Too proud to sign on

Phirefly

lostinrates wrote: »

We've debated this. DH will have a small shortfall too, but he's not going to make his up: its not really going to make much difference either way. Mine, again, its a gamble of whether we think there will be pensions then or not, and, bluntly, my life expectancy . again, with no bad luck we should have ok provision privately by then should we need it, but I think we will make up my NI contributions. If I don't get it the big British pot will benefit. I can live, or not, with that, rofl.

I have a years' shortfall due to my art foundation course. I got a letter saying I needed to pay such and such amount to make it up but everyone I spoke to (laymen and not-so-laymen) said not to bother as it's make no difference in the long term.

Mr P was made redundant last month and didn't bother to sign on. He couldn't face the hoop jumping and besides he was up to his ears in job applications and interviews to find the time. I suggested he should make sure he got what he was entitled to but before we'd even finished the discussion, he had another job (well, 3 actually. He should hire himself out as a professional interview attendee)


I signed on when I graduated. I parked with an hours' pay and display. The registration process took an hour and a half. My one and only JSA payment was spent on a parking fine.

kennyboy66_2

lynzpower wrote: »

Is this actually true?

*hovers over expedia....*

Of course it isn't.

Average Japanese earnings are not that much different than the UK.

lynzpower

I signed on when I graduated. I parked with an hours' pay and display. The registration process took an hour and a half. My one and only JSA payment was spent on a parking fine.

that really does sound about right

Austin_Allegro

I agree the dole office is a waste of time. If you have more than a certain amount in savings they won't give you a penny anyway.

I often hear about this need to sign on to get NI stamps though.

What actually happens if you don't do this? Would it affect state pension, NHS provision etc?

One good thing about all this is that when laid-off people realise they won't get much or anything at all on the dole despite paying in for years, that there might be fierce backlash against the Jim Royall type professional dole scrounger.

lynzpower

What actually happens if you don't do this? Would it affect state pension, NHS provision etc?

Yes.

I worked for a while in social services, and one of my clients was a 67 year old lady who was disabled and sleeping rough on the london night bus network.

She had been working in Switzerland, which is of course out of the EU.

She had been pf course paying taxes etc there and had worked in international diploamcy for 15 years.All her work was on temporary contracts, as is the way with international diplomacy & charities etc.

When she came back ,she was entitled to nothing from the pensions system as she had not been paying her "stamp" .

SO she continued to sleep rough on the night bus network of London, there are hundreds of people like this, they just slip through the nets.Im not suyre if this is still the case, but 3 years ago when I worked there it was, having checked with the solicitors, totally correct.

bendix

kennyboy66 wrote: »

Where exactly do you draw the line, would you refuse to call the fire brigade if your house was on fire ?

Do you just drive up and down the M6 toll road or walk around at night with a bag on your head to avoid taking advantage of street lighting ?

I was also amongst the last group of students to get a full grant - I've never once thought that there would come a point when my "debt" had been paid and xxxx the rest of society.

I dont think I said that. My point is I don't want to take any more 'direct' benefits out of society. I know I have to pay taxes and my taxes are much more than my take-out of things paid by those taxes . . so be it. That's my choice. If I was unemployed, I could choose to take the dole money, but I would choose not too. Similarly, Im electing not to use NHS or - when it comes to it - the state pension. Keep the money. I don't want it.

In an ideal world, though, road users would pay for roads (which is broadly what happens anyway, with the road tax and petrol tax etc) so it is very much user pays and I think street lights are paid for by local users through rates.

I can see where the thrust of your point is, but not sure of what you're specifically saying.

clairehi

I had to go into Job Centre Plus some time ago to get some help with a bereavement benefit form for my Mum and they were absolutely lovely and really helpful.

OH had to sign on a couple of years ago and it was a horrible experience, no-one wants to sign on but you would be daft not to, would you take a voluntary pay cut after all?

Graham_Devon

The trouble with not signing on, as I found out, is you get a letter a few years later, stating you missed NI payments, and you owe x amount.

For me, they averaged out what I was earning in the months beforehand, and then told me thats what I owed, and I had to pay it.

So I shot myself in the foot by trying not to take money, I only ended up owing them.

Plus, it means that our unemployment figures are not correct!

bo_drinker

I am self employed and work is very patchy now, as I have over x in savings I am entitled to nothing as I see it. We are buying a house soon and I will spend time if needed to work on it. As I have savings etc it seems to me the tax I have paid in recent years is to pay for others benefits. In these circumstances I think self employed should pay a lot less in tax say 5 to 10% if that. What is the use me working to feather other folks nests
At the end of the day I have said for years self employed are treated like scum.

huntersc

bo_drinker wrote: »

I am self employed and work is very patchy now, as I have over x in savings I am entitled to nothing as I see it. We are buying a house soon and I will spend time if needed to work on it. As I have savings etc it seems to me the tax I have paid in recent years is to pay for others benefits. In these circumstances I think self employed should pay a lot less in tax say 5 to 10% if that. What is the use me working to feather other folks nests
At the end of the day I have said for years self employed are treated like scum.

Yes, the tax system exists to help those in need of financial aid. If you don't need it then you don't get it. It's always been like this and not some kind of savings account you can draw on when you're out of work.

You may be paying out tax and think you're not seeing direct benefits but you are. I presume you go to the doctor, have or will use a hospital, drive on the roads, used a school etc etc etc etc.

You pay tax so that society continues, so that everyone had a half decent life. If we all said we were unhappy 'feathering other people's nests' then there'd be no tax income and none of us would be better off than we are today.

I'm happy to pay into the system, perhaps I'll use it someday. If not then I'm happy to have helped someone else live a nicer life.