'Would you work or claim benefit?' poll discussion

SomethingWitty_2

glossyhair wrote: »

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.

I agree. I'm annoyed with myself for letting myself get riled by them.

PS I like your sig

dgbnlm

well i just wish the government would wake up.we work but the people on benefits seem to get a better ,worry free life,kids meals paid,rent paid community charge paid,free laptops,free school clothes,discount on clubs, free swimming its endless so this makes us feel inadequate that we cant provide these things for our kids.its now the ones that work that are the poorest,the saying here is do the kids have diners at school i have to say no we work i cant afford them.then you got tax credits that take it off you :mad:and the csa if you so manage to get some overtime.its a catch 22 .

starbump

We've got kids so I voted "F" because I couldn't deliberately put my kids in a worse financial situation. However, I find it hard to believe we could ever be better off on benefits. Surely any job would have *some* "prospects" attached to it - even just to fill a space on your CV?

If we didn't have kids, I would have voted differently.

jamespir

im tied id want to take the job but i have a family to support and getting less money wouldnt really be an option but i wouldnt want to stay on benefits forever

anjak-j

dgbnlm wrote: »

well i just wish the government would wake up.we work but the people on benefits seem to get a better ,worry free life,kids meals paid,rent paid community charge paid,free laptops,free school clothes,discount on clubs, free swimming its endless so this makes us feel inadequate that we cant provide these things for our kids.its now the ones that work that are the poorest,the saying here is do the kids have diners at school i have to say no we work i cant afford them.then you got tax credits that take it off you :mad:and the csa if you so manage to get some overtime.its a catch 22 .

I tell you what - you can have my 'worry free life', complete with multiple disabilities, treated with medications that are a catch-22 between taking them and being able to get out of bed and having a life but knowing that in turn they are slowly contributing to other health problems that will probably considerably shorten my life. Then I can go back to being a Cartographer - the profession that my illnesses took away from me.

People should be more careful when generalising about 'benefit claimants'. Not all of us are on benefits by choice. Some of us have no choice because that choice was taken away by ill-health. And before someone says 'we don't mean people like you', maybe you should be more careful to clarify what benefit claimants you mean. Not that most people should ever be made to feel shame about the situation they find themselves in.

People would do well to consider employment a privilege that can be taken away at any time. You might find yourself in the situation you're criticising some day.

earthmother

At this point in my life, I vote F - I have three children (one still pre-school), and a disabled DH. I went straight from maternity leave to becoming his carer, and couldn't in all good conscience see us in a tighter financial position than we are right now, even if I could commit to the regular hours an employer would (rightly) require.

Next year however, once youngest starts Foundation, hopefully DH will have permanently regained some health (if he gets to Easter it will be the first 12 month stretch I can recall in some years that hasn't involved at least one hospitalisation), and I can look to rejoining the workplace. It will mean retraining, and probably unpaid work for some time, as all my skills so far have been in jobs that don't generally fit school hours, so I'll undoubtedly fall into category E. My hope is that the school itself will be looking for helpers - I know they have helped put some through classroom assistant and even teacher training in past years.

Until then, I do what I can to keep my brain and CV active, I help out with occassional activities at Cubs, Beavers and school playschemes when DHs health allows, and make sure my kids grow up with a work ethic, even if we are currently part of the benefit culture.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Being overqualified for jobs means you miss out on chances to move up within an organisation. Being underexperienced means that you miss out on jobs that you are qualified to do.

So you end up left with the fag end jobs - expected to abandon children to fit in with the childless manager's ideas of flexibility (which usually mean they get school holidays off rather than you - just to prove that 'parents can't have special treatment all the time, you know'). Jobs that insist you finish work ten minutes after the after school club closes, non negotiable as 'the contract says you have to work as required by the business', so you have to search for another club which takes an hour to get home from and costs another £25 on top.

You get put on a disciplinary for not wearing 'suitable attire' - ie, you don't have the £150 for a fancy suit and shoes because child has needed another school coat because some little darling has nicked their current one from their peg. Primark is not acceptable attire.

Your don't get paid at the end of the first month because they didn't get round to it before the payroll cut off date. But your housing benefit, council tax benefit, free school meals have been stopped already and utility bills still have to be paid. You still have to feed the kids. You still have to travel 5 miles into work with no money. What do you eat in this time?

