MSE News: 'I'm on benefits but I'm no scrounger'

Alcippe

I feel sorry for Ross as he obviously would prefer to be working and not in the position he is in. Unfortunately it comes across as very unclear about his housing costs and therefore the article loses any impact it was hoping to make. On the street I live in I believe there is only me and one other household working. The woman next door but one to me has started working last last year for the first time in her life - she is around 50 now and her eldest child is 13 so she now has to work part time to retain her other benefits. She complains she has no time to herself now she has to work 16 hours ish a week. Her daughter lives next door to me and is in her early twenties and also has never worked. She has a son of 3 and I expect she will be having another child in the next couple of years to keep the money rolling in. This is typical of the area. I work part time (27 hours a week) am a single parent and am in my first year of a university degree and will be 50 next year and know what it's like to try and live on a tight budget. I don't have a lot of sympathy for most benefit claiments but I know there are deserving claiments and that's what the benefit system was set up for.

psc_2

This focus on benefits is just a cynical attempt by the Tories to opposition by setting the badly paid against those with no job and under the present crisis no prospect of a job.

By doing this they are protecting the wealthy because it does not matter that they aren't sorting out our unfair tax system to the benefit of society as a whole.

Wake up.

(No I am not on benefits just some one with a decent salary and someone who sees the Governments cynicism)

kathrynklear

alban wrote: »

It's a scandal that Atos fail lots of people later found to qualify for ESA on Appeal (40% reinstated!). But they get a bonus for getting someone off ESA so why not fail them? - no skin off their noses...but distress++ to the claimant.

A scandal indeed! Why are normal GPs not sufficient to back up claims. They usually know far more about the illness, the person and how it will affect them. Nope... it's another one like the Work Program. A company being paid by the government to do what is already being done. All the time creating an atmosphere of mistrust.

kathrynklear

jo_be wrote: »

Why doesn't his partner work? Her condition is treatable and most people with it are capable of working?

As has been said many times... being capable of working doesn't mean you can just pop out and get a job.

I am capable of working but prospective employers don't seem to think so!

tbs624

leedsmodus wrote: »

Ok this chap has pain in one hand but does it stop him doing over jobs such as a desk job. He admits he does voluntary work so why can he not do part time work..

In fairness, Ross does not say that he can't work - he highlights the reactions from potential employers

"Try going for a job interview with my arm When I go for job interviews, and I have to explain why I cannot shake the interviewer's hand on entry, or I take my coat off and they see my arm, the interview is over.


I get one of two reactions without fail: "How much disruption is the treatment going to cause if you get the job?" Or: "That's an insurance liability."

If employers won't take him on then what would you like him to to do, other than his voluntary work?

~Jem~

alexcross wrote: »

the thing is if you mention people coming into this country for whatever reason you are classed as racist and the government refuse to be seen as racist. If you mention the MP's claiming expenses then you are accused of saying the mp's don't do an important job. you mention the growing number of pensioners and your ageist so to in order to make the cuts they have to they jump on the only people they are still allowed to discriminate against and get away with it.

I get fed up hearing the race card. If you weren't born in Britain, no matter what background you're from, you shouldn't be entitled to come here and get a ridiculous amount of help.

Australia don't let one and all in, they have incredibly strict rules and they don't get slated for it?! This country has been too soft for too long and infortunately it seems there is no way back.

~Jem~

I really think there is too much generalising going on in this post. I have moaned about 'dole scum' on several occasions, but by that I mean the riff raff that you see on shows like 'Coppers'. The type that constantly commit crime, take drugs etc etc.

But then again I recently read about a couple that won some few million on the lottery years ago, and because the guy had a disibilty and DLA isn't means tested, they still get something like £500 every 6 months.

Now I'm sorry but that IS scrounging. Apparently they said 'were entitled to it and we put it to good use' or along those lines.

Really? You can't take a few thousand of your millions and put that to use instead?!

Overall the problem seems to be that there are a few that see benefits as a lifeline to help them along. It's the people that see benefits as a way of life that are the scroungers!

