to think benefits should be capped at minimum wage

[moogster1a]

A little idea that all benefits should be capped at a weeks worth of minimum wage; so 37 and half hours times whatever minimum wage is now ( £6 pounds odd ).
That way no one gets paid more for sitting at home than they would for going out to work.
Out of this, all rent prescriptions etc. should be paid, the same as most people in low paid jobs have to pay for everything.
it might also provide an incentive to go out to work to up your wages if you progress in a company.
Just think it would be a lot fairer.

If you are looking for work whilst already in work, then it's bound to be easier!

You have a work history
A reference
Experience

I was breifly on Income Support, and was £30 per week worse off not working at all than even working 18 hours per week.
You are always slightly better off working than not-this has been very carefully designed.

But dooin, the lady above would be on MORE than she currently gets if her husband packed his job in. So in that situation, what would you do? I accpet that in your situation you feel the £20 is crucial enough to mean work is the better option. But I can see why some might feel differently, for example someone working 40 hour week with an expensive journey to work might well decide 'sod that, I'd rather not work for the equivalent of 50p an hour more cash!' Which, if the difference was £20 for a 40 hour week is effectively what it would mean.

Also...a 2 parent/adult family has the option of 2 wage earners

Us lone parents clearly dont have that

I don't believe that EVERYBODY who attends a job-seeker's interview actively tries to get a job. I think there are some who are too scared/worried about coming out of their 'comfort zone', such as it is - and there are some lazy, serial-shirkers who will go to any lengths not to work. I feel very sorry that there isn't a good system to effectively help those who really want to work -and an equally good system to force those who really don't want to.

Tbh rather than the benefits dropping there needs to be a rise in the NMW to make going out to work worthwhile financially.

I work part time (due to having a child who is autistic) and would be financially better off NOT working. But work gives me more than money and that side of working is not pushed enough I don't think. It's more than about money.

Northernwreck- but being slightly better off, in practical terms, may not make a job a good option compared to unemployment. Say you work a 40 hour week and come out with £40 a week more. Is it worth giving up 40 hours of free time for a difference of £1 an hour? To some people, maybe yes, to others no.

SaraSidle... But as a first job, nobody has a reference or a work history, surely? You just start where you can and build up experience, etc.

People who have never tried to live and raise a child on IS do talk a lot of shite about something they actually have no facts or experience of.

Here's a thought: Why not concentrate on your own life and career progress and stop worrying about how lazy/greedy/ shiftless other people are.

And before anyone bleats about "MY taxes" YOUR taxes pay for the teeniest bit of the welfare state, actually, and you are paying them so we can all live in a civilized society where nobody starves to death,( although having said that a large number of people are going to die this winter because they can't afford heat.)

The lady above has the luxery of paying into a pension to ensure she has something put away for the future. The working poor and those on benefits have no such option.

She could cancel her pension. It will leave her worse off in the end, but she could do it and have more cash flow now.

Travel to work is a different matter, but iirc, it is taken into account when you claim WTC, or at least it was when I was a single parent looking for work.

Jade £40 a week is the difference, to me, of being able to cover my bills, and not, so yes it's worth it.

So taxes pay for a teeny bit of the Welfare System? Where does the rest of the money come from?

Northernwreck, that doesn't address the point that you can have about the same amount of cash and a better standard of living (less time poor) on benefits. You just sound like you're getting cross and losing the ability to put forward a proper, reasoned argument.

Taxes would still be taken, regardless of a benefit system!

Sorry was referring to previous answer. Yes that's fine, but say to get to the job you had to take a daily bus, say £3 each way. What then? Sod the job, probably!

Yes, school leavers DO get jobs. Have you seem what the NMW is for a teen?? Employers employ them and get away with paying them a pittance

Oh yeah, and....there are no jobs now!! I have been applying for a second part time job for 4 months. And nothing. Not a sausage (and I have lots of experience). So where the hell are all these jobs people are going to be forced to do going to come from?

It would cost well over £220,000 pa to replace the care work I do for £2,888 pa carer's allowance.

Carer's allowance is not a favour the government is doing me.

I think what ccomes across here is that a lot of people don't realise that in many ways it is MORE of a struggle to work full time and live on a low wage than it is to have no job and a similar or slightly lower income.

All the comments about 'oh but it's hand to mouth'- and this doesn't apply to plenty who work, too? Arrrggghh!

sara of course taxes would still be taken , but if less was spent on JSA, IS etc. there would be more for health education and disability allowances, therefore improving the lives of many many people.And you never know, taxes might go down a bit!

You cannot have a better quality of life on benefits.

I give up. Truely I do.

I trust you'd be happy to life swap with us Jade, when Dh loses his job? Don't worry about not being able to heat our tiny little house, you'll be out at the park having fun anyway, with all the extra time you have on your hands.

Personally, in the past we've used that time to look for work, attend employability courses and short courses and attend interviews and the jobcenter, but that's just us.

Here's a thought: Why not concentrate on your own life and career progress and stop worrying about how lazy/greedy/ shiftless other people are.

People would be able to do that if the system was fair. But while there are people working full time and see that they are worse off for it, why shouldn't they complain? This is a democracy, the welfare state belongs to those of us that pay tax, we have the right to question it.

I agree to a certain extent with capping the benifits.
I have 2 step sisters, both with partners. The oldest is 25, so is her boyf, they are now on their 5th child, never worked or been to college yet they have just been given a 4 bed house, they have a car and all the mod cons.
The youngest is 21 who also has never had a job or gone to college just like her boyf, they got a private rent flat that the social paid for, got evicted for not paying rent and damaging the property, went back to live with the parents then got a council flat all paid for! They are now trying for a baby! No doubt they will get re-housed to a bigger place!

I left college, went straight into work, have worked all my adult life (im 31)
Had a child with my then partner, we split, i carried on working (luckily with help with childcare from the ex) couldn't get a coucil flat as i was low priority so had to rent private. I met my current partner and moved in together with my child, we both work, struggle through the month and no we don't have all the mod cons - i think im the only person left in my town with old style big TV and a 12 year old computer!

I see almost daily on social networking sites that my sisters and their friends all discussing what they think of the council, DSS etc and getting tips off each other to get more, makes my blood boil!

But there are genuine people in need of these benifits, people find themselves out of work through no fault of their own. I was lucky my ex helped with childcare, not many single mums have that. Childcare is expensive, there is still discrimination from employers who would prefer employing single people rather than single mums who are more likely to take time off to care for a sick child!

Genuine Disabled people who rely on the benifits, the carers and family members who look after disabled people.

How do you weed out the bad from the genuine?

northern wreck I'll say again, nowhere do I say force people to work. I'm acknowledging the difficulty in getting a suitable job. Just don't make it as financially beneficial to work as to not work. If you are out of work, you should be getting the equivalent of the NMW. No more.

Tax payers get little back from a system designed to leech them dry nowadays. That much of the money then goes to undeserving blaggers and gamers is just salt in the wounds.

But being able to say 'its MY tax money' on an internet thread is one of the perks we will never lose, thankfully.