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

Wookster

It is truly appalling how Labour have not only created an entire class of people dependent on benefits (and living in poverty) but given them incentive to breed and create more people with zero upwards mobility. There is something deeply wrong with being entitled to something for your entire life without doing anything to benefit the greater good.

It seems that anyone who has been prudent and saved for an unfortunate event (such as redundancy) are penalised, despite having paid into the same tax system as everyone else.

We need a welfare system that encourages people to work (so that the UK does not need several hundred thousand immigrants to satisfy the requirement for reliable, hard working staff) and provides a fair standard of living for a limited period of time for people who have been prudent.

Someone needs to make tough decisions with the welfare state.

pawpurrs

How can you halve that?
In fact there could well be more than that! Car insurance, tax, loans etc....... When your used to earning all your life, you prob have commitments.

Sorry to hear your predicement OP I am in the same boat, and its not easy, on top of that I have a mortgage and a car loan! Going to sell the car I think, I thought that DH would have found a job by now, but its not pretty out there! On top of that DH company tried to not pay him his notice period, so he was made redundant without any pay! Tribunial next week, its all stress isnt it?

Mr_Falling_Star

Wookster wrote: »

It is truly appalling how Labour have not only created an entire class of people dependent on benefits (and living in poverty) but given them incentive to breed and create more people with zero upwards mobility. There is something deeply wrong with being entitled to something for your entire life without doing anything to benefit the greater good.

It seems that anyone who has been prudent and saved for an unfortunate event (such as redundancy) are penalised, despite having paid into the same tax system as everyone else.

We need a welfare system that encourages people to work (so that the UK does not need several hundred thousand immigrants to satisfy the requirement for reliable, hard working staff) and provides a fair standard of living for a limited period of time for people who have been prudent.

Someone needs to make tough decisions with the welfare state.

Its not just Labour (though they havn't really helped) the same problem existed under the Tories. The benefit system, with all its problems and predjucies, have been existence in its current form for some time. I remember John Major rightly questioning about why so many people were on Incapacity Benefit when we had a free for all health system. Changes were put in place which in time, proved just as ineffectual as anything Labour has done.

Snooze

PasturesNew wrote: »

If there are any programmers here ... the figures are easy to work out as they're on sites like entitledto ... but it'd be interesting to see the whole calculations laid out on one page with some sliders, so it could be seen from one browser page (without scrolling) how much could be obtained, for what - and how different working hours/rates, etc affect/change that. By the time you get to the end of entitledto you can't go back and compare another dataset easily.

Must be somebody here interested enough and with the skillz

I bet the 'wont work' brigade would love something like that PN!! :rotfl:

Rob

Max_Headroom_3

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm really sorry you're finding it difficult to get a job but there's no need to exaggerate, it doesn't help your argument at all!

Would you like to explain how I'm exaggerating?

What I am able to claim just about covers my basic expenses (and they are basic, no mortgage, no rent, no Sky TV, no mobile phone contract, no video club, no social expenses, no pub outings, no fags, no booze, no holiday expenses).

So with those covered and the money gone, there is no cash left for food. That's not an "exaggeration" matey, that's a plain simple fact.

Oldernotwiser

oneeye1 wrote: »

maybe but when i was working my wage was around 18000 qand i got £ 88/month w.t.c

So you're better off on benefits then?

longtimelurker_2

I can't believe the government is carrying on with the farce that is EMA.

Oldernotwiser

longtimelurker wrote: »

I can't believe the government is carrying on with the farce that is EMA.

I think you're on the wrong board!

pipkin71

Max_Headroom wrote: »

Sue, you're quite right and this absolutely isn't a "single mum on benefits" rant.

However there is serious injustice in the system, and more to the point the system simply does not work, as I have discovered to my (literal) cost first hand.

As a single mum on benefits, I agree with you Max that there are problems with the benefit system. I hope you are able to find work soon so that you don't have to struggle.

longtimelurker_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I think you're on the wrong board!

LOL, no, it just struck me within the context of this thread and I typed out loud!