Tory MP blames food bank use on people not knowing how to cook or budge

I don't really think she helped them by saying she is struggling when they probably earn much less than her.

So do you only get to talk about how hard your life is if there is nobody else in the world worse off than you?

So far, I've seen complaints that she had a holiday 2 years ago, speculation as to why she might have to pay for a bus pass for her child and people wondering about how much his father pays.

None of that matters. Its all just trying to shift the blame on to this police officer and suggest that she is undeserving of our concern. Surprised nobody has suggested she sells a kidney. If a person earning £40k is struggling, what must it be like for single parents earning half that, or even less?

She said somewhere she got £2300 per month, without any overtime being done. Obviously, that would mean more. Also she would be getting £21.45 per week child benefit, and anything (?) paid by her son's Dad.

I would say her income is somewhere in the middle - neither a lot, nor poverty level.

She said she was left with £2300 a month after deductions, tax, NIC, pension contributions and professional fees. Out of that she pays a mortgage of £800 pm. Depending on what date the salary is paid that can leave her short. Salaries tend to be paid monthly compared to say the state pension paid four weekly. I make that net after mortgage 18000/52 = 346 pw to cover everything else to support herself and her son. She made the point that the rising cost of petrol was pushing her to verge of not being able to afford to get to work.

Here's a calculator, presuming it is up-to-date

www.reed.co.uk/tax-calculator/40000
There will be pension contributions to be deducted, too, before tax.

I haven't done the exact calculation but it's likely the police officer will lose over 40% of her gross salary in income tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, which leaves her with about £2,000 a month. Obviously that's more than some people right at the bottom, but if she's a single parent with a mortgage and a child and all the usual bills, I can well believe that she wouldn't have much left.

Sorry, that was a quote:
She serves in North Wales police so maybe she lives over the border in England and therefore is subject to the inequities which exist between England on the one hand and Wales and Scotland on the other as regards bus passes, prescriptions and so on

OakDryad

Trust the Daily Mail to twist a story to attack someone who was trying to make the case not just for herself but for entry level police officers on lower rates of pay. She serves in North Wales police so maybe she lives over the border in England and therefore is subject to the inequities which exist between England on the one hand and Wales and Scotland on the other as regards bus passes, prescriptions and so on. As Doodledog says, we do not know her all her circumstances and why should we? She was making the case that even people with years of seniority and what prima facie is a decent wage, are struggling … and as always, ministers just spout useless platitudes.

She's on a much higher salary than other police officers, teachers, nurses who in turn earn more than others who are not in a professional role.

I don't really think she helped them by saying she is struggling when they probably earn much less than her.

She serves in North Wales police so maybe she lives over the border in England and therefore is subject to the inequities which exist between England on the one hand and Wales and Scotland on the other as regards bus passes, prescriptions and so on

Possibly, and some of us do know all about that, including bus passes for children and those who live 200 yards outside the catchment area having to pay.

Oh, DiamondLily, that is a terrifying scenario. I was aware, in my teaching days, of a family that was found guilty of benefit fraud, and fined. They were of very limited ability, and could not read or write, but were targeted by someone they knew, who filled in forms on their behalf, and took a (significant) cut. Their defence was not believed, and they were in dire straits for some time. We were able to help with feeding the children etc, but were saddened by the lack of understanding shown to them.

This goes to show that struggling with money is a real issue, for real people, with real jobs.

Presumably some people believe a senior police officer shouldn’t be able to afford a holiday. So what if she had a holiday two years ago ? maybe she can’t afford one now.

I didn't say you were GG. The DM were ... but admits she managed a Portugal getaway two years ago during pandemic. That's the DM needling away about the obvious.

What's a holiday two years ago got to do with the cost of living now? This officer works in child protection and the protection of vulnerable adults. I imagine she sees many distressing cases and will need and deserve a holiday from time to time.

Probably Casdon. Patels's Rwanda Solution and the Nazi Final Solution aren't so very far apart.

DiamondLily

Next year (apparently) DWP will gain powers of arrest over those they consider to be guilty of benefits fraud.

As some of this so called fraud is the results of errors by the DWP, this move is likely to cause more poverty and chaos.

'Two million claimants will have their cases dredged up and face fines for fraud under sweeping laws - even if they’re not convicted of a crime.

Department for Work and Pensions officers will be allowed to mass-request bank data more easily to spot-check if people are cheating the Jobcentre.

DWP staff will then make arrests, execute warrants, conduct searches and seize evidence themselves instead of leaving the work to police.

Even if a case does not make it to court, they will then get power to dish out civil fines - like those issued by HMRC."

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-staff-power-arrest-brits-27002864

I expect they will be deporting people to Rwanda next, on the premise they can be given lower benefits but they will be able to survive there because the cost of living is less.

I was not attacking or judging this lady, I hadn’t t read the article just listened to the discussion on ITV news.

I would have thought that lots of folk live up to their salary, and when prices across the board increase, their living standards will become reduced and in some cases precarious.

