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

churchrat

[quote=Lifeisbutadream;18808889

What I would like to know is how many people, if faced with a situation, would actually stop working if they didnt get paid?



.[/quote]
I stopped working when my dd became ill and I had to look after her. As her illness progressed I also became ill and after about a year it started to really affect my husband. We got very little from the state and survived by getting further and further into debt.
I stopped working because I had to--and I did not get paid. It was a horrible, dreadful time, our family suffered not only thro illness and the prospect of our childs death but because we faced losing our home where our children felt safe.
This was about 9yrs ago now, and I really hope that things have changed. Unless you have been there it is hard to know how it feels. We know that there are people who defraud the system, and these should be caught and punished. But if you have real hardship and are used to working , not being able to provide for your family is a terrible thing.

So, in answer to the question, I would have to say that we met many families in our situation, perhaps Lifeisbutadream just hasn't been talking to the right people. (and they are too busy just surviving to post on here.)

Broken_hearted

Where is this magic 20K when we came out of work we only got SSP which didn't even cover the mortgage. No CT benefit milk tokens or anything similar. Even now we don't get 20k.

As for giving every thing some people shock horror LIKE their jobs and miss them. They like being able to buy nice stuff, mix with other adults and take pride in their career. Moreover my lovely partner liked being able to walk around, pick the baby up and do all the things able bodied people could.

Lifeisbutadream

churchrat wrote: »

I stopped working when my dd became ill and I had to look after her. As her illness progressed I also became ill and after about a year it started to really affect my husband. We got very little from the state and survived by getting further and further into debt.
I stopped working because I had to--and I did not get paid. It was a horrible, dreadful time, our family suffered not only thro illness and the prospect of our childs death but because we faced losing our home where our children felt safe.
This was about 9yrs ago now, and I really hope that things have changed. Unless you have been there it is hard to know how it feels. We know that there are people who defraud the system, and these should be caught and punished. But if you have real hardship and are used to working , not being able to provide for your family is a terrible thing.

So, in answer to the question, I would have to say that we met many families in our situation, perhaps Lifeisbutadream just hasn't been talking to the right people. (and they are too busy just surviving to post on here.)

I have met and talked to people in the same situation. Most of our friends are self-employed and if they dont work they dont get paid full stop.

I do not begrudge anyone a safety net of a benefits system, but why is it there for some and not others?

amcluesent

Parents of 13-year-old father Alfie embroiled in tawdry battle to 'make a packet' from scandal

Alfie Patten’s relationship with 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman has prompted a political row about Britain’s moral collapse. But as controversy raged, his divorced parents Dennis and Nicola had an unseemly row.

Dennis, a father of nine who also has three stepchildren, split from Nicola, 43, two years ago after she caught him having an affair with a 19-year-old.

He has three children with Nicola – Alfie, Joe, 16, and Isabella, 11 – and another son Leyton, 23, by a previous relationship.

Alfie’s half-sister Jade, 19, is also believed to have had a child at 13 and is Nicola’s daughter from another relationship.

Meanwhile, there were allegations Chantelle has had three boys staying overnight with her at home in the past few months and a number of boyfriends in the past ten months. But Chantelle’s mother Penny said: ‘It’s rubbish, Chantelle lost her virginity to Alfie.’"

So loads of bas*ard babies on benefit in Brown's broken Britain!

Lifeisbutadream

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Where is this magic 20K when we came out of work we only got SSP which didn't even cover the mortgage. No CT benefit milk tokens or anything similar. Even now we don't get 20k.

As for giving every thing some people shock horror LIKE their jobs and miss them. They like being able to buy nice stuff, mix with other adults and take pride in their career. Moreover my lovely partner liked being able to walk around, pick the baby up and do all the things able bodied people could.

For the £20K a year, you may not have £20K in your hand, but I am betting that you dont have to pay any of the following out of what you do have: tax, NI, council tax, rent, school dinners, presciptions etc.

We dont necessarily have spare money to buy nice things either - and OH didnt get chance to pick up the baby, because he worked 1000 miles away at the time and only came home once a month.

Unfotunately life doesnt always work out the way we want it. A fairer system would not see a non-working family being better off financially than a working one.

Cleaver

amcluesent wrote: »

Dennis, a father of nine who also has three stepchildren, split from Nicola, 43, two years ago after she caught him having an affair with a 19-year-old.

Is it me or does he look a lot like Jeremy Kyle?

Lifeisbutadream

amcluesent wrote: »

Parents of 13-year-old father Alfie embroiled in tawdry battle to 'make a packet' from scandal

Alfie Patten’s relationship with 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman has prompted a political row about Britain’s moral collapse. But as controversy raged, his divorced parents Dennis and Nicola had an unseemly row.

Dennis, a father of nine who also has three stepchildren, split from Nicola, 43, two years ago after she caught him having an affair with a 19-year-old.

He has three children with Nicola – Alfie, Joe, 16, and Isabella, 11 – and another son Leyton, 23, by a previous relationship.

Alfie’s half-sister Jade, 19, is also believed to have had a child at 13 and is Nicola’s daughter from another relationship.

Meanwhile, there were allegations Chantelle has had three boys staying overnight with her at home in the past few months and a number of boyfriends in the past ten months. But Chantelle’s mother Penny said: ‘It’s rubbish, Chantelle lost her virginity to Alfie.’"

So loads of bas*ard babies on benefit in Brown's broken Britain!

This type of situation is only going to continue whilst our government continually rewards non-working families and punishes the working ones.

SingleSue

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

For the £20K a year, you may not have £20K in your hand, but I am betting that you dont have to pay any of the following out of what you do have: tax, NI, council tax, rent, school dinners, presciptions etc.

We dont necessarily have spare money to buy nice things either - and OH didnt get chance to pick up the baby, because he worked 1000 miles away at the time and only came home once a month.

Unfotunately life doesnt always work out the way we want it. A fairer system would not see a non-working family being better off financially than a working one.

I keep making posts and then aborting them as they are too emotion based!

Think I will just sum up by saying, I would love to be working, I would love for my children to be normal, I would love to be seen as a productive member of society once more.

Right now, all I have is shame and guilt.

Arrgggghhh, still did the emotive bit!

Lifeisbutadream

SingleSue wrote: »

I keep making posts and then aborting them as they are too emotion based!

Think I will just sum up by saying, I would love to be working, I would love for my children to be normal, I would love to be seen as a productive member of society once more.

Right now, all I have is shame and guilt.

Arrgggghhh, still did the emotive bit!

All I feel is frustration and anger.

I have spend the last 5 months feeling too ill and low to look after my children properly. All made worse by discovering that if I were to stop working I do not get any state help at all, regardless of having paid into the system for 20 years, so I kept on working even though I have been told by my doctor not to.

Then I am made to feel guilty by all the people who are entitled to state help for pointing out that I feel upset with a system that allows this.

Sorry Sue, I understand that you and others feel the need to continually say that you would rather be working etc. but sometimes it might be nice to consider that other people have problems too.

vivatifosi

SingleSue wrote: »

I keep making posts and then aborting them as they are too emotion based!

Think I will just sum up by saying, I would love to be working, I would love for my children to be normal, I would love to be seen as a productive member of society once more.

Right now, all I have is shame and guilt.

Arrgggghhh, still did the emotive bit!

Don't take the bait Sue. We know what a great job you are doing for your family and that you can't tar everyone with the same brush. You've got more important things to do - looking after the kids and studying for a better future - than to let yourself get caught on an emotional downer over posts like these.