Jsa v state pension

[cressida]

The Carer's Allowance is £53.90 per week, think how much government save on this compared with how much it would cost them to provide care

[Wildcat]

To make matters worse I quoted figures earlier on this week that showed pensioners had the worst income as a proportion of the average wage in europe. And not just by a little the next worst paid pensioners twice as much.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/pensions/article.html?in_article_id=426261&in_page_id=6

[staninoodle]

pensioners will get a £40 rise,brings them up a bit......will jobseekers go up? how does our jobseekers compare to other euro jobseekers?

state pension maybe only £97,but how many dont qualify for pension credit,giving them the extra £36 quid,plus housing and council tax.

who neds the money most,those seeking work,or those not seeking work?

jsa £65 quid,il bet i spend more on the bloody dog than £65

[watchcoll]

Doh, I forgot the budget for food!

 

In £260, out £195, leaves £65 per month for food or if you budget weekly over a four week period £16.25p. I've yet to find any food outlet that will sell a weekly food allowance for that.

 

when i was 18 (2000/2001) i had to live alone on £68 a month. this wasnt on benefits, this was me working part time and putting myself through college.

i lived in a very basic bedsit, where i had to put a pound coin in a meter for electric.

 

i payed £40pw rent, £11pw bus pass to get to work so i had £17pw left to live on. i survived. but then i walked everywhere, didnt have a telly, a mobile that never had more than 50p credit on it, couldnt properly afford heating, had to pay £1 each time to have a bath, which i considered to be more important than eating good food.

 

in summer i was fine for food as it was warm.

in winter i really cut back on food as my crappy bedsit had no insulation and the temp was always about 4c (same as a fridge basically) so i spent a few £1s on my little heater and had more steaming hot baths, or i would have gotten ill from the cold,i think.

 

i regularly lived off a food budget of £5pw (thank you morrisons for being so cheap back then) and i survived, hell i even learnt to cook actually (it was cheaper than ready meals)

 

i've never claimed benefits, and that experience stood me in good stead. everything i have i've worked for and even now the survival instinct still kicks in. currently off work sick for a year, on ssp and thankfully i have savings after years of working that i can use to live off til i can go back to work. (savings = emergency fund so i never ended up in the situation of my youth again, it was awful, but liberating).

 

i reckon i could do it again, (at todays prices and todays part time wages) if you have to you will. it never even crossed my mind to apply for benefits back then, i just had to work my way up to better things as far as i was concerned.

 

i wonder with some of the people now on job seekers if they were put in the same position how they would fare?

 

it is possible if you really have to do it. i expect i could do the same again, if i had to.