Cost of Living And The Impact On Struggling Low-Income Families & Entrepreneurs.
Content:
- In The News.
- Average UK Salary & Overheads.
- Self Employed On A Low Income.
- Reasons Why Rachel Mclean Minister Does Not Have A Clue.
- Mental Health & Low-Income Families.
- Mental Health.
- Suicide Due to Cost Of Living.
- The Government, Brexit, Deficit Spending and Debt Ceiling.
- The Hidden Secrets Of Money – Mike Maloney.
- Financial Difficulty.
- Useful Links.
- Final Thoughts From The Editor.
- About The Author.
- Possible Solutions – Start A Business.
- Start A Second Income – Start a Business.
- Disability Support.
In The News.
According to Rachel Mclean Minister stated people struggling with bills should ‘work more hours or move to better-paid job’.
Ms. Maclean said: “Over the long term we need to have a plan to grow the economy and make sure that people are able to protect themselves better – whether that is by taking on more hours or moving to a better-paid job and these are long-term actions but that’s what we’re focused on as a government.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-61478541
Firstly not all employers have the budgets to give extra hours.
Secondly, if it was so easy to get a job everyone would be doing it and we would not have so many people unemployed.
Thirdly the average salary for the average U.K. full-time worker as reported by the ONS equates to £31,772 over the year. However this may be an average yet there are many jobs that pay the National Minimum Wage based on 40 hours working week at the national minimum wage of for example £9.18, which equates to £17,625 before tax and NI.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours
| 23 and over | 21 to 22 | 18 to 20 | Under 18 | Apprentice | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2022 | £9.50 | £9.18 | £6.83 | £4.81 | £4.81 |
AVERAGE UK SALARY & OVERHEAD
🏠Rent/mortgage payment – £1,060
⚡️The average energy bill in 2021 was £95 per month but, based on our average family using an average amount of energy, this will rise to £153 per month.
📈Council tax payment – £189
💧 £56 for water.
💻Broadband inc television and landline average £80 per month.
📱Phone bills are £45.00 per month each.
🚝 Average commute would cost them £288 per month.
👨👩👧👦 Childcare costs have risen to £1303 with one child in nursery full time and the other in breakfast club.
🥘Feeding the family costs on average £424 a month.
Total Overheads: £3,598 x 12 month = £43,176.
Credit: Claire Wilson Recruitment and Careers Qualified Journalist | Early careers expert at Prospects, the UK’s No 1 graduate careers website|
SELF EMPLOYED ON A LOW INCOME:
The Self-Employed With a Handful of Jobs With Zero Profit:
Incomings (Excluding Business Overheads) Per Month:
£00.00 Business Profit
£590 Housing Benefit
£400 Working Tax Credits
£240 Personal Independence Payment
Total £1230
Outgoings Per Month:
£655 Rent
£262 Utility Bills (Water. Gas Elec)
£80 Telephone & Broadband (Without Broadband I cannot work)
£200 Food
£91 Insurance
Total Per Month £1288 (Do The Maths).
Reasons Why Rachel Mclean Minister Does Not Have A Clue:
- Getting another job may be in breach of the contract of the current employer.
- Tax Implications.
- The unemployed who cannot find work (so how is someone in employment going to find work so easily?
- People with disabilities who cannot work? How are they supposed to live?
- Disabled People in Employment? Disabled people find it more difficult to get work because even though we are supposed to live in a non-discrimination society, a person for example with OCD who has to wear latex gloves to touch things won’t be hired to represent a brand on a high street shop or may feel uncomfortable working in an office environment being the odd one out. Ask yourself this question how many people do you see working who have wheelchairs? Businesses with no wheelchair access are not going to go out of their way to build ramps and fit disability equipment unless that person they were hiring was worth more than his/her weight in gold.
- Self Employed on low incomes as they struggle to get more business?
- People with children, so are you supposed to get a second job so that you can pay for childcare to look after your kids whilst you are at work? (getting a stranger to bring your child up, I have never got my head around this unless you earn a lot of money and your career is very important to you).
- Not all households have two incomes some people live on their own and only have one income.
Mental Health and Low-Income Families.
