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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About the Benefits program on BBC1

364 replies

bimbabirba · 11/07/2013 22:27

It has made my blood boil! Especially that judgmental bitch, Debbie, who was telling the single parent that she shouldn't buy a whole chicken on tax payers' money to feed her children! Then she went all judgy and bitchy because the kids eat two cooked meals a day and she asked if that was really necessary!
I think the world has gone mad!

OP posts:
MrButtercat · 11/07/2013 22:58

They don't need 2 hot meals a day.

I think it's ridiculous that tax payers work silly hours,pay higher rates of tax and can't afford school meals.

I also got annoyed that the lady in question couldn't care less that she was wasting money she hadn't even earned.

I don't care if that annoys anybody.

mymatemax · 11/07/2013 22:58

The single bloke living with his granddad should just get off his arse & work.
taking a shop job doesn't mean it has to be a long term career choice but he is completely able to work so has no excuse, qualifications are not an entitlement to sit & wait for the perfect job while the state fund you to sit on your arse. Yes volunteering is good but he could take a p/time job & still do the volunteering thus saving the state £70 per week

smearedinfood · 11/07/2013 23:00

Agree with you on the house prices xylem.

MrButtercat · 11/07/2013 23:01

What frog said.

People up and down the land are getting utterly sick of it.

Either reduce our taxes or reduce benefits.

Xmasbaby11 · 11/07/2013 23:01

I think the taxpayers they chose were not representative as they were on quite low incomes themselves. It seemed deliberate in order to make them annoyed and jealous at the similar incomes the unemployed were getting.

That's my main gripe, really. I think if they had chosen a couple of well paid professionals, they would actually have been more balanced.

WilsonFrickett · 11/07/2013 23:03

I really don't understand why a 'cold' meal would be cheaper than a hot one, if that's what we're talking about. Sandwiches, yogurts, crisps? I can make a hot meal for pennies, I'd struggle to make a healthy cold meal for pennies. And as for the chicken stuff 'get the fillets! Get the fillets!'. Stupid bint. I can get three meals for three out of a whole chicken...

And breathe.

I dunno, I thought some of it was interesting. It did raise a lot of questions. For eg what should our graduates (with the accompanying massive debt) expect out of life? Being judgey about Luther, well ok I understand why one would, but equally after 20 years out of work, what would be the chances of him ever getting a job?

I did like that they tackled wide screen tellys though. Maybe Margaret is a mner...

Darkesteyes · 11/07/2013 23:03

The woman who was telling Kelly how to spend her money in the supermarket......Debbie runs her own cleaning company. I wonder if any of her employees claim tax credits.

Surely not though because that would make her a hypocrite. Hmm

Original poster
bimbabirba · 11/07/2013 23:04

What most people don't understand is that being on benefits is not a lifestyle - unless you're dishonest or a cheat.
To be "on benefits"'meaning "not required to work" you need a specific reason:
Be a lone parent of a child under 5 or a carer or severely disabled or genuinely unemployed and looking for work
The state doesn't just let you chose whether to slouch on the sofa or go to work and earn a living.
That's what infuriates me of these programs. They are not presented by a CAB worker. They are presented by people like nick and Margaret who know jack shit about the subject

OP posts:
CloudsAndTrees · 11/07/2013 23:04

I think it's a good thing that they chose people who were on low incomes. They chose people who do the sort of jobs that the people on benefits could do.

Xmasbaby11 · 11/07/2013 23:04

I think the graduate had a poor attitude and his family are helping him too much financially - so he actually has a very good disposable income. After I graduated I lived at home with my parents for a year or so. They didn't charge me rent as long as I worked (crap admin job putting things in envelopes). They have always helped if needed towards my education, but not luxuries like gadgets.

mynameisslimshady · 11/07/2013 23:05

What is she 'allowed' to spend her money on then since using it to feed her children isn't acceptable Confused

IneedAyoniNickname · 11/07/2013 23:05

I don't think I can make healthy cold meals cheaper than I can cook healthy meals either Wilson Hmm or maybe I'm not inventive enough to think of different things to have 7days per week!

