To think that children in 21st century UK should not be living like this?

[mrspear]

See this report from the BBC

Apologies if this has already been mentioned

To be honest in the Long run it will cost more to have these kids brought up by feckless.
Because they will them repeat the cycle

But yes your right your idea is so much better do nothing and let these kids live like their in the third world and pay their patents for the privilege

usual re-read, I agree, but i added more like hadn't got a brain don't mind a clue.

Not you usual replying to a earlier post by someone else

ThePathanKhansWoman

sorry i read your post all wrong

mn is playing up its taking forever to load

[QUOTE] AuntiePickleBottom Tue 07-Jun-11 21:12:21

the problem with benefits, is they don't reflect where people homes are.

while on a uk holiday, I notice I paid 20p extra in the spa for a loaf of bread than i would do at home and it could be said the same about almost everything food wise.

where as in one part of the country someone could live off benefits easily other parts they can struggle due to the area they live [/QUOTE]

Very true. There are massive council estates in my town which are bordered by dual carriageways far from the centre of town and the market. They tend to have a shop where basic groceries are sold at a ridiculously expensive price. If you have no car, a baby, maybe a toddler and since the housing isn't even on a bus route you have no choice but to pay over the odds.

Yes, it's sad that inequalities still exist in 21st C UK however, benefits are enough to provide the vast majority of families with food and fair accomodation.

It's when parents spend it on fags and booze and going out that it gets harder to manage. There are plenty of free places to take children and for those on benefits, things like free bus passes to get to places for days out.

I know it's easy for me to say as I have a good life (and I don't just mean in a monetary sense) but it's issues such as drug using (needles left lying around kids play areas etc) and drink and crime that will improve these areas of deprivation.

In Kenya, there is no public benefit system so everyone wants to work to support their family, no matter what the work is. People have pride in whatever job they do as they know it's giving their family a meal that night; people in the UK are often lazy and too picky about what work their do.

This thread is making me sick. Force them to work? FFS! Where are these jobs for long-term benefits claimants, who often lack skills, qualifications and experience? Where are these accommodating employers who care to take on those who haven't been in employment for much of their lives, whose parents perhaps never worked, and maybe the same as a generation before them?
Someone suggested giving them ration books if they show themselves to be spending their benefits unwisely. Jesus Christ alive, what a dreadful idea. How can you bear to degrade another human being in such a way.

And as for "take their kids off them - there's plenty of people of MN who would take them" - shame on the poster who came up with this gem.

I fucking hate threads like this, so utterly depressing to see that such views are alive and kicking.

The main part of this OP is children living in squalid conditions, presumably on housing benefit (parents that is).

In the UK, in 2011, why do people (whether on benefits or not) have to live in damp, dangerous housing?

Where are the free bus passes?

Costs about £7 here for a family ticket just to get into town

usual i think i'm gonna have to hide this one. So utterly sad at some of the utter bollox on this thread. I read the article about the kids featured in the upcoming doc, and felt so heart sick.

Some of the views here are hateful.

Usual

If you are:
Over 10 years and 11 months
And under 16 on 31 August before the start of the academic year
You can get:
Free travel at any time on buses and trams
Child fares on the Tube, DLR, London Overground and National Rail
You need a valid Oyster photocard to get free travel on buses and trams, to get Travelcard season tickets and pay as you go at child rate.
A £10 administration fee is payable at the time of application

I'm going to hide it too

I don't know why I even open these threads

They make me and

Soverylucky they don't want you to lie off it thats the whole point they want you to get a job.

Its not the governments job to support Antibes child and your lucky in the us you would get nothing you would starve or work, not surprising many choose to work

no free bus passes here, very expensive. Like others have said it can cost more to be poor if you don't have the transport to the cheaper shops. Yes, there are neglectful parents but there is more to it than just spending money on fags.

"Self-induced poverty" is another phrase which makes my heart sink.

House prices are massively inflated. Plenty of people are spending all they have in order to secure a roof for themselves and their families and are unable to make provision for later life.

Will so many MNers in this position be castigated when they are in desperate poverty in the future assuming house prices become realistic once again? People who are doing the best they can in today's circumstances?

"I think i will watch to see if the poverty is due to circumstances or self inflicted."

The programme is about children. They don't choose where they're born!

And "just take the kids off them" yes wonderful idea, because kids in care have such wonderful happy lives with excellent outcomes.

Surely, under any government - kids living with black mould growing up their bedroom walls is wrong? Anyone?

Vouchers are a terrible idea - the previous administration tried them for a while for asylum seekers and found that the costs of running the scheme were ridiculously high and the positive effects less than expected. So although some places do have schemes like this (eg much criticised one for Aborigines in Australia) it doesn't seem to work here. And at a time of cut backs, it wouldn't be anywhere near top of my list for increasing costs.

Greenstocking: some councils do provide what is on your wish list (except swimming, which seems to be cut everywhere).

So every one lives in london then ?

because there are no free bus passes where I live

16 year olds pay full fare

under 5s are free then changed half fare

hope thats allowed i'm not on benefits and never lets the kids drink/smoke weekdays.

maypole, that won't help me because I don't live in London. No similar scheme here.

i think the government should start doing something, perhaps employ people to check the standards of rental property before a landlord can rent out the property then additinal check every 5 years to make sure there is a minimum stardards of housing.

I know plenty of people that live in social housing that have mould growing on the walls

But Maypole that's in London. Here where I live (in the NW) kids don't get free bus travel. It's 90p per bus ride for a child, or £9 a week for a bus pass. That's £36 a month for a child to get to senior school.