'Should we starve the jobless back to work?' poll discussion

JimmyTheWig

deedee71 wrote: »

I have a degree in my profession and am still not on £10 an hour. :cool:

Then this plan would work well for you.
You could do your current job, maybe with reduced hours, but top up your money with the government job.
It means you'd be able to do the job that you've chosen, get real-life experience in the field of work, but would have the option to earn more money than you do now.

adouglasmhor

katyboo123 wrote: »

My girlfriend left the Navy due to ill health last year in May.

She signed on and was told by the job centre that there were no suitable vacancies, but that she must apply because if not her measly benefit which didnt even cover food, rent, utilities, etc would be stopped. They told her her ailment which had caused her to leave the Navy (complete loss of hearing in one ear, partial loss in the other) did not mean she was entitled to any help with interviews i.e. hearing loop for her hearing aids and they also told her that there was no point going back in to education as she would not be entitled to any help with her studying.

So they put her forward for everything, including jobs with only 5 hours a week. They 'found' her an interview which was for a cleaning job at 15 hours per week in a hospice an hours journey away; again, if she wasn't willing to travel up to an hour, her benefit would stop. She didn't even have the bus fare to the interview I had to put a days holiday in to work and take her. She even squeezed in to my clothes and I'm two dress sizes smaller (apparently the fund in her area for help towards interview costs was closed for applications that week).

She got the job, I mean she'd been in the Royal Navy 6 years and had qualifications coming out of her ears. Anyway, she started working and signed off benefit. We worked it out that after bus fares she earned £1.50 per hour.

After 6 weeks the cleaning job 'let her go' as they'd over-recruited. Back on job seekers and my girlfriend told them that she would like to train to be a nurse and she'd seen a recruitment event she'd like to attend. They said the recruitment event would class as a days work, so she would have to sign off job seekers if she wanted to attend.

She did, as I told her my wages would see us both through while she went after her career and we moved in with my Mam to save money on rent and bills. She got the Nurse Cadet position and is on a one day a week college course. So far she is the top performing Cadet in her group (150 cadets). She works really hard and earns £600pm - we still struggle she used to pick up £1500 a month in the Navy, but at least she has a career and potential to speak of and isnt using her qualifications to empty bins in a hospice.

I had a terrible experience with the Job Centre myself when I left Uni. They all seemed to look down their nose, despite the fact I have worked hard since I was 13!

In my opinion, I would say that if the job centre people did their jobs, everyone should be given £100-150 per week which would cover reasonable living expenses for 6 months. At the end of the 6 months if they didn't find a job within a reasonable radius to their home, with a reasonable number of hours with the HELP of the job centre; then they don't get any more money.

Just my opinion )

You do realise that if you had been a hetero couple in the same boat your GF/BF would have been entitled to no benefits, just NI stamp credited?

MSE_Martin

The great problem with benefits in my view is that to protect those who need and deserve help we will always help some who other think of as 'scroungers' and who don't want to work.

Those who are saying no benefits - I find shocking. Frankly lets say we did that with our 2m unemployed and maybe it forced 500,000 back into work. That'd leave 1.5m people with no income forced into the black economy or crime.

I personallly wouldn't feel safe in my bed in that circumstance.

Martin

JimmyTheWig

adouglasmhor wrote: »

You do realise that if you had been a hetero couple in the same boat your GF/BF would have been entitled to no benefits, just NI stamp credited?

I don't see that sexuality has anything to do with it.
Presumably the GF was claiming contributions based JSA, which doesn't depend on a partner's earnings (I believe).
Or maybe they weren't living together as a couple?

adouglasmhor

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I don't see that sexuality has anything to do with it.
Presumably the GF was claiming contributions based JSA, which doesn't depend on a partner's earnings (I believe).
Or maybe they weren't living together as a couple?

I don't either but a man and woman living together will be treated as a couple unless they jump through hoops, but 2 men or 2 women will not. It's pretty obvious from the psots they were living as a couple. I may well have been wrong about contribution based JSA though.

jamespir

MSE_Martin wrote: »

The great problem with benefits in my view is that to protect those who need and deserve help there will always be some who other think of as 'scroungers'.

