tory lies about jobseekers

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

((((((Dandelion Clock and Karma Queen))))))) 2 lovely breaths of fresh air for MSE keep up the good work.xxxxx

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

Karma Queen and Dandelion Clock in particular the rest of you you know who you are xxxx I am trying to get into a Welfare Rights/Paralegal Mindset (paralegal put there to provide antidote to depressing Weflare Rights) by reading Law books. I have an out of date Ogus and Barendt on Social security which looks quite dry but has lots of info.Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer the one and only beloved Michael Mansfield QC ( in my dreams I would be a barrister in his chambers..) plus other volumes.
I am doing this to counter the attack on legal aid and legal side which is being attacked by the tories in bringing forth the LASPO bill which means legal aid for welfare ends this April!!!!!!!!!!!! meaning only legal recourse welfare cases is is pro bono and or free representation by law students. Also to keep my soul alive as well as WRAG obligations.
You will see a lot of benefits bashing here and particular people will stand out and then threads will stand out. Learning to change minds and countering the unjust unfair and daily hate led propaganda here is a key task.xxx

Dreaming_2

I am lucky in full time employment that pays my rent, food and fuel costs and leaves some for saving as well. But I am 100% with the JSA claimants here. The government is simply performing a 'divide and conquer' tactic. If the working poor are angry at the unemployed poor, they are not angry at the government and wont resist severe cuts to the most needy already.

It's horrible politics and I'm so ashamed to be British right now, I used to think we were a progressive country who looked after our neighbours when they needed a hand . When actually, we have turned into a nation of greedy 'INeedAnotherIphone'-ers who would rather spend money on plasma TVs than on giving a needy family safe, warm shelter for a month.

CCFC_80

JenniferGonan wrote: »

If people are jealous/envious of people on benefits they need a reality check. Or a better life.

Having a job is about one billion times better than being on benefits. You can barely afford to make ends meet on that £70 odd quid a week, you have to constantly jump through hoops and are interrogated like a criminal every week, sometimes you have to come in every day, if you're late for an appointment you can miss out on a whole 2 week's pay. Sometimes you'll be forced to go to an interview/forced to take a job just to force you off benefits. Often this job is miles away/3 bus rides away and only has night shifts, but you have to go to the interview or you are punished. Once you've been on benefits for something like 6 months you are sent to a private company called Maximus who profits from forcing people off benefits either by getting the lucky ones into temporary work or just pressuring them and making them come in every day to be lectured til they can't take it any more.

On top of that you're called a scrounger, told you're not looking hard enough for a job, told it's a 'lifestyle choice'. No one would choose that life, NO ONE.

I found a job now, no thanks to the job centre, found it through a friend. But I was on benefits for a year, never stopped desperately looking for work since graduating from uni. I'm making so much more money even though I'm only working 14 hours a week.

I'm so much happier and offer my full sympathy to everyone stuck on the welfare system in this country because it's a shambles.

You're not criminals, some of us still see you as human beings worthy of respect and we hope you find work before you have a mental breakdown.

So, to those of you who are burning up with jealousy for the few people who are barely making ends meet, maybe direct your anger at the millionaires that create these dodgy unfair systems, the ones with expense accounts and the ones with tax dodging schemes instead? :beer:

-First time poster, long time lurker.

An excellent first time post from someone who lives in the real world and from my experience knows what it's like to be on JSA.

Notice that the reaction since this post from the Daily Mail brigade who frequently jump on the bandwagon on this type of thread is deafening.:D

Lip_Stick

I was working for 15 years before being made redundant and I don't ever remember thinking to myself that benefit claimants had it easy. Yes I moaned that as a single person I was taxed to hell, but I also knew that the type of person who lived on benefits had it tough and didn't enjoy certain luxuries I could enjoy.

I also knew that the type of person who didn't want to work and who were happy on benefits, generally lived in a right hovel. If they did have a big screen tv (as the media like to portray), then they had wall paper hanging off their walls, holes in the carpet and ate crap food as all their money was going to bright house to pay for it.

After all these years of work, I'm now a scrounger along with all the others who have the unfortunate position of being jobless or unable to work in the recession. All I hear is how the Government are thinking of ways to cut the benefit bills, I don't hear much about how they can get money from the big spenders and earners, i.e. big business.

ditzyat50

karmaqween wrote: »

The politicians who slag us off are loaded, get free cash for food, travel and do sod all of worth for the working classes, not one of them comes from a background of budgeting, hard grafting nor life of crisis yet, they have total control of our incomes.
Did you know £2b is unclaimed in benefits every year? Did you know that the benefit system only accounts for 3% of public spending in the UK?.

A well worded and accurate post. Sometimes some of us need to be reminded of this to remind us not to feel we are the dregs of humanity because we are out of work. A lot of us are truly trying to get off benefits and are meantime having a harsh time. Personally I don't think we are all in this together.

marlot

karmaqween wrote: »

Did you know that the benefit system only accounts for 3% of public spending in the UK?. Please get your facts in order, off your damn high horses and stop reading tabloid rubbish before you think you know what you are talking about. Ignorance is not bliss when soaked in arrogance

What's your source for the 3% claim - I couldn't find anything to back it up.