This affects people’s mental health with the Governments and the Banks playing God with your prosperity? Lee Anderson, Conservative MP for Ashfield, said in the House of Commons that meals could be cooked for as little as 30p a day. (You can’t even buy ramen noodles for 30p) I suppose if you had eggs and toast or jam sandwiches every day that may bring the shopping bill down, but who wants to eat toast and eggs every day?
Let’s be hypothetical here:
2 Dozen Eggs: £4.00
2 Loaves of Bread £2.40
Butter or Spread £2.00
Total Price of Groceries: £8.40 divided by 7 days = £1.20 a day
I suppose if you ate one egg a day (after all we can’t be greedy) it would bring the cost down by £2.00 which would mean your daily food bill would be 91p per day.
I am sure health professionals would be falling over themselves saying how unhealthy this would be.
But who on earth wants to live like this? This affects a person’s quality of life never mind their mental state. It’s humiliating and downright cruel. No one should be made to starve to fit in with the Government agenda.
The government needs to get its house in order before palming off its problems on the public.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-61429268
Mental Health
The cost of living crisis is affecting the nation’s mental health and the already vulnerable mind.
Sarb Bajwa, CEO of the BPS (The British Psychology Society) said:
“The absence of measures to support the most vulnerable is glaring, and many families will be swept into poverty over the coming months, as they struggle to pay their bills and put food on the table. The mental health impacts of this are severe – we know that the stress of raising a family in poverty can have huge ramifications on parents’ and children’s mental health and that poverty is one of the major risk factors for the development of mental and physical health problems“.
https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-responds-spring-statement-warning-escalating-cost-living-crisis-will-have-long
Suicide Due To Cost Of Living.
A Sheffield Labour MP said some people in his constituency have attempted suicide in response to the rising cost of living. Paul Blomfield, MP for Sheffield Central, said: “I spent yesterday morning at a crisis meeting in a part of my constituency where incomes are lowest. And we were looking at the way in which the cost-of-living crisis we’re facing was impacting people”.
Approximately 75% of suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where rates of poverty are high.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454768/
The Government, Brexit, Debt Ceiling & Deficit Spending.
Debt Ceiling
The debt ceiling is the maximum amount that the U.S. government can borrow by issuing bonds. When the debt ceiling is reached, the Treasury Department must find other ways to pay expenses. Otherwise, there is a risk the U.S. will default on its debt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_debt_ceiling
Deficit Spending
Deficit spending occurs when purchases exceed income. It happens to individuals and businesses, but it usually refers to governments.
https://www.thebalance.com/deficit-spending-causes-why-it-s-out-of-control-3306289
Brexit
In other words, because the UK left the EU, the Brexit Divorce Bill in July 2021, was estimated at £40.8bn but Downing Street insisted the figure was between £35bn and £39bn. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51110096 we now have a crisis on our hands. The Government needs to find the money to pay the EU. Goods and services are now subject to tariffs, increasing the cost of raw materials into Britain and finished products out.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/economics/brexit/
Therefore who is paying for this if not the British Public?
You would not allow the public to make decisions about what goes on in your business especially if they had no clue about accounting and budgets?
The same should be said how can you allow a country to vote if they have no clue about economics and have not got an ounce of politics in their body?
If I was in power I would make everyone do an IQ Test and the ones that scored higher could only vote.
https://www.mensa.org/public/mensa-iq-challenge
You allow uneducated people to vote just so you can win the game of numbers and now look at the state of the country which is now left in turmoil.
The Hidden Secrets of Money – Mike Maloney
Financial Difficulty
Depending on your location Country/Town/City there may be emergency grants available. For Cardiff for example if are experiencing severe financial hardship you may wish to claim the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF) Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF) | GOV.WALES
Useful Links
Final Thoughts From The Editor.
The governments have overspent and people and businesses too. So what does that mean in the long run for the British Public? For starters, the cost of living has to be increased to pay back the debts that have accumulated and forces people to borrow even more money. For every pound/dollar borrowed you have to pay interest which is fiat currency to the banks and that is how the monetary system revolves.
If the Government and Politicians are so quick to give advice why don’t they swap places with people living on the poverty line, if one is born with silver spoons in their mouths they will never grasp how the other half lives and it is easy to dish out advice if you have never experienced life, where you have to worry where your next meal is going to come from.
