for being annoyed that our tax is paying for people to buy wallpaper.

[suzexxx]

I saw a post from a girl on facebook asking whether the social could help her buy things to do up her home e.g wallpaper and paint. Alot of people commented that she could get some vouchers to use on a certain paint brand and B&Q etc.

AIBU to think this girl should save some money or attempt to get a job for extra luxeries before expecting the social to foot the bill?

I'm moving house next month and the whole house will need decorating. However i am realistic in the fact i won't be able to afford to wallpaper the whole place at once, instead doing a bit at a time as and when i can afford it. My partner earns a moderate income and i'm currently on maternity leave, so money is tighter at the moment, but would never expect someone to pay for something i could manage without like wallpaper.

I completely understand people using the social to buy essential items such as a cooker or fridge, but not non essentials.

The weird thing is, JustinB, the OP has already had this kind of help! And more!

She says at 08:06:09 that she lived in a council house, and the council not only paid for materials but came round and did the work for her!

I think she was just having a Daily Fail moment this morning: I get well-deserved rewards from the state; you get benefits because you're Genuinely Needy?; she's a scrounger living off hard-working taxpayers who aren't working at all because they're on state-funded maternity leave.

Just to confirm what has already been said, we moved into our first council house a year ago. Not only were the walls all white (not magnolia, bright white) but there were no carpets and those spiky grip things were still down. The walls weren?t a priority obviously so these were done as and when we could afford them. Because I work we didn?t qualify for vouchers, (and have family that lent us money for the carpets) but if I didn?t work/have a family with some money we would have been unable to sort the spiky floors! We know several people that have lived in their council homes for years and still don?t have carpet down.

Another point ? and I think this will vary depending on your housing association, but we had a visit after so many months, and we got ?marked down? because we hadn?t decorated the bedroom (we had only painted the downstairs because we don?t tend to have visitors in our bedroom). Maybe this was ?council house humour? and I took it the wrong way but I was quite shocked as we had carpeted the whole house (which wasn?t cheap!) and painted the whole downstairs. So, council tenants may actually be under pressure to decorate their homes. I haven?t heard of this before so we could have just had a jobsworth inspecting our home...

Anyway, not all council tenants get the vouchers, only those that need them. YABU.

It's just another example of people thinking people on benefits are lower than them.

Depressing.

Wow, OP. I grew up 'on the social' as you so delightfully put it (thanks for bringing back the memories of the stigma attached to being poor). The first house we were given was built on top of an underground stream and the wallpaper peeled off the walls in all the bedrooms within WEEKS of moving in. We were given nothing to decorate with so had 8 years of crumbling plaster walls until the house was due to be demolished and we were moved to a new build.

A further 7 years down the line we moved again, due to harassment and burglary (it's fun living in deprived areas OP - you should try it for a month and reassess your snobby attitude) and we were given £100 to decorate a three floor house. It was only usable in one independant shop and we managed to do the the hall and landings with it.

Luckily my Mum got off her scrounging backside and spent 4 years training to become a teacher and my Dad found work in removals (he's now in his 60s and falling to pieces, but hey, at least 'your taxes' are no longer supporting my work-shy family) and me and my siblings left school and began contributing to the household, so we then spent years decorating and carpeting the house ourselves. Money from 'the social' does not go far.

Get over yourself.

I just can't get excited about this. Op, does it really annoy you? You must have a blessed life if this sort of thing annoys you.

Perhaps we could just bring back the workhouses and be done with it. YABU

I expect they would still want the work houses to be wall papered.

Yabu and horrible. housung associations in my area only give people around £100 in vouchers for a 3 bed house. I think it should be more, if you moved into private rented you would and should expect wallpaper .

I expect they would still want the work houses to be wall papered.

yes it will really be shabby chic then

A few points to clear up as some people obviously haven't read the whole thread 1) this person isn't my friend (i saw this post on a facebook selling page, which anyone around the country can comment on) 2) the 'social' are her words not mine. 3) i don't read the daily mail 4) i lived in a council house aged 10 and my brother was 2, we moved there to get away from my abusive father and the council made sure the house was clean and tidy before we moved there, something i assumed would happen for everyone but obviously not after hearing some stories on here about the states of house 5)i get payment from my employer for maternity leave, not sure if this comes from the state or actually from my employer so no i don't pay tax just now, but will be and have done when i go back to work. Only had my son 12 weeks ago

I don't believe she should have been given vouchers.

The council or HA are the ones out of order here. Instead of passing the buck they should have gone into the property and made it fit to be lived in. And yes, of course it will cost money if the previous tenant has trashed it. That's not the new tenants problem and they shouldn't be left to deal with it, being treated like a lesser human being because of the type of accommodation they live in.

