Rant - Life on the dole must be luxury!

pinkfluffythings

You can't "tar everyone with the same brush", yes there are those who are total wasters and scroungers but there are people on benefits that are actively seeking employment and would take the first job they are offered.

My situation is this, I'm ill and unable to work now, my OH is very actively seeking work but no job offers yet. He is very talented in his field of work but it is a specialised, high profile job (50k+) of which there are only 5 outlets for this in NI and no positions are available at the moment. He has applied for all manner of jobs, full and part time, management/stacking shelves/cleaning/admin, all of which he has been told he is over qualified for! For his own sanity he really needs a job, it knocks your confidence being unemployed and living week to week not having enough money sometimes to buy electric and having to borrow and beg.
We receive £110 per week total household income. Its by no means easy to live on this but we do our best and keep our fingers crossed my OH gains employment very soon. Just over a year ago I was in a fantastic job earning 30k per year, my OH was on 50k. Sometimes life throws a curve ball and you just can't see it coming.

qetu1357

I have been unemployed and I would say the unemployed fall into three groups of round about the same size and there is sometimes some cross over. The three groups are:-

1. People who are unemployed and need some practical help (e.g. new skills) to get back into work
2. People who are unemployed and no employer would employ them
3. People who are unemployed and could easily get work and are either working in the black economy or just don't want to work.

Now the challenge is identifying which ones need a carrot (training) and which one needs a stick (benefits reduced).

Frankly, I don't know how you can do that.

I suspect all the government can do is to make it more attractive (less tax) to be in work and less attractive (less benefits) to be on the dole.

Pee

qetu1357 wrote: »

I have been unemployed and I would say the unemployed fall into three groups of round about the same size and there is sometimes some cross over. The three groups are:-

1. People who are unemployed and need some practical help (e.g. new skills) to get back into work
2. People who are unemployed and no employer would employ them
3. People who are unemployed and could easily get work and are either working in the black economy or just don't want to work.

Now the challenge is identifying which ones need a carrot (training) and which one needs a stick (benefits reduced).

Frankly, I don't know how you can do that.

I suspect all the government can do is to make it more attractive (less tax) to be in work and less attractive (less benefits) to be on the dole.

I would say there is another group which is people who are able to work and are good workers but cannot work because the work is not available within the area, possibly due to larger problems such as an economic downturn.

So far as I can see builders around here are not working because people who have retired are getting less income on their savings and are putting off the non-essential work they want done.

qetu1357

Pee wrote: »

I would say there is another group which is people who are able to work and are good workers but cannot work because the work is not available within the area, possibly due to larger problems such as an economic downturn.

So far as I can see builders around here are not working because people who have retired are getting less income on their savings and are putting off the non-essential work they want done.

Fair point.

Do we then create work for them to do or do they either move or retrain to be able to do something else?

Pee

I don't see much point in retraining someone like my boyfriend who has years of experience in the building trade and who is 60. This work is going to come back again, and a lot of the younger people will have moved off or retrained to do something else.

It's fine for me, I work and earn a good wage and we can manage. It's actually made us evaluate our relationship and realise what is important to us. On the other hand, if I was earning a lot less I think it would make us reevaluate our relationship in a different and much less positive way.

I think where people have been working solidly and paying NI to prove this, benefits ought to be available that reflect the real expenses that they have to face.

I am not sure what should happen to benefits for people who come into categories 2 and 3 but it seems that if you get into the system and have children, more than adequate benefits are available and yet if you work hard and are unable to work for a hopefully shortish period you should have some support.

baza52

Pee wrote: »

I think where people have been working solidly and paying NI to prove this, benefits ought to be available that reflect the real expenses that they have to face.

I am not sure what should happen to benefits for people who come into categories 2 and 3 but it seems that if you get into the system and have children, more than adequate benefits are available and yet if you work hard and are unable to work for a hopefully shortish period you should have some support.

If anyone has worked and paid enough NI contributions then help IS available.
The system gives everyone the same ammount based on their circumstances.

