Let's help Duncan Smith - how would YOU improve the benefits system?

ps2659

jamespmg44 wrote: »

Yes - I'm only 28 (so no vested interests) however they should.

If they have paid into the system they're entitled to get something back.

You make it sound like a savings club, benefits are there to help the needy, why give winter fuel payments to pesioners living abroad in the sun.

exil

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

This is a good point, public sector workers should perhaps be excluded from the state pension as they already get plenty.

So my aged relative who lives on a tiny widow's pension from the Navy shouldn't get a state pension whilst a millionaire should get one?

Oldernotwiser

ps2659 wrote: »

You make it sound like a savings club, benefits are there to help the needy, why give winter fuel payments to pesioners living abroad in the sun.

Agree with the first point disagree with the second. People who've only visited Spain and France in the summer have no idea how cold the winters can be - far colder than the south coast of England.

Procrastinator333

exil wrote: »

So my aged relative who lives on a tiny widow's pension from the Navy shouldn't get a state pension whilst a millionaire should get one?

The post was not meant at face value, it was a sarcastic reply to Marklv's suggestion that private pensions should be excluded.

I personally think state pensions should be for all. Those that paid in the most surely deserve something back and those that couldn't save for themselves should as part of the state safety net also receive an income.

exil

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

The post was not meant at face value, it was a sarcastic reply to Marklv's suggestion that private pensions should be excluded.

I personally think state pensions should be for all. Those that paid in the most surely deserve something back and those that couldn't save for themselves should as part of the state safety net also receive an income.

Sorry, didn't have my irony alert switched on.

Actually, until the 1970s (I think) your state pension WAS reduced if you had your own pension (private or occupational).

marklv

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

This is a good point, public sector workers should perhaps be excluded from the state pension as they already get plenty.

No, only the ones earning above a certain level should. The average public sector pension is £6,000 a year - if you think this is 'plenty' you need a brain transplant.

marklv

jamespmg44 wrote: »

Yes - I'm only 28 (so no vested interests) however they should.

If they have paid into the system they're entitled to get something back.

You are missing the point completely. People pay according to affordability and the state pays back according to need. This is the principle of the welfare state - it's not an investment scheme as I said earlier, it's a programme designed to provide a safety net for the poorest in society.

StevieJ

marklv wrote: »

No, only the ones earning above a certain level should. The average public sector pension is £6,000 a year - if you think this is 'plenty' you need a brain transplant.

As long as he/she doesn't get yours

DizzleUK

I recently had a period of just under 6 months without a job.

I found the Jobcentre to be largely unhelpful. Every 2 weeks I would visit, they would ask me what I have done to look for work, I would tell them, they would accept my word for it. One several occasions I would turn up for my appointment only to be told they were running behind and only had time for me to sign my declaration then I'd be on my way.

As for the money, I worked out that with everything I was entitled to, I was only £6 worse off than if I had a minimum wage job working 35 hours a week!

I'm not the sort of person who goes out on the razz every week, nor do I have any expensive habits, so I found the amount I had coming in every fortnight quite manageable and was never reduced to "Tesco Basics" for food etc.

Given that level of income and comfort, low levels of debt etc there really wasn't any incentive for me to find a minimum wage job that I wouldn't like. There was no motivation.

For me though, I WANTED to get a job, I didn't want to be part of the benefit culture and with a lot of effort on my part alone, I found myself a good job with a good pension scheme and good prospects, and on top of that, I enjoy the work!

If this government really wants to sort out the benefits system, it has to make it more uncomfortable for those on benefits to live.

I think perhaps something along the lines of food vouchers, electricity and gas vouchers should be given out instead of cash. The vouchers would have to be backed up with ID or something to prevent a black market developing.

If the £65 JSA was broken down into £35 food vouchers, £15 energy vouchers and £15 cash. Maybe the "shame" of presenting vouchers to pay for your goods may encourage a few more to find a job. I certainly wouldn't have liked it.

pop_gun

this point has already been made, but it's worthwhile making it again. there's no way this country will be in a state of full employment. even if every job in the economy was filled there would still be millions unemployed.

i think a draconian measure i'd like seen introduced is paying less child benefit the more children there are in the family.
i would also reward individuals for voluntarily getting the snip.

i would also like to see algae farms encouraged in back gardens or on disused allotments. unemployed people could be taught to harvest the lipids for fuel and sell it onto the national grid. all profits would be in addition to benefits.