benefit cheats

[shadrack]

why do people on benefits (mostly incapacity) always seem to be better off than the average hard workng joe bloggs & his wife?

[tigerthecat]

Its a myth - really who do you know on IB who's well off (unless they're carrying out fraud). My experience of anyone I know who survives on benefit is that its very difficult and I won't be swopping with them.

[yummy]

I agree with tigerthecat. I know so many people on benefits who are really struggling to get by. I don't know anyone who is better off, so can't answer your question.

[Thanatos]

I take it you read the Daily Mail or The Sun, shadrack?  These papers will fill your head with utter nonsense about stuff like this.  And about asylum seekers killing and eating swans! LOL

[january_bug]

Do you guys remember that family who were on Wife Swap and were claiming every benefit under the sun and doing rather nicely for themselves?  I don't even watch the programme but it got a lot of publicity.  Well funnily enough, after the show, they had their benefits reassessed and she was pretty much forced to get a job.  I believe in the report I read she was working as a taxi cab controller type person.  Well, ANYWAY, long story short, they were MUCH better off going out to work, and having their benefits reassessed. 

I agree with the comments above mine, that the only way to be really well off on benefits, is to be committing fraud. 

[Oneeyedvic]

Depends what you mean by benefits. I know when I was working 10 years ago, I earnt �10 more per week that any of my mates who were on the dole. And bear in mind that I had to pay for any courses I wanted to attend, pay for prescriptions, pay for eye sights, etc.

 

Not sure what it is like now, but I am aware that there are a lot of people who don't want to work and can survive quite happily without working. I am not saying that these people are in the majority, but would say that if the benefit system was changed in this country, I dare say a lot more people would be working.

[january_bug]

Does anyone know how strict they are?  Because I know it's now "JobSeekers" rather than "Unemployment" and that if you turn down too many interviews they cut off your benefits. 

Part of the problem may be that the employment level is already very high.  Or that people have the wrong skills, or that the mobility of workers is not that high.  I know that employment my way is so high they can't find people to be bus drivers.  Either that, or the jobless people round here are over qualified - after all, I presume they don't make you rive the buses if you're an out of work accountant or something. 

So how strict etc is it in practice?  I suspect it's often just the case that the vacancies and the available people just don't match, rather than that 1000s of people are too lazy to work.  Hundreds maybe, but thousands, I doubt it. 

[louadams6]

well i dont mind admitting that i am on benefits at present not because i cant work or that im lazy but through the fact that my daughter is only 2 and i wanted to stay with her before she starts school to watch her grow and give her security. I dont think i could have left her in a creche all day while i work, you dont have children to leave them thats what i say! As for living on benefits i can tell you it is no joy ride! I just about make the money stretch the week and by the 7th day im usually panicking in case something happens and i have to borrow. and theres no retail therapy for me anymore! i know as soon as my daughter is in full time education i will definately be going back to work!

[january_bug]

And hurrah for people like you louadams6!  I'm only 22 now, but I want to have kids one day, and like you, I wouldn't want to leave them.  I'm sure I'd miss too many precious moments.  I don't see that people should be denied an active motherhood, nor that children should be denied their mother's presence in those vital formative years!  It might be tough, but I'm glad to hear that you can get SOME help from the government.  :-)

[Vijz]

At the risk of starting a war, I have no problem with people having kids, and wanting to spend time with them as they grown up, but why should I pay for them to have that privilege?

[january_bug]

Perhaps it's not a privilege, but a right. 

You can't decide what your taxes get spent on, it's just tough.  Perhaps your own parents benefitted from the state when raising you. 

The whole point with the social welfare system, is that it's an insurance scheme of sorts.  You pay your taxes now, because you're never really sure when you might need to use the services the state can offer.  If you're a woman, you may want kids one day, and then you'll claim the benefits, because you paid for it.  If you're a bloke, your future partner may fall pregnant and want to claim the benefits to which she is entitled. 

