If you could decide how much people get in benefits

[OneLemonOrca]

There are benefit bashing threads being posted often, with complaints that certain people on benefits can afford a better lifestyle than them when they work, and that it is being made into a life style choice?
So if you could decide, I am just wondering how much you think benefit claimants should receive in certain circumstances or what their money should or shouldn’t be able to pay for, to get a general idea of what mumsnet thinks is “right”.

Yes I don’t think it’s feasible either. That’s the point I was making, it would need to be quite a high sum if it’s all that available, to make sure those who genuinely can’t work have enough to live on.

Because most kids don't wing too stay with their parents forever and you can't buy much with £1000 a month.
They will see friends with work income plus £1000 a month and want the same.

People work full time and get benefits though. So your post doesn't really make any sense. It's the incredibly low wages that is the issue also.

No. You could get sick too! Disgusting comment.

This is true. The majority of claimants work. I work 40+ Hours a week for the LA. I earn more than minimum wage but still get a few hundred quid UC. If the LA paid their staff more then council tax bills would have to increase. It’s cheaper to pay top ups to working parents than it is to increase salaries across the board.

@Elephantswillnever and even the Gov cap the amount of childcare they are willing to pay because they know its not viable after a certain point. I don't know why some people type nonsense it's clear to read some have no clue at all.

What about all the fathers that don't pay for their kids? CSA/CMS has been running since 1991 and it is still diabolical in 2024. If not worse!

Then there's the lack of houses to rent so people are paying extortionate prices for the limited houses that do come available.

That’s not true.

38% work.

When mine were young and I could only work part time (30 hours). It was working Tax and child tax credits, think it was about £200 (10 years ago).

My apologies, I thought it was.

If I i got sick, and ended up being supported by the taxpayer, I would be grateful for that support.

I've always assumed that the majority of people receiving help would be grateful. I guess I must just have been brought up differently.

I am fortunate enough never to need to claim but don’t think I’d feel gratitude - it’s more like drawing down on a kind of social insurance that I’ve contributed to.

I work full time and get UC.

What am I supposed to be grateful for? The fact that I am not paid enough to live on without the help of UC?

I don't see why I need to feel grateful when I work full time the same as everyone else, I just get paid less.

Perhaps you should feel grateful because others are taking home less of their earnings and it's being given to you to help you live?

I don't think so, no.

Initially yes, of course we should be grateful that we as a society have managed to create the welfare system. We are able to support the most valuable and have a safety net for those who need it.
There are more countries in the world that don't have such a system.

However, nobody can demand that individuals born into this society should be grateful. They take what is rightly theirs, put into place by us as a society.

Perhaps you should be grateful you aren't on benefits and don't need to worry about feeding your kids or heating your home?

Enough for housing, food, heating a few cheap treats a month and enough for a small inexpensive holiday once a year, such as a caravan in a holiday park.

Are you grateful for the services provided by those on low incomes that need the benefits to survive and actually be available to provide those services?

Child care?
Social care?
Hospitality?
Retail?

Tbh I think the ones who should be grateful are the ones who are raking in profit every year, paying a pittance, and knowing the tax payer will be bridging the gap in the form of in work benefits, they're the ones taking the piss to swell their coffers, they're exploiting the workers and the tax payer, and as one of those workers who did receive benefits for a time, no I'm not bloody grateful for a system that positively encourages that to happen, would far rather been paid a wage that could be lived on by my employer tbh.

A holiday - seriously?

Minimum wage should be enough to live on and benefits should match minimum wage. Benefits should not be needed by anyone in work.

But, I do think people have unrealistic expectations of what 'enough to live on' means. It should cover housing and bills without counting every penny, but not holidays or debt.

I agree that minimum wage should be enough to live on. I think benefits should be just under minimum wage though, as working should always pay more.

A holiday once a year? Lots of people not on benefits don’t have that luxury. I don’t think benefits should be enough for that to be honest, it should be the basics.

I think the people that are saying they don't even need to feel gratitude to the taxpayer are the crux of the problem with benefits.

The benefits system has created a whole section of society with an outlandish sense of entitlement. Only their needs matter and they clearly couldn't care less about the impact it has on taxpayers, the economy or our underfunded public services.

I primarily pay taxes to fund public services. Every penny paid in benefits, is a penny that's not available for schools, hospitals, defense, infrastructure, etc.

I'm happy to help provide a safety net for those that can't work or who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. I object to 'topping up' the minimum wage to levels that are higher than the wages of senior teachers and junior doctors.

It's pretty rich to be called a terrible person for simply suggesting that those with their hands out should feel a bit of gratitude to those putting food on their tables and roofs over their heads.

No wonder public services are failing, when we have to pay such huge sums in benefits.

Why should I as a disabled woman, be grateful to the government? I rather thought this was what my taxes were for.
As things currently stand. I have to beg via form and interview for benefits. I then have to work out cheap meals (note cheap, not necessarily nutritious, not entirely sensible when going through radiotherapy) so that I can afford to heat my home for a couple of hours. The government should in fact be ashamed of the way they treat those of us with disabilities.

"Perhaps you should feel grateful because others are taking home less of their earnings and it's being given to you to help you live?"

Perhaps the 'others' should be grateful that someone is looking after their children or older relatives or providing their food and all the other low paid essential services.