Those who are saying no benefits - I find shocking. Frankly lets say we did that with our 2m unemployed and maybe it forced 500,000 back into work. That'd leave 1.5m people with no income forced into the black economy or crime.

I personallly wouldn't feel safe in my bed in that circumstance.

Martin

i agree martin
we already have a high rate of poverty in this country although its not as bad as places such as Africa and India i think if the benefits stopped then we would have an astronomical amount of homeless people including many many children


but its like anything theres always those that take the preverbial and they unfortunately give those that need the benefits a bad name

teddyco

If our ancestors, who slaved in the coal mines and factories in Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester could see how lazy folks have become today sitting at home idly watching TV and causing trouble on the streets, they would be sorely ashamed.

We just heard in the news about the toxic Chinese sofa's being sold in Britain that burned the skin of those who sat on them, and the toxic lead in Chinese children's toys. Then there are the cheaply made garments that tear up or fabrics that only last a short time. Britain used to make high quality products that lasted for decades and set standards around the world for quality and craftsmanship and we can do it again.

We need to elect a government who's sole aim is to bring manufacturing back to impoverished areas of Britain and fight for British jobs only for British workers.
Once the jobs are there, then we can stop the benefits and give people back their self-esteem.

Labour had 13 years to do it, and the Lib Dems will only continue the carnage. The Conservatives are the only party that has a plan to lower corporate taxes which will attract business back to this country and provide real jobs in the private sector, and not phony government jobs that rob the rest of us to provide.

In the meantime, the benefits system should only be paid to people who have built up 'credit' in the system by actually holding a job and paying into it. We should stop giving benefits to assylum seekers and force anyone who comes to this country to work for several years before getting benefits.

Lastly, we need to set a limit on how much one person can claim on unemployment benefits. After a year, if someone hasn't found a job, the benefits end and that person is out of luck. Their solution then is to take manual labour jobs, waiting tables, or seek help from parents and friends to help them.

jamespir

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I don't see that sexuality has anything to do with it.
Presumably the GF was claiming contributions based JSA, which doesn't depend on a partner's earnings (I believe).
Or maybe they weren't living together as a couple?

the dwp dont class same sex couples as couples and therefore get treated differently to hetrosexual couples

jamespir

teddyco wrote: »

I


Lastly, we need to set a limit on how much one person can claim on unemployment benefits. After a year, if someone hasn't found a job, the benefits end and that person is out of luck. Their solution then is to take manual labour jobs, waiting tables, or seek help from parents and friends to help them.

yes and wed end up with more homless people than ever because even if you opened up a new business every day there still wouldnt be enough work to cover the whole unemployed

carlw

Firstly I would not make benefits of any kind available to anyone who has not worked for a minimum of 12 months, I think the main issue with the long term unemployed is if they have never worked they are stuck in the cycle of benefits and are not attractive to an employer so do find it harder to find a job. If you start working young, you have self respect and are proud that you are earning. It is then demoralizing if you become unemployed and you are much more likely to want to get working again. Break the cycle early and it will make a big difference.

Secondly I would make anyone that has been unemployed for longer than 6 months earn their benefits. There are plenty of things that need to be done to improve society and clean up local areas and these can be done by benefit claimants’ as a way of earning their benefits. For example, gardening for the elderly, working in a charity shop, cleaning up graffiti, cleaning litter from the streets. I’m sure that councils could set up schemes that allow benefit claimants to work with an experience painter and decorator to decorate council flats that need doing, rather than subcontract it out. Given a few hours I could create enough work for every unemployed person in the county and make the country cleaner and tidier at the same time. Who knows with a bit of experience under their belts the claimant could then go on to become self employed.

There is a distinction between those that wont work and those that want to but cant find work. Unfortunately I do think there is work out there, it may just not be what people want to do, which in my opinion should not give them a right to continue claiming benefits. If I were unemployed id clean toilets, clean cars, work in a bar, a supermarket, McDonalds, whatever it took until something better came along.