Could claim benefits...but choose not to! Why?

dmg24

meluvnext wrote: »

Is it worth the hassle of phone calls and form filling and then panicking if you are no longer entitled to the benefit if it is only going to be a few pound a week your entitled to. If I was on a comfortable 25,000 a year I wouldnt know what to do with myself and would happily not claim benefits even if I was entitled to them

I find those who choose not to claim fall into two categories - those who grew up at a time when benefit reliance was not the norm, and those who have had to claim benefits in the past and now that they have other options, do everything they can to be self sufficient.

FleurDuLys

I chose not to bother putting a claim in for DLA several years ago even though a JobCentre benefits advisor came to talk to the pain management group I was in at hospital and told me that I would definitely be eligible.

The reason for this was pride, yes. I had always been fiercely independent and had always paid my own way and I liked to be able to say that I'd never claimed any sort of benefits (I was offered a job before I graduated so I went straight from university to work). That and the fact that it would have been a lot of hassle for what seemed at the time to be not much money; I think I would have only been able to claim the lower rate for care, and as I was earning a good salary it wouldn't have really made any difference to my life.

Now my circumstances have changed and I have had to claim both ESA and DLA, and they do make a difference. When I first claimed ESA last year I was thankful that it was there to support me whilst I recovered from illness and I took the opportunity, as much as I was able, to study and gain experience for a new career. I was successful at this and by the end of the year, when I was well enough to apply for jobs, I was offered a couple of very basic roles and had interviews for much more advanced ones. But then I got diagnosed with cancer and had to turn everything down, which was madly frustrating - hence still being on ESA, and now claiming DLA too.

jetplane

You only have to read this forum to know why some people don't claim benefits. Our Government and media have succesfully vilified benefit claimants who are now labelled as scum, scroungers and are viewed as an underclass.

Unfortunatley the welfare state is no longer the safety net that it once was and has become a lifestyle choice for some people, infact there are some families where generations have chosen never to work. And now sadly all claimants who have to rely on the state, however temporarily, are targeted with the same contempt.

The benefits are complicated, take a long time to claim and are actually meagre to those who have worked or have families who work so many people would rather not have the hassle.

mumcoll

I could have claimed JSA some years ago as I had left a job that was making my MH problems worse. I didn't bother as they wanted me to go and talk to one of their Disablement Resettlement Officers (or whatever it was called). I had seen so many psychiatrists, psychologists, CPN's and counsellors that I really couldn't bear having to discuss it with anyone else. I had worked for years so was 'entitled', my OH had a good salary then so didn't need to, even if it was my 'right'.

dseventy

I own and run my own company, it consists of 9 off shoot companies. I employ 721 people across the UK (and some in Eastern Europe).

My turnover last year was 9 million pound.

Personally, me and my wife have 7 children (yes! 7).

I started up 15 years ago. From then to today there was times that we had 0 income. The profits of one venture went to pay the problems off in another. I knew I could claim something, at one point even out of work benefits. We re-re-re-mortgaged the house, I worked 20 hour days, and for my (now) older children, I missed parts of their lives (first steps, first words, even first day of school).

But you know what, I would not change it. I conctrated on the end game, which was to be financially secure for me, and my children when they are adults. I found the level of state intervention into my affairs too much. What they wanted back in exchange for the meagre sums they would pay was too much for me. I thought the tax man was bad.

D70

GobbledyGook

I know several parents who could claim DLA for their children, but don't for various reasons. One is that the sheer amount of form-filling is very off putting, the other is the way benefit claimants (especially for disability benefits) are perceived as being scroungers, or worse "at it" and some don't because the amount of energy they use caring for a child with above average needs on top of working and other commitments means that they just don't think that they have enough energy or time left for the hoop jumping that is needed.

cit_k

I lived of savings for a long time before claiming sickness benefits.

jackieb

I'm pretty sure we'd be entitled to DLA for my daughter, but my husband says he doesn't want to. He says he'd rather she get better. She's had the same problems since she was little and she's now almost 16. Last year my 18yo son claimed under his own right, and got it. My husband wasn't too happy with that either - he doesn't like the idea of being on benefits.

FleurDuLys

cit_k wrote: »

I lived of savings for a long time before claiming sickness benefits.

I did this too. After taking voluntary redundancy my plan was to get a big surgery I needed to have out of the way, give myself a couple of months to recover, and then return to university in order to retrain for a new career. I could have probably claimed Contributions-based ESA whilst I was waiting for and recovering from the surgery but I chose to live off my redundancy money instead. However I was too ill to go to university that September, and by the following April my redundancy money had run out. I supported myself for 16 months in total, then claimed JSA for a month before moving to ESA on the advice of my GP when it was apparent that I really wasn't well enough to be job seeking.

A lot of my reluctance to make any sort of claim was down to how benefits claimants are treated. There are definitely people who take the p!ss, but sometimes it seems like ALL claimants are thought of as scroungers even though there plenty of hardworking people who are claiming through no fault of their own. I felt bad enough about myself as it was - I'd just had to give up my previous career, which I'd worked hard at university to get, because of my health - and I couldn't bear to think that people might judge me as lazy.

angelsmomma

I could claim council tax benefit of around £14 a week but the form filling and proving income puts me off.

I am a self employed cleaner which means asking all my clients to give me letters stating what hours I work and pay I get. I work for several elderly ladies some for only 1 hour.

I don't want to have to ask them so just don't bother to claim it.