120,000 "trouble" (read as you will) families to get benefits on prepay cards

the_flying_pig

My knee jerk reaction to something like this is always 'great idea', but whether it works in practice is another thing. They should look very closely at the pros & cons of the Australian & US schemes.

A simple thing they could do IMO is extend free school meals to include breakfast & dinner. That might justify shaving a little money off family benefits?

mothershipton

surely this plan doesnt address the root cause which is addiction. Perhaps there should be more treatment for addicts related to benefits?
i think the breakfast idea is being carried out successfully in many schools already.

manowar

I agree with this idea, stop them buying things they shouldn't be buying and force them to spend the money wisely. Nice idea if it works.

Graham_Devon

It's another human rights court case just waiting to happen!

robpw2

i love it , this has been a suggestion of the majority on here for years, yet when a politician suggests it he is vile ...

for the record i have always been against it ,

Loughton_Monkey

moneyinmypocket wrote: »

Excellent idea - I would go as far as just giving them the basics - bread and water, maybe an orange at Christmas.

The orange at Christmas is totally wrong on two counts. 1. We are supposed to be operating austerity budgets. This is far too generous. 2. It would upset the Muslems.

But as the government should know, the 'food stamp' idea doesn't work in this way. It doesn't prevent them buying fags & booze, because there's always a more affluent guy on the corner who will 'buy' the benefits for cash at 80 pence to the £ (or less).

So far better, in my view, just cut out the middleman, cut to the chase, and just reduce benefits by 20% in the first place. Taxpayer wins. Benefit Claimant is neutral. Street Corner Spiv is forced out of business.

...large gin & tonics all round...

ILW

mothershipton wrote: »

surely this plan doesnt address the root cause which is addiction. Perhaps there should be more treatment for addicts related to benefits?
i think the breakfast idea is being carried out successfully in many schools already.

"addiction" is just a cop out in most cases.

Fags are not necessary for human life. (And I say this as an ex 20 a day man).

GeorgeHowell

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Often its the children in the family that suffer.........

So take the children away from them if necessary. I'd rather pay taxes to have those kids looked after properly than to subsidise the lazy, f e c kless, workshy, self-indulgent, irresponsible dross that drag up their kids to turn out exactly like them.

vivatifosi

the_flying_pig wrote: »

My knee jerk reaction to something like this is always 'great idea', but whether it works in practice is another thing. They should look very closely at the pros & cons of the Australian & US schemes.

This has been a topic of debate in the US too. The average food stamp entitlement in Florida (per local news) is $4.50 per day, with a maximum of about $6.75 (ball park figures as from memory). Again there is a dichotomy. On one hand you hear complaints that people have other sources of income and so on $4.50 a day people will use the stamps to supplement things like steak, whereas on the other hand $4.50 is a small amount and hard to live off, so people rely on food banks. In other words, people will still complain about what people spend their food stamps on, only it becomes about steak and high end foods rather than cigs and booze.

the_flying_pig wrote: »

A simple thing they could do IMO is extend free school meals to include breakfast & dinner. That might justify shaving a little money off family benefits?

I don't know about shaving money off, but the extended school philosophy is a good way of making sure that the kids are fed properly and are not learning while hungry. I think it is being cut back on though.

breadlinebetty

In some ways it's a good idea, but I can just see the ramifications of what would happen if people could only spend their benefits on certain staples.

It will increase crime (shoplifting for one) and the unscrupulous shopkeepers will be rubbing their hands in glee at flogging a packet of fags for a £10 voucher.....

And as much as I think it's awful for benefit claimants to spend their money on booze, fags etc.....ultimately it's their choice what they want to do with that money. And how about things such as Christmas/birthdays when a decent benefit claimant wants to buy a couple of bottles of plonk etc?

Then there'll be the embarrassment of paying in vouchers in stores:o

If it does become law they'll soon tighten it up and disallow people from buying chocolate or nice crunchy bread - because they'll be seen as naughty pleasures. They'll only be allowed to buy things like cheap lard, Stork margarine and fatty belly of pork.

It's very wrong!