Plan B Forum

Ahead of the announcement, David Cameron said the "collective culture of responsibility" which had underpinned the benefits system for more than 50 years had eroded in recent years.

"The benefits system has created a benefit culture," he said. "It does not just allow people to act irresponsibly but often actively encourages them to do so."

The key changes are expected to include:

Single universal credit to come into force in 2013
Tax changes to enable people to keep retain more income
Changes to the disability living allowance
More details of the back-to-work programme
Those refusing to work face maximum three year loss of benefits
Annual benefit cap of about £26,000 per family
Review of sickness absence levels

Central to the plan is the creation of a universal credit, a process which will begin in 2013 and continue into the next Parliament.

This will see existing out-of-work and in-work entitlements, such as Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit, paid as a single lump sum although it is unclear how many benefits will be included in the new payment.

Moving people onto a single payment, ministers believe, will make it easier for them to claim benefits, demonstrate the value of being in work, reduce administrative costs and the risk of fraud.

Ministers say the current system actively discourages claimants from looking for work, or those on low-paid jobs from increasing their hours, as rates of tax and benefit reductions leave them worse off.

In future, the government is guaranteeing that for every £1 extra people earn, they will be at least 35p better off as a result of being in work.

Up to 2.7 million households will be better off as a result of the changes, ministers say, with more than a million of these - including many of the poorest - seeing an increase of £25 a week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12486158

Scooter wrote:For example, a single universal benefit sounds good in theory, but how will it be calculated, for example, some people will need a housing benefit and others (because they are living with family/friends/etc) will not.

In future, the government is guaranteeing that for every £1 extra people earn, they will be at least 35p better off as a result of being in work.

Britain has been torn apart by the biggest influx of immigrants in history, David Cameron will admit today.

The Prime Minister will blame a welfare system which has paid Britons to stay idle and foreign jobseekers ‘not really wanting or even willing to integrate’ for turning neighbourhoods into ghettos. Immigration has been ‘too high’ for many years and has created ‘discomfort and disjointedness’ across the country, he will say. In his first major speech on the issue since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Cameron will make the explosive claim that Labour is to blame for allowing extremist parties such as the BNP to flourish by dismissing legitimate concerns about mass immigration as ‘racist’.

And he will insist that measures being implemented by the Coalition will cut immigration by up to 75 per cent from its peak. He will say annual net immigration levels will fall from around 200,000 in recent years to the ‘tens of thousands’ seen under the Thatcher and Major governments.

Mr Cameron will spell out a series of steps the Government is taking to bring down numbers of immigrants, including:
■ A limit on the number of skilled workers coming from outside Europe of 27,000 this year;
■ A minimum age of 21 for spouses coming to the UK;
■ A crackdown on student visas to cut the number issued by 80,000 a year;
■ Limits on ‘health tourism’ and illegal workers claiming benefits;
■ Welfare reforms to end the option of a life on the dole for British workers.

His remarks will be the strongest on immigration by a Prime Minister for more than 20 years and could trigger a political furore. Critics are likely to question the timing of the speech, just a few weeks before local elections in which the Tories are anxious to shore up their core vote.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1JSjnnZFO

A limit on the number of skilled workers coming from outside Europe of 27,000 this year;

A young couple who receive more than £17,000 ($26,780 USD) a year in benefits appeared on ITV's This Morning to defend their taxpayer-funded lifestyle.

Danny Creamer, 21, and Gina Allen, 18, who live in a comfortable two-bedroom flat in Portsmouth with their four month old daughter, Talulah Rose, say they are better off on £17k benefits and argue that unless they are able to find jobs that pay £18,000 a year or more, there's no point in working.

The couple also hit back at those who describe them as scroungers, arguing that because their hard-working parents have paid tax all their lives, they are entitled to claim some of the money back.



Gina, who has worked for Sainsburys in the past said: 'I don’t see that we’re living off the taxpayers, we’re entitled to the money our parents paid all their lives.'

She also claimed that because the pair have paid tax in the past, their daughter should also be entitled to claim benefits in future.

'We have paid into the system as well and you know, if our daughter wants to claim when she's older, she can. We're not going to claim benefits forever so we are going to pay into the system at some point.'

The pair receive £1,473 per month in benefits or £17,680 per year.

This works out at £340 per week, which includes £140 housing benefit, £60 child tax credit, £20 child benefit and £110 Jobseekers Allowance.

Weekly outgoings include £60 on food, £22.50 on TV, £3.50 on their TV licence plus utility bills, which the pair say they receive no help with.

According to Gina, their 47" flat screen TV is their only luxury, although Danny also admits to smoking roll-up cigarettes which are also paid for by tax payers.

The couple also hit back at those who describe them as scroungers, arguing that because their hard-working parents have paid tax all their lives, they are entitled to claim some of the money back.

say they are better off on £17k benefits and argue that unless they are able to find jobs that pay £18,000 a year or more, there's no point in working.

"The benefits system has created a benefit culture," he said. "It does not just allow people to act irresponsibly but often actively encourages them to do so."

Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit, paid as a single lump sum

Big RR wrote:[quote"If a man does not choose to work, neither shall he eat."

Its a good rule.
]

Britain is giving EU immigrants £1million a week in handouts for children who live abroad.

The payments include child benefit – which was stripped from more than one million British families last month.

The bill is likely to rise still further when Romanians and Bulgarians get free access to the UK jobs market on January 1.

Critics said it was ‘absurd’ to carry on sending money to countries such as Poland when families were losing out at home.

Overall, there are 24,082 child benefit awards currently being made, in respect of 40,171 children, according to a study.

EU citizens are also pocketing child tax credits on behalf of youngsters who are living overseas.

It costs the taxpayer an astonishing £55million a year to fund this system, which is only replicated in four other EU countries. The other 22 nations require the child to be resident in order to qualify.

UK payments relate to cases where migrants have moved to Britain, but left their children at home. When they arrive in the UK, they register with HM Revenue & Customs for the benefit.