[TV] Newsnight tonight

[ROSM]

You would be surprised at how many parents, many in very good jobs such as police,.fire service, or financial services, will play the system to avoid their responsibilities.

I know of one person who left his partner and 2 kids (when he wasn't being violent towards her) and refused to pay anything toward the house and threw all his spare income into a pension to avoid the CSA. His colleagues in one of the blue light services found out basically ostracised him (especially as he was using stories about covering for his colleagues shifts to hide his affair). He then walked straight into another blue light service due to friends with funny handshakes.

He may now be paying something but the mother was left very short for many many years and is paying the mortgage alone on a house that he still had a beneficial stake in and wants his payout when they hit 18.

I'm sure she has had benefits and wider family support to help but these are professional people, it's not all Council estates and feral kids.

 

[GOM]

I wish journos - just like very, very occasionally - would actually do a piece on billionaires' tax avoidance, which completely dwarfs, hundreds of times over, the amount lost through benefit fraud or overpayments.

It would be a very boring piece about accountancy. There is nothing wrong or illegal about tax avoidance, you are possibly/probably 'guilty' of it yourself without realising.
Salary sacrifice or an ISA is tax avoidance too.

 

[Comrade Sam]

How bloody dare she moan when she owns a TV and mobile phone? My errant father separated from my Mum 40 years ago and yet I never get a penny from him!
Why oh why can't the BBC do more to stop people moaning, it makes me sick. Blah, blah, blah!

 

[Comrade Sam]

It would be a very boring piece about accountancy. There is nothing wrong or illegal about tax avoidance, you are possibly/probably 'guilty' of it yourself without realising.
Salary sacrifice or an ISA is tax avoidance too.

It seems odd that the rich have so many legal ways to avoid paying tax. I wonder how that came about?

 

[The Fits]

I was on UC briefly this year and it was immediately wiped out once I started earning again. I don’t have children or pay rent so I’m totally cool with that. It seems fair to me that even if you’re on a decent wage you should be supported IF you have dependents and your housing costs are high. As @1066familyman said, don’t blame the player, blame the game. It’s landlords who are playing the system. And a lot of fathers- I know many single mothers who’s ex partners contribute absolutely nothing both financially and in terms of time.

 

[beorhthelm]

How bloody dare she moan when she owns a TV and mobile phone? My errant father separated from my Mum 40 years ago and yet I never get a penny from him!
Why oh why can't the BBC do more to stop people moaning, it makes me sick. Blah, blah, blah!

wouldn't that be a better issue to focus on, more efforts and changes to rules to prevent wayward fathers shirk their responsiblities?

the subject was raising the benefits cap. the person is already getting 36k (or claims to) but wants more because of their circumstances. the cap is there because it was recognised it's not right to pay out more than average earnings to people without work. some how this is worked around in this case, which was a terrible example to use, as millions will be out there earning far less, getting far less or nothing from UC.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I don't want to pile on to the woman, but I'm just confused how she qualifies for universal credit?

Can someone explain the circumstances in which someone on an above average salary, can qualify for benefits?

I'm not opposed to it, just confused by it.

 

[Machiavelli]

The headlines I'd like to see are:

'Private landlords/landladies are claiming billions in housing benefit, funded by taxpayers'.

That is the reality, and has been for years. Only now housing benefit is lumped in with universal credit.

Also 'mother of three who goes out to work earning £45k a year, comfortably above the average wage, cannot afford to buy a property' ...
... and 'asset owners vilify working mother of three for receiving benefits on top of her salary'.

 

[Machiavelli]

I don't want to pile on to the woman, but I'm just confused how she qualifies for universal credit?

Can someone explain the circumstances in which someone on an above average salary, can qualify for benefits?

I'm not opposed to it, just confused by it.

See posts 14 and 15

 

[Uh_huh_him]

See posts 14 and 15

Ok

So universal credit is available to contribute towards rent & Childcare.
Genuinely surprised that this is the case.
Presumably this isn't the case for everyone?
What are the thresholds/criteria for getting UC support towards rent?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

The sooner the government start building council houses again the better.
And taxing landlords appropriately.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

How much is the father chipping in?