I don't appreciate paying taxes that are then spent on scraping drunk yobs off the pavement when they go flying through the front of their souped up Ibiza because they were boy-racing.  I don't appreciate paying council tax that is partly spent hosing down the town centre every saturday and sunday morning because some people are incapable of holiding their drink.  And I REALLY didn't appreciate it in Manchester when a friend or I was ill on a Friday or Saturday night, knowing that the p*ssheads were using up all the A&E resourcces, so unless we were about to die, there was no chance of any medical care until the morning.  My ex slept on a broken wrist because of that.  He caused extra damage because of that, but he was faced with a 10 hour wait - what would you have done?

I don't like what my money is spent on, and you don't like what your money is spent on.  But overall, over the 90 years of our lives, I believe we gain more than we lose.  It's just the way it goes - like it or lump it... or move abroad!

[louadams6]

You are not paying for me to have any privelege Vijz! Not that it is any of your business but i am 34 and have worked ever since i left school without a break and have always paid my tax and national insurance so dont you think that i have paid for myself? and if you took the time to read my first answer again you will see that i wrote it is no joy ride so exactly what priveleges you think you are paying for is beyond me. I probably work harder than you, its a 24/7 job being a parent with no weekends off! But as youre too busy paying for other peoples priveleges you wouldnt know that would you? You risked starting a war, you got one!

[january_bug]

Hear hear!  Like I said.... the state is an insurance scheme.  I honestly think that Mums DESERVE the benefits they get, but people like louadams6 have really EARNED the right to those benefits.  She's paid her taxes, and now she's getting the benefits!  And why not!?! :-)

PS - Another point could be that those rich enough to pay for their kids to go to private school don't like funding the "poor people" to have a state education.  Can you imagine the uproar though if they took away state schooling just to please the upper classes?  Exactly - so they shouldn't take away child benefits, just to please the childless. 

I'd be very interested to hear Vijz's position in life.  I mean in terms of male/female, age, parent or not, single or not, working or not.  (I really don't mean in terms of social class or earnings!!!)  I feel that he/she is on very thing ice, but that his/her position in life might explain the view he/she has formed.  After all, there is a greater tendency for childless, male teenagers still at school, or single men in their 20s not to see as far ahead as older men, or women their own age... when it comes to children I mean!

[sammysam]

I had my little girl when i was working full time, when my maternity leave was over I changed jobs so I could work different hours to spend more time with her.  My mum bought me up on benefits and I did not like the stigma that went with it. For me, and my opinion only, I want to raise my child AND provide for my child. This was the decision I made before I fell pregnant. I didnt want to scrape and worry and not do lovely things with her. I still spent time with her, but made sure I had enough money to feed her well, clothe her well and pay for lifes little luxuries.

[louadams6]

january-bug you are a star! One of the very few people who seem to understand my point of view on this! (and i dont just mean on here) I admire you sammysam for the way you choose to bring up your daughter, i just couldnt leave my little girl at the moment, i chose to be there for her as much as possible. Everyone has different views but i dont feel like im "sponging" off anyone and i certainly intend to return to work when she is in full time education so i can provide more for my daughter. My daughter doesnt go without, she is well fed, clothed and has more toys than you can shake a stick at, but yes i have to make do and go without myself to make sure that she is provided for but she comes first and foremost. That is the path i chose and the one i will continue to follow! So if im upsetting anyone then im sorry for taking out 4 years out of my working life to look after my little girl.

Now ive got that off my chest i will go back to my yacht in the Carribbean and have a champagne supper as i watch the sun go down...... after all Vijz is paying for that privelege! (I wish!)

[louadams6]

p.s. that's while the au pair looks after my daughter of course! ha ha another privelege!

[Kat535]

I'm a student an have an essay to do on social secuurity fraud.  I'm interested - what are your opinions of people who fraudulently claim beneits and why do you think they do it?  What would make them stop defrauding?  Thank you