We all know who were on about when you hear the term scrounger. The type of person that has never worked, their parents probably didn't work and their kids will probably never work either. Why would they? They get eveything they need to live a comfortable life so there is no motivation to do otherwise.

thedrsmisses

Hello all i'm Ross' partner

I've just sat and read through all these posts and i'm slightly disheartened by the fact that some of you have taken it upon yourself to do a benefits check on our behalf nothing like being treated like a liar until you can prove your telling the truth. Ross will be writing a post on here at some point to answer the most asked questions which seem to be about the ins and out of our monthly living expenses, did most of you actually read the post or scan read it? you say he goes on about "only getting 11k" he mentions it twice.

You also mention the DLA etc that we would most likely be claiming for the childrens health problems, we don't they wouldn't even be entitled to it for their conditions neither am i for that matter for mine, i haven't even bothered to put in a claim for it, its a waste of my time the DLA departments time and would just mean a longer wait for some other poor soul who needs it more then i do

I don't claim IB either i was getting CA until our second child was born and Ross' DLA was lowered to the lower care component on DLA with no mobility component so im not entitled anymore. And my reason for not working, i am a full time mum and carer to Ross, i am looking forward to going back to work as soon as my daughter starts preschool and Ross has had his operation later this year if their is any jobs left. Why Couldn't he look after the children whilst i work i hear you ask, how would he change a nappy? dress them cook for them pick them up safely or cope with the pain untill i got home and he could take a painkiller that would leave him to tired to stay awake for long

As for the assumptions as to why we have had 2 children with us both having health problems, Ross was in full time work when our son was born and my lupus and consequent kidney involvement wasn't diagnosed until a year after our daughter was born

Joe_Bloggs wrote: »

What struck me about the story is how many family members are in a poor state of health. Is there a common cause ? Should a Consultant Epidemiologist be consulted ?
J_B.

i don't see how a tumor of bone or SLE with kidney involvement would cause reflex anoxic seizures in our son or our daughter to be born with only one kidney and neither do their consultants. When i was diagnosed with both my conditions i spoke to both my specialists and my children's consultants to find out if that had been the cause of our children's medical conditions to have my mind put at rest as any mother would.

I find it disappointing that many have missed the whole point of the article, the point wasn't to moan about how much we do or don't get as a family, believe me we are eternally for every single penny we have been awarded, yes we do struggle on 11k a year but find me a family that doesn't in the current financial mess this country finds itself in. i don't feel we need to justify what benefits we receive that wasn't the point of the article, yes we are claiming all we are entitled and yes we have done a benefits check to make sure that is the case, we maybe on benefits but we are by no means stupid. I'm sorry you feel cheated out of the whole story by us not declaring to all of MSE what we receive but that's just the way it is, maybe i can convince Ross to write a book and you can all read it in there, at least then you can choose to have your hard earned money pay our bills and put food on the table.

To those of you who "got" the point myself and Ross would like to thank-you, and especially those who have wished us/him well with his arm and all the lovely comments on twitter there has been so many lovely comments its going to take Ross a while to reply to each one

Natalie aka @thedrsmisses

alexcross

that is exactly my point Jem.
the government don't want to confront these issues because then someone would shout "human rights"
I have been discriminated against for the most part of my life. when I was young my family were not well off but we had what we needed due to my hard working parents.
I was lucky to go straight into training when I left school but then I was thick because I didn't go to college instead.
I married then had my kids but I was called soft because I wanted to have a good job.
then My husband left for someone else and I had no one to look after the youngest so I had to give up a good job so I was a scrounger.
I got another job which I loved but I was a bad parent for leaving my special needs son in order to work.
now i am a scrounger again because I can not walk without crutches ( do you know I have been physically knocked off my feet by people who have seen the crutches and gone out of their way to make sure they "bump" into me and I have to take it because the majority of people do this or think this way and it happens regularly) Does there have to be a label for everything????

leedsmodus

tbs624 wrote: »

In fairness, Ross does not say that he can't work - he highlights the reactions from potential employers

"Try going for a job interview with my arm When I go for job interviews, and I have to explain why I cannot shake the interviewer's hand on entry, or I take my coat off and they see my arm, the interview is over.


I get one of two reactions without fail: "How much disruption is the treatment going to cause if you get the job?" Or: "That's an insurance liability."

If employers won't take him on then what would you like him to to do, other than his voluntary work?

i am disabled with a gammy leg, 2 x gammy ankles, 1 x gammy left wrist. and i have had two jobs and never been out of work.

if you go to the bigger companies infact they like to employ disabled people for the reason as they like to meet targets for as such. diversity in the workplace

go to ya local corner shop then of course he is a gonna say a no can do