It is easy to pass judgment whilst hosting wine and cheese parties and decorating walls with gold wallpaper at a cost of £840 per roll?
It’s easy to say find a job when businesses are not hiring and do not want to spend.
All businesses are tightening their reigns on their spending, so the chances of a pay rise or an increase in hours are going to be slim.
What happened to all the money that was confiscated from the Oligarchs and all their assets? (is it all just smoke and mirrors simply to confuse everyone so that they do not find out what is really going on?). Why can’t the assets be sold off to pay off the national debt?
- Why are the owners at the Federal Reserve getting a 6% commission, why can’t they reduce their cut to 1%; and the rest of the money sent back into the system? (It’s not as if they can take all the money with them when they die).
- Why are they hoarding this wealth?
- Why can’t the Millionaires, Billionaires have a wage cap on how much they own, and the rest gets put back to help pay off the national debt.
- Why do low-income families have to be punished at the expense of the privileged and wealthy politicians?
- Why can’t we all live in harmony and stop being so God Damm Greedy?
- What about the people who are disabled are they just thrown to the dogs?
- Why are people suffering to the point it affects their mental health?
- How many people have to die at the expense of the powers that be?
- People who have got themselves into debt due to price hikes of utility bills should have the debt spread over a term of 3-5 years.
- Utility companies should not make people feel like 💩 and be belittling and humiliating.
- Creditors should not hound the vulnerable, by phoning or texting several times a day (it is called harassment). If a person has admitted hardship the creditor should put a halt on payments overdue and even come to some arrangement to pay back in affordable monthly payments rather than making a person feel emotionally and mentally unwell. (£40 x 60 months = £2,400) It is better to get something back than nothing at all. The same goes with Utility companies do not force people into corners as you never know what they might do.
About The Author.
- I am an advocate for mental health and poverty. I write about Disabilities, Business, Politics, and Finance.
- I have Disabilities.
- I write in my Online Journals where I share my articles with my network of nearly 11K connections on LinkedIn and on Social Media Platforms, Groups, and Pages.
If I can help just one person, I know I am making a difference one step at a time.
The more people stand up and express their dissatisfaction with how they are being treated eventually something will change.
Possible Solutions – Start a Business.
The Governments instead of throwing spanners in the work with their lame solutions; instead they should encourage people to set up their own businesses and start a second income. Anyone and everyone can start a business and the possibilities are endless.
I can help you start up a second income and offer free advice and support.
Disability Support.
The other thing that has been brought to my attention is how cost-cutting the government is with benefits, robbing Peter to pay Paul so to speak, by taking away simple necessities from the already high risk and vulnerable people to pay for their spending on Wars and their own agendas, they are doing the classic “Daniel Blake” scenario.
My daughter has MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and has a Cardiff Bus Concessionary Travel Card, have now said she will not renew her card even though she already was awarded the card; unless she gets the new updated PIP award letter that is still being processed. She has been given a deadline to produce the letter within the next eight weeks which PIP have said they will not be able to do. If people have a long-term illness they should not be expected to jump through hoops to prove they are ill. They should have evidence from health care professionals and should not be expected to perform like performing seals.
As it happens my daughter is going to have treatment again in the next few weeks because she has relapsed and her MRI scan showed new lesions. The powers that be should not be adding more stress to people who are ill that have corroborating evidence.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/real-life-daniel-blake-who-11881128
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Daniel_Blake
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#costofliving #mentalhealth #disabilities #finiancialdifficulty #pricehikes #poverty #brexit #deficitspending #debtceiling #nationaldebt #suicideduetocostofliving
The Editor Suffers From OCD & Cerebellar Atrophy. She is an Entrepreneur & Published Author, she writes content on a range of topics, including politics, current affairs, health and business. She is an advocate for Mental Health, Human Rights & Disability Discrimination.
Whilst her disabilities can be challenging she has adapted her life around her health and documents her journey online.
Disabled Entrepreneur - Disability UK Online Journal Offers Digital Marketing, Content Writing, Website Creation, SEO, and Domain Brokering. Disabled Entrepreneur - Disability UK is an open platform that invites contributors to write articles and serves as a dynamic marketplace where a diverse range of talents and offerings can converge. This platform acts as a collaborative space where individuals or businesses can share their expertise, creativity, and products with a broader audience.
