To start a benefits "myth busting" thread so that I can link the thickos of Facebook to it

[MarmaladeTwatkins]

When they start moaning about how people on benefits can afford diamond shoes and other such items.

I'll start.

1. Housing benefit is mostly paid out to WORKING people. So all of this talk of going out and getting a job and buying their own home if they don't like the bedroom tax is a flawed argument.

Some people posting on this thread really should be careful what they wish for ...

I think it is easy for us to say it would never happen to us - but ask yourself honestly how many paychecks are your family away from poverty and homelessness? The answer might scare you.

Usually, every poverty story is a mix of death, divorce, disability or illness of one or more family members. It can happen far more easily than you think

I think what has happened is that there are people claiming benefits who are spoiling it for the geninue. There are parts of the country where for a number of generations no one has worked. It spoils it for the rest.

The rules around benefits have changed as well and consequently many who wouldnt have got anything many years ago are now able to claim.

All those people that Skinny has mentioned are a tiny minority (something like 0.1%) or claimants.

It is DM peddled tosh.

I do hope your future takes you where you think it will. I wish mine had.

Entitlement to free school meals and free prescriptions are only a benefit if you use them/ unfortunate enough to be ill.

I was told on here I was costing the taxpayer as entitled to the above. At the time I hadn't had a prescription in years and my dd is H.ed

"The polish and other assortment of immigrants who dont get welafre seem to find jobs just fine "

That's because they're living 6 to a room and working for far less than minimum wage.

Add message | Report | Message poster elliejjtiny Tue 02-Apr-13 19:36:02
Disabled people get free taxis

No they don't. Some disabled people get a free bus pass, only valid at certain times for a bus that isn't wheelchair accessible.

not true

www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/taxicard/apply/

www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/taxicard/apply/

Maybe we should get rid of the name "benefits". When my taxes support a neighbour with all sorts of (genuine) problems, I don't think I'm somehow giving her "benefits". I am contributing to a Fairness Fund.

Then we could have a debate about Fairness. Benefits (fairly or unfairly) have become discredited.

Never said you were maisie but I thought I'd throw it in as we're all talking about burdens on the public purse and I gave an example. Anyway I thought I was building your extension, was it one floor or two?

That's because they're living 6 to a room and working for far less than minimum wage.

all of them??? it just sounds racist to me.

"There are parts of the country where for a number of generations no one has worked."

No there aren't. When asked to prove this claim, the government couldn't find a single example.

Elastamum. I used to worry more about money, as I am now older, I worry less. I guess that is natural. Our childrens generation should expect to be made redudant a number of times in their working life. It wasnt common 20 years ago certainly in the SE or if it did happen to do you got another role quickly.

Those taxis are subsidised, that doesn't mean free.

Parts of Glasgow....

Binkyridesagain fair point

maisiejoe123 also parts of belfast

Well, congratulations for finding these mythical people that the government couldn't find.

Maybe they should give you a job?

FasterStronger Err, no that's not racist, it's reality. Immigrants are being ripped off. They are promised jobs by employment agencies as freelance fruit pickers, or packers in warehouses for as little as £2.75 an hour. Accommodation is provided, and if they're lucky it means cramming as many people as possible into a three bedroomed house. if they're unlucky, it's a portacabin.

Then the myth is spread they have jobs because the local people are too lazy to work, when the truth is they can't afford to take those jobs and know they aren't legal. Classic divide and rule.

Maisie

Yes they are an insignificant minority, and due to their culture, education, values have found themselves in this position, with little or no aspiration.
I certainly wouldn't swop with them, and am glad its not me. I certainly wouldn't want them to starve, I certainly don't find them as undeserving as the 150K benefit claimants who are spoiling it for everybody else.

Guardian says (admittdly in 2010) that 19% of the country had families where no one worked. Likely to be higher now.

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/04/one-fifth-uk-households-jobless

Maybe they need to give or make a few people on jobskeers take one

That's 19% without a job in 2010 not whole generations who have never worked.

morethanpotatoprints

I dont wish to swap with them either but nor do i wish to pay for them

Myth: families with generations of worklessness don't exist

"On the Wirral, ReachOut delivered by Involve NorthWest, uses a door knocking outreach method specifically designed to reach people with many generations of worklessness in their family. Armed with information and links to many different types of support, the way into working with the household comes from contact being made through a local, community based organisation, not affiliated with ?the authorities?." www.esf-works.com/themes/families-and-households/direct-methods-of-outreach