If you have a child and are separated the contribution is deducted from your income at source.

 

[stewart12]

Ok

So universal credit is available to contribute towards rent & Childcare.
Genuinely surprised that this is the case.
Presumably this isn't the case for everyone?
What are the thresholds/criteria for getting UC support towards rent?

I find the turn2us website is the most helpful for this kind of thing. That's where I did the benefits calculator

She'll be getting help due to her high outgoings for childcare and rent vs her income. Sadly £45k doesn't go very far if you're renting and have 3 kids. The bulk of what she's eligible for is going to her landlord and childcare provider

 

[happypig]

The sooner the government start building council houses again the better.
And taxing landlords appropriately.

And introduce rent control to cap what greedy landlords can charge. At the moment UC is simply being used
to fund landlords' property purchases and is a movement of vast wealth from the state to private individuals.

If you have a child and are separated the contribution is deducted from your income at source.

If you are salaried and caught up with by the CSA (who tend to go for the "low hanging fruit") then yes, it is. If you're a bit shifty and self-emplyed then its easier to avoid them. A friend of mine has two daughters who have children with absent fathers and neither dad is paying.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

And introduce rent control to cap what greedy landlords can charge. At the moment UC is simply being used
to fund landlords' property purchases and is a movement of vast wealth from the state to private individuals.


If you are salaried and caught up with by the CSA (who tend to go for the "low hanging fruit") then yes, it is. If you're a bit shifty and self-emplyed then its easier to avoid them. A friend of mine has two daughters who have children with absent fathers and neither dad is paying.

Fair enough. This is a big issue for someone close to me. The system was quick to take money off him (did and continues to do so), but he has not been able to see the child because the mother isn't co-operating. Going to court privately, but still waiting for a court date. Kid now 18 months old and the dad hasn't seen him since he was a week old. Words fail me.

 

[Comrade Sam]

wouldn't that be a better issue to focus on, more efforts and changes to rules to prevent wayward fathers shirk their responsiblities?

the subject was raising the benefits cap. the person is already getting 36k (or claims to) but wants more because of their circumstances. the cap is there because it was recognised it's not right to pay out more than average earnings to people without work. some how this is worked around in this case, which was a terrible example to use, as millions will be out there earning far less, getting far less or nothing from UC.

I'm 56!

 

[Blue3]

Having watched the interview on catch-up I could see that this woman works and is paid £45,000 PA

In addition she gets child benefits including some support I assume for child care

she does not appear to me too be scrounging from the state

 

[PeterT]

The sooner the government start building council houses again the better.
And taxing landlords appropriately.

There’s a balance though. Landlord taxes/costs have soared in recent years -> landlords don’t make the profit they can get elsewhere (you can actually be taxed on a loss!) -> landlords sell up -> rental supply falls -> rents go up and round and round it goes unless, like you say, the supply of council houses fills that gap, which it won’t for a generation.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

There’s a balance though. Landlord taxes/costs have soared in recent years -> landlords don’t make the profit they can get elsewhere (you can actually be taxed on a loss!) -> landlords sell up -> rental supply falls -> rents go up and round and round it goes unless, like you say, the supply of council houses fills that gap, which it won’t for a generation.

A perfect example of where 40 years of "the private sector is more efficient" & "trust the market" ends up.

 

[Weststander]

It would be a very boring piece about accountancy. There is nothing wrong or illegal about tax avoidance, you are possibly/probably 'guilty' of it yourself without realising.
Salary sacrifice or an ISA is tax avoidance too.

A nuance to that, also accountants speak. There's tax planning/mitigation legally using the means available with the examples you give, pension contributions, 'only' paying yourself out of a company to £50,270 or £100k.

Then there's aggressive tax avoidance (not evasion) that's defeated by specific tax legislation and case law. A criminal offence to breach.