Lone parents with babies of a few MONTHS old being threatened with sanctions...

[MrsNextDoor]

here on the Gingerbread site

Bloody bastards!!!

One lone parent was told that she was being sanctioned because she'd turned down a nightshift job on account of not being able to find overnight childcare.

Others with children of 3 or 4 months old were being told they had to find work immediately or lose their benefits.

What the actual!??? In many cases, job advisers are giving their clients the wrong information....seemingly deliberately...telling them the law has changed and they must get work now....the most vulnerable people...lone parents with infants...being bullied. AIBU to think this should be stopped immediately!?

[Griphook]

Years ago single mums (not fathers, they were often given a sympathetic look) were blamed for all the ill's of society. Anything negative issuses were attributed the woman being single.

Looks like a return to those days.

[MrsNextDoor]

It's absolutely terrifying because when those Mothers are sanctioned their children will be the ones most badly hit. Some of them are already living in extreme circumstances with barely enough to eat.

[DontTurnAround]

Fucking bastards YANBU

[kilmuir]

why can't the father of said children be involved? takes 2 to make one, thats not a woman and the taxpayer

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

It shouldn't be happening at all as its against the rules even the new ones.

I'm guessing staff training is not high on the priority list

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

Kilmuir

You think none resident parents should be assessing work conditionality at the job centre?

[misstiredbuthappy]

The fuckers they don't care.

Being a single parents hard enough as it is without all of that added worry.

[scalliondays]

Congratulations Kilmuir on having such a lovely life that you can't imagine why a mother may not have the help of the baby's father.

[iseenatree]

Who gives a damn Kilmuir, that won't be the woman or baby's fault.

[MrsNextDoor]

Kilmuir When the Father's not doing his duty, we can't just leave people to starve. Absent Fathers not paying for their children is very wrong but if they're on benefits what to do? Take all their benefits maybe? That would lead to an increase in crime I suppose....not sure how best to tackle that issue.

[CadieAgain]

It's not as if it's getting harder for NRPs to choose not to support their children. The CSA sent me an letter asking if I wanted to write off XH's fifteen year arrears yesterday.

No I fucking don't, and so they are eventually going to be collected by the new service which I will have to pay for.

[GlitterTwinkleToes]

Sorry if I'm wrong but aren't lone parents with babies on income support for the first three years? So how could they be sanctioned?
Bloody disturbing and horrendous anyway! Bastards!

[meglet]

kilmuir the father could be dead, off his head on drugs or alcohol, an abusive shit or incapable of looking after children.

They can hardly be relied upon to look after their own children.

[Samcro]

this is what people voted for.
welcome to the world of disabled people.

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

Brilliant how insightful

[bobbywash]

As you say, they are being given the wrong advice by Job centre staff.

But that's all it is, wrong advice. You're correct in that wrong advice should be corrected, but they are hardly demonising single mothers. They are just proving that they don't know what they're doing.

[CrystalCove]

Seriously childfree?? All the Mothers fault eh...

[WienerDiva]

childfreecarey

God forbid should you ever find yourself in a position that you have to raise a child single handed.

There could be any number of reason that someone is doing so on their own.

I'm not normally irritated/angered/articulate enough to comment on these sorts of threads but your ignorance/arrogance has knocked me down (and considering my size, that's fucking amazing).

Your shear ignorance and/or arrogance other other peoples' situation is appalling.

Please go have a look at the threads where women have been widowed at a young and left with babies.

Just to educate yourself that not all single mothers on benefits are there because of their own life choices.

[AuntieStella]

The article is quite old (April 2014) and Gingerbread are calling for better training, so that wrongful sanctions are not applied.

Has there been any progress in the year since?

[foraret]

barbaric. Lone parents to new babies have it hard enough. I am in a better situation now, but I left my children's father because he was abusive and unreasonable and he didn't become less abusive or more reasonable after I left, that's for sure, so kilmuir's post displays a total lack of understanding. The state ought to provide more support. And fwiw, my children's father, bully though he is, and not fit to be a father, he had a huge salary and paid a lot of tax, so anybody who told me off for needing the state's help when I was at my most vulnerable, they're not worth engaging with. Tax payers don't have more rights. I hate the expression ''tax payer''. I pay tax now, as I did before I had children and I want my taxes to work towards a state that protects the vulnerable.

[NynaevesSister]

How are you supposed to know in advance? You could marry what seemed like a nice guy, have kids, and then they've turned abusive, developed an alcohol problem, run off with the woman (also married) next door, or got drunk, drove, hit and run, ended up in prison. There are so many reasons why people end up single parents and maybe 1% are through choice.

[formerbabe]

I don't understand...I thought single parents with babies get income support rather than jsa... ?

[Roseforarose]

If job center staff are deliberately giving out wrong information such as this they should be named and shamed and held accountable. Disgusting behaviour, done purely to cause fear and distress. They should be sacked.

[Aermingers]

Yes, but this is people at job centres making mistakes. It's not government policy.