To be scared of getting a job in case I'm worse off?

[BenefitScrounger]

NC and prepared for a flaming.

I've been claiming JSA for over two years now and am on the Work Programme. I have no qualifications and all I could get (I think) is a minimum wage job. I have been lying about my attempts to get work because I think I am better off out of work.

At the moment I get full housing benefit plus council tax, free dental care/prescriptions (if I need them) and £71 a week to live on. My bills aren't covered obviously, but they're not huge, and I have lots of free time to indulge hobbies etc.. I don't feel the need to buy stuff very often as I'm not into fashion/beauty and I eat cheaply. I can afford to eat out once a week with a TasteCard. The only thing I miss is holidays abroad but I'm not sure I would be able to afford them if I got a job anyway.

If I got a full time minimum wage job, would I be worse off? Just thinking of travel expenses, student loan repayment and time lost - not sure if I would still get any council tax benefit?

Has anyone had experience of this? By the way, I'm childless and live alone.

how very interesting.

normally when people post like this people get accused of benefit bashing - but there are many many people who do make living on benefits a "lifestyle" choice and i see it daily in my line of work.

Its a shame as it gives those who are in genuine need a bad name. imo benefits are a safety net until you get back on your feet or into work - not something to do because you prefer not to work, and have time to indulge your hobbies. My dh has claimed JSA once in his life, for a matter of weeks when he was made redundant.

the current system relies on people being truthful, and being honest enough to want to get off them and into work - a lad who lives up the road from me has been on benefits since leaving school, makes no effort to get work at all, and why should he when he can lay in bed all day, afford to smoke and buy his computer games?

somewhere, a balance needs to be struck between those in genuine need and those who dont want to work.

I volunteer because I want to help the causes I am passionate about, and care work does leave me worse off. Have said that already.

Clown, your nightmares and your having to work whilst not being able to talk about what happened, was not just 'your problem'. Society DOES owe you.

Op, you don't want to work for 'profiteers' but where do you think the money comes from to pay for your scrounging lifestyle?

It doesn't come from the NFP sector, that's for sure.

Are you really as thick as you appear in this made up thread?

I don't believe you are real, but for a real person who might be reading:

You can get HB in work. Most people who claim HB are in low paid work. If you're self employed they will require trading accounts and bank statements at regular intervals. Be prepared to supply these at any time. HB is paid on a taper: the more you earn the less you get. They provide a calculation of this taper on the award letter normally, or you can ask for one.

When you sign off dole and into work, they'll give you a four week run on of HB. If your work is low paid, you will probably make a new claim straight away, but the run-on will tide you over while they sort out the paperwork. They do regularly suspend payments of HB when you're in work and have fluctuating income. That can't be denied. You can't change that. Better to focus on ways to improve your credit rating and get a bank account that can stand the income insecurity.

Some people can get a Job Grant, a weekly payment to tide you over while you get used to work. Not everyone can get this--I was not entitled as I had been on Carer's and Income Support, not JSA. Also I started my own business instead of getting a job, so there's no grant for that. But it's worth asking.

If you try working and it goes wrong--if you lose your job you can restart an old claim within a fixed number of weeks (pos 16?). So you can just pick up back where you started.

You would be smart to do this now. When the UC comes in it's all going to be much harder.

If you've got anxiety, it's vital for you to try to get some work, because if you leave it five years, or ten years, you will be unemployable and also crazy. Think of work as seriously hardcore therapy, as mental physiotherapy. Routine and externality are key. If you can think of a job where you have a partner and they can come pick you up to go to work, that's the smartest way to get round threshold anxiety (when you can't make yourself leave the house). Domestic care works like this often.

Good luck.

I have only read the 1st page, so will catch up shortly with other posts, and apologise in advance if the thread has taken a different turn now.

I have a friend who is now in the same position as you OP.
She claims JSA, housing benefit, council tax benefit and rents a social housing property (so her rent is not as high as a private rent might be.)

We live in the arse end of nowhere.

If she were to find a job, she'd be lucky to find anything more than minimum wage. She has no qualifications and no experience.

She has been to see various different job centre advisors over the last few years, and has been told that should she go to work full time at minimum wage, she would receive;

£203.73 approxiametely in wages
£10 working tax credit
£28 housing benefit

Total = £241.73

She would have to cover weekly;
£106 rent,
£22 council tax
£29 bus pass for the week

This would leave her with £84.73.

