What the government says you need to live on

[David69]

Does this actually mean anything ?

Recently received a councl tax assessment, they listed all my supposed benefits and came up with a figure for what the government says you need to live on.
That would be nice, about £80 pw more than I get.
Tried on line calculator, same figure.
Tried ESA3 but to no avail.
So where does this mythical figure come from and how do I get it ?

I am not a money grabbing ******* but I am curious

[nukecad]

No it does not mean a thing.

If you follow Freedom of Information Requests on whatdotheyknow.com you'll see that this comes up frequently in various guises.

You get lots of evasive answers about 'prescribed amounts' and 'amounts set by legislation' which basically mean-
"It's just something we say it is at any particular time; and it can be different depending on who is saying it".

[David69]

So why do they print a load of ******s

[nukecad]

Here's a couple of the FOI answers I was refering to:

The phrase “the amount the law says you need to live on” refers to the “applicable amount” of
benefit, laid down in law that can be awarded if a person satisfies the conditions of entitlement

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/the_law_says

You'll also like this:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...FOI%205937.pdf

Not quite the same but a similar question:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...20response.pdf

[nukecad]

And:

There is no figure designated as the minimum amount required by an adult to live on. Benefits are intended to help people who meet the conditions of entitlement and whose resources are insufficient towards meeting their day-to-day living expenses, rather than be a replacement income.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...ach/3/4388.pdf

Like I say there are loads of them; all with evasive answers.

[David69]

Thanks. Typical Government smoke and mirrors

[nukecad]

It's just a phrase that sounds good to them.

Makes them believe they are doing their job well, and gives the non benefit claiming masses the idea that everything is rosy on benefit street.

Funny how "The Minimum Income Standard", which they use to set the "Accredited Living Wage", is a lot higher than "The amount you need to live on".
(And higher than the Minimum Living Wage as well).

You may find some of the charts on here interesting:
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/crsp/mis/results/

[David69]

Splitting my sides laughing. thanks for that

[RobcarerT]

I think they work it out like this:

A*b*7=() / c



A=amount of people in household
B= minimum price of a loaf of bread
C= Tory feed the rich party tax deductions

[David69]

X = MC2

X = any claimant
M = money you get
C = carrot dangled

if you have the energy to fight