The closest I found was...

Welfare is around 16% of total Government spending, excluding pensions and sickness/disability for pensionable age people:
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/

It has been growing fairly steadily since 2002
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_chart_2002_2015UKb_12s1li111mcn_40t

(I'm speaking as someone who was recently made unemployed, so would love to believe the 3% is right).

flexrider

Jo_F wrote: »

But it's not just the £71 JSA is it? if you are claiming that, then you also get help with rent, council tax, prescriptions etc.

Whereas someone earning, has to pay all that themselves, rents, council tax, prescriptions etc are all going up, while wages are not.

Whilst if your working pending on hours you get tax credit, child benefit or dla for some disabled people

Like the ##at government said were all in this together working or not
http://www.chrisspivey.co.uk/?p=8379#more-8379

flexrider

Jo_F wrote: »

But it's not just the £71 JSA is it? if you are claiming that, then you also get help with rent, council tax, prescriptions etc.

Whereas someone earning, has to pay all that themselves, rents, council tax, prescriptions etc are all going up, while wages are not.

Lip_Stick wrote: »

I was working for 15 years before being made redundant and I don't ever remember thinking to myself that benefit claimants had it easy. Yes I moaned that as a single person I was taxed to hell, but I also knew that the type of person who lived on benefits had it tough and didn't enjoy certain luxuries I could enjoy.

I also knew that the type of person who didn't want to work and who were happy on benefits, generally lived in a right hovel. If they did have a big screen tv (as the media like to portray), then they had wall paper hanging off their walls, holes in the carpet and ate crap food as all their money was going to bright house to pay for it.

After all these years of work, I'm now a scrounger along with all the others who have the unfortunate position of being jobless or unable to work in the recession. All I hear is how the Government are thinking of ways to cut the benefit bills, I don't hear much about how they can get money from the big spenders and earners, i.e. big business.

Mate the whole country are scroungers since we borrow 1.1 billion a day to keep ukplc afloat in interest alone. As said above people working national minimum wages cant afford childcare or housing costs with the money brought in,

Check the news
http://www.chrisspivey.co.uk/?p=8379#more-8379

More lose there homes or fail to pay mortgage in time (sky)

http://news.sky.com/story/1033099/mortgages-millions-struggle-with-payments

Until we see growth its getting bleak out there

[Deleted User]

JenniferGonan wrote: »

If people are jealous/envious of people on benefits they need a reality check. Or a better life.

Having a job is about one billion times better than being on benefits. You can barely afford to make ends meet on that £70 odd quid a week, you have to constantly jump through hoops and are interrogated like a criminal every week, sometimes you have to come in every day, if you're late for an appointment you can miss out on a whole 2 week's pay. Sometimes you'll be forced to go to an interview/forced to take a job just to force you off benefits. Often this job is miles away/3 bus rides away and only has night shifts, but you have to go to the interview or you are punished. Once you've been on benefits for something like 6 months you are sent to a private company called Maximus who profits from forcing people off benefits either by getting the lucky ones into temporary work or just pressuring them and making them come in every day to be lectured til they can't take it any more.

On top of that you're called a scrounger, told you're not looking hard enough for a job, told it's a 'lifestyle choice'. No one would choose that life, NO ONE.

I found a job now, no thanks to the job centre, found it through a friend. But I was on benefits for a year, never stopped desperately looking for work since graduating from uni. I'm making so much more money even though I'm only working 14 hours a week.

I'm so much happier and offer my full sympathy to everyone stuck on the welfare system in this country because it's a shambles.

You're not criminals, some of us still see you as human beings worthy of respect and we hope you find work before you have a mental breakdown.

So, to those of you who are burning up with jealousy for the few people who are barely making ends meet, maybe direct your anger at the millionaires that create these dodgy unfair systems, the ones with expense accounts and the ones with tax dodging schemes instead? :beer:

-First time poster, long time lurker.

Not envious but, I don't like paying for those who don't make an effort. Those who do, and have hit hard times, I've got all the time in the world for

Glad to see your not one of the scroungers though. That's just the point I would disagree with you on - there are tons of people who just don't want to work (I know loads) so the system appears to come down hard on those who are genuine.

But the thing is its 'free' money you've got to do something for it and not just sit back and expect it to roll in. Yes, you've got a right to be treated fairly but you can't expect to sit back because it suits you because the perfect job doesn't come in. And the thing about catching buses - so what?

I know a guy who works in switzerland and sees his family about once a month - makes the moan about catching a few buses a little silly?

I have been on benefits in the past for short periods of time. To be honest, I didn't find the jobcentre staff that bad. They were OK with me I think when they realised I was happy to be fair and polite with them.

Also, if I remember rightly, don't you get so many months where you can tell them a minimum salary, location, job type etc and they leave you alone? I work in IT, so the minimum salary I gave them was probably 2x what some of them earn but, to be fair to them, the realised it was pretty pointless me looking at cards on the jobcentre wall and left me alone. I still had to prove I was looking for work (which I did via internet and agences) but it wasn't that arduous.

But if I'd ever been out of work for a longer period then I think its only fair that I'd have to take what was on offer....