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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think the benefits system is humiliating, yet we blame people for not taking low-paid jobs?

65 replies

ThatSassyWriter · 15/04/2025 11:23

People say those on benefits should just ‘get a job’ but the process of claiming can be degrading and many jobs don’t even pay enough to be worth it. Isn’t this a contradiction?

OP posts:
Original poster
ThatSassyWriter · 15/04/2025 11:49

ShaunaTheDitzySheep · 15/04/2025 11:41

Of course it is, but if the wage is so low you can't make ends meet, what then? Thankfully UC allows a top up in some cases.

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Yes and I think that’s where things get really complicated - UC top-ups can help and for some people they make work just about viable. But the system is so unpredictable, slow and difficult to navigate that a lot of people don’t feel secure relying on it.

Plus, the tapering effect often means people only keep a fraction of what they earn and that’s before factoring in things like travel costs, childcare, or unstable hours. So while top-ups exist in theory, in practice they often don’t provide the kind of stability or incentive that actually helps people move forward.

I don’t think people want to be out of work but the way the system is structured, it sometimes ends up making work feel like a punishment rather than a step up.

OP posts:
Theunamedcat · 15/04/2025 11:47

£100 a week with help towards rent council tax prescriptions dentists school meals etc goes further than £200 a week not much help with the rest of it

Tax credits still gave you free prescriptions and dentists on universal credit the cut off is lower making work unsustainable for people needing high medical intervention

It's not the benefits that are attractive it's the add ons basically

IDontHateRainbows · 15/04/2025 11:46

I didn't find claiming JSA humiliating in the slightest. Fill in an online form, go and see the advisor at the job centre, answer a couple of questions about how my job search is going, money paid into my account a few days later, what's the problem?

SlugsWon · 15/04/2025 11:46

ThatSassyWriter · 15/04/2025 11:44

I get what you’re saying and I agree that for many people, working can bring a sense of dignity, structure, and pride. But it’s not always that simple.

When a job barely covers basic living costs especially after childcare, transport, or losing access to certain benefits, it can feel like running in place financially. And that’s assuming you’re treated well at work, which isn’t always the case in insecure or low-paid roles.

So yes, claiming benefits can feel degrading but so can working full-time and still not making ends meet. I think the real issue is that people are often forced to choose between two bad options.

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Yes I agree, life can be very difficult and sometimes neither option seems for best, totally get that.

Work, however, often leads to improved circumstances. Benefits really never does. So work wins for me

SlugsWon · 15/04/2025 11:44

ShaunaTheDitzySheep · 15/04/2025 11:41

Of course it is, but if the wage is so low you can't make ends meet, what then? Thankfully UC allows a top up in some cases.

Show quote history

Yes. You get topped up.

I was trying to point out that ops argument makes no sense:
Claiming benefits is demeaning, therefore people shouldn't apply for low paying jobs.

Dunno. Maybe she'll come back and clarify

Original poster
ThatSassyWriter · 15/04/2025 11:44

SlugsWon · 15/04/2025 11:36

If the process of claiming is degrading, then surely getting a job is worth it, you get your dignity back?

I get what you’re saying and I agree that for many people, working can bring a sense of dignity, structure, and pride. But it’s not always that simple.

When a job barely covers basic living costs especially after childcare, transport, or losing access to certain benefits, it can feel like running in place financially. And that’s assuming you’re treated well at work, which isn’t always the case in insecure or low-paid roles.

So yes, claiming benefits can feel degrading but so can working full-time and still not making ends meet. I think the real issue is that people are often forced to choose between two bad options.

OP posts:
Eileen101 · 15/04/2025 11:43

MidnightMeltdown · 15/04/2025 11:32

It’s not about whether it’s “worth it”, anyone who can get a job to support themselves, should be, instead of leaching off other people. So sick of the sense of entitlement over other people’s money.

Goodness me. I'm on benefits- universal credit and child benefit. I'm a single parent and I work full time safeguarding children. It's a lower paid job than if I went somewhere else, even as a qualified professional.

Did you know that a high proportion of universal credit claimants are in work?

Oh, and it's an area that is difficult to recruit into.

AnneLovesGilbert · 15/04/2025 11:42

Do you have a job?

ShaunaTheDitzySheep · 15/04/2025 11:41

SlugsWon · 15/04/2025 11:36

If the process of claiming is degrading, then surely getting a job is worth it, you get your dignity back?

Of course it is, but if the wage is so low you can't make ends meet, what then? Thankfully UC allows a top up in some cases.

Jabtastic · 15/04/2025 11:40

People have unrealistic expectations about work, especially young people. They feel entitled to a satisfying, rewarding career without understanding it's hard work earning that.

Anyone who can work should work unless they have independent means or are truly too disabled to do so. I'm disabled and work, I get annoyed when I see people much less ill than me claiming they can't work.

albapunk · 15/04/2025 11:38

Many lower paid jobs still allow people to claim some form of benefits, especially if there is children in the household. This can mean someone in a low paid job technical has an income equal to a higher paying one.

SlugsWon · 15/04/2025 11:36

If the process of claiming is degrading, then surely getting a job is worth it, you get your dignity back?

HowManyDucks · 15/04/2025 11:33

Not a contradiction. You are bringing together two different (albeit connected) problems but not contrasting ideas.

The most you've done is highlight that it's not as simple as "get a job" in an almost nonsensical way.

MidnightMeltdown · 15/04/2025 11:32

It’s not about whether it’s “worth it”, anyone who can get a job to support themselves, should be, instead of leaching off other people. So sick of the sense of entitlement over other people’s money.

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 15/04/2025 11:25

Eh?