The following was posted on the 5th of July on my now deleted group on facebook. . . .


I have been reading comments on the Guardian article about the leaked letter from Mr Pickles (ohhh too easy but a very apt name it seems) department about the 40,000 households who could be made homeless as a direct result of the Housing Benefit cap.

Over and over I see people say - well if you cant afford to live there then move. These are the same people who shouted from the rooftops - if you cant afford children don't have them, when the Child Benefit changes were brought in.

Ok I will tell you about me shall I??
Sitting comfortably?? I'm not but lets begin anyway . . . 

My husband and/or I have always worked to support ourselves then ourselves and our children. We until recently never had a credit card, in fact for most of our marriage we didn't even have a debit card.

We paid cash, if we needed something we saved up.

Then I fell ill.

I was working when I got very ill, the hours I worked meant it wasn't easy to see my GP. As a result I bought over the counter medications and replaced my clothing as and when required. Costing me and my family money we didn't really have to spare.

I was on SSP (stat sick pay) woefully inadequate for covering periods of sickness but that's a whole other late night ramble.

I finally got POMs (prescription only medications) these are usually a much higher dosage than over the counter medications, and have much more side effects.

Now one of the symptoms of HS is the constant leakage of puss like liquid from the affected area. This stains clothing and will eat away at the fabric of the clothing, rendering the clothing unwearable and not even useful as a window washing rag.

When I was working I had to replace this clothing at considerable cost to me, I had little state help other than WTC and CTC. Both paid at a low rate, combined under £120. However this money did help to cover the costs such as my childrens school meals, school trips, school clothing and shoes. 
My wages had to pay for the rent, council tax, electricity, gas, food, travel to and from work, TV license and household insurance. Leaving me in debt to pretty much everyone except my landlord.

I live in what is called Social Housing. My landlord is a housing association which is a charity. I pay a lower rate than friends who live in council flats of similar size. 

Now a little about how rent is collected.

Landlords, including the council expect you to be at least one payment in front. So council tenants must be one fortnight in advance as their rent is paid fortnightly and I must be one month in advance since I pay per calendar month.

However with HB the rent is paid as all benefits are in arrears. So every month I am in arrears with my rent according to the rules. On the first of the month I am expected to have paid for that month, the council will pass on HB at the end of the month.

Now I want you to do me a favour . . . go check what is in your bank accounts . . . all of them . . . how much savings do you have??

Can you calculate how much you NEED to live on each month if you were to lose your job at the end of this month??

How long will your savings cover?? One month, two, maybe six months if you are very forward planning. 

A few months back I read somewhere (dammed if I can remember though) that most households are 2 pay checks away from homelessness.

I will repeat for the hard of understanding. 2 PAY CHECKS AWAY FROM HOMELESSNESS.

Still think I'm a scrounger?? What about when your moneys all gone and you HAVE to claim benefits??
Do you think you can live on fresh air and scenery for the 12 weeks on average it takes to process a benefits claim?? 
How are you going to pay the bills?? How are you going to feed your household?? How are you going to look for work when you have no money to put petrol in your car and go looking?? What about when you have worn a hole in the expensive shoes and cant afford to repair or replace??

Well let me tell you my husband and I have stuffed newspaper (the free one cant afford to buy them) in our shoes, we have gone without food so the children didn't have to. We did go out with the children leave them at school, and looked for jobs until it was time to collect the children again.

People sneer at others who work as cleaners. WHY????? Simple "its not something to aspire to" they say. OK well why not?? My husband worked during the day and I worked as a cleaner in the evenings. Simple we kept our outgoings as low as we could and our children were looked after. 

Now if the proposed changes are bought in, (remember there is still time for a uturn) and the very people who were in the same position as me have to do what we did and move to find work, how are they going to look after their children?? No family and friends around them to help. No local knowledge of the new area, so how do they find suitable people to look after the children, and please dont say childminders and nurseries, there may not be any in the small towns and villages they had to move to.



Ohh and council run nurseries the ones remember we were all told our children would have places at by age 3?? Well they are half day ohh the generosity, 2 hours per day, unless you are in greatest need then and only maybe if you have the Social Work involved will you get the whole day placements. ohh and remember just because you work anti social hours is NOT a great need. You will be expected to find alternative arrangements and have you child picked up on time by an adult. 

So you have moved, found a job, uprooted your children, and for what, to pay out more than you will earn in your new part time job in childcare. Another thing if your children are all over 5 you will probably find (as I did when I asked) that most childminders will not take them. Not all schools have after school clubs, so what do you do with the children under 14, who cannot legally be left alone for longer than it takes to take a bag of rubbish to the street??