Funding a BSS exam

[Smelly]

Reading a letter in this month's Canalboat, that I presume to be authored by Mitch Soma a thought has occured to me. Mitch hasn't been around for a couple of months but I'm not airing anything not already stated so i hope he won't mind.

 

In said letter, the author remembers "going without food for 3 days a week for a month to afford a BSC" which got me to thinking about the plight of boaters who have for no fault of their own fallen on hard times.

 

Now with a BSC in mind where could the money come from to fund the examination? You've only got 64 quid a week coming in and the reserves are spent... I think you'd struggle to convince the Jobcentre that the emergency or immediate risk to health so as to justify a Crisis Loan exists, and it can take up to 18 months before you can gain access to the rest of the Social Fund, especially a Budgetting Loan that would lend a claimant the money for such expenses so...

 

Do BW have their own BSC examiners? Making these available to people who haven't been claiming Income Based JSA/ESA or Income Support for the requisite 12 months, or possibly have maxed out their Budgetting Loan entitlement (you can only borrow so much these days) might help. It'd certainly be cheaper than enforcement action against an individual boat although a certain acceptance of one being at the top of the list if you don't conform to the other requirements might be inevitable.

 

Also it would be relatively easy to administer. The onus of establishing entitlement would be on the applicant, it's easy to get a letterhead from JC+ saying "this person has been claiming IBJSA since..."

 

The only real cost, if said examiners are not pulled from other tasks, but squeeze it in would be the certificates which last time i asked cost about 20 quid each; certainly cheaper than a crane.

[gaggle]

Careful smelly some on here would sooner batter the skint boater to death with his own tiller pin before agreeing he might be granted or loaned any tax money they have paid.

[sueb]

Reading a letter in this month's Canalboat, that I presume to be authored by Mitch Soma a thought has occured to me. Mitch hasn't been around for a couple of months but I'm not airing anything not already stated so i hope he won't mind.

 

In said letter, the author remembers "going without food for 3 days a week for a month to afford a BSC" which got me to thinking about the plight of boaters who have for no fault of their own fallen on hard times.

 

Now with a BSC in mind where could the money come from to fund the examination? You've only got 64 quid a week coming in and the reserves are spent... I think you'd struggle to convince the Jobcentre that the emergency or immediate risk to health so as to justify a Crisis Loan exists, and it can take up to 18 months before you can gain access to the rest of the Social Fund, especially a Budgetting Loan that would lend a claimant the money for such expenses so...

 

Do BW have their own BSC examiners? Making these available to people who haven't been claiming Income Based JSA/ESA or Income Support for the requisite 12 months, or possibly have maxed out their Budgetting Loan entitlement (you can only borrow so much these days) might help. It'd certainly be cheaper than enforcement action against an individual boat although a certain acceptance of one being at the top of the list if you don't conform to the other requirements might be inevitable.

 

Also it would be relatively easy to administer. The onus of establishing entitlement would be on the applicant, it's easy to get a letterhead from JC+ saying "this person has been claiming IBJSA since..."

 

The only real cost, if said examiners are not pulled from other tasks, but squeeze it in would be the certificates which last time i asked cost about 20 quid each; certainly cheaper than a crane.

I like the thought but I can't see getting any help from BW as they always say they aren't a housing authority. It took awhile before they agreed to accept licence money monthly. RBOA might be interested but then the boater would have to be a member.

Sue

[Justme]

Does the Transport ministry pay the car road fund licence & MOT for those that live in their cars or motor homes whilst unemployed?

 

No? (they make you remove it from the road)

 

So why should BW sub boat owners?

 

If you cant afford it sell it, just like house buyers have to.

 

Simples.

 

Life's hard get used to it.

[Chertsey]

Does the Transport ministry pay the car road fund licence & MOT for those that live in their cars or motor homes whilst unemployed?

 

No? (they make you remove it from the road)

 

So why should BW sub boat owners?

 

If you cant afford it sell it, just like house buyers have to.

 

Simples.

 

Life's hard get used to it.

Charming. Never was a user name better chosen.

[Smelly]

(they make you remove it from the road)

 

considering there's always an undercurrent of BW not being able to afford adequate enforcement, then maybe using the redundant time they're famed for making tea in, to mitigate the problem might actually be a way to try and help.

