Should Those On Benefits Be Offered Cut-Price Computers And Broadband?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338744/Computers-25-help-11-million-disadvantaged-Brits-benefits-online.html

[loulou111]

If someone was house bound they could do courses online, internet shopping for food like tecos etc, . They can have some kind of independence.

[B00]

Ahhh, good point well made, cheers.

I still say no though :-)

[daffy654]

I don't think they are specifically for job hunters B00, they seem to be just to enable people on benefits to be able to get on the internet.
I know without my internet access and computers my son would have really struggled with his GCSE exam revision this last few months, all his revision material is online on the school website, they do not provide printed revision guides to pupils.

[daffy654]

I'm not sure I agree they should be provided free. I know they are needed but I know many people on benefit who would either sell the PC to fund other stuff, or they would use the internet to illegally download films and music etc to burn to disc and make money by selling them.

[anotheoldgit]

If they are for those seeking employment, then as been said before there are computers in job centres and libraries.

If they are to benefit children's learning, then surely it would be cheaper to operate after school hours computer classes, after all schools these days have many computers that are idle after schools hours.

[DJHawkes]

i'm a bit confused about the people outside the postoffice on a monday collecting their benefits, aren't they collecting child benefit? Dole is paid on various days of the week not on a monday as far as i understand it

[daffy654]

Benefit is paid into bank accounts now, it hasn't been by post office payment book for a very long time.

[EcclesCake]

Offering access to school computers after hours would be stigmatising in much the same way free school meals were. It wouldn't be much use through holidays and at weekends either and would require manning.

[ummmm]

You have to pay to use the computers in our library.

AOG - do you think it's good for morale hanging about in a job centre for hours on end just to get to use a computer? Or would they be better off at home using that time more constructively?

[DJHawkes]

i know people do queue in the post office on a monday with their post office cash cards as i used to take work post there to send first class recorded and had to queue too, but i thought it was child benefit or pensions they were collecting not social security benefits. My daughter gets ESA and it is always in her bank on a saturday.

[daffy654]

We have to travel 10 miles to the nearest job centre, it costs about £8.00 for return bus fare. I'm not even sure they have computers for job searching but if they do they are probably used a lot so you'd have to wait ages to get a turn. Our library has two computers and they charge for use.

[Mosaic]

I get very annoyed at connectivity (and telephone) charges in the UK. It was a licence to print money for British telecom and reliance on BTs old architecture means any other provider is hobbled before they start the race.
Wireless broadband connectivity over rural areas + massed fibreoptic replacing copper in urban areas is a solution that would make veryone's life easier and cheaper AS LONG AS it's not done at BTs exorbitant racketeering rates.

[THECORBYLOON]

Dot, for new claimants, benefit paydays are linked to the final two digits of a claimant's NI Number so that means it can be paid (usually in arrears) on any day of the week.

[mikey4444]

Libraries have PCs where I live here in South Wales but of course, Libraries themselves may not still exist in some other parts of the country since the Tories came to power in May 2010.

What a pity if Libraries have been closed. there is a phrase with babies and bathwater that springs to mind.

[anotheoldgit]

daffy654

/// Benefit is paid into bank accounts now, it hasn't been by post office payment book for a very long time. ///

Who said anything about post office payment books, have you not heard of the Post Office Bank?

Claimants go along to their post office, insert a card into a card reader, punch in their pin number and the assistant then pays them out in cash.

[anotheoldgit]

mikey4444

/// What a pity if Libraries have been closed. there is a phrase with babies and bathwater that springs to mind. ///

Closed mainly by Labour Councils, who use the excuse that it is because of Tory cuts to their budgets, and rather than economise sensibly, they will close Libraries and adult leaning centres etc, and then blame it on the Tories, for their own political advantages.

[andres]

Definitely not.!!A lot of people on benefits get as much weekly as some working people do. Let them pay like everybody else. They can afford to sit at home with their Facebooking and Twittering. They will never look for work.

[ummmm]

AOG - just for your information, Daffy was answering DJHawkes regarding benefit payments.

[sandyRoe]

How would people on benefits be able to afford the internet connection costs?

[Baldric]

Sandy, it's in the article if you read it.

///The PC is to go on sale for £24 with a £2.99 per month broadband deal,///