Benefits Cap
The Coalition Government is trying to introduce a cap on welfare benefits - which would place a limit on the amount any individual can claim of up to £500 a week or £26,000 a year - which is just about the average salary in the UK.
The only expection to this new rule would be where people are on disability benefits - where claimants need more support.
So it's hard to see what there is to disagree to about the principle of a benefit cap - because to do so would be to encourage system where people are better off not working.
As in this example in The Mail newspaper recently where a mother of three (Sharon Minkin) says it's not worth her while working - and her divorced husband pays £13 a week in child support for his three children.
Now you can argue whether a benefits cap is the right answer - but clearly there's clearly something badly wrong with a system that allows this kind of nonsense - to continue for years on end.
'Why should I go to work when my benefits are worth £70,000 a year?'
Mother-of-three refuses to get a job because she is better off without one Sharon Minkin, 49, says she cannot find a job that pays the same as benefits
- Lives in a semi-detached house, drives a 4x4 and has a 42" flatscreen TV
- Was qualified accountant on £120,000 a year but has not worked for 18 years
- Benefits she receives are equivalent to earning £70,000 a year before tax
Sharon Minkin says she earns the equivalent of £70,000 a year in benefits because she won't go to work for a low salary
A mother-of-three says she is caught in a 'benefits package trap' equal to a salary of £70,000 a year.
Divorcee Sharon Minkin says she cannot afford to work – because it would leave her worse off and her children would no longer qualify for free university places.
Ms Minkin, 49 and her three children aged 19, 18 and 14 live in a spacious semi-detached three-bedroom with its own drive and 80ft garden in up-market St Albans, Hertsfordshire.
She drives a four-wheel Honda CRV and her 26 ft lounge boasts a 42 inch flatscreen TV.
Instead of going out to work, she spends her days writing novels – as yet unpublished – and walking her two pedigree white Samoyed dogs.
Her life is funded by the taxpayer, yet privately educated Ms Minkin – who before her divorce lived in a £1.6million seven-bedroom house complete with housekeeper – claims every day is a struggle
'People might call me a scrounger but I don’t like living like this,' she said. 'So my children don’t have to share a bedroom, I’m forced to sleep in the lounge. And having lived in a house with five bathrooms, it’s hard fighting over the one bathroom that we all have to share.
'Then whereas once I thought nothing of spending £230 on the weekly supermarket shop at Waitrose and M&S now I find myself having to choose between petrol and food from Morrisons and Aldi on the table.'
But she blames the government for creating a benefits ‘trap’ that means she can never earn so much money as she gets in handouts.
Ms Minkin, who recently turned down two jobs because they didn’t pay enough, says: 'It’s not that I can’t find a job – I went for two last week and was offered both of them - but myself and the children would be worse off.
'We couldn’t afford the rent on the house. And the children would have to take out student loans to fund their university fees. That means they would start their working lives in debt, something I wouldn’t want.'
A former chartered accountant, Ms Minkin once earned £120,000 working in the City.
But 18 years ago, after her second child was born she gave it all up to be a stay-at-home mother. Her ex-husband worked as a financial advisor and the couple had no money worries.
Pictured with her two dogs, Ms Minkin said that she did not want to go to work because it means her children would have to do what thousands of others do when they go to university and take out a student loan.
'We lived in a seven-bedroom house that I personally designed,' she said. 'Five of the bedrooms had their own ensuite bathrooms. We had a holiday home in Spain. The children went to private schools and I drove a £35,000 Touraeg car.'
Domestic chores were left to a live-in housekeeper, leaving Ms Minkin, who worked part-time for her husband, free to lunch with friends and go horse-riding every day.
Ms Minkin's financial 'woes' started after she divorced her husband. But after growing apart, in November 2007 the couple split and have since divorced. It was then Ms Minkin’s financial nightmares began.
'By the time we’d paid back our borrowings and debts, I was left with virtually nothing,' she says. 'My ex now claims he’s only able to pay me £13 a week maintenance for the children.'
