To ask what's the beef with benefits?

No access to the Internet? Unable to update universal job match on Christmas day? - sanctioned.

How many libraries open on bank holidays?

"Televisions and hand held technological gadgets are luxuries. Schools have libraries so techno homework could be done there or the local public library (preferable to the school library."

That'll be useful if your library doesn't happen to be one of the 200 local libraries that were closed in 2012 alone then?

i also dont like the comment of should not have children if cant afford them if need childtax etc.... no one knows what money difficulties they will have when having children. and its not as simple as just save have money behinde you, if something gos wrong that money will soon be gone. working husband walks out. mum is up shit street. she then has to live with single parent on benefits stigma. and if she works and needs tops ups she has that stigma as well.

your situation is your situation its how it is. dont matter what anyone else gets and it does not mean they are bad/lazy/scum/scroungers or what ever just because they get something you dont... then things are not always what they seem....

I had a temporary job at Sainsburys with a view of it turning permanent, so I worked damn hard for them, only for them to cut me lose. So I'm back on JSA again.

I wish I could work for you Shumb.

That's shit Derek but it doesn't surprise me. I employed a young woman at the beginning of December who was sanctioned the month before for failing to attend her JS appointment because she was at an interview. I was speechless. She then went on to tell me similar stories to the ones you have posted here and I felt very sorry for her indeed. She is only trying to support her daughter in the best way she can, just like you and your Ds. I was overjoyed I could give her a job and end her misery, I wish you the best of luck too.

people already look at people on benefits as scum... lets give them vouchers. and a big sticker on their head.

what about people on top up benefits. ?

"What's the beef with benefits"

Some people can't stand the thought of someone else getting something for nothing or even worse, something they haven't got.

I've never claimed benefits but I don't begrudge my tax going to help people in society who need it and I certainly don't think we need to introduce vouchers for "necessities" only, people on benefits are people too. People who have children who don't understand that mum is "scum" therefore we can only have bread and water. Supporting vulnerable people in our society is what makes Great Britain great IMO. Most benefit claimants I know didn't leave school, get knocked up and put their hands out, many are the result of redundancies during the economic downturn or women who's partners fucked off and left them with nothing.

I'm lucky. I'm employed, my husband is employed and even in my poorest times my family have been in a position to support me but I'm not thick enough to count my chickens before they have hatched. Who knows what next week,next month or next year might bring? It might bring prosperity but equally it might bring hardship at least I'm reasonably sure we won't starve unless some of the posters here get their own way.

Oh, seriously! Schools do not all have libraries where kids can sit after the school closes and do homework! And you need to do job searches online. Plenty of areas now have NO library or a Job Centre with facilities for people to sit there online for 35 hours/week! You also must have a phone to allow the Job Centre to contact you, and yes, a mobile is often cheaper than a landline.

Welcome to the 21st century.

Yes, Happy, because all people on benefits drink, smoke, go on foreign holidays and buy clothes every month. FFS.

Expat is right, us benefit scroungers, go the pub every night, start fights, smoke, swear at our kids, have 40 in tv's in every room, ipads and the such

It really gets my bloody nerves when people just assume people on benefits waste their money on shit they dont need. I dont smoke, drink, by clothes every month, I rarely go out, pretty much everything I own is either recycled from family, freecycle or brought dirt cheap from ebay. I shop at Iceland because Tesco and Sainsbury are sodding expensive. I dont go on holiday, I dont have sky or a contract phone. I make the best of what I have and being on JSA is absolute shit, give me a sodding job any day of the week.

My beef with benefits is the way they are distributed. I'd happily have the benefits bill be much higher but be administered more sensibly.

JSA is not enough for most people to live on when they have been made redundant, especially if they have lost a well paid job and have a lifestyle that matches their income.

Disabled people don't get anywhere near enough financial support, and when people are genuinely too disabled to work, benefits should be enough that they can actually live a life, not just exist while still having to forgo things they have real medical need for. Benefits for people who have terminal illnesses are not enough.

Carers allowance is sickeningly low, and should be much more. Widows and widowers should be better supported as well.

Child tax credits are too high. We should not be paying for people to choose to have children they cannot afford, and I don't think any benefits should be given for more than two children, including housing benefit entitlement. If parents with more than two children become ill, disabled, or are made redundant after having children, then they should have their safety net in the form of more generous disability benefits and JSA. I'd rather see people get free childcare than income support so they can go back to work after mat leave. We should be taking more action against parents who don't pay for their children instead of allowing them to be secure in the knowledge that someone else will pay for their children. If people can't pay for their children right at the time that their children need to be paid for, then they should have a sort of loan thing going on with the government so that their children are supported, but they are expected to pay it back, otherwise they face criminal charges and shouldn't be allowed passports and driving licences.

FSMs and the pupil premium are a joke. They don't reach the people that need them but are still sometimes wasted on people that don't need them. That whole thing needs a serious re think.

Basically the benefits system should, IMO, be a very safe and secure safety net that is able to fully provide for people who are in need, but people should know that it is only an safety net, and they are expected to provide for themselves and their children if they are heathy enough.

Happy and Daisy

If you did not watch Casualty last night please watch it on iplayer, they covered the benefits issue and the stereotyping very well.

everyone deserves respect weather on benefits or not. no need for nastness. maybe someone on benefits does have a nice tv. so bloody what.

We aren't some strange species that need policing.

^^ this with bells on

I do not have an exorbitant income so I do not buy booze unless I'm going to someone's house for a meal (not very often). I would include things like soap in the voucher system I have never smoked. It's quite obvious that I should not have used the word 'food' before 'vouchers' so I apologise for that. There must be a way of paying for electricity or gas or water directly to the companies. If housing benefit can be paid directly to landlords, so can utilities. Televisions and hand held technological gadgets are luxuries. Schools have libraries so techno homework could be done there or the local public library (preferable to the school library.

I worked part time at Tesco a few years ago and met vouchers there for the first time when payment was offered by customers. This couple had a small baby with them and they were buying formula milk. I felt pleased that they had this help.

Happy here is a link to a discussion on MN about Pre-paid benefits cards

There are one or two posters who might change their tune if it happened to them Biscuits

Yes, Happy, because all people on benefits drink, smoke, go on foreign holidays and buy clothes every month. FFS.

Daisy I did not say that not having experienced something negates your right to have an opinion on it.

Back has responded very well to you also.

The thing perpetually missing from your rock-solid view is EVIDENCE.

I work for an organisation that helps asylum seekers and refugees and the problem with vouchers is that it's usually only the big chain supermarkets that take them. So unless you live in a city it can be difficult - a small village shop wouldn't take vouchers.