The recession, benefits, the safety net, and the learning curve

The one thing this recession is going to do is wake people like myself up to what the benefit system is actually about.

I've worked full time in continuous employment since I left school 25 (is it really that long!?) year ago. And I've been fortunate enough never to need to claim anything, I've just jogged along earning my money, paying my taxes, living my life.

And naively (as it turns out) I've paid those taxes in part in the belief that I'm contributing to the countries benefit system which is helping out those that need help, safe in the knowledge that there but for the grace of God go I. And that should I ever be in the unfortunate position of being unable to support myself, that very same benefit system will be my safety net should I need it.

Sure, I've had the odd rant in the past like everyone else about the benefit scroungers of society. It seems every other month the Daily Mail unearths another family of eight pulling in £30K a year worth of benefits and living in a five bedroom detached house all at the expense of Joe Taxpayer. and on a more personal level, I know of several people seemingly able to live life quite happily without a thought toward getting a job, nice little terraced house, secondhand car, treats for the kids and a modest holiday once a year. And that irks, but as is often said, that's the price we pay in this country for a safety net that keeps everyone afloat. The system is bound to be open to some abuse, that's just how it is.

Ok so, recession hits, the business I'm working in almost completely flat-lines, and after a year of sitting in my office staring out of the window and wondering how long they're going to continue to pay me for doing nothing I get my answer. They're not. I'm out. Fair enough, I can cope with that, honestly can't blame them. The business isn't there and only a major re-structure is going to save the company. Unfortunately I'm (along with many others) re-structured out the door.

I hit the ground running, my CVs are in the post like confetti, I'm all over the job sites, I'm on the phone, I'm Mr. Proactive, I've got history, I've got experience, I'll get another job and we'll keep the plates spinning.

No.

Two months and one deafening silence later and I've not had a single offer of an interview. The enormity of all those hours of BBC news broadcasts and reams of newsprint hit home. This is serious. And this isn't happening to somebody else, this is happening to me, now.

So thank god for the benefit system this country proudly boasts. Thank god for the safety net that has it's problems, but doesn't allow anyone to slip through, a cradle of support for those in dire need. And I am in dire need.

So I find myself on the phone and I find myself in the job centre and I find myself answering question after question and I'm signed on.

And what do I get? £64-30/week. That's less than £3.5K a year. That's £279 a month. I can also claim help with my council tax. And that, I'm told, is it.

And for that I have to trot down to the job centre once a fortnight with my homework for marking. What jobs have I applied for? Who've I phoned? Where've I looked? After all, they don't want me putting my feet up and retiring on this bountiful income do they?

So what happened to this safety net? What, in fact, am I supposed to live on? Ok I'm fortunate, I've got a small amount of savings. But what if the roof falls off tomorrow and the builder tells me it's going to cost all of that to fix it? What, actually, will I live on then? I live very modestly but the JSA barely covers the bills. I can't actually therefore afford to eat. Pretty basic stuff I'd have thought.

So, like many others, I find myself questioning.

Why is this "safety net" failing a hard working tax paying single man? What were all those tens of thousands of pounds I've put into the system for?

And how is the single girl I know who's been living on benefits as long as I've known her (several years) able to afford to run a car and has just bought a pair of £130 Nike trainers for her sons birthday? I can't afford to eat on my benefits!

There is something very messed up with this system. And I think that as this recession bites deeper and deeper and people like myself suddenly become face to face with a reality they thought would never affect them, there's going to be a sharp learning curve as to what the benefit system actually is and a lot of people like myself are going to have the benefit system brought into sharp focus.

And what they (we) will see is that it's not a safety net at all. It won't save you when you need it, it won't provide temporary support at all, it just doesn't work that way. But yet it does at the same time allow many many people to live quite happily for years carving out a reasonable standard of living from it.

Something here is very very wrong.

And it desperately needs to change.