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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think I would be better off on benefits

320 replies

parno · 15/07/2012 21:04

I know I am going to get flamed and I promise I am not a Daily Mail reader, just really cross and a trifle pissed off......however.......

I have just read letter from DD's school advising that this coming school year they will be setting a budget for school trips - £30 pr yr. Parents whose kids are on free school meals do not have to contribute a bean, plus get packed lunches provided when off on trips. It got me thinking. I work full time and earn just over £20k. Get a little bit of maintenance for 2 DC plus a bit of CTC to put towards childcare. However I went on line and filled in the Direct Gov benefits caluculator (not much on tv until Wallander comes on).

It told me very proudly that I would be entitled to over £415 approx per week or £1800 approx pcmonth. That doesn't take into account Council Tax Benefit, free schol meals, money towards uniforms either. I take home about £1300 pcm but have to pay rent and CT out of that. I would effectively be about

I just don't understand why I have spent the last 13 yrs working F/T in order to amke ends meet, missing out spending time with my DC and generally meeting my arse on the way back round every single day.

Have I got this wrong? Is my maths really roobash? Am I turning into Katie Hopkins? Please shout at me and stop me being so right wing.

OP posts:
Glitterknickaz · 15/07/2012 22:09

Thing is though Pro if you stick at it it will get better, once your son needs less childminding you'll be better off and your employment prospects will be preserved.

Not so if you live on benefits.

NowThenWreck · 15/07/2012 22:09

Not B&H!
(Or goats.)

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:09

If you are on the dole you have to prove you are looking for work or they cut it off. You have to show what you have been doing weekly with evidence. It is only people in income support and Disability who do not need to do this. I really feel sorry for homeless young people and people with mental health problems at the moment they are getting a rough ride.

Accuracyrequired · 15/07/2012 22:09

"umm" are you starting to be antsy because that;s tedious

why can't you resent people having a better lifestyle and more stuff by not working when they are living off the backs of people who are working and who have less money and less stuff

i think that's a very natural thing to resent

yes, if I thought about it a lot i would definitely resent it but there seems little point, if there's a conversation about it though people will express that resentment rather than pretending

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:11

I agree £20k is a reasonable wage. Though tragically I have to resort to buying Boden clothing that is 2 seasons old from their sale site and can only shop in Waitrose at 5.59 pm when the out of date items are stickered up.

Why do you need to by boden or Shop at waitrose, my heart bleeds for you. Hmm Really

ProPerformer · 15/07/2012 22:11

For 'mums' read 'parents'! Unintentionally sexist of me!
(Slight disclaimer, I know plenty of great people on benefits and we were on benifits a while ago ourselves while Hubby was out of work for a year so do realise it certainly is not the lap of luxury by any means!)

NowThenWreck · 15/07/2012 22:11

"hubby, luckily, has a relatively well paid job "

Er...Properformer, you would not GET any benefits, (as Hubby has a well paid job!)so would not even take home that £15.

watermargin · 15/07/2012 22:12

think it was ironic shera

LRDtheFeministDragon · 15/07/2012 22:12

I don't disagree it may be natural to resent people. I'm sure we all wish we had a day off work sometimes.

What is low is to decide that benefit claimants are somehow 'lucky' and you're unlucky because you work. That's just rubbish. Only people who have no work ethic would genuinely and seriously envy a lifestyle where people do not work, live off a small budget, and have all the stigma and uncertainty attached to claiming benefits.

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:12

pro why did you choose to say litter pickets and charity shop workers?

Accuracyrequired · 15/07/2012 22:12

shera she is being humorous

are you working yourself?

Accuracyrequired · 15/07/2012 22:13

who is saying lucky? it's about getting more for not working than for working

who said lucky?

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:14

pro did your 'hubby' Hmm litter pick? Or you?

carernotasaint · 15/07/2012 22:14

The resentment is directed in the wrong place. People on low wages moan at benefit claimants. But those people on low wages are having to claim working tax credits (lets not forget this is a Tory Gov. and they see working tax credits as another benefit) because the minimum wage is NOT a living wage. These tax credits are a BUSINESS SUBSIDY so that employers can continue to pay low wages.
Instead of directing the anger and resentment towards poorly paying employers who are the biggest scroungers of the lot, the anger is directed towards benefit claimants because that way people have someone they can feel superior to. And the divide and rule bollocks in the right wing press has worked a treat because a lot of the general public are too bloody thick to read between the lines and too prejudiced to even WANT to read between the lines.

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:14

parno Those figures cannot be right? not per week. If you were saying per month yes I would have believe you

Original poster
parno · 15/07/2012 22:15

KK - Was the comment about mtce directed at me, if so, I included it because they knock any mtce you get off the overall amount you are entitled to so thought in order to show a true reflection of the amoiunts I had been given.

OP posts:
Accuracyrequired · 15/07/2012 22:15

I don't know lrd why you reserve all your judgement for people who resent others getting more money than them etc etc etc rather than judging the system to be wrong

I don't know why you get so upset with those people, they are paying taxes after all, and should be able to have a moan

ProPerformer · 15/07/2012 22:15

shera04 didn't realise that about the 'proof' thing - I never really paid much attention to what hubby had to do to get his benefits.... He was always looking so had no probs I guess!

LRDtheFeministDragon · 15/07/2012 22:15

So why do you mind people getting benefits, exactly? You don't envy them, you claim, they're not lucky ... and yet, you're doing a remarkable impression of someone who minds that they get benefits.

carer - yes. Spot on.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 15/07/2012 22:16

accuracy, cross posted. I do judge the system. I'm sorry if I came across as if I didn't. I think it is appalling that people are made to live this way.

Dawndonna · 15/07/2012 22:16

I pay taxes. I don't resent them.

Accuracyrequired · 15/07/2012 22:17

well of course the biggest problem is house prices, it's there that the nightmare starts

Labour had all that opportunity and they just squandered money against a house price and banking boom which they pretended would never end

idiots

Serendipity30 · 15/07/2012 22:17

carernotasaint well said. I do think the benefits system needs improving but not in a way that will effect the people who really need. I work with vulnerable people who rely on this and it upsets me when people spout nonsense to make them selves look superior.

Accuracyrequired · 15/07/2012 22:17

that's ok, but who is made to live what way, I'm sorry I don't understand

KatherineKavanagh · 15/07/2012 22:17

op you see, you are muddying the waters!! maintenance is absolutely NOT knocked off any benefits!!!

Where did you get that from, it changed years ago