 

It'd probably be cheaper than cranes...

 

edit... does the DoT employ MOT examiners? I don't know. Similar I don't know whether BW have examiners but I'd imagine so. They could save money on enforcement; possibly....

 

I can't see your average boater either taking it to a field and burning it out or leaving it on the car port if they can't afford the licence/BSC so we could look to find a way round... There's no boat scrappers or scrappage scheme and it's unlikely that there will so be so possibly, to save BW having to attempt to be a housing authority they could just use their boating authority resources a bit more effectively.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Smelly

[Bagpuss]

Does the Transport ministry pay the car road fund licence & MOT for those that live in their cars or motor homes whilst unemployed?

 

No? (they make you remove it from the road)

 

So why should BW sub boat owners?

 

If you cant afford it sell it, just like house buyers have to.

 

Simples.

 

Life's hard get used to it.

I don't think in such circumstances living in a motorhome can be equated with living on a boat. it is far cheaper and easier to remove a vehicle from the road (for example to a friends drive, farmers field, common ground etc) than it is to remove a boat from the water until the monies have been raised. Also the vehicle is still habitable for this period of time, a boat out of water becomes an extremely dangerous place to enter/exit.

 

When a home owner suddenly becomes unemployed, for a certain period of time the state will help with mortgage payments. It's been a long time since I worked for the benefits service so I can't remember the exact circumstances but the precedent has been established. Why should a boat owner not qualify for help also?

[Gary Peacock]

Maybe I am wrong but you don't own the property in which you float it belongs to someone else so the rather big glove is always on their hand? But does the squatter's rights etc come into it I wonder?

[Smelly]

But does the squatter's rights etc come into it I wonder?

 

Not on BW water... Remember the adverse possession thread? Where the fella on the river had gained posession of the riverbed underneath him. It couldn't happen on BW water as they are riparian owners of the canals so no claim to adverse possession could be made.

 

"Squatters rights" are held at section 6 of the Criminal Law Act '77 and it's not so much about ownership as protection from eviction without a court order.

[Gary Peacock]

Not on BW water... Remember the adverse possession thread? Where the fella on the river had gained posession of the riverbed underneath him. It couldn't happen on BW water as they are riparian owners of the canals so no claim to adverse possession could be made.

 

"Squatters rights" are held at section 6 of the Criminal Law Act '77 and it's not so much about ownership as protection from eviction without a court order.

 

Ain't the law fun we inherited a bit of moorings with a lease dating back to working boat days, we moved and the boats stayed for free because it was on a river and no one wanted the aggro of sorting it all out!

[PhilR]

Can somebody please explain what this thread is about? Is this intended to be a comparison with land based claimants? or is it a statement that boat dwellers aren't entitled to claim the same as land based claimants?

 

I'm confused.

[Chertsey]

The BSS is not just for the benefit of the boat owner but for the safety of others - the common good if you like.

 

The fire service will undertake a fire safety check of your home, for free

The RNLI will check your safety equipment on your sea-going boat, for free

 

Not only does it protect lives, but it also saves these services trouble in the long run.

[Smelly]

Can somebody please explain what this thread is about? Is this intended to be a comparison with land based claimants? or is it a statement that boat dwellers aren't entitled to claim the same as land based claimants?

 

I'm confused.

 

'Tis merely idea spinning around the stated problem of people finding themselves stuck without the resources to keep to the rules, whereby the resources may be lay redundant elsewhere.

 

I wasn't making any statements, although as is ever the case some choose to.

 

I appreciate the "if you can't afford it" mentality and to some extent have espoused it elsewhere; but I also think that where feasible the consequences of "can't afford it" might be alleviated in a right minded society and my perceived solution to the BSC issue raised in the letter I have cited could be dealt with, at least until another avenue might step in.

 

Statement... It's all well and good saying "sell it" but in the absence of sufficient funds to keep a vessel certified surely the cloud of section 8 hangs bright above hence removing the sale option so sale might not be the ideal solution.

[nigel carton]

The Boat safety Scheme is now independent from BW, and the certs cost £30 each.

Providing and examination is not to far from Barton Turns, and the customer is on benefits etc, I would be quite willing to reduce the cost of an examination if that helps? I don't charge a re test fee anyway, so it would be a one off payment.

 

Nigel