To wonder how so many of you can know some lifelong dole scrounger when the official figures are so low?

[ValarMorghulis]

I am forever seeing ignorant rants posts on here from people who are appalled that Bob down the road has never worked a day in his life, that their relative is a career claimant or that Sue next door is knocking out child afyer child with different men and not one of them funding their children.

yet the statistics state, and there is no reason to believe them to be false, that the numbers of long term claimants ( 5 years or more) is actually 0.3%

This raises two questions for me.
Firstly, why are we all so convinced that half the world is a lazy feckless scrounger satisfied to sit back and have us taxpayers pay their way. It clearly isn't the case at all.
And secondly, if the numbers are so small how come they all manage to live within close proximity to a Mumsnetter?

in answer to the op, I know a few people who have never worked and claim all benefits going

I guess it depends on where you live as much as anything else

Because she should get herself a fucking job and support herself that's why.

She openly admits that she waited to have another child so that she would have longer before she has to think about getting a job.

Her boyfriend is the father of both her children, the only reason they are not living together is because it makes her feel better because she can claim she is doing not hing wrong, and he can have a couple of nights a week where he doesn't have to bother looking after his children. He stays with his brother and smokes dope instead.

I know people take precautions and still get pregnant. It happened to me. Didn't prevent me from getting a job though.

No, she's not churning out a baby every year. She is spreading them out so that she gets longer off work with as little effort as possible. She also came off the pill when she was ready to move out of home so that she would get a council house. My aunt even wrote the letter to the council to say that she was no longer prepared to keep her at home to help her application.

Her house is lovely, so yes she does keep it nice. But tbh, I was referring more to the garden and the kitchen and the bathroom which are all nice, and were before she moved in.

People on benefits are allowed a social life, but they shouldnt be abe to afford a social life that means they can go out to bars and clubs every weekend. Her boyfriend does not pay for her to go on holiday abroad, he looks after the children at his Mums house while she goes away with her other friends that are all on benefits.

Yes, I will look down on her. Because she is a scrounged who should get off her arse and take some responsibility for her own life. She wouldbe perfectly capable if she could be arsed and didn't think that she was too good for the only jobs she would be likely to get.

But then why would she want to work? She gets just as much money without working and doesn't have to bother making the effort to do anything. The biggest problem is the fact that she can do that in the first place.

Do you think they have no intentions of working because life on benefits is such a luxurious and glamorous lifestyle?

Triggles - did you not realise that all benefit claimants should live in hovels covered in damp and flea infested furniture. they mustn't be seen to have a social life of any kind and any funds the have should be spent only on tax payer approved items.
it really shouldn't be done that a woman raising a child has any maternal instinct or anything resembling a normal life. she shouldn't have time for sex for she should have weak knees from all the bowing and scraping she does to her working counterparts

dear op because people think they know everything about someones life. when in reality thy know zilch

I know people take precautions and still get pregnant. It happened to me. Didn't prevent me from getting a job though.

that sentence speaks volumes. Bitter much?

Two are a couple and just don't want to work, the man has depression so won't work and the women had a bar job for a few months before falling pregnant with her DS and hasn't worked since, he is now 5. One has a drink problem, although he hasn't sought help for it, but that is the reason why he doesn't look for work. Another fell pregnant with dd who is now 4 and then had depression which is why she doesn't work. Another is very immature and is very proud of the fact that he has never worked and just laughs if i ever mention getting a job. And the last one most of his family don't work either so I think he is just used to the idea of the benefit lifestyle.

I know several people who were a bit 'workshy' but tbf these people knew the system better than the advisors in the jobcentre who sent everything off to Cardiff!

The figures can be manipulated, say if there is a couple, if they are both out of work they have to make a joint claim but that claim is processed under one name with the other listed as a dependant. So it the family can receive benefits for over 5 yrs but it might not all be recorded as one name, especially if the relationship is on/off, so the claim reassessed in that time.

Or, she should just make a effort to get a job or some qualifications and pay or her social life and possessions out of her own earnings like most of us have to.

God forbid that people should have to take some responsibility for paying their own way through life.

I don't know anybody in my social circle now who is on benefits, but then some may be and I just don't know. I honestly don't think it's as widespread as the Daily Fail meedja would have us believe, a lot is hearsay and guesswork.

In the past I have reported someone in my distant family who was claiming as a single parent when she wasn't. Also someone who was claiming DLA for their child who was another family member and lied on their forms as to the care needs of the child.

Anyone who suspects benefit fraud should report as if you don't you are complicit in the fraud imo.

Triggles I said IMO as in response to a Q. above, (no, I am not a Doctor) not as a sneery aside.

ValarMorghulis You posted on MN and asked a Q., I and others have responded...I expressed my thoughts on a situation I was in 10/20 years ago and being the same age as my friend I would not have had a clue as to whether she was a shitty parent' back then when she was a Mum in her late teens and thereafter.

I am looking back at events and seeing them from an altered perspective now...the points outlined above are snapshots of a life over the course of the aforementioned 30 years, abridged as they are they may seem harsh to you but the points remain the same.

Why does that make me sound bitter? I love my job and I like that my children a aware that working is just what you do in life? And I'm very happy that my contraception failed!

No none of them have glamorous lifestyles, they struggle a lot of the time financially but just have no motivation to work.

