To feel a little sorry for the 7 children benefits Mum.

[MilgramsLittleHelper]

www.itv.com/daybreak/hottopics/benefits-mum/

Is just seems like another bit of benefit bashing to me.

I know she shouldn't have had children she couldn't afford, but what hope of improving her lot???

I never mentioned either steralisation or adoption so please check your facts.

I agree Ashoething. Where's the incentive? Who would bother to look for work with that sort of money coming in?

When my DD was 15 and wanted more pocket money (I gave her about 50p a week lol) I suggested she got a job. She trawled around and found something... it took some effort but the desire for money made her. She never stopped part time working alongside school and Uni. If I had paid her an allowance, she would never have got a job. This family are being given enough money to live on... why would they bother? If it were less perhaps the incentive would be there for HER 15 and 17 yr old to work and bring some money into the house.

usualsuspect Wed 12-Jun-13 16:32:54

Unemployment figures rose again today.

no - they fell by 5000

usual-I told you the tide has turned. Twas a time on here as I mentioned in a previous post that if you dared to suggest there was any such thing as a benefit scrounger that you were shouted off the thread. Things change....

Let the children starve then.

Money isn't help. Money is survival.

I obviously can't speak for every situation, but in mine - GP spotted the depression but wrote it off as pregnancy related. Midwife had an inkling of what was going on, but her response was to "snap out of it". Perhaps better training in spotting red flags? In offering the support in discreet ways so abusive partners don't find out? I don't have all the answers, even now, but just one person saying "I understand. Let's change this" would have helped.

Forget unemployment figures. I live middle of nowhere and somehow my DD managed it. (she rang up the local farmer... long story!) If you have enough desire to, there ARE jobs out there. People like this need help and encouragement to get into this mindset though.

I have something very profound to contribute to this thread.

It is..

FFS

They rose in the region I live in

I don't feel sorry for her.

Contraception is free.

She chose this life.

Have to go make the dinner-I think this has been an interesting debate even if opinions have differed. Is'nt it interesting that those who deem themselves to be compassionate are the ones on here who have had to resort to name calling?...

Everyone here is talking about help and support (and no I'm not one of those talking about sterilisation or adoption, that is utter rubbish) but what more, other than over £2k a month, can the state give?!

If I had a pound for every time I hear the words 'I cannot afford to come off benefits' I'd be a very rich lady.

And it is so wrong. It is the proof that the workers are subsidising a better lifestyle than their own.

They are stating they cannot afford to go to work. The flaming cheek! You never hear them say, oh that poor sod down the road is working 15 hours a day to keep his family, then swapping with his wife who will work into the night to get some extra money whilst he juggles the children.

some women are forced to continually bear children
It's a huge leap to assume this is what happened here, but let's just say if it did; what are the chances of her meeting another man after her husband left who "forced" her to have her seventh?

a million to one, I'd imagine and yet having had six kids with someone who refused to pay a penny towards their upkeep she blithely had another with someone else.

Nothing is going to change until the benefits system changes in so far as not giving people more money for having more kids.

It's bloody depressing ,Fanjo.

It's like the DM comments page

its obscene 2000 a month is way more per person than I will ever have for any of my family and we work hard.

""Its no wonder people stay on benefits when working means you end uo poorer"-and there in a nutshell is why the welfare state MUST be reformed. It should not be a choice to remain living on benefits."

__

Surely this is, in a nutshell, why the minimum wage should be raised at least to the level of the living wage, and ways to provide less expensive childcare considered? I would rather life was made better for working parents than worse for non-working parents.

grumpy sorry, didn't see your post.

That may not help in this case though as we don't know if she has had an abusive partner.

But cutting benefits isn't the answer -we should make it worthwhile for people to go out and work. If 40 hours a week on minimum wage will barely cover your rent and bills then you can see why people don't do it.
Not everyone has the intelligence to do a well paid job. Somebody has to clear rubbish / sweep roads / work in shops etc and these are the people who struggle in today's economy to make ends meet. My neighbour works in Tesco and she really struggles but her sister is on benefits and is better off - how is that right?

usual I doubt the children will starve. No doubt there are fsm, and of course she could halve the size of her house and there would be plenty of cash for food. Or sell the car. Or get a job. Or get the 17 year old to go and get a job. You know it's strange to think everyone will starve. It is called living within your means. Budgeting etc.
We all have to do that.

usualsuspect I really don't think the downsize into a smaller house than 6 bedrooms (which is what she's saying she'll have to do because of the new cap) is going to result in the children starving.

Really is that the best you can come up with usual? To call people who have different opinion to yourself DM readers? People are just sick and tired of funding a lifestyle that they themselves can only dream of. Of course you may twist that as you wish to oh well all those who support benefit reform want a return to the workhouse but its shite and you know it.

Morethanpotatoprints - Not really. She is currently getting £32k per year. If you factor in free school meals for 7 children, say at £2 per day over 38 weeks, that is another £2,660, so £34,660 (only free to those on certain benefits). So a total equivalent benefits income of £34,660. You would need to earn just shy of £50k to take home that. Perhaps her benefits income should be taxed in the same way that someone earning £32k per year is currently, in which case she would take home £24,500.

I can imagine that all those families out there earning £32k per year but taking home £24,500 must feel pretty annoyed that this woman is getting £7,500 more than them without having to go out to work and that doesn't even include free school meals and other benefit freebies that people in work aren't entitled to.

Thankyou Wishing. You said what I was trying to say only better!!