The jobless are no shirking scroungers – you try living on £65.45 a week

ILW

These tops ups are needed due the the increasing price of Stella and Fags. Demand rises on a bank holiday weekend.

custardy

tcr wrote: »

Crisis Loans are there for when there's some kind of catastrophe ... you collect your benefit, lose your wallet/purse, that kinda thing. You pay it back by instalment from your benefit.

All too often the crisis loan system is abused, with people using the Social Fund almost as a personal loan facility ... the fridays before a Bank Holiday being one of the most busy days for Crisis Loan applications.

even though they get their money early
i take it theres no/little proof required? just a sob story?
sorry i know ive taken this off topic but i dont know about this stuff but do like to know what goes on

kabayiri

You can understand the situation Tcr finds themself in. Almost a thankless task.

The example of crisis loan just illustrates the inability of the state to devise systems which are immune to abuse, have a modicum of fairness, and which encourage the right attitudes.

Frankly, I'm fed up with consultants and think tanks devising ever more elaborate social constructs. I've met some of these ivory tower consultants, when they get a nose bleed venturing out of the rich London environs and come up to the 'grim north'. The talk is of 'social cohesion' and 'building a fairer landscape for all'...makes you want to puke. Truth is, as long as they self justify their high salary and opinions, thats all that matters to them.

A fact : there is NO fair system. Any system will disadvantage a certain set of people.

In my view, EVERYONE should get a standard JSA type benefit allowance, and I mean everyone. Pensioner ; worker ; self employed ; plutocrat.

Then on top of that create a fluid system which encourages you to 'top up' that base income. If you do that by some full time job, great. If you do that by being a pensioner working in a shop 2 hours a day, you should get to keep a good chunk of it. If the base income is your sole primary source of income, we should make it easier and profitable to get bits of work in to top up your income until something substantive comes along.

A perfect system then? Nope. A fair system? Probably not. One which points us in the right direction? I hope so. Of course, I could be wrong.

dopester

kabayiri wrote: »

In my view, EVERYONE should get a standard JSA type benefit allowance, and I mean everyone. Pensioner ; worker ; self employed ; plutocrat.

Then on top of that create a fluid system which encourages you to 'top up' that base income. If you do that by some full time job, great. If you do that by being a pensioner working in a shop 2 hours a day, you should get to keep a good chunk of it. If the base income is your sole primary source of income, we should make it easier and profitable to get bits of work in to top up your income until something substantive comes along.

A perfect system then? Nope. A fair system? Probably not. One which points us in the right direction? I hope so. Of course, I could be wrong.

If everyone could keep top-ups from JSA from 5 or 10 hours or more work they do on top, then why would others work full time for about the same amount of money?

It would attract many more to just JSA and doing a few hours on top.

Guessing there are something like 50 million adults in the UK, and 10 million children (to 16 years of age). 50 million x £60 a week = £3 Billion a week. £156 Billion a year. Where is all this UK paradise money supposed to come from?

Maybe other countries should adopt the same measures for magic money from nowhere in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, India, South Africa ect. They can magic their populations to betterment. Obviously there are no consequences of doing this.

kabayiri

It's just the basis of salary isnt it.
It replaces what is already there. It's not additional expense.

Oh I forget, we don't already spend £190bn on state payments. It's not like we don't shell out already.

But hey, of course our current system is perfect. That's why we have 10 pages of specific complaints of A against B.

If you have better schemes I am a ready listener. Right now, things are going steadily down hill, and the black economy will go from strength to strength.

wigglebeena

PasturesNew wrote: »

Would you employ somebody who looked like they'd been cutting their own hair for 6 months?

Oh dear. You're probably right. That explains a lot. (Creeps away, trying to get over hairdresser phobia.)

silvercar

Case in point:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2440897

Someone on benefits, that includes over £1500 a month housing benefit, may be offerd a job on nearly £30k. They don't want to take it because it will leave them worse off.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

Case in point:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2440897

Someone on benefits, that includes over £1500 a month housing benefit, may be offerd a job on nearly £30k. They don't want to take it because it will leave them worse off.

I just....despair. Is it true though, or is it a wind up? I don't know.

PhylPho

lostinrates wrote: »

I just....despair. Is it true though, or is it a wind up? I don't know.

Pretty much true.

This is because ZanuLabour, via its Commissar Gordon Brown, sought to create a "client state" within the Socialist State whereby more individuals than ever would be dependent upon the largesse of public funds and thus be relied upon to vote for the continuation of the provider of those funds ad infinitum:

New Labour.

This will be reflected in next Thursday's election results -- though no, it still won't get ZanuLabour re-elected.

(After all: why the hell should a family with a household income exceeding £100,000 a year get Child Benefit funded by a taxpayer earning little more than one tenth of that?)

LydiaJ

I've read the thread you link to, silvercar.

It's clearly an insane situation, but it seems to me that the main problem is the housing benefit, or LHA or whatever its name is nowadays. He's getting £18k pa (tax free I presume) just for that. :eek:

Either the system needs to have a cap on what it will pay for LHA (much much lower than £1500pm) or else people who live in areas where the rent and LHA are enormous would need to be eligible for some small amount of LHA even if they're earning packets. But this is yet another aspect of sky-high HP that is bad for the country and the economy.

The guy does sound rather lazy, but I can't blame him much. I don't know many people who'd take a job in a sector they didn't think they'd enjoy if they knew it would leave them £94pm worse off than not working. And give the guy some credit - he's got himself into the fire brigade and will eventually start working for them, I hope.