Boom-time on benefits: The 140,000 families who claim £20,000 a year in handouts

bo_drinker

Been saying that for years now. And it will be for the next generations.

SingleSue

fc123 wrote: »

Ssshh Singlesue...wrong thread to talk about cat insurance But I hope he gets better. You 'should' be wearing you very itchy hair shirt right now and giving thanks for small mercies.


The funniest thing is to hear OH sister go on about how she can't get a job now because of the Polish and all the zillions of other immigrants ''taking jobs''


But, in a few years, the payments for the kids stop and she will be even less suitable for well paid work (aged 47 with no up to date skills) and life will just be about getting by week to week....dreaming of winning the lottery.
That's not much fun at all.

Personally, I don't get wound up about it as for every scrounger I have met in my life, I have also known a Singlesue type (sorry SS, just using you as an example) so it balances out for me.....anyway, the taxes I pay go all on NHS frontline staff wages.;)
Plus there but for the grace of God, go any one of us.

Lol, I did wonder about putting about the cat insurance but as this is a money saving site and the mere fact of having insurance will have saved me in excess of 2k-3k for his operations (even taking into account premium payments), then I thought I might get away with it :rotfl: I may be on the poorer side but I make sure I have my insurances, you just never know when the big black boot will come down and stamp on you!

My one worry was about falling behind in workplace skills which is why I have been doing so many courses and volunteering to keep my hand in at the same time as applying for positions - I am still hopeful it will pay off (even if it hasn't yet) as I have covered various bases by doing counselling and computing for qualifications and childcare/playgroup assistant for experience and training.

I still dream of winning the lottery but then I think I can allow myself that - if I did, the first place I would visit would be the travel agent to book up a nice holiday to Disneyland Paris for the children and myself, the second place would be an estate agent to buy a suitably large property for all of us plus a nanny or au pair (told you I had expensive taste )

And no worries about using me as an example, it's nice to have been listened to...and I used to say that when I was working full time and happily married except I was slightly more eeek about people claiming benefits, seems I got my comeuppance.

Kenny4315

I hear cat is very good roasted, with a little rosemary.

It'll save you some money on insurance and cat food.

And a sunday roast.

Tastes just like chicken apparently, according to the local chinese restaurant owner.

Had a nice chicken chow mein from their today, and it was great.

nickmason

MrsE wrote: »

DH could have wrote the stuff in red.
He worries about his medicals, he won't go & see the doc unless he has to (for anything) as he doesn't want to seem unhealthy.

I think this illustrates how the system doesn't work. If the stigma of claiming benefits, and the disadvantage in terms of future employability, stops some people from claiming then it is self-perpetuating; there will be those who get trapped, and those who resent not taking the (entitled to) benefits that others do. Classic adverse selection.

Policy needs to survive the test of unintended consequences.

SingleSue

Kenny4315 wrote: »

I hear cat is very good roasted, with a little rosemary.

It'll save you some money on insurance and cat food.

And a sunday roast.

Tastes just like chicken apparently, according to the local chinese restaurant owner.

Must admit that made me giggle...it appealed to my warped sense of humour!
Would be better to do my older cat though, we call her fat cat :rotfl:

* Not her real name by the way, her real name is Ti-ah

fc123

SingleSue wrote: »

The problem is that those newly unemployed people will get stereotyped the same as the longer termed unemployed just because some/most (by the time their savings run out) will be claiming for something.

In a lot of peoples eyes, benefit claimant = scum, regardless of how you ended up there or how long you have been there...they only tend to change their mind after you have been completely stripped of any dignity, feel ashamed and had to tell your life story of how you got to be on benefits to everyone.

It is not an easy market out there to obtain employment, even for the newly unemployed and especially if their experience has been in retail - I am now hearing horror stories of those who have been made redundant in the last few months and despite applying for virtually every job going (even those paying minimum wage, cleaning etc), they have still not been able to obtain employment again and it is only going to get worse as companies tighten their belts.

As a couple of examples

Our local paper job insert each week used to run to approx 16-20 pages each week, you are lucky if you get 3 pages now.

