Fed up of my cousins comments about benefits and UC

@XenoBitch Obviously it is a system failure, they are not committing benefit fraud, no one is claiming that. But I expect fixing the system by tightening the work requirements would inevitably cause unintended real distress to some categories of claimants (like those who can't access childcare, for example), and in the meantime people who could work more, don't, because why would they?

No one is paying tax and not getting anything back.

Another moronic comment. I bet you’re on other posts bemoaning the falling population levels. Not all breakfast/after school clubs are free, did you know that?

I pay a lot of tax and get very fed up with people working part time and claiming benefits that I am contributing towards. Children can go to breakfast clubs and after school clubs. If you can't afford to bring up your children then don't have them

Well put! I don’t have an amazing salary but it well above average and I pay nearly £600 a month in tax. And yes I do get pissed off when people who make no attempt to work get generous benefits. I’ve never claimed in my life, so maybe that’s where I’ve gone wrong!

I think equally people who complain about net tax payers being selfish have not been Net tax payers.

Paying and receiving offsets it, doesn’t it?
What about the people paying and not taking anything back?

I’m a boomer myself @LakieLady. The post just reeked of the entitlement of some from our generation who don’t appreciate that we had it good.

I work part time and pay tax (not as much as your cousin but some months can be £100-£200) working only 108 hours every 4 weeks and yes my income is topped up by UC. Tell your cousin that at least you're working and not fully relying on the benefits system.

We receive UC , and I work part time due to child care needs; and can’t get childcare due to children having additional needs that after school clubs can’t manage . It would cost the taxpayers far more if I gave up my kids to social work so I could work full time, versus what I get in UC . If ppl think life on UC is so great, why aren’t they quitting work ? Na, much better to look down on ppl doing their best !!

The system allows people to work PT and get a top up though. So they are doing nothing wrong by doing what the system is offering them.

Hate the game, not the player.

What alot of people don't realise is even if you did work full time but on a low income as a single parent you would still get Universal Credit. If I had a take home pay of £2500 a month I'd still get 400-500 a month from UC and my rent is low as I'm in the north, rent down south is 3-4 times what my area is.
I'm in the exact same boat, not much help, carrying all the mental load of the kids and the house, more hours would burn me out. Like you I work although I do pay a good bit of tax each month and get the top up.
Anyone working full time should be able to have a comfortable life and not need a top up, the system and the country in general is screwed and people who complain about the benefits system don't understand it probably because they're lucky enough to have never have needed it. Keep going OP from a working single mother to another 🩷

There's nothing wrong with people on low income receiving top up benefits, no one has argued against that. What is wrong is people choosing to work part time and receiving benefits (with the emphasis on choosing, so not if you're disabled or a carer or have no access to childcare). My view is do your best by working full time and if you still need help due to high rent or childcare costs then by all means you should receive it.

Im a single parent to a teenager.
I work full time for local government and pay tax.
Im entitled to UC.
Was more when I needed childcare.
Id love to not have to rely on handouts.
If I was paid a living wage and rent wasn’t extortionate I wouldn’t need to.
I work very hard in an essential role.

We all cut our cloth accordingly. Good we still have the benefits system, to help...it's going soon to be taken over and emptied

Don't be ridiculous. You think the average Reform voter gives a damn about forcing feckless dads from meeting their responsibilities? Nor their twice divorced, tax-avoiding father of four leader, Farage? I guess they wouldn't be bothered about keeping children in poverty though; those pesky five year old spongers, eh?

Your husband is probably still working at the age of 72 to get away from you and your nasty mouth!

@MugsyBalonz Some on this thread would love that. Then they could decide who deserved charity, or condemn those they felt were less deserving to penury, smug in the knowledge that their husbands will pick up any financial deficit in their own lives.

Work harder! Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! Use a crystal ball to determine the feckless fathers in advance!

Fucking idiots.

You tackle it by telling her to stop with the pointed comments and fuck right off.

Lesson learned in over-sharing.

Nobody needs to know what benefits you are or aren't on.

Think it through.

@allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld I’m sorry that you and your husband can’t afford to retire but that’s not because you are paying taxes. Perhaps you should’ve budgeted better when you were younger?

There's also the assumption that people doing these jobs aren't qualified (which you've made yourself - although I agree with your post of course).

I've got a degree and have mostly worked as a self-employed cleaner or massage therapist for the past 20 years. I think it's a little bit patronising to say that these jobs require expertise (the cleaning not the massage!). It's a bit noblesse oblige.

If the top-ups ended then poverty would increase, this would lead to a rapid deterioration in public health, a sharp increase in crime, various services would collapse due to being overwhelmed by demand (not to mention the loss of many of their workers). Basically, the country would rapidly go to shit. You'd have a small percentage of extremely wealthy people who would go untouched by it all, a slightly larger percentage of higher earners slightly affected ted but mostly fine, and then a majority percentage of people living in grinding poverty with all the problems that go alongside.

Essentially, a return to "the olden days" that existed for most of history until c.100 years ago when people started to realise that it benefits society as a whole to support those less well-off and help lift them out of poverty.

And a lot of people in NMW getting top ups are doing so to cover housing costs... which have got silly.

But you could obviously afford a childminder. Surely you’re not so dense as to not be able to see the difference?