The trouble is, everyone that works seems to think that non working people are much better off than them.

catmiaow

Smallfries wrote: »

when i was on dole (8 years ago), i went to sign on every fortnight and joined the line, all the misfits in front of me sat down "applied for any jobs" "not seen any" "see you in two weeks then"

when i sat down it was same question and i said "i havent seen any" was told this wasnt good enough, if you dont find any by next time your JSA will be stopped" how does that work? was it because i had been to college and got a IT qualification and the others were just wasters??

then i found myself a job, went to sign off and they pulled out a red tin, gave me £80 and told me to go and buy some work shirts, trousers and shoes and bring back the receipt. i did, it was easy not to though.

when i got my first wage i went back in to give them the £80 back, they didnt want it.

i know there are real cases that need the benefits, but where i love a lot of people are just claiming cos they cant be fussed working and want a "free" house.

Wow you were lucky to get that then as when I signed off, I got nothing for my new job.

catmiaow

Corpsebride86 wrote: »

Not everyone on Jsa are scroungers and it really really gets on my nerves when most people stereotype the genuine jsa claimants as scroungers:mad:

I have been on and off claiming for over 15 months, i lost 2 jobs when woolies went down the pan! and applied for hundreds of jobs, i eventually got one last year who gained grants and bursaries and the day after they gained them (i had been there about 6 weeks) i got sacked! no fault of my own they got rid of me i had no leg to stand on as i was in a probationary period!

the ammount of hastle i had trying to sign back on was rediculous, hence y most job seekers unless there is the real chance of alternate employment at the end of the fixed term wont look at temp or fixed term jobs!

Now im back on jsa im on the new deal programme (which the condems are going to scrap!) im in a work placement doing 30hrs+ per week working as an admin assistant and they are on about taking me on! this a is valuable programme which doesnt cost extra on jsa and is more beneficial than what the condems are planning i.e making us sweep the streets! at the moment a lot of jsa claimants are gaining employment through these work placements!

living off £60 per week when you are used to earning double / triple that is no easy life i hate every minute of being on jsa!

villabadger work training providers struggle to find work placements for clients and many of them have cscs cards and experience why dont you contact the jobcentre plus and ask what work training provider they send their new deal clients on IAP WEP or VSO to, they would probably appreciate the placements to send clients too! and you would get people to fill your positions, with no cost to yourself unless you decide to take them on! although you still get clients not interested in working and know how to work the system there are true gems to be found by these work placements!

kirsty
xx

Agreed I had to sign on a few years back as I was made redundant, I hated it and felt like a lower class citizen. I applied for dozens of jobs every day and when I went to sign on the people at the Jobcentre weren't even interested in looking or helping you get back into work.

The amount of employers that don't even get back to you after an interview is disgusting, wouldn't hurt for them to say no thanks after you have made the effort to turn up to an interview, not to mention all the others that you don't hear a word from.

I eventually took any job I could, which was part time but it meant coming off the dole. I am continuing to look for work and would take anything that I could do as long it was full time. I apply for jobs I know I can do and have done in the pass and I have had little luck, had loads of interviews with good feedback but still nothing. Very frustrating I just want to scream!

catmiaow

buffbuff wrote: »

The estate were i live most of them don't work and probably never have, and it pi£ses me right off, houses payed for by us workers/taxpayers, while the benefit scrounging scum just seem to have kids to get more benefits, they should put a cap on how many kids they can have why should the taxpayer pay for them ? Why have kids if you cant afford to have them !

I'm sick of coming home from work and there all sat out side having a BBQ and drinking till 3 in the morning every night !!!

I know what you mean I used to live in a council estate(I brought my house) I would come home from work and a lot of my neighbours who never worked a day in there lives and had 'bad backs' each had around 3/4 kids, would have nice shiny tv's delivered and two cars per household. Would make me cross.

marleyboy

I think that annoys me the most, theres people around me who have never worked, apart from the fortnightly journey to sign on, yet they have a far more extravagant lifestyle than my working my fingers to the bone all my life has ever achieved. I just cannot fathom how they can do it. They can even afford luxurious holidays abroad each Year.

I have only ever been abroad once in my life, that was about 10 Years ago, I simply cannot afford a holiday each Year in the Uk, let alone abroad, after the outgoings from my wages, there's simply not enough left for life's little luxuries.

I could gripe, but to me its the pleasure of getting my wage and knowing I have earned it that keeps me going.