Xmasbaby11 · 11/07/2013 23:05

Oh yes I see what you mean Cloudsandtrees.

mymatemax · 11/07/2013 23:06

Xmasbaby - That is entirely representative of the income of the average family in unskilled work.
That really I suppose was the point of the programme, any of those on the benefits has the skill & ability to carry out the same jobs with only the minimum of training.
They wouldn't really have a comparison/life swap programme if comparing to a solicitor or doctor

frogwatcher42 · 11/07/2013 23:06

Xmas baby. I may be wrong, but I think you would have to earn around £30k to match those benefit levels. Once tax, NI is taken out it is obviously reduced. But then there is also the cost of working to be taken out of the wage which when really looked at is huge - clothes, running an extra car or travel costs to the office, parking costs, childcare (even if it is only 10 days a year at real times of need), ready meals if working long hours. It soon adds up to a large amount. The figure is dramatically lower than the £30k wage if all this is removed.

£30k gross is way above the national average wage and so I am not convinced that the tax payers were any different to most taxpayers.

ShadeofViolet · 11/07/2013 23:06

I feed my DD a hot meal when she gets home. School meals are tiny.

Also, I don't class spaghetti on toast as a meal really.

Darkesteyes · 11/07/2013 23:07

Near the start there was one bloke who was aghast at the fact that a family were living in a four bedroom house However they only glossed over the fact that they got it because their disabled grandmother had moved in and they were caring for her.

ShadeofViolet · 11/07/2013 23:07

Debbie was so passive aggressive.

beatback · 11/07/2013 23:08

The sad truth is the incomes of the people working in this program probably are repersentative of most people. On a Education thread i was shocked when pointed out to me by a poster called TALKIN PEACE that the average family income in the uk in terms of numbers taking out nominal numbers of very high earners was £23000 before tax so £13-1400 a month take home pay is typical of what most familys take home today.

Permanentlyexhausted · 11/07/2013 23:11

I didn't watch it that closely but had zero sympathy for Liam (was it?) who had the 2:1 in media studies and thought some jobs were beneath him. I finished uni with a 2:1 in a recession (early 90s) and as I couldn't find a graduate level job, I found a job on a supermarket checkout. It paid my bills and, as I grabbed every minute of overtime I could get, it allowed me to save up to go back to uni to get the qualifications for my current career. I'm not suggesting everyone will be as lucky as I was but, to consider certain jobs beneath you hilst claiming jobseekers is unbelievably entitled.

Wallison · 11/07/2013 23:11

Surely if people are upset about poverty amongst those who are working compared to those who don't, the solution is for work to actually pay properly, rather than to cut benefits. Working tax credits are shoring up employers who cannot/will not run their businesses in such a way as to provide a living wage for their employees. Now, that is a scandal. Someone buying a chicken, not so much.

MrButtercat · 11/07/2013 23:12

Well I make packed lunches for under £2.20 x 3.

Savers cream cheese sandwich.47p for a whole loaf
Chopped Savers carrot sticks. 2p
Savers fromage frais 30p for 6
Home made banana cake
Water

aturtlenamedmack · 11/07/2013 23:14

Agree with most of what's already been said, especially about housing.
I had quite strong feelings about the graduate, I don't think he came across all that well but i felt that he was contributing to society, not just on the take.
If the government had to pay for a youth worker to take his place then they would be paying a lot more than 3500 and he could find his way into paid work that he would actually find engaging and fulfilling through his volunteering. I feel he was better placed their than in a factory.
There are more ways of contributing to society than just paying tax, and he's putting in more through volunteering his time than he would pay in taxes from a min wage job.
The government need to recoup the cost of his education and i can't help but feel that they are more likely to do this if he gains experience in youth work than if he gains experience of shelf stacking.

ShadeofViolet · 11/07/2013 23:15

Well done you. Dont forget to wait in line for your medal.

Darkesteyes · 11/07/2013 23:15

Yes but why take it out on your neighbour who has even less. Or moan about a family being given a 4 bedroom place so they can care for an elderly relative. Or stand in the middle of a fucking supermarket and moan about a chicken.
Because make no mistake if Kelly had said she didnt cook for the kids after school Debbie would have still found fault and insinuated she was lazy or interrogated her even more about money.
Debbie comes across as an abusive gaslighting type.