It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

mardatha

Thanks Becky i'll tell him about this. Charis, good idea re Facebook! The more people who read this the better.

shegar

Hi to you all, ive had to have my feet up more today:mad:they have been aching pretty bad........just had them in nice bowl of soapy warm water,:Dput my cream on just before I go to bed which wont be long now....................................

MRS V PLOT .......do take care of yourself and slow down a bit, youve had a lot to deal with near on a year ago, and it sound like you are pushing the boat out.........get that BP sorted ASAP........

Thanks Lady shopper glad your feet are so much better now, it gives me hope for the future cos so many of you had/have this problem and it have left you after a while.........


Sorry to hear about all your bad weather wearing you down madarther, its been a very nice day here, got the washing dried, I will be doing my duvet/sheets in a day or two....

Glad the garden isnt taking so much of my time right now that im not really feeling up to doing much, ive still got a lot of flowers out so they dont need cutting back just yet, not only that but the birds and insects will benefit if I dont cut seed heads back too early:D..........grass is still growing though.....

A old friend of mine took me and Lewis my grandson out to watch badgers feeding, it was a beautiful sight, we got there just before dusk and they came out to feed after about 20 mins, so we had a lovely birds eye view, oh what a sight...:D Yes I know they are a nuisance to all the farmers , but they are such a beautiful animal,lewis is nature and wildlife mad, he handles all creepy crawlies whatever and loves all of them , he as some real good wildlife books to refer to, he met Chris Packham and asked him "which animal is your favourite , Chris said, I love all animals and so I dont have one paticular favourite, aww what a lovely answer to give a child....:T...

Right my dears I hope your all okay, bless you all.......:D

mardatha

Shegar my son - the one with the feet lol - used to be a shepherd, and on nightshift lambing jobs he would watch the badgers bring their babies out to play. he loved them too.

7_week_wonder

Good evening all,
I agree with Mardatha, after another soggy day I'm thinking I should have got ducks rather than chickens: my poor ladies are definitely in danger of getting trench-foot:(

However, I really just popped in to say a huge thank you to Kittie - thanks to one of your early posts I am now making yummy sourdough bread in my bread-maker. My starter still needs to mature a little bit (bless it - it's only just over a week old) but I think I've got the proportions and the programme sorted now. Thank you so much:T

ceridwen

Charis wrote: »

Thanks for this, I've posted the link on my Facebook page.

Good idea Charis - re posting up that DWP referring to foodbanks article I posted up.:T

Certainly some "food for thought" there that this is happening at the same time as the number of foodbanks is growing so much - ie "which came first - the chicken or the egg?".

I hadnt clicked that people have to be referred by someone-or-other to food banks. Doesnt look like people can just turn up on the doorstep of themselves...

Times are indeed hard when some are wondering how to literally have enough to eat.

One thing I am wondering is that, when I have been unemployed (ie many years ago now), my due benefit always turned up promptly on time. Even the first payment each time arrived on time (think thats within the first 2 weeks of being unemployed?). These days - I have read a lot of complaints about people finding that their first payments are often weeks late and they are suffering additional hardship because of the delay in payment commencing. I seem to recall reading that some people have even experienced 6-8 week length delays in payment commencing? So - I imagine there will be quite a lot of people referred specifically because of cashflow problems because of the benefits being delayed.

I have a feeling that these foodbanks are about to experience huge demand soon between this and the current economic crisis..

HariboJunkie

The idea of referral to food banks is not a new one. In deed it has unnofficially been the case for years until Labour first stopped it in 2008 as they worried people would interpret it as meaning that the state benefits were inadequate.
I think that DWP have always referred people to charities who can help. Salvation Army, PDSA etc if they see there is a need.
I'm not saying that it's right, just that it's not new.

Monday again. And I am exhausted but not as exhausted as OH who has chopped and lopped trees and given us enough firewood for the whole of next year. If we can get this blessed stove installed tommorrow we can start seeing some savings on our fuel bills.

GreyQueen

Ceridwen, last time I signed on (2004) it was 4 weeks from initial contact to getting JSA paid. If I hadn't had money and food by me times would have been tough indeed. That's a fairly typical wait these days - you'd be lucky to get it any faster than 4 weeks.

