To ask what's the beef with benefits?

Yeah but Bernice my understanding is you pay on collection - I know plenty of people who drop the script in then pick it up another day! Got nothing to do with free!

Oh and the current car is a Citroen, by the way.
Prestige? Purlease. If I wanted a porsche, mercedes or bentley sure. But Ford, VW, Citroen, very ordinary.

As it happens I'm getting a Focus.

As a reflection, by the way, I can get 1.5 taxi rides to my nearest hospital out of the weekly mobility allowance we get. We've got 3 hospital appointments next week. So we go for the most cost effective option.

Essentially it's a computer system issue! not a problem that means the system is broken.

Does that put food on the table then? Does that make it right?

bernice

It was hands comments that were annoying to be honest

Not yours

All children's prescriptions are free (I think) so by hands theory it would be all those pesky kids...and older people...and people who get free prescriptions for medical reasons...and people on benefits

AND regardless of vehicle it still only costs the sainted taxpayer the same as a microcar every week!

Oh and actually I couldn't care less about having a cheaper one - if one was available that suited the kids' needs!

An older car would cost more money to run.
Unless anyone knows how to service, insure, tax and breakdown cover for less?

Oh, and the Zafira has a bench seat unable to support the type of car seats required for my children. Again due to their disabilities.

It's very difficult to actually get a vehicle that is not appropriate for your needs under the grant scheme, by the way. If you're self funding then it's nobody's business tbh but there's no way I'd spend a massive deposit on something that's going to go back - we can't justify that financially.

Koala they've had an empathy bypass.

Is that the polite way of saying someone is a prick?

I just don't get it. Isn't the great thing about being a wealthy country that we are able to support our people in their time of need?

Rufus, sorry hope you don't think I was complaining about free prescriptions. I was just musing on it. Suppose if you've paid for it you're more likely to fetch it even if you feel better and no longer need the medication.

To be honest, having mused on it a bit more, GPs probably need to review medications a bit more often so you don't end up with people getting things on prescription for years that they don't actually need. Reckon that would save more than Mrs Bloggs not fetching her cough mixture in a timely fashion.

I should have added that because you have 40 hours one week, your claim is re-assessed making the assumption that you earn that every week. Which with zero-hours contracts is uncertain. Consequently you are left with not enough to pay your bills.

The system cannot cope with variable pay.

Of course it's fair and right to pay your way - no need to be so bloody patronising hmm

The same is true of lots of government systems, not least JSA, CSA... if you're self employed the same is true of the tax bill that you get halfway through the year (it's based on a previous years earnings and bears no resemblance to your current earnings... the PAYE system that almost every employed person uses to pay tax is based on what you earn there and then and not over the year (even though tax contributions are collected over a year - this is why some lucky people get tax rebates) it doesn't mean that the system isn't fit for purpose or that people should be paid more, it means that the system is slow to update, and needs to be more dynamic.
(would you rather that an arbirtay middle value was paid, or a bottom value, and then you end up working too many weeks and having attachment to earning and getting money reclaimed?)
Essentially it's a computer system issue! not a problem that means the system is broken.

LuisSuarezTeeth Mon 05-Jan-15 18:50:42

But there are a few people on here who are saying that they are pretty much consciously making a choice to have a hard life on benefits, and then saying that they want more.

Who?
The poster who said that if they were to work that after child care costs they'd be no better off and so don't work, this is a person that chooses to live on benefits, not because they can't work. but because they won't work.

RE wheel chairs vs pushchairs, I misread. (sorry)
however, you're talking about 7 seater cars? do you really need such a huge car? does it need to be a new car? does it have to be a more prestige badge?
You talk about Ford Galaxy or Volks wagon Sharan, the Vaxhall Zafira is definitely available as a mobility car as I've got a friend who has one under the DLA scheme. (that's a 7 seat MPV also)

What do you suggest I do? Strap a 9 year old to my back?
no, I don't suggest you strap a nine year old to your back because that would be stupid.
I suggest an older car that you can afford better instead of a brand new car. If I can drive a car that wasn't made inside of this millennium, why can't you be happy with a car 5 - 10 years old?,
I fail to understand why you need a brand new car? (this again comes back to what I said about need vs. want. you NEED a big seater car, you WANT a "higher brand" one, you WANT a new one, and you WANT it on a finance deal supported by a government scheme.)