Since current rates of JSA are £71 per week, she is just not prepared to work 40 hours a week, be out of her house (which she loves to be inside of) for an extra £13.73 a week.

I honestly thought she must have missed out on being entitled to more help, but when I saw the breakdown the advisor at the jobcentre had given her, I realised she was right.

I don't know what the answer is. In my friends case, I honestly can't see her ever progressing at work to earn much more than minimum wage if she ever got a job.
And tbh, minimum wage is not always a stepping stone, there are many people who will spend their whole lives working for minimum wage, and I don't agree that they should only expect to be £13/14 a week better off than unemployed.

I don't really 'get' money, so I'm not sure. I know there's a set budget for welfare, defence, healthcare etc..

I'm not sure why money is made the way it is; ie selling stuff no one needs so we can ... put some in the above? I don't get it, no. Am stupid.

Wow. Society owes people things? On what friggin' planet?

Clown you have my undying respect.

Thanks littlemiss, that sounds like my situation pretty much, although I thought I'd end up with LESS! Seems that way only if I have to travel though.

Yes, society owes us. That is to say, the leaders of society do. We're in a contract with government: they're supposed to protect us in return for our taxes. But they go to war and spend shit loads on sport, and make money from massive unethical companies.

Go to work you absolute lazy waste of space.

You don't want to work for 'profiteers' well TOUGH.

There's no place for people like you in society. You are bringing nothing to the world.

Why don't you get off the Internet (which I presume tax payers are paying for you to have) and find a job.

Respect to clown.

oh dear

i didn't wanna use this

that's you OP

But I don't NEED a job! I don't buy things.

When the job centre do calculations to see if you are better off working, they do not take your travelling costs to and from work into account!!

So while they calculated that my friend would be £42.73 a week better off in full time employment, that doesn't include her travel to and from work, hence why she was better off by £13.73.
Obviously if her travel to and from work had cost her £42.73 a week (not unheard of imo) then she would be no better off, and if her travel to and from work were to cost her more than £42.73 a week (also not unheard of) then she would be worse off than on JSA.

Since the jobcentre now expect claimants to look for work up to an hours travel away, whether that be by car or public transport, I know where I (and my friend) lives, I could get quite far in my car in an hour, and it 10 hours of driving a week would cost me far more than £42.73.
OTOH, my friend doesn't drive so a bus pass to the surrounding area's is £29 a week.

OP

fuck off now, there's a dear

tyvm

I'm not sad Unchartered. Just worried about HB if I get a job. That's all. And I don't feel poor at the moment, so thought it might not be a good idea to get a job and lose my house. But seems if I work locally I might be ok. Not sure why though!

You don't buy things? You don't buy food? You don't have a computer, a phone, a tv? Internet? You don't clothe yourself?

You DO need a job because you can't live off benefits all your life. I hope they stop them I really do.

You do buy things.

You have rent, gas, electricity, phone. Most of these are given to you.

These ARE things you're supposed to buy.

What I am interested to know though OP is How do you manage week in and week out on £71 a week?

That is a very small amount of money to live on. I know my friend lives an extremely frugal life, and tbh, it seems rather crap to live on such a low amount to me.

I'm not sure I could do it tbh.

I think my heating would take up the majority of that money!!

Speaking of travel; that is another thing that is cheaper on JSA. So in full time work I would pay full price for travel and I would be worse off.

Unless I get a job down the road. Will try!

OP "I don't feel poor at the moment"

Really?

How can you live on £71 a week and not feel poor?? Seriously??

It's ten pounds a day. I don't always need that much, so the rest is for bills etc. My heating is not on much as my flat is high and well insulated.

Seriously, where is your pride? There's people out there who get jobs and would be better off on benefits, but they work because they are able to and because they have pride and morals.

I'm glad you haven't got children, what a disgusting message to pass on

What do you need to buy everyday?

lol at the irony at the extolling the joys of a communist lifestyle whilst availing yourself of the benefits of a taste card once a week.

The OP thiught she wasn't being cuntish enough so upped the ante.

Clown you poor thing, I am so sorry you had to endure that.