From what I saw at the CAB and in my present employment, it is often peeps whose status is switching, through no fault of their own, between employment and unemployment, who are hardest hit. A person might sign off JSA for few weeks' work (or sign off for what they believed was a longer period but the job fell thru) and need to sign on again. Some poor beggars are waiting on wages for what they have done and then waiting for JSA from when they didn't have work, and getting no money from anywhere.

If you add into the misery that peeps are often having to claim means-tested benefits like tax credits and housing and council tax benefits, where any change means recalculations of entitlement, and you could see why a sensible person, particularly if the have been burned like this before, wouldn't want to come off benefit for a very short-term period of work.

If there is doubt over entitlement, the LA will typically suspend payment of HB/CTB to avoid creating an over- or under-payment, pending clarification of what the person's income is, which will cause the arrears of rent to build up to the point where even social landlords like housing associations are listing for court.

The social security system is very inflexible and real life is very variable.

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Had a lovely evening with my pals here at the flat yesterday and cooked Softstuff's Chickpea Curry, which was a winner and will be a regular addition to the household. We laughed out heads off and played silly board games, so it was pretty OS and thrifty as well as fun.

My home is now tidy enough to be seen my the Council chappie although I shall have to pull the duvet down so that it disguises the tinned goods under my bed. Wouldn't want him to think I was odd, or something.:rotfl:

Hope everyone is going to have a good day. GQ x

mardatha

It all goes to show how little some things have changed - or how far round the circle we've come - since the days of Dickens. Is vital to keep your wits about you and take the brilliant advice given in this forum. Look after yourselves and your families cos there's nobody else who will !
God I sound like my own granny. Who was a very tough wee Irish lady and who would feel right at home in here -even though she was born in 1880 and has been dead for over 50 years :D

ceridwen

You're absolutely right Grey Queen - re its so easy for people to "fall down between the cracks" in the system - whilst swopping to and fro between income sources (employment to unemployment back to employment).

I think it would be useful if anyone can give a link to the rules on getting temporary (or they're supposed to be permanent - but turn out to be temporary:() jobs.

I used to have a pretty good idea back all those years back and was certainly wary of applying for any jobs that werent permanent - as otherwise I'd be forever falling in and out of having 3 days that no-one was paying me an income for (ie those 3 "waiting days" at the start of any unemployment claim). I know I also used to bear in mind what the rules were help with mortgage interest if unemployed - ie I didnt have a mortgage (I was in rented accommodation at the time) - but I was doing a lot of "positive thinking" about "WHEN" I have a mortgage (rather than "If I can ever blimmin' well manage to buy a house..."). So I always jobhunted bearing mortgage help rules in mind as well. Again - that has changed since my day. Back then - I knew all mortgage interest was paid right from Day 4 through till resumption of employment (even if that took years). So - peeps with mortgages have problems too...dont know how "kind" mortgage lenders are these days?

Worrying to think that even social housing providers would be "awkward" if DWP is late in paying benefit.

Minimum 4 weeks wait before they've "done the work" and benefit starts up:eek:.

As you say GQ - if you've "had your fingers burnt" in the past by having had to "sign on" - you're always wary if it happening again. I think theres still people who believe they personally wouldnt be unemployed for long if it came to it - but they could be wrong. I remember being absolutely gobsmacked that unemployment lasted as long as it did for me - I'd honestly never ever thought I would be unemployed. Reading a current womens magazine and an article in there about several women who had become unemployed and had now started up their own business and life is back on track again. What struck me was that a couple of them said that they hadnt claimed benefit to start with - because they honestly didnt think they would be unemployed for very long at all. I understand why they honestly thought they would be back in work in a decent job within weeks - but I'm so glad that (though my reaction was exactly the same as theirs at the time) that I nevertheless took what I thought was a purely precautionary measure and claimed benefit anyway.

meg72

Mardatha, how very true, your Granny sounds very much like mine, I often think of her these days and what she would have thought of everything we have now. I am sure she would have loved MSE.