Benefits

[silly moo]

Yet again there has been a diatribe against people who claim benefits.
How many ABers have ever claimed any benefit?
How many ABers have never claimed benefits.
I shall start the ball rolling.
I have claimed maternity benefit , child benefit , sick pay.
Also claimed unemployment and social security many years ago when my husband was made redundant. At the time I had a baby and was pregnant with my second child.
We ended up moving half way across the country to find work.
I'm not ashemed to admit this.
Our benefit system is not perfect but it does act as a safety net for everybody in our society.

[laurence2]

silly moo, we all claim some sort of benefit thoughout our lifetime, in reference to myself, me & my wife have never claimed anything other than whats entitled to us ie child benefit, we,ve always been in full time employment with the exception of my wife being pregnant with our two boys.

Sometimes in life the cards don't fall right for some people, ie being made unemployed/ unplanned preganacy etc, so people should,nt hold judgement on all who claim benefits, and try to see the individuals circumstances.

Ps, By the way i don't like people that Clearly scronge of the state, and make no attempt to put back into society.

[andy-hughes]

We have claimed appropriate Child Benefit, my wife has claimed an invalidity allowance for the period of time she was unable to work with ME, and I claimed Social Security when I was unable to work through depression. I have absolutely no problem with it at all, we have paid into the system, it is there for us when we needed it, so we took advantage.

[flashpig]

Oh dear.

Is this about me? I didn't mean it. I'm not even sure why I said it, to tell the truth.

Everyone gets benefits. I earnt my mum a whopping �15 a week back in the day, and my younger brother and sister brought in their bit too. My aunt is insane, and as well as her pension she also gets money for being mad. I'm not sure why. I'm actually in favour of them.

[flashpig]

ooh, thank christ, it probably wasn't about me.

though I did say something cruel to raysparx about benefits.

anyway, yes. I see it as a safety net, and though I haven't used it, and plan not to, it's there.

[gary baldy]

I used to be on the dole back in the good old days of the 80's (or 'wonderland' as WM described it!) when there was 5 million of us!
We now get tax credits and child benefits which allows us in ,a small way, for me to stay off work and raise the kids (instead of dumping them on grandparents or strangers).
My daughter needs long term medication which she obviously gets for for free.
Gordon gave us 250 quid for her (and hundreds of thousands of other kids) and i hear he is giving us some more. What a swine!
When i see how much tax the super rich 'avoid' in this country i have no qualms what so ever about claiming benefits.
You are slightly wrong sillymoo - our benefits system isnt perfect i agree but it is certainly one of the best in the world and something we should be proud of.

[silly moo]

I think you misunderstood me completely Gary Baldy.
I was not knocking the system at all.
It's just that there does seem to be a (hopefully) minority who try to blame all the ills of our society on those who are on benefits.
I find this to be sometimes quite offensive.
I was only trying to point out that not all who claim benefits are lazy scroungers - in fact I am naive enough to feel that MOST are just ordinary people who are in need.
Not actually getting at anybody in particular as I don't usually take a lot of notice of who says what.
I think we are all glad to have a system that is generally speaking fair and works reasonably well.

[Coobeastie]

The benefits system is great (though not perfect) I think what gets peoples backs up are the extreme cases (like the one in the newspapers recently...man with 15 children multiple partners...wants a bigger house etc).

What makes me laugh is that the people I know who at some time or another have had to claim benefits were made to feel like criminals by the process, and yet these extreme cases seem to be able to get away with it relatively easily.

[asciwhite]

I was refused sickness benefit as I was short on my N.I contributions in the previous 3 yrs before i got too ill to work. I was self employed for 1 1/2 yrs before going into PAYE. I got stitched by the PAYE somehow and during my self employed time I was and had proof of paying my contributions. The total I was short by in 1 yr was �6.75.... and �91.00 for the nxt 2 yrs. I was told. quite gleefully by the DWP to go back to work for 3 yrs if i really needed the money. I have M.S and by then it was too late and i was too ill. I must have got it deliberately!! after all who wants to be able to pay their way and mortgage and feed themselves? I have since then been given DLA and can pay for my care as and when needed. Otherwise i don't see the point in being here...

[Artemis]

I have never claimed or been given any benefit whatsoever.

[ianess]

Artemis......you're a lucky person to be able to say that but nobody knows what the future holds. You may be unfortunate and suffer severe problems with no prior warning, but just be thankful that this country [UK] has a decent welfare system as a safety net as silly moo says.
Of course it can be abused by the unscrupulous but the majority of benefit claimants would rather be fit and well and contributing to society.