to think JSA is insultingly low amount

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I mean 72 pounds a week is a joke, and you will loose 20% of that if you had an average paying job for half of the tax year.

Around here the daily rate wouldn't even cover the daily bus ticket to get to interviews.

And you don't just get 'sent' for any job. You find and apply for jobs yourself, sometimes they will pick them out for you but you have to actually apply yourself. If you get an interview its entirely down to you, not them. The jobcentre can't just make someone go to an interview or to a job if the employer isn't interested in giving them one.

Of course it shouldn't be based on your old pay, that is even less fair!

If you made a lot of money before losing your job, then you were in the position to insure yourself against losing your job (by saving, by buying insurance or similar) yet the people who just about earnt enough to get by didn't have that option. There is absolutely no reason to subsidise those who chose not to insure themselves.

Yes it makes hard for those people who earnt a lot but spent up to it, but that's not a reason to distribute more money to them, especially as having earnt a lot previously shows they have the skills to do it again. And likely have assets to fall back on unavailable to the poor.

JSA is a safety net, nothing more, if you want income insurance, pay for it, some countries do indeed have state funded income insurance, but the payroll taxes are higher to fund it, bemoaning the amount of JSA is not the way to address that, campaign for a change in the law.

I have to agree with fred that no way should more money be given to people who had higher paying jobs previously. Everyone should be given the same amount of JSA and whilst I don't think it should be high or afford a 'luxury' lifestyle, in order for people to be able to live healthily ie eat a decent diet, pay their bills, have enough to travel if needed and heat their homes, be able to get a haircut every once in a while (I havnt had one for 1.5 years!) and other basic necessities like sanitary and shaving products., it needs to be higher.

I don't see why people should suffer unnecessarily due to not having a job. And trust me with just JSA to live on and choices like freeze/starve or sell drugs or your body, you are suffering.

Mrsdavidcaruso my parents were also over the moon back in 2001 when I finally got a job after being on JSA and workfare. Very proud of the fact I was earning £12"000 a year in a night shift job.

The only piece of information my straight laced parents (including my Catholic mother) didn't have was that it was a sex chatline office. If people feel pressure from relatives who also treat them as if they are workshy there can be consequences that those relatives wouldn't like.

22honey when you say there were single mums on JSA working in the brothels I believe you 100%

I said when this Gov got in that people opting to do sex work will increase.

Zero hour contracts very low wages and Universal Credit is a combination that will increase these figures.

People on higher sallerys have higher outgoinings, they don't jus bank anything they make over the average wage.

Darkesteyes er don't understand your comments all I said that the young people of my family have got jobs where did you gethe 'pressure' bit from no-one in my family have ever been pressured to get a job we have all just gone ahead and got one.

What I meant was my parents could have easily gone around saying that all their family had jobs once I got that job in 2001 but they only thought they knew what that job was.

And I cant have been the only one embellishing what my job was back then for the state of appearances.

SAKE of appearances.

i get £53 a week on JSA and survive comfortably i eat good home cooked meals and don't have sky or fancy clothes etc but its a good sum of money and i am damn grateful to the taxpayer for it ! stop being so ungrateful don't like it ? get a job simple. if you can't live of £73 a week comfortably without extra expenses like new clothes cigarettes alcohol and holidays you're a fool and you need to learn basic maths. sorry if i come across rude or blunt but that is how it is you sound like a pouting 5yo with not enough pocket money

yes im sure an employer would be very impressed if you turned up to an interview in holey shoes and worn through clothes.

If you are going to post inflammatory comments to try to get peoples backs up at least try for a small jolt of realism no?

darkesteyes the jobcentre give you vouchers for £40 to buy an interview outfit and shoes from matalan they have a partnership going on with them.i got £40 "forms" to give to matalan then i choose the clothes i wanted which was trousers shirt jacket and shoes and then took them to the counter matalan then sign the voucher "forms" and you take them to the jobcentre who sign a cheque for you to give the cashier and they hand over the goods. simple. very good scheme to especially for the work shy idle who complain about not having interview clothes

also i wear £2.50 basic t shirts from primark and have 4 pairs of old jeans to wear which do me good also buy my food shopping and toiletries from the "saves" bit of the supermarket and wash in a sink of cold water once a day with a hot bath on sundays £73 to me is great i wish i had that id be laughing

You are either a turkey voting for xmas or there isn't much counting for you to do tonight as expected.

Darkesteyes we have an Estate agent, a plumber an asst Retail manager amongst the young in my family nothing made up or embellished I know that for a fact

hedwiggity, I dont have sky or fancy clothes either and still cannot live on it. What if you had a massive expense like your washer broke? And just because its pointed out how unliveable an amount it is, doesnt mean people are not greatful for their benefits.

I am very greatful to have them thankyou very much!

also hedwiggity it depends on what area you live in and allsorts of other things how far your JSA stretches, some councils charge claimants more council tax than others for example.

Dark yes, numbers of women doing sex work has increased since 2010 (I quit last year myself) and there is an overwhelming amount of women on benefits who do it because they need the extra money to live and so their children arnt the poor kids at school.

if your washer breaks bung everything in the bath and scrub it wring it out and dry it on a rail its called survival skills. my mam taught me these things for a reason and i'm blooming glad she did or id be like you lot dependant on electronics like washers and microwaves and kettles people lived before these things you know and they managed !! and if you kettle broke you can use a pan to boil water or asda sell them for £5 i'm only 20 yet i'm so glad i think outside the box like people years ago used to. to many people wanting a lifestyle they cant afford these days.

hedwiggity I hope you have an understanding landlord then. Because a lot of them WONT like you drying dripping wet clothes in the flat in the winter causing condensation and mould.
Ditto zips and buttons causing damage to the side of the bath.
And damp clothes drying slowly also emit a certain smell when finally dry.

Is anyone else smelling bullshit or is it just me.

There is a bit of an odd smell

The Matalan scheme is something I've never heard of, but then we don't have a Matalan so

Ex DHSS.DSS.DEof EM JC etc -- get a fucking job. The state is not there to support work shy lazy fuckers. HTH

seriously none of you have ever washed clothes in a bath when the washer has packed in ?? must be a yorkshire thing. and drying clothes that have come out of the bath is no different to drying clothes that have come out of the washing machine if you wring them out properly

well said randomfemale how people can sit on their arse and moan about not getting enough free money is beyond me !!

25 years working for the state as a benefits interceptor (to give it it's Sunday name) wasted