Why cap at £25k?

[modeller]

If, as is claimed, the average working class wage is £17K out of which they have to pay travelling expenses to and from work then logically and fairly the cap should be £17k not £25k. Why should an able bodied person who doesn't work be paid more than his hardworking neghbour. I know a number people on my estate that this applies to and there is a lot of resentment.

[factor-fiction]

I agree with a cap as longer term aim of driving down housing costs for those on benefits but I think limiting it to £17000 would be a step too far for many families with children. It may be enough for an average family but as a rough guide roughly half of any group fall above the average and half fall below. Families with maybe 3 children will need more money and a larger place to live, and a £17000 cap would be too low

[rojash]

Your'e not comparing like with like. For a kickoff a cap at 25K doesn't mean everyone gets 25K, it means nobody gets more than 25K.

A single man with no dependants is not going to get anything like that.

A working man earning 17K but with a number of dependants, and living in a high-rent area may well get additional state benefits.

[Buenchico]

£25k is estimated to be the take-home pay of a typical junior level 'professional' worker.

[mrsmaveric]

well id say the cap should be nowhere near the average working class wage if than is 17k...yes i know of people who are worse off actually WORKING the whole benefits system is fundamentally wrong..but if you work you have to pay your own rent,council tax,prescriptions,school meals etc etc...so who is worse off financially??? the worker or the shirker???

[factor-fiction]

I expect though, mrsmaveric, that anyone working and earning less than £17000 who has 2 or 3 children will be assisted by child tax credits and housing benefit

[sherrardk]

Presumably, if the powers that be thought they could cap it at 17k then they would.

[mrsmaveric]

well factor30 im sure that may be the case but i know of people who go to work and are just £20.00 a week better off after they have paid everything and that is with the help of tax credits etc etc...hardly seems right does it...?

[weecalf]

Out of the 17000 how much do we give back to goverment in tax ,The more we have the more we spend so does it not make sense to be spending more to help the economy ..At least the wage s are spent in the country .

[factor-fiction]

Yes mrsmaveric, I agree that there is no incentive to work in some cases.

I was trying to make a different point. I think there is some confusion between the terms CAP and AVERAGE AVERAGE. For some families a £17000 cap will not be sufficient, just as an income of £17000 is not sufficient for a working parent with maybe threel children and high housing costs

[VHG]

As well as looking at the top amount we should look more closely at those who are getting benefits they shouldn't.

No point in capping one couple who get over £25,000 in benefits if, for example, two other people are getting benefits of £15,000 each they are not even entitled to.

We are FAR to lax in who we give benefits too. We attract people from all over the world who hear about our lax, easy going benefits system, hence we attract the scroungers, the criminals, the work shy.

Gullible, gullible, gullible

[rov1100]

As most of this amount is due to housing costs maybe they should tackle this first. Why live in luxury houses? Sericemen are being laidf off in their thousands and barracks lie empty. Give them this temporary accommodation and put them on a council housing list so they can compete with people who have been waiting years to get a council house. To go to the front of the queue is unfair.

[modeller]

I see on the news today that Ed Miliband also says that a cap of £25K is too high . It appears to be based on the average wage in London and that isn't the average working class wage but everyone's wage. It was also pointed out that the rent of a bed-sit in London would get you a 4 bed house in Oldham .