Sad for my friends £125k lottery win.

[Sogfree]

£125k win on the postcode lottery.

Single mum to 3 children (all primary age). Works as a TA, so receiving benefits to top up her income.

She would like to use her winnings for a deposit on a house. But due to the benefits rules not being allowed to pay a mortgage, she can't buy a property.

So she's going to spaff the entire lot as quick as she can, and the government will continue to pay rent to a multi property owner and make them richer.

The only asset she'll get to keep is a newer car - not anything fancy as she knows she won't be able to afford the insurance/fuel once the winnings run out.

Her one chance of breaking free of a life on benefits and she's got to throw it away. It feels wrong.

”But we're not in an ideal world and I don't think its fair to take an easy road safe in the knowledge the taxpayer will meet the difference.”

Being a TA (or any of the other careers I mentioned) isn’t an ‘easy road’. These jobs are just as taxing as higher paid roles, they still take effort, knowledge, skills, experience, training. If they were properly paid the tax payer wouldn’t have to cover the difference. (Not forgetting that the people in these jobs are generally tax payers themselves)

I used ‘end of’ as a ‘bottom line’ statement. I’m so sorry my factual statement and clarification upset you so much.

I agree that a full time anything, including a TA should receive a salary that doesn't need topping up. But I don't see it as the taxpayers responsibility to make up the difference for a chosen career. I'd like to make fairy cakes for a living, but it doesn't cover the lifestyle I want so I compromise my happiness to food on the table by doing a job that pays. End of.

But that isn't true, is it? They're not as taxing as many/most higher paid roles, and don't require the same level of training, experience etc etc.

If a TA wanted to take responsibility they could do a pgce and become an actual teacher.

If they don't want to do that. They can stick with getting TA pay.

Not many TAs have a degree, and you need a degree to do a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education. So no. A TA can’t ’just do a PGCE’ and earn more.

You’re still missing the point that a TA salary should be enough to live on. A teachers salary should be higher than a TAs, because they have more training and more responsibility, but that doesn’t mean a TA doesn’t deserve to earn a living wage.

Incidentally you do (generally) need qualifications to be a TA, it’s not an ‘unskilled’ role, and TAs are trained at varying levels, some more qualified than others. They do far more than tidy up pencils and listen to kids read.

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/train-to-be-a-teacher/what-is-a-pgce

Hmmmm, I think perhaps you’ve never done one off these ‘low skilled, low responsibility, low paid’ roles. A qualified TA has studied for up to three years, and has skills and knowledge as well as experience. They may not have a degree, but they do have significant training, and whilst the teacher has more responsibility, a TA isn’t devoid of it. Teachers should be paid more than TAs, yes, but TAs should still be paid a true living wage.

And what if someone lacks the qualifications, and can’t do any further education (for whatever reason) to enable them to ‘get a job that pays’? What if they have only got non-graduate education, and can only apply for a TA role, or a health care assistant role, or a retail assistant job, or work as a cleaner….? Not everyone can get a ‘job that pays’ because this country still allows employers to pay poverty wages that don’t match the cost of living. Why do you keep missing that point?

Your fairy cakes must be rubbish, I know several people who run cake businesses, they earn well and are always busy. Maybe you’re the one making excuses?

If you haven't got a "job that pays" and you can't get one then you can't afford to have kids.i

Being a TA (or any of the other careers I mentioned) isn’t an ‘easy road’. These jobs are just as taxing as higher paid roles

So switch to a higher paid job that is no more taxing.

A TA salary reflect the fact the role is a part-time term time role . I am sure we would all love to get full time pay for part time work but that's not very realistic

Many TA s I know do additional jobs after school or during school holidays. Alternatively they have chosen it as a lifestyle choice as they don't want full time work

It is sad people are arguing about this lady's job. She is a single mum to 3 young kids. A TA job will fit perfectly around her kids, and she also cares for her mum.

I used to work with a lot of people that really would not have been able to progress in their job. They still deserve to be able to live on their wage.

Aren't there practical careers that pay well? Even for those who don't have GCSEs. For men and for women! Men can become gas engineers or bricklayers. Woman can be hairdressers or other beauty technicians.

Also a good reason to knuckle down at school to give yourself options.

"Poverty wages" exist if you either choose a chronically low paying government funded career or it's a genuine low skilled job where the supply of people willing and able to do it is large. If you don't produce enough output with your labour, why should you be paid more than you produce?

It is 2026. Why are you on about men doing certain jobs, and women doing others?

That's true. A TA job would have the same benefits to me and be far more rewarding and less stressful.

So should I quit and become TA and let the taxpayers around fund me? Or should I be in work that allows me to fund myself and my responsibilities?

If you can afford the drop in income and would be eligible for benefits then go for it. Nobody is stopping you.

Bloody hell are we back in the 1950s?!

And that is why tax payers are dwindling and "takers" are increasing off the scale. It's too late to fix it democratically, there will be a collapse.

Who do you propose does all the TA jobs once they’ve all left the job for higher paying ones? Or do you just think some people shouldn’t be able to afford to live?

The market will sort that out.

That doesn’t make sense. Not surprising you don’t have an actual answer though

You could have simply asked chatGPT to explain it to you, but since you didn't:

If people stop doing TA jobs becaise they don't pay enough then TA salary will need to increase to the point where people are willing to do them. At that point people will be able to take TA jobs again.

That's the market sorting it out.

Love that you had to use AI to come up with the answer for you because you couldn’t work it out for yourself 😅 also not entirely sure you understand who pays school staff wages

I didn't. I was suggesting you could have.

Yes the government pay TA wages. So what? I suspect you're going to say that letting the market sort it out would be cost neutral to the state. Which is fine, no problem with that, is there?

I didn’t use AI because it wouldn’t have answered my question, I asked what YOU thought, not AI. But clearly you aren’t capable of having an educated opinion on it.