being peddled by the Tories who want everyone to believe that everyone entitled to benefits is milking the system.
The fact is of course that the welfare cuts the Tories and the Lib Dems, who `sup` with them, are introducing, do not take effect until next spring, then, anyone living in Council or Social housing accommodation will find that their rent may stay the same but the rent benefit will reduce by 10%, that shortfall will have to be found from the other ` benefits` being paid, if people find themselves in accommodation with more bedrooms than is deemed is needed then an additional `bedroom` tax of £15.00 per spare room will have to be paid in a local tax.
Whilst it has been abundantly clear to everyone the benefits system has always been open to abuse of some sort, the situation has got worse since the Countries borders were opened up to every Tom Dick and Demetrius which has flooded the benefits system with claimants from other countries.
The solution being applied by the Tories is a blunderbuss approach and will not work, for instance, there is no doubt in any right thinking persons mind that unemployment will worsen, those currently advocating and supporting this approach to benefits may well find themselves genuinely tangled up in it, and, even though they will have paid into the Government Coffers by an industrious approach to living and working they will find themselves treated like fraudsters, malingerers and lazy benefits claimants, I wonder if those who post righteous comments now would feel the same then, when, for instance they are denied help, even in the short term with mortgage payment (housing) help,will not be able to meet heating and fuel costs, housing costs and increased food bills together with a denial to a benefit system originally designed to help them.
One very good thing to come out of this policy and other policies now being peddled by the Lib Dems in respect to means testing older claimants in respect to free prescriptions and heating allowances, not forgetting of course that those who would be denied the benefit under such a means test have probably paid the most in taxes and NI over the years, is, that it will turn this current Government and its component political parts into History come the next election.
There is a problem in Wales, and probably with the UK as a whole, that young women sometimes see pregnancy and the resultant benefits as a career option. The sad fact is that this is an entirely rational decision. In a country with low educational standards and a distinct lack of career prospects this is inevitable.
The long term answer has to be improved education and massive investment in jobs. By jobs I do not mean government and local authority employment, which will have to shrink as a sector, but jobs resulting from investment in industry and transport. I see very little prospect of this happening. Some 60 years ago investment in the Nantgarw colliery and coke oven complex led to employment for, at peak, 952 colliery workers and around 250 coke oven workers. These jobs lasted for nearly 40 years. The men earned enough to bring up their families without state aid, my late father was one of these, proud, workers.
What was the cost of this investment, in today's terms? I estimate around £140M an unthinkable sum, these days, to invest in industry for Caerffili people. That is the real crux of the matter. Governments have for decades presided over the destruction of the manufacturing industries of these islands. We cannot all be hair dressers or insurance workers but you would not think so, given the policies of every prime minister since Callaghan. Capping benefits has to happen we, as a country, borrow money just to tread water. But this will not provide an answer to our difficulties; we need men and women in government that have a game plan to provide a trade surplus in order to reduce our debt. The populist tinkering around that this coalition is engaged in will not serve us well. I foresee the same problems in 10 years time, exacerbated by a lack of action now.
Tax credits are far too ubiquitous to be tackled, everyone wants welfare cut but in the form of other peoples welfare, not their own tax credits. In addition we have the self-interested lobby groups, striving to justify their own existence.
If you're wondering why we have elderly people living in fuel poverty, then its because pensioners of means want free handouts too. If you're puzzled as to why there is no mortgage help for those losing their jobs then you would do well to ask where all the money is going instead.
Water takes the path of least resistance as too do those seeking money for minimal effort. It is interesting that eastern Europeans travel Europe for work. Are they motivated and hungry for self-improvement as a result of the state education in those countries or is their government teat merely less generous.
Until the pernicious culture of entitlement is eradicated we can only ever tinkle at the edges and penalise the populist scrounger of the day. Today it is the unemployed and disabled that are branded as such.
I can understand much of Helen's frustration with the welfare system, we all know of cases where the system appears to be abused. For instance there has been outraged reaction from a few politicians that some on benefits will have to move out of expensive areas, like Kensington & Chelsea, because benefits are being capped. Well I can’t afford to live in Kensington either, and I’ve worked since I was 16, apart from 6 months after I lost my job.
However, we need to be careful before we means test every benefit and view anyone who makes a claim as a scrounger. A good case study are “pensioners of means [who] want free handouts too.” This could be a person who left school, for work, at the age of fifteen or sixteen. They then put in half a century of work in coalmines, factories, farms and so on, living a blameless life bringing up their families and saving for their retirement. Are they to be denied help with their winter fuel bills and the money given only to those who saved nothing?
Personally I am happy to pay taxes to help all pensioners, I realise that some will go to the indolent but also money will go to those who worked hard. That they have savings is their business, not mine, nor that of the government.