Our local county council website used to take me a good hour or so to look through all the vacancies with literally hundreds of jobs available, yesterday it took me 10 minutes with only 57 vacancies some of which were relief jobs, some were permanent adverts for lollypop people and maybe 40 real full time jobs (if that)..and not particularly great money either for the majority. This covers an area from Felixstowe right the way through to Lowestoft..the whole of Suffolk.

Yes there are some jobs available but they are becoming fewer by the week but the amount looking is becoming greater.

This is not hearsay or rumour but my own personal experience as a job hunter.

As a society, I think we may have to accept that a certain percentage of the population will never, ever contribute very much at all and will have to be supported for most of their lives.

With the lack of jobs now, there is no way the Govt. will be able to implement the plan. However, I believe that The Plan is purely to con voters who get a bit miffed by it all. I employed a small team for years (around 8 -10 staff); Intelligent, motivated, interestted in the job....and it was hard work. Imagine being in charge of a group of these people (long term not wanting to work types with few social skills ) You'd have to pay me 6 figures to cope with that.
How do people expect these Community, 'chain gangs' to work?

I'm glad SingleSue still fights her corner on these boards (~I think I would have been scared off by now) as SS shows the other side to the benfits system, and is the type of family it was originally set up for.

I don't know much about autism, so hope they are able to manage as adults.
SS carries on bringing up 3 demanding boys single handedly on a small income, SS manages to get her degree and one day, her boys will be great members of society (and they are super bright from what she has said, so are bound to contribute to society in a great way) and SS is qualified, recession eases and SS flies high too..........no-one can begrudge their tax pounds to that?

Women and children being abandoned by men is not uncommon...I know it's not right, but it does happen but you can't punish the women and kids.

I know a lot about the other side of the coin too as OH sister is also a grandmother...but I'll save that one for another day.:D

Kenny4315

SingleSue wrote: »

Must admit that made me giggle...it appealed to my warped sense of humour!
Would be better to do my older cat though, we call her fat cat :rotfl:

* Not her real name by the way, her real name is Ti-ah

Even better ... makes the meat taste nicer and good bit of fat.

Don't forget your roast potatoes, and you should get a nice drop of gravy from her too.

Delicious.

:money: DON't HAVE A PET THAT YOU CAN'T EAT IN A RECESSION. :money:

I got my sister pet rabbit for about 20p in the mid 80's and it was great in a nice rabbit stew. :beer: Around the time of the miners strike I remember.

fc123

SingleSue wrote: »

And no worries about using me as an example, it's nice to have been listened to...and I used to say that when I was working full time and happily married except I was slightly more eeek about people claiming benefits, seems I got my comeuppance.

No comeuppance at all...just a bit of bad luck (your OH not coping and leaving) but as one gets older, one experiences all different things and it changes one views.

When I was late 20's / early 30's, I thought I knew it all.........well. I did, I just know more now.;)

I only have a career/job now because OH stayed around...no way could I have done it with 2 kids (and they didn't have any difficulties like yours) so that was just my good luck really. I got out of Nil By Mouth Land becuase there was 2 of us....couldn't have done it solo.

Go girl...:D

fc123

Kenny4315 wrote: »

Even better ... makes the meat taste nicer and good bit of fat.

Don't forget your roast potatoes, and you should get a nice drop of gravy from her too.

Delicious.

:money: DON't HAVE A PET THAT YOU CAN'T EAT IN A RECESSION. :money:

I got my sister pet rabbit for about 20p in the mid 80's and it was great in a nice rabbit stew. :beer: Around the time of the miners strike I remember.

Kenny, are you poking a stick? I don't think I would ever be starving enough to eat my cats.....next doors dog maybe...but my cats are my babies.:D

mvengemvenge

MrsE wrote: »

I was chatting to an English builder who said that when the east Europeans first came over they had a hard time getting a start on sites.
But once they got on they were the preferred choice by the hirers (didn't come in hungover like the Irish & British - so it was said).

I'm surprised at the venom shown to the Poles, they were our staunchest allies in WW2 & their bravery was unparallelled, why do they get such a hard time now

Personally, I think this constant reference to Poles coming over here is a red herring. They were never the problem. They worked hard and paid their way. The Government always makes reference to them, but that's to throw people off the scent of the much bigger numbers of non-EU people who come over and just go straight onto benefits. Labour never want to discuss this group, as it's not 'pc'.