Trust the Daily Mail to twist a story to attack someone who was trying to make the case not just for herself but for entry level police officers on lower rates of pay. She serves in North Wales police so maybe she lives over the border in England and therefore is subject to the inequities which exist between England on the one hand and Wales and Scotland on the other as regards bus passes, prescriptions and so on. As Doodledog says, we do not know her all her circumstances and why should we? She was making the case that even people with years of seniority and what prima facie is a decent wage, are struggling … and as always, ministers just spout useless platitudes.

Yes. I heard yesterday that the UK is tipping into absolute poverty for many, which is shameful. There will always be people with relative poverty, by definition; but in a country as rich as ours nobody should be in absolute poverty. Nobody.

They used to measure two levels of poverty - "relative" and "absolute".

The trouble is that there are ever increasing numbers of those in absolute poverty, those who can't heat and eat, who would find it hard to have much sympathy for her.

I think everyone, bar the really wealthy, are finding their incomes (however they are gained), getting tighter and tighter every week.

I can't see it getting much easier anytime soon either.?

What is the point of fining people who have no money? That seems like a sure fire way to push people into crime.

Re the PC on £40k - that is a perfect example of why I hate means testing so much. We have no idea about this woman's circumstances or outgoings, but predictably people are assuming that because they manage on less, so should she. It may seem sensible to 'target' payments to those on low incomes, but they are not necessarily the most needy.

When I was working I earned a decent salary, but commuting, childcare and general child-related outgoings, mortgage, clothing etc ate a lot of it. I am now on a very small pension, but have very limited outgoings, and my standard of living is much the same as before. My work self would never have been eligible for anything means tested, but on most metrics I am now in a low income bracket and could well be. It makes no sense.

Next year (apparently) DWP will gain powers of arrest over those they consider to be guilty of benefits fraud.

As some of this so called fraud is the results of errors by the DWP, this move is likely to cause more poverty and chaos.

'Two million claimants will have their cases dredged up and face fines for fraud under sweeping laws - even if they’re not convicted of a crime.

Department for Work and Pensions officers will be allowed to mass-request bank data more easily to spot-check if people are cheating the Jobcentre.

DWP staff will then make arrests, execute warrants, conduct searches and seize evidence themselves instead of leaving the work to police.

Even if a case does not make it to court, they will then get power to dish out civil fines - like those issued by HMRC."

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-staff-power-arrest-brits-27002864

She said that after paying her mortgage, bills, food and transport costs including her sons monthly bus pass there was nothing left over at the end of the month

She must have chosen a school out of their catchment area for her son.
Children in the school catchment area get free bus passes to go to and from school in Wales.

Two years ago.

GrannyGravy13

Just before the interview with Mr.Malthouse the programme highlighted the case of a Detective Constable in Wales on £40,000 basic salary a year. She said that after paying her mortgage, bills, food and transport costs including her sons monthly bus pass there was nothing left over at the end of the month.

Looks like the current inflation is beginning to have an impact further up the income bracket.

She went on holiday to Portugal though. ?

One police officer reckons she can't manage on £40k a year, and she might understand colleagues taking a "backhander" to survive...?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10830115/Welsh-police-detective-tells-LBC-wouldnt-surprised-hard-colleagues-took-HANDERS.html

Just before the interview with Mr.Malthouse the programme highlighted the case of a Detective Constable in Wales on £40,000 basic salary a year. She said that after paying her mortgage, bills, food and transport costs including her sons monthly bus pass there was nothing left over at the end of the month.

Looks like the current inflation is beginning to have an impact further up the income bracket.

I think that crime can cause (or exacerbate) poverty. As DL says, a small shopkeeper might not be able to stand the loss of revenue from shoplifters, and if she employs another member of staff who loses her job, that family could be plunged into poverty too.

I'm not advocating a return to harsh prison sentences (particularly for people stealing to eat) but I don't see theft as a victimless crime. I am in a number of local history groups online, and when Victorian photos are published of people imprisoned for theft there are always comments on the lines of 'a month in jail for stealing a pair of boots ?', but the same people get equally tearful when they see photos of barefoot children in the street. The stolen boots might have taken weeks of savings for the owner, who deserves to be protected by law. If the owner has to do without food to save for another pair, is that crime causing poverty or poverty causing crime?

The point is not about what causes what, but that poverty exists at all in a rich country like ours. IMO we need to have a root and branch overhaul of the tax system, taking into account individual income tax from all sources, plug gaps that allow people to transfer tax allowances within families, chase up companies that don't pay their share, crack down as hard on tax evasion as we do on benefit fraud, and anything else I've missed. Basically, if everyone who is able to pays in a fair amount, there would be enough for nobody to have to do without.

It wasn't a police officer, it was the new chief inspector of constabulary for England and Wales. Found two articles about this story online, so I'll copy links to them both. Anti-Guardian people can read the Mail one.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10831003/Police-officers-told-easy-shoplifters-steal-eat-amid-cost-living-crisis.html

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/18/officers-should-use-discretion-over-stealing-to-eat-says-uk-police-watchdog