to think JSA is insultingly low amount

[brt100]

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.

hedwiggity

Yes, I have washed clothes in a bath. More importantly, so has my mother. She ended up with repetitive strain injury after a few years of it. For life. It's the wringing. To this day, she still struggles to write a shopping list.

I am quite willing to accept this is outside your experience, as you are young and strong at 20. But come back on here after another ten years of it. That is, if you don't struggle with typing.

TillyTellTale REALLY???

I can't understand how contribution based is better than income based (genuine don't understand, if someone can point out something obvious I would appreciate it)

If you're on income based you can get free school meals (equiv to £10.50 here per child pw). You can't on contribution based. So if you've been paying tax you get less help?

As for having savings... We had them (a small amount).
First redundancy there was a small amount of redundancy pay. Second redundancy swallowed those savings. Third redundancy... Then the fourth... Just praying there's no fifth as I've never ever seen my dh so demoralised as he was after he got back from the job centre and I don't think we've got anything else to give.

randomfemale

Yes. Really.

I rather think you think this amusing. Sadly it isn't. I don't even get on very well with my mother. But I wouldn't wish the near on twenty years of pain and disability (for the sake of not having a mangle, never mind a washing machine) she's had on anyone.

I'm glad you think damaged tendons are funny.

tillytellytale yes it does get a bit repetitive doing and it can hurt bent over a bathtub but if your washer breaks then it breaks and on low income or benefits what must be done can be done yes i am perfectly young and healthy to do it in a few years im hoping to have a nice job or be able to live with my OH and afford a washing machine but for now the bathtub it is .

i dont have a family yet. and if i did i wouldn't be mad enough to try take care of one on JSA you don't even get JSA when you have a family you get income support which is more than JSA. i don't live like i am in the dark ages i live within my means because until i get a job i have to survive on my -free- "pittance" from the taxpayer i would never dream of asking for any more than i get in JSA or questioning it for that matter. to much greed in this country and too much self entitlement and high expectations if anything i think benefits should be lowered to many people like the OP abuse them and want more more more without doing anything to get more.!!

Also there is housing benefit you can claim until employment to keep a roof over your head and as for clothing like i said primark do t shirts for £2.50 as long as you are clean well fed and presentable nothing else matters i could care less about the latest fashions as long as i have 7 t shirts 4 pairs of jeans and a bra and underpants for each day of the week then that is sufficient enough also 2 hoodies/jackets for colder weather and a thick coat i have had for 4 years benefit are too survive on not to thrive on. when you have a job and pay your own way then you can have sky tv and fancy clothes etc but don't expect it on the taxpayer they do more than enough already to provide for people looking for work without paying out extra just so you can have tons of clothes and a nice lifestyle. dont like the "dark ages" work harder to get a job.

How much is JSA? £72? If so then income support isnt more than it. It's the same.

Also, wiggityhedge isnt so far in the dark ages. She has internet at least

But i also call BULLSHIT!

i claimed income support when i was in college as i was unable to sign on due to exams etc and it was £100 a week the was a good 2-3 yrs ago i don't know about these days though. and you call BS because i live within my means and i'm not wailing on about being poor and complaining about the free money i get ?? ok then.

Lol JSA is not free money, thoes that genuinely are in need of it (vast majority) paid for it.

The amount is only a safety net if your old job was working a day and a half on nmw.

"Work har

I rather think you are full of shit. It's 2014, people shouldn't have to live like they are in the dark ages.70 quid a week is pittance, how are you supposed to feed yourself, clothe, house yourself, let alone a family on that ?

You don't have to Korma I have just gone on a benefit calculator site and described my self as a 25 single mother with 2 school age children claiming JSA and paying £1000 per month rent and this was the result

www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/results/Your_Calculation_Results.aspx?sid=4&cid=6d768d36-60b0-4507-8177-f7c970675536&idk=64f5086d-24bc-4487-884c-b1c457081f62

Not a great deal but more then the 70 odd quid you are suggesting

sorry that was aimed at the 'let alone a family' comment

The figures linked to by Mrsdavidcaruso are interesting and even more so, if you do the 'better off calculation' at the bottom of the page.

If that same single mother got herself a job on NMW, it states that she would be a whole 5.75 PW better off, if she worked 10 hours a week. This does not include transport costs, so unless she could walk to work, she would be worse off working than being unemployed.

If she was working for 16 hours per week she would be 10.79 better of PW, again not including transport costs.

It would only let me do two calculations so it would be interesting if someone else could do the 24 hours and 37 hours per week that I was going to, as I think that working 24 hours per week may allow other tax credits possibly? and 37 hours PW is approximately full time.

Of course, someone with DCs working 24 hours or more per week are likely to then need childcare, which would worsen the figures.

So if JSA is insultingly low, it is even more insulting to a person working part time who could be just 10 PW better off than being unemployed, and are likely to be worse off once transport and other costs associated with working are taken into account.

hedwiggity I hope you're better at googling contraception methods than you are at understanding the benefits system. Otherwise you'll have an unplanned pregnancy within months!

JSA and Income support are exactly the same amounts. I was also once a claimant of income support when at college 'a few years ago'. It was 40-something pounds. It has never been £100 a week this century. I wonder if perhaps you were also claiming EMA, the (NOW ABOLISHED) fund for students in further education, which was £30 a week.

You can claim JSA with a family. In fact, single parents and couples are probably being forced to look for work earlier than they used to be. Single parents USED to be on IS until their youngest child turned five, and couples could claim JSA as a couple, but with only one partner actively job-seeking until the youngest child turned five. Not sure it's 5 now!

hed NO way were you getting £100 a week IS 2yrs ago as a single,healthy under 25yr old adult

stop typing false amounts

cross post with tilly,put it much better

Lol at washing in a bath tub, you can't be serious.

If you washing machine broke you would probably have to spend a fiver a week on going to laundret , so that's 10% of JSA for many people just to wear clean clothes.

Am amazed at the people who don't believe you can wash clothes in a bath. I thought everyone had done this.
But agree that hedwigitty is only able to make the best of things because she's young and strong. Being skint in your 20's with no one to care for but yourself is very different to being skint with kids, or health problems (can't walk distances, can't wring out clothes etc).

Will

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