'Would you work or claim benefit?' poll discussion

yellowduck_2

Gavin83 wrote: »

If your struggling on benefits already, then logic would say you literally wouldn't be able to live if you took the lower paid job, and therefore would end up homeless and jobless with no benefits anyway. Only a fool would take the job in this situation. I don't wish to end up homeless so I would stay on benefits.

If it was for an equal amount of money I would take the job though.

Totally agree if it was for the same amount of money I would work as this could lead to a better job, you would also gain an up to date reference and hopefully useful experience. Difficult to see how you could work for less than benefits as a single person as these are calculated as subsistance levels. Work can also bring additional costs, e.g travel so this has to be factored into the decision.

x7thomas

Single - Take the benefits.

I hate people that claim benifits because "most" of them just need a kick up the a** so techincally i'm contradicting myself by taking the benefits. But it winds me up so much that the tax I pay from working hard goes to people so they can sit at home and do nothing all day (except try and make excuses why they are so hard done by and need to be on benefits).

So I think id prefer to just NOT work and take the benefits. Then if everyone has this attitude, unemployment would shoot through the roof, the people claiming benefits would shoot through the roof and then maybe the government would finally review the whole benefits system once they realise they cant afford it.

It must be nice to be able to get paid by the state for doing nothing. The whole day would be mine to do what I want. Could take up some new hobbies. Watch loads of TV. Visit loads of friends/family. Nice

Bottom line - The Government need to make it worth while for people to work. If you are offering people more money to do nothing - then thats just plain stupid. Reduce benefits so they aren't so "Comfortable" and then they will get a job so they can afford the "Luxuries".

smala01

A little loaded for the forum i think.

If an individual is conscientious enough to write a reply then i assume they will be conscientious enough to be employable!

I would suggest that those lazy folks on benefits... would not be inclined to post, because they probably don`t know this forum exists!

The usual exclaimer about those with serious illness / disability blah blah applies here.

Passiflora_Polar_Bear

mcgazz wrote: »

For people who're apparently frugal with money, it's amazing how many of you would take a job that would leave you worse off. Self-respect doesn't come into it - how would anyone who is essentially paying from their own pocket to do a day's work feel any self-respect? If the job was, like most impoverishing jobs, in the private sector, you'd be cutting your own meagre income to spend your days helping other people (the company owner or shareholders) get richer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ragged_Trousered_Philanthropists

This is surely an argument for increasing the minimum wage such that it's impossible for there to be a job which pays less than benefits and changing the benefits and tax system so that we stop rewarding people financially for bringing more children into an already overcrowded world.

I agree. As for JSA (job seekers allowance) I don't recommend anyone to change their circumstances rashly (getting part-time work or becoming unemployed) without 4 months worth of living expenses saved because that's how long it takes for the council to sort out your housing/C/T benefits.

Minimum wage jobs (£5.61 hour last time I looked) don't pay enough to cover my rent and council tax and I cannot afford to work as a single person in these jobs. I would be homeless within months. Caring (shift) relief work is in abundance, & while paying a bit more, doesn't pay enough for the physical and emotional burnout. These are my options as an arts graduate.

I'm currently a self employed jewellery maker and basically living on WTC (£51 week) and getting housing and council tax benefit and looking for any bit of paid therapy work. My big mistake in life was to be born a creative person and to do an (economically) useless arts degree.After a bit of teaching in university (450 people applied for a P/T teaching post in the 1990's) and a CV full of interesting sounding arts voluntary work (the bill always footed by myself). I needed to retrain. So I did a post-grad (£6,000 + £2,000 personal therapy) in Art Psychotherapy in my late 30's thinking I would get a job helping people with their mental health issues and finally hold my head up in society. That was without realising my title still had the word 'art' in it. There are few paid jobs out there. Competition is high and you always need experience, to sell yourself, and even to explain what art therapy actually is to many employers. There's plenty of schools and charities that will take your skills for nothing - the problem is now I have to cover my own supervision(£40 an hour) registration and professional insurance. You cannot work therapeutically with vulnerable people without this. It comes down to funding and it makes me laugh when the government talk about training yet more people to counsel those with depression caused by the recession etc etc. WE'RE HERE!!! USE US!!! BUT PAY US!!!