Ms Minkin intended going back to work as an accountant but couldn’t afford the £5,000 plus fees necessary to retrain after such a long break, leaving her with the only option of claiming benefits.
She now receives £32,800 in benefits – which per month includes £1,400 housing benefit, £152 in council tax payments, £403 tax credit, £394 in employment and support allowance, £84 for free school meals and £180 for travel to school. Child allowance adds a further £130 a month.
On top of that, because she is on benefits, her eldest child qualifies for a grant, which pays for the £3,500 a year fees.
There is also an £800 a year bursary towards buying books. Her second child, who is off to university in October, will also have the £9,000 a year fees paid by the taxpayer and will qualify for help towards books.
Ms Minkin said: 'I always wanted to be able to put the children through university. I never wanted them to graduate with debts. If I get a job, my children will be forced to take out crippling student loans.'
She added: 'Because I’m on benefits the whole family qualifies for free dental care, free eye care and free school trips, which would cost extra £200 a month. I have totted up our benefits package and I would have to earn around £70,000 before tax to be able to live as we do now.
'Just to earn the basic £32,800 we receive in benefits, I would have to get a job paying over £44,000 a year.'
'I already struggle to feed us all and pay the bills. Luckily my retired parents – who are not rich by any means – help as much as they can.
"I’m sure people might say "oh, what a sponger she is" but although I don’t feel guilty for claiming benefits because for years I was a high rate tax payer, I'd much rather go out to work and earn that money with a proper job.
'I feel ashamed telling people I’m on benefits. However, I have to put my kids first. It’s no good me going out to work if I can’t afford the roof over their heads, food on the table and they have to go into debt if they go to university.'
She admits some people have suggested she save money by getting rid of her beloved dogs, 'But although they do cost around £40 a month to feed and I recently had to pay a vet’s bill for £300, they are elderly and have health problems. I don’t think anyone else would take them on.'
She also defends her decision to drive her seven year-old 4X4. 'We live in a rural part of St Albans and need a car. Following an accident a few years ago, I’m visually impaired in my left eye. So I need a car that is higher up so I can see the road properly.'
And she is unable to move to a cheaper property. 'Rents here are expensive. Although the house has been extended downstairs the bedrooms are really quite tiny. After living in such a big house, we couldn’t imagine being in something even smaller.'
Ms Minkin used to live in a £1.6million house. She now rents a property for £1,400 a month
BENEFITS WORTH £70,000 A YEAR
Housing Benefit: £1,400
Council tax £152
Tax Credits £403
Employment and Support
Allowance £394
School travel expenses £180
Dental/eye care/school trips £200
Eldest child's university fees £292
Eldest child's book bursary £67
From October 2013 this will include:
Second child's university fees £750
Second child's book bursary £67
Total income: £3,905.00 per month
.Ms Minkin says it is also not worth her working part time. 'I can work up to 16 hours a week and still claim but when I looked into it, I would lose so much in benefits, I would end up working for free.'
Last week she went for two job interviews – and was offered both jobs. 'One was promoting a gym and the other was selling expensive wines. But the first one paid only £6.35 an hour and although the second said they expected me to earn over £25,000 a year, there was no guarantee. So I was forced to turn both down.'
A year ago Ms Minkin tried to set up her own party events business. 'I’d got as far as putting up a website when I was hauled into the benefits office and accused of fraud. After three months investigating they realised I hadn’t made a penny but it was a horrible experience.'
Ms Minkin believes the government should allow people to get a job or set up a business and still pay benefits, gradually reducing the amount as they earn more. 'That way I could have taken the job selling wines. Or seen if I could make a go of my business idea.'
She would also like to see more done for women like her returning to work after bringing up kids. 'There should be more financial help for women to retrain.'
Ms Minkin, who hopes publishing a novel will eventually get her off benefits, added: 'I am sure people will think, how outrageous it is that I get all these benefits. I bet this makes hard working people very angry.
'But anyone can fall on hard times and I’m just telling it as it is. I don’t like the benefits trap I find myself in any more than anyone else.'