Tax credit needs extra things notified to them before recalculating your money - but you haven't got the cash to top up your mobile and personal calls are forbidden at work. The person in payroll doesn't believe that anyone should get benefits, so leaves the documentation you need for your claim until she can 'get around to it'.

The housing benefit you were promised would be paid in part when you first considered taking a job isn't. After 10 weeks of trying to get information from them, they close the claim as you aren't entitled/haven't provided evidence of your income/failed to attend the appointment at their offices they made for you for working hours.

A couple of people at work ask if you can put in the usual amount for someone's leaving do and one bunch of flowers for someone who is sick. You have no idea who these people are - the 'usual amount' is a fiver each. You have to refuse or rummage in your pocket for your dinner money. They wrinkle their noses up in disgust at the loose change (but don't refuse it). You overhear conversations about benefit claimants all being drug addicted layabouts.

Then you get a call at work. The school is closing because the teachers are on strike/snow is too bad/there's a local election and they're using the building as a polling station. They let you go once.

Two days later, your child falls over in the playground and hurts their wrist. The school says you need to come because they need to go to hospital. You get the time off. You get there to find child is perfectly fine, back in class but they did that because they were crying and the medical lady isn't in on Fridays.

Child throws up on Sunday night.

You cross your fingers and send them into school.

School phones to say child has told them they were sick and you must take them home immediately for the next 72 hours.

You go into your boss and explain.

There is a long pause.

'I think we need to have a meeting when you return'.

So now you are back trying to deal with the benefits system. Everything is cancelled, you have to start again.

'So - you made yourself intentionally unemployed. No benefit payable'

Why would anyone want to do this for an extra £20 a week, never mind £20 less?

Stuff 'respect' - that's just a shorthand for feeling superior to other people.

If there wasn't such a hostile Daily Mail attitude towards anyone trying to climb out of the situation, it would be a whole lot easier for people to do so.

amus

In my opinion this certainly does highlight the problems with the current system where if you're working/have savings (which you have worked hard for) etc you seem to be penalised by having to pay full whack for absolutely everything. I found this when I started my new job (in the dwp) working full time - Because me and my OH got no help towards childcare I actually ended up earning pretty much the same wage as I did working 18 hours per week. So was basically working extra hours to put my child in a nursery.

The Gov should introduce more incentives to be in work and less incentives to be on benefits which often is not the case unless you are earning a considerable wage.

Working for DWP although I have no problems with people who have been made redundant due to the economic situation (which there is a lot of) claiming benefit and people who are genuinely ill/disabled, there really are a lot of people who know how to work the system and have no intention of ever getting a job. There are so many people at the moment playing the depression card (and they know this is difficult to prove/disprove), guess what, when Im sat at home all day for weeks doing nothing I feel depressed and I dont feel like getting dressed and doing housework - its called getting oneself into a rut of laziness. Sorry for the rant but it frustrates me so much at work when I see whats going on and I cant say anything!!

mademoiselle_2

amus wrote: »

Working for DWP although I have no problems with people who have been made redundant due to the economic situation (which there is a lot of) claiming benefit and people who are genuinely ill/disabled, there really are a lot of people who know how to work the system and have no intention of ever getting a job. There are so many people at the moment playing the depression card (and they know this is difficult to prove/disprove), guess what, when Im sat at home all day for weeks doing nothing I feel depressed and I dont feel like getting dressed and doing housework - its called getting oneself into a rut of laziness. Sorry for the rant but it frustrates me so much at work when I see whats going on and I cant say anything!!

....and you shouldn't have said it here. I consider the above to be an ill-informed, judgemental diatribe against a medical condition you clearly do not understand.

And what has this to do with the topic??

If you DO work for DWP, you shouldn't. You do not demonstrate any grasp of how essential fair treatment is.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Medical expertise gained from the Mail on Sunday women's section, I suspect. I presume she also feels like taking the vaccum cleaner cable, looping one end round a wardrobe rail and the other round her neck too, just because she has been in bed for a few days. Or stepping out in front of a bus hoping the pain will stop for a moment. No? She doesn't?

That'll be because she doesn't have depression. Which is an illness that can prove fatal. Especially when unrecognised, dismissed and untreated.

Nasty person. I wouldn't wish depression on anyone (btw, I haven't got it, but have met plenty of people who have). But she would certainly either change her tune or become one of those statistics if she were to experience it at some time. It would probably make her a nicer person. Or at least better at dealing with the clients.