Tories are certainly getting stuck into our benefits system...

leveller2911

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I didn't pay for education for them - why did you offer to stump up?

Hi yers NDG good to see you again.....:D

leveller2911

headcone wrote: »

People choose to vote Tory,etc,etc.

With your politically blinkered eyes do you think Nu Labour staying in power would have NOT dramatically cut the benefits system??....

Will say it again, this has little to do with class devided, we are in such a mess whoever got in would need to make drastic cuts in all areas.....

Is Tony Blair a average earning working class man?,or any of the Labour front bench of the previous decade or so.....


Was it EVER sustainable for the benefits bill to be larger than the entire Income tax receipts?..

ILW

headcone wrote: »

People choose to vote Tory,etc,etc.

And your point is?

carolt

mattcanary wrote: »

I have been on JSA for roughly nine months. I am single and for some of this time have lived in a private rented flat wehere the Local Housing Allownace payment did not cover the rent - meaning I had to uyse some of my JSA money to pay the balance. This is not unusual in my neck of the woods - East Anglia. If after 12 months the LHA money is cut by 10%, this is likely to lead to extreme hardship for many people.

I have been making use of my time. I currently volunteer for four days a week (doing something extremely worthwhile), whilst also applying for jobs. I don't smoke and I hate recreational drugs with a passion.

Fingers crossed, I will be starting full-time permanent paid work towards the end of this month (I have verbally been accepted for a job - just need confirmation in writing from the head office now).

There are jobs that I would not consider doing - such as trying to sell double-glazing by cold-calling on people, etc. I offer more good to society by doing voluntary work than if I did this type of job - which puts more and more suckers that buy from these people into debts that they cannot afford to repay, etc than any benefits it may bring to a minority of people. This is despite taxpayers (including people on tax-credits, I hasten to add) funding my Job Seekers Allowance. Of course, they have far more money coming in to their household anyway. That is fair enough - I do not complain about this but nevertheless it is true.
I did apply for cleaning jobs - however, upon telephoning the employer about the vacancy, they usually failed to return my answephone messages.

What I am saying is that the whole issue is not black and white. There certainly are not enough jobs to go around. The benefits system (and I include tax-credits) in this should be radically overhauled and simplified. And sometimes people doing voluntary or community work whilst receiving benefits are doing more good for society and the state of this country than some people in work.

Why did you live in a flat you couldn't afford rather than a room in a shared house? Why didn't you become self-employed? Why didn't you move to a different area where there were jobs, or commute to them?

There are options. It certainly is not black and white - in fact there's miles more grey than you seem aware of.

pop_gun

drc wrote: »

I'm just wondering why foreign aid is such a sacred cow that they have ringfenced it? Surely when we have a £160billion defecit per year, the UK must forego giving aid to countries that have their own space programmes (India etc)?

my understanding is that 'aid' in terms of resources is never given to recipient countries. instead NGO's are set up to 'advise' those countries as to where they should make cuts in their budgets.
people who run these NGO's are usually former civil servants, disgraced members of industry, former politicians and many more besides.

mitchaa

mattcanary wrote: »

I have been on JSA for roughly nine months. I am single and for some of this time have lived in a private rented flat where the Local Housing Allownace payment did not cover the rent - meaning I had to use some of my JSA money to pay the balance. This is not unusual in my neck of the woods - East Anglia. If after 12 months the LHA money is cut by 10%, this is likely to lead to extreme hardship for many people.

I have been making use of my time. I currently volunteer for four days a week (doing something extremely worthwhile), whilst also applying for jobs. I don't smoke and I hate recreational drugs with a passion.

Fingers crossed, I will be starting full-time permanent paid work towards the end of this month (I have verbally been accepted for a job - just need confirmation in writing from the head office now).

There are jobs that I would not consider doing - such as trying to sell double-glazing by cold-calling on people, etc. I offer more good to society by doing voluntary work than if I did this type of job - which puts more and more suckers that buy from these people into debts that they cannot afford to repay, etc than any benefits it may bring to a minority of people. This is despite taxpayers (including people on tax-credits, I hasten to add) funding my Job Seekers Allowance. Of course, they have far more money coming in to their household anyway. That is fair enough - I do not complain about this but nevertheless it is true.
I did apply for cleaning jobs - however, upon telephoning the employer about the vacancy, they usually failed to return my answephone messages.

What I am saying is that the whole issue is not black and white. There certainly are not enough jobs to go around. The benefits system (and I include tax-credits) in this should be radically overhauled and simplified. And sometimes people doing voluntary or community work whilst receiving benefits are doing more good for society and the state of this country than some people in work.

I dont mean this to sound rude, but do you have a mobile phone or internet connection? How do you pay for these?

1 would argue that these items are a 'luxury' and can perhaps be forfeited to pay for the roof over your head, i.e the 10% cut in LHA?

12mths plus is taking the complete pi** in my opinion. I can see you are trying with voluntary work, but even at 9mths, I suspect you perhaps need to lower your standards if there are no jobs coming up?

vaporate

ILW wrote: »

People CHOOSE to take drugs KNOWING what they can do.

People take drugs because they hate reality. A call for help really.

Criminalising these people is purely idiocy. The criminals are the people demonising this group.

vaporate

mitchaa wrote: »

I dont mean this to sound rude, but do you have a mobile phone or internet connection? How do you pay for these?

1 would argue that these items are a 'luxury' and can perhaps be forfeited to pay for the roof over your head, i.e the 10% cut in LHA?

12mths plus is taking the complete pi** in my opinion. I can see you are trying with voluntary work, but even at 9mths, I suspect you perhaps need to lower your standards if there are no jobs coming up?[/QUOTE]

'When' you lose your job, come back and say that.

pop_gun

mitchaa wrote: »

I suspect you perhaps need to lower your standards if there are no jobs coming up?

mattcanary has already said he's applied for cleaner vacancies. when you say he should lower his standards, what do you mean?
how low is low in your estimation? :rotfl:

byebyedebt

mattcanary wrote: »

I have been on JSA for roughly nine months. I am single and for some of this time have lived in a private rented flat where the Local Housing Allownace payment did not cover the rent - .

- Don't want to sound harsh, but there are two other possible solutions, move out or generate more income.

mattcanary wrote: »

There are jobs that I would not consider doing - such as trying to sell double-glazing by cold-calling on people, etc. I offer more good to society by doing voluntary work than if I did this type of job - which puts more and more suckers that buy from these people into debts that they cannot afford to repay, .

and thats the problem. There are more jobs available then there are people to take them, except people choose not to take them. Whilst its admirable to take on some voluntary work, you have only been able to do so on the basis of state handouts or on the suckers that bought the double glazing, that paid the workers who then paid tax, that the government then gave to you, so you could winge that your LHA was not enough.

mattcanary wrote: »

What I am saying is that the whole issue is not black and white. There certainly are not enough jobs to go around. The benefits system (and I include tax-credits) in this should be radically overhauled and simplified. And sometimes people doing voluntary or community work whilst receiving benefits are doing more good for society and the state of this country than some people in work.

A better solution would be to work and save the volunteering for your days off. Dont get me wrong, Im not against volunteering, I do it myself. However my first priorities are to earn to live and not to burden anyone else. There is nothing wrong with selling double glazing. No one is forced to buy it, but often they will for the perceived improvements. They are not doing it because they are suckers!