I do actually know a "dole scrounger" yes, a proper one like .

But that's one, just one. I know many people who have had to claim benefit/s at some point (including myself) and I know that they are mostly honest hardworking people who hate having to claim. In fact I know one person who didn't claim at all because they were too ashamed. The minority ime give the rest a bad name.

I dont benefit bash. Ten years ago I had a very different opinion. I laughed on my way to work at the dossers outside the post office on giro day. Until I was made redundant that is.

You said IMO... assuming you know what it stands for, then it's simply your OPINION that the child was not injured in any way. As you are not a doctor, by your own admission, I'd say that your expressed opinion on the matter is not truly relevant, not can it be considered factual.

"Two are a couple and just don't want to work, the man has depression so won't work and the women had a bar job for a few months before falling pregnant with her DS and hasn't worked since, he is now 5. One has a drink problem, although he hasn't sought help for it, but that is the reason why he doesn't look for work. Another fell pregnant with dd who is now 4 and then had depression which is why she doesn't work. Another is very immature and is very proud of the fact that he has never worked and just laughs if i ever mention getting a job. And the last one most of his family don't work either so I think he is just used to the idea of the benefit lifestyle."

All a bit vague, really. Clinical depression is not something to be sniffed at. It can be devastating and yes, it can affect one's ability to work. If the woman's partner is clinically depressed, then it is likely that she may not be able to leave her child in his care, which may make it more difficult for her to secure child care. One with drink problem.. well, um... perhaps he has difficulty then and needs treatment? Might be having difficulty pulling out of it himself, and thus holding down a job. Yes, I suppose it's self-inflicted to a point, but again, you're rather vague, I imagine there's more going on there. Another with depression, see the first part of the paragraph please. The last two I would say also there is probably more going on there - obviously we don't know their history or life story (and honestly don't want to, just saying) but rarely is it simply "oh yer, they don't want to work, they just want to live off benefits and live a carefree life." There is usually more going on than just that.

Valar at hovels... I must stop reading all this drivel and go clean my hovel, speaking of which. Yes, people do expect certain "standards" don't they?

PreviouslyonLost

AmberLeaf all above is gospel, 'fraid so...was some years ago of course. Friend is rather forceful, and convicing, even convinced herself I feel. I always had a suspicion of 'Munchausens BP' as DCs were constantly 'ill

You need hard medical evidence to be awarded DLA

I have no beef with DLA claimants whatsoever but described a personal experience...no misinterpretation at all

I dont think you have the full facts, what you have said here would not warrant an award of high rate DLA, there must have been more to it that you dont know about

DC2 was scanned at hospital a day after after 'accident', perhaps to bolster claim? No 'conclusive' proof of course, but that was because 'head injuries are not always obvious' said Mum

Is it not normal for a child that has been run over to be fully checked over? I assume DRs ordered the scan not mum

And 'house' is a common term in Scotland for any dwelling place, so I give you that...teens were housed in flats, forgive my parochialism please

Ok fair enough on that, but why is it wrong for a 17 yr old to be housed, particularly after you have described such a dysfunctional homelife ?

Depends on your town/area here its 1 in 4 households have no person who works. Its very high compared to a lot of areas. On my estate it is even higher than that and hardly anyone works at all.

You could say this about anything as well. Like for instance average wage is supposedly 25k but ime it is rare to find someone on such a very high wage. To other people that might be normal but I always thought its a lie because I have never experienced it.

Triggles MN would be rather pointless without 'opinions', IMVHO, though

'night.

Molly - i take your point that your environment will offer you certain perspectives on what is "normal"

but what i mean by this thread has been proven here by people on this thread. They have offered up anecdotes of people who they assume we will all berate as dole scroungers. But some of the assumptions or "they told me" stories are inaccurate. So the myth is perpetuated that there are far more people out there committing far more systematic abuse than is actually going on.

I am not saying that there is no one out there playing the system. of course there is. Im just saying that i don't believe it is quite as prevalent as some of the threads i read on MN would have us believe.

25k? Apparently, losing child benefit on 40k is a huge deal. I dont know, because 40k is something I could only dream of....as is 25k

I would say I have never met anyone who wears boden, never met a real life nanny/au pair, never known anyone pay more than 3.50 for a childminder, never known an under 18 with an ipad, never met anyone personally who has been on a skiing holiday, never met anyone from boarding school or hardly anything that happens on a lot of threads on here. I have worked in childcare for years but only worked with 4 children whose parents both work full time.

Lots of different things on mn are so far from anything I have ever known work nown anyone experience it doesnt feel real to me a lot of the time. i definitely believe what people write about benefits, joblessness etc as that is my experience and I can relate.

I agree with you totally valar. Unless someone has concrete proof, it's easy to assume Mr Smith up the road with his big tv and holidays is on the scrounge.

Ditto molly!

Ive just skimmed through this thread quickly so someone might have said this already but can i just reiterate

DLA is NOT an out of work benefit.

I also think if you live in an area like that you know lots of people fiddle the system but you would never, ever grass as being a grass and found out would be the worse thing that could ever happen. I think its strange how people on here find this weird to me its totally normal and commonplace. I think the world people talk about on here is strange where normality isnt on benefits or minimum wage, and having a better job than that is nt the rare exception.