Regards opinions, that's all your stories about a mobility car are! the only thing that can be said to be "hard facts" are the quotes earlier about JSA sanctions that are verifiable based on the MP's that have raised the issue.
your story about how you can't get a mobility 7 seat MPV that you want, is just an anecdote. just as every other posters story about their mate who got this, or the time that the power when out after their allowance was cut is just an anecdote.
The very fact that newspapers have reported on abuse of benefits, and that there are government statistics regarding it does prove as fact that it does happen. Same as news papers report on the way that some benefit claimants are very hard done by.
the benefits Britain/street, too fat to work etc shows are not representative, however they aren't made up either!

It's not an empathy bypass to try to point out that there are people on benefits who get benefits that they don't need. (and that is why people who work complain).
but at the same time there are people who get nowhere near enough.

The thread is asking what's the beef, I tried to be fair in my post. and tried to look at it from both sides of the argument.
I can't see anyone who purports to receive benefits showing that they feel any empathy for anyone working struggling to survive and paying tax to provide the very welfare system that they are reliant on.

Well said Lefty

Koala they've had an empathy bypass.

Oh, and as for 'funding my car' it's a component of disability living allowance. Which is used to facilitate mobility. So you get a certain amount per week which you can use to LEASE a vehicle for 3 years. You then give it back and it is sold to pay off the outlay of the lease company (the weekly lease rate paying the rest). It's not a loss making organisation.

Or you can use that amount for taxis.

It's more cost effective to lease a vehicle.

If you disagree with disabled people being assisted with the additional costs to enable them to get out and about I really do despair.

I suppose the NHS could pay for their transport to appointments but again it's more cost effective to help disabled people mobilise themselves.

Disabled people are not being given 'something for nothing' - to have a disability attracts living costs over and above those you have if you don't have them. DLA/PIP recognises that.

Bloody hell, this is a really unpleasant thread.

Why are some people such pricks?!

Not a try reading the thread. It will help no end

Pushchairs indeed!!

Oh and can I just point out, in case other readers of this thread haven't noticed, hand cream and nota amongst others have presented opinion and anecdotes as fact here. Posts made about motability cars being unsuitable to transport disability equipment have been changed to 'not big enough for pushchairs' (like its that simple) and twisted to suit their own ends.

People countering this argument like me, DawnDonna and Derek are using fact. Statistics released by the DWP themselves. Sourced news articles freely available if you care to read them.

The sad thing is that the mainstream media repeat more of the former than the latter and it harms people in a number of ways

You'd think that faced with facts and people on the receiving end telling them what it's actually like would be enough but no, they have to be unpleasant right.

You'd think they're getting some enjoyment out of it, wouldn't you? Makes them feel 'the better person'. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Pushchairs? Um no. Wheelchairs. You know those things you need when you can't walk?

What do you suggest I do? Strap a 9 year old to my back?

Oh and the amount of times my sons medicine needs ordering!!

So again it's on the shelf for a few days waiting to be picked up

I pick my prescription slip up from the doctors and pop it in to the chemist on Monday lets say

I then go back in on the Friday or Saturday to get my prescription because that's the next time I'm in the village

So it's sat there for a few days, fuck all to do with it being free for goodness sake!!

There is a charity called Intercare which will take unwanted or not needed medicine - much better that pharmacies should give it to this charity rather than throwing it away.

Notunuique i used to work nights in a sex chatline office. One of my colleugues had to bring her 11 year old daughter in because her babysitter let her down at the last minute. We had to find somewhere for her to sit where she couldnt hear us doing the calls.

Like it or not, it is an issue.

But there are a few people on here who are saying that they are pretty much consciously making a choice to have a hard life on benefits, and then saying that they want more.

Who?