OP, I am currently on benefits (or the social if you like), prior to this I worked for 30years. I have a lot of tatty and second hand furniture which desperately needs replacing and DS has never had new furniture in his bedroom either. He needs a wardrobe which due to his autism needs to be built in.

I have JUST applied for and got a Budgeting Loan (the clue is in the world "loan"), I will have to pay this back out of my benefits and the only positive thing is that it is at a lower rate than someone like Provident would charge.

I am also going to my local second hand furniture project to buy some dining chairs and possibly a second hand sofa. So sue me, I have never had benefits in my life, I have worked since leaving school and only once I could no longer meet my son's needs and work did I leave.

So your new house will need papering, do what I did, get down to Wilkos who do their wallpaper at a fraction of the price that other places charge. I did that on a low wage, yes the range wasn't as extensive as other places but it was fine and it looks good.

I am finding it slighly amusing that some of you are getting so offended by the OP's use of 'The social'. When I was a single mum on benefits I referred to it as 'being on the social', as did friends who were in the same situation. None of us found it offensive to say or hear. I really cannot understand why some are getting their knickers in a twist over it.

Regarding the OP's point; I personally would never begrudge someone a decorating voucher, or whatever. However I am wondering if OP's friend is someone who feels the world owes her a living and is always asking if she can claim this, that and the other, and expecting people to give her something for nothing. One old friend of mine has been claiming benefits for many years as a single parent, and she has an attitude that the world owes her a living. Always asking for favours and items for free because she is on benefits. Lots of statuses moaning about how benefits should pay for this and that. She has told me she has no intention of getting a job again, but then moans because she thinks the system should pay for everything. I know many on benefits struggle (I did!), but she has said before to me that she doesn't really struggle; she has a lovely new build Housing Association estate which was built as the social housing part of a lovely new estate in our town. It's beautifully decorated. She and her children have nice things. She has nights out very frequently (and often pays a babysitter). And she is off to Spain soon for a week with her children. And yet she will moan because her benefits won't pay her extra to buy school shirts for her children.....

your maternity pay comes from the state you are a nurse yes ? so tax payers are paying your maternity pay that aside why are you so bothered about something that was on a poxy selling page

op your sounds pissed off that you are not getting folk struggle we all struggle and we all have to do our best for our families, (shrug)

And I agree with HoHoHoNo. Councils and HA's should bring houses back to a liveable condition before a new tenant moves in. It doesn't seem very fair at all that a new tenant should be cleaning someone else's blood off the walls!!

Oh, ok, then. So it was ok for your family to take taxpayer's money but not someone else? Phew, thanks for clearing that up OP.

Shame on you then. You should understand what it's like to be living on benefits and no start bashing someone else just because you've managed to get sorted. We don't all get the same chances and opportunities.

And the fact that you've based this on details from a Facebook selling page makes it worse in my eyes because you don't know this woman at all. You've seen one comment on Facebook and decided to judge her.

Dogcat. I believe you have just described my previous tenant.

In days of yore when social housing was council housing, houses had to be stripped back to how they were when they were let. So in my GM's case, doors were removed, flooring pulled up, etc. Then the council sent workies in to paint, decorate and refloor. This meant they obviously employed departments worth of people to come in and do up houses for people like the OP's parents.

When the responsibility for much of the social housing passed to housing associations, they didn't much fancy creating whole departments of people who would go round and decorate houses, so they switched to the voucher scheme.

So essentially, this woman is getting exactly the same service as your parents did when they moved into their magnolia council house all those years ago. There, does that make you feel better

Op thanks for you post clarifying a few points. I hope you accept my apology for believing that you would be friends with someone on the social. Obviously that was an grave error on my part and am sure caused you great offence.

I'm just stating that when we moved into the house, the council made sure it was clean and tidy for us. As other people have said it should be the councils responsibility to make sure the house is in a livable condition before housing tenants. In my original post i said i completely agree there should be help given to people to buy essential items for their houses.

decorating is an essential of a new home and whatever voucher this person gets will not decorate the whole house, I really dont see your gripe if she said paint instead of paper would that have been better ?

It was 6 inches of shit stains up the walls for my friend, as the previous tenants had just shut their dogs in the front room whenever they needed to relieve themselves.....

(And just to balance this anecdote out- I witnessed another friend spend hours scrubbing her skirting boards and leaving her HA property down when it was time to move out).

But what shocks me most is that councils give out their decorating vouchers for B&Q- or even Homebase! SO expensive! You could buy at least twice the paint or wallpaper at Wilkinsons or similar.

and it is a social housing house it is up to the landlord to upkeep the house to a good standard as has been said before Private LL have to do the same the decorating grant is just cutting out the middle man,

No, you stated that when you moved in the council redecorated for you. Which is the precise thing you're today complaining about someone else getting - and they're even not getting as much as you.