8 years on I've come to the conclusion that this country does not understand or value these skills enough to pay for them (perhaps they enviously think art is more fun than their job so people ought to do it for nothing). Even Care Workers (I take my hat off to them) are extremely badly paid and I've done a lot of relief work alongside them in order to gain 'experience'. The values of this country are upside down. I tried getting a Counselling job in a nice american school in Africa but even Africa turned me down! They were too impressed by my CV, most of which I tried to explain, was unpaid work.

I'm trained up to my eyeballs and am now doing computer training which I hate and am not suited to, but may get me paid work. Skills wise it's like trying to be a square peg fitting into a round hole.
The result: low self esteem and the knowledge my skills are unvalued. Sorry about the whinge. I am a cheerful person really!

Johan

Married. I take the £23 a week benefits!!!:(

I was made redundant after 32 years in employment in Corrugated Cases manufacturing, before that I worked 4 years as a car mechanic and before that I was in the Merchant Navy for 3 years, I was 16 went I started my career as a apprentice engineer in the engine room of a ship.

I am now at home and claiming JSA of £23.00 a week and nothing else....it is not a handout as some are saying......but paid by me out of my wages which I have worked for all them years. And at 55 I am in no hurry to look for a job at present just yet! I also have a fulltime job at home looking after my daughter who was Autism and behaviour issues.

SomethingWitty_2

FloFlo wrote: »

There is nothing to stop you looking for a better job while you are working in a not so good one or training outside of your work hours.

The point is if I am earning LESS in a job than on benefits, where is the incentive? I would always do what puts me in the financially best position to support my family. I would certainly NOT take a cut in income- that's counter intuitive in the extreme.

I also simply can't believe some people (not you) suggest "that's because benefits are too high".No, it's because the minimum wage is too low!

I cannot understand the stigma attached to benefits. If you have a right to them you should take them- they are there to help you, and they are the bedrock of a system designed to help those in need. I'm proud to live in a country with such a strong welfare system. There is too much pathetic envy attached to those on benefits as if they are enjoying some kind of easy life, or as if they are all fraudsters. This is a prejudiced, inaccurate view, hand in hand with the same "asylum seekers are costing me my taxpayers money" rhetoric for which the daily mail is well known.

Benefits for jobseekers are low. They are (rightfully) designed to encourage you get back to work. For those who say "You have plenty of time to look for a better job/ to train while working" Try it. I'd rather have 8 hours a day to develop a plan, do something useful and valuable like voluntary work, and get some full time training (using funding from the government if possible). I would speak to business link advisers about ways of working for myself, I would use all the hours god sent me to better myself. and find a way forward.

A low paid job, one that pays less t han benefits, is not only harming me and my family financially, it is restricting my options. Voluntary work for example can offer so much more.

As for training in the evenings or when not working - I agree this can be done but I'd rather complete a full time course quickly than a part time course slowly. Many courses will be paid for or part paid for by Government if you are receiving benefits, and rightly so.

mangadarkogirl

Minimum wage is £5.94 now isn't it?

SomethingWitty_2

hullight wrote: »

I like to think I'm contributing to our economy rather that leeching on it!

Leeching? You're basing that on what? Is that your opinion of everyone on benefits? Should they all "get a job"? What benefits are unfair? I'd be interested in your response.

What do you pay your taxes for? I pay them to help the state, which in turn helps everyone (including those in need via benefits), which in turn results in a fairer, and more affluent society as a whole.

I don't want to lecture, or get annoyed, and I'm truly sorry if I'm coming accross badly here. But comments like the above are so ignorant of those in less fortunate positions!!

Primrose

The fact that we're even having to have this debate illustrates what an utterly crazy benefits system we have in this country where it is more financiall ybeneficial to live on benefits than to work.

glossyhair

Yet another excuse for the employed to slag off those of us (single and without children) who find ourselves unemployed and having to live below the poverty line through no choice of our own!

Please do not be so quick to judge and tar everyone with the same brush.

It ain't easy to get a job! I am well qualified and experienced in TWO professions and not even considered for more junior or different roles; I am told repeatedly that I am over-qualified or my experience does not match up.

I am so fed up with being indirectly attacked on this forum . . . . I'm not even going to look these threads any more.