To really hate the "JSA is a pittance" opinion

[sezamcgregor]

I'm currently reading a lot about the Working Class in Victorian times - you know, when if you had a lazy husband who didn't work, you had to live in buildings condemned as unfit for human habitation with a different family in each room, lived on a diet of black bread and weak tea and watched your children slowly die of starvation. Or you worked in the mills (or similar), and you had to choose between pulling your children out of school as soon as they were old enough to work to get the meagre income that they would bring to the household or letting them get some kind of an education.

If you are unemployed now - you get your rent paid, council tax paid plus an amount of money given to you to buy food and other luxuries.

I'm so bored of having the conversation with people about how difficult it is to manage on £70 per week - even with Tax Credits, Child Benefit etc. Yeah, try telling our grandparents that

Our grandparents, seriously?
I'm pretty middle-aged and I can go back a few generations without even hitting the nineteenth century. They did tend to die pretty young though, what with the good old-fashioned hunger, disease, poor housing and so on. I expect you're right and they'd have wanted more of the same for their descendants.

Goady boswellox

At least in Victorian times you could shove your kids up chimneys to make an extra bob or two

Hahaha, yes that's exactly what happens OP

I'm guessing your either A) incredibly misinformed and rather ignorant or B) Your on one this morning and decided you fancy pising off a large portion of mumsnet so decided to start a goady fucker- thread

Hmm, I know which one I'd put money on!

Clearly written by someone who has not had to try to survive on JSA.
Your statements are factually incorrect.
Not everyone on JSA is lazy, not everyone can claim rent (especially if in a mortgaged property - even if their mortgage is less than rent would be in a council property), not everyone on JSA has children to get the child benefit, not everyone gets tax credits etc.
It was the hardest year of our lives, so don't you sit in your ivory tower judging those who have no choice but to claim JSA to keep their children fed and clothed and a roof over their heads.
Maybe one day you will have no choice but to claim it....
And before you say your job is 100% secure, you can never know that for sure!

Dont feed it people.

Yabu. Food isn't a luxury.

Lovely, goady post.

JSA is a derisory sum, and no one is unreasonable to want it to be an amount that you can survive on, given that you have paid taxes in the expectation that you will receive a decent level of support should you happen to need it.

The first time I signed on I didn't get anything for 4 months- I had to claim crisis loans. I was never sure if I would get anything. I had to sit and queue (with a newborn) for hours to then beg for the money- it felt like the scene from Angela's ashes!

With no crisis loans now I suppose I'd be going to food banks which wouldn't be providing the best food for ebf. I suppose my baby and I could survive with no heating or light for 4 months too?

You only think unemployment is easy if you've never suffered the system.

Even now after years of working, we are will be homeless in 10 weeks. I can't claim jsa because DP earns £200 pwk. We don't get HB but it has never covered full private rents anyway.

Also water and waste charges still have to be paid out of jsa, ctb doesn't cover this.

Yabvvvvvvvva. My sister lives on £70 per week jsa. Out of that she has to pay
Council tax
Water rates
Tv licence
Gas
Electricity
Food
Cleaning materials,
Clothing
Bt phone
Fares to job centre in next town to sign
Clothes , shoes etc
Replacing household appliances

Havant Is that a dig at me, or am i just not getting the point of the line and the up arrow??

Look none of you lot are qualified to give opinions on this. I bet you ALL own at least one pair of shoes!

You haven't had your rent paid on HB for a long time. I'm in the cheapest property you can find for my band in my LHA. The shortfall between the maximum I can claim and my rent is 120 a month. Its the same pretty much everywhere.

Your 70 a week doesn't go far then particularly once you've taken essentials like water and electricity out of it.

Maybe you should go an live in Ethiopia where there's no welfare state, OP, I'm sure you'd love it.

O yes and she worked for about 30 years of her life. Had redundancy money but that didn't last long during the time she was unable to claim anything.

Hope you never fall on hard times op.

At the OP not you! Their argument is more holes than threads and makes totally random links.

Well, yes.
Perhaps we should bring back the workhouses op?
And send kids into factories or down the mine from 14?
No NHS?
Because that's what it was like for our grandparents.

OP, you're an idiot. Sorry.

I am going to be made redundant. Our outgoings will exceed DH's income by £200 per month. This is JUST bills (mortgage, council tax, heating/electric, water).

That does NOT include Clothes, Food, Fuel, Car Tax/Insurance/MOT. All that needs to go on top of the current outgoings.

We will not get ANY ADDITIONAL help other than £70 per week.

So we may well be looking at black bread and weak tea!

DP and I both work but we have unsecure jobs - contract based - and in theory could be unemployed in a couple of months. It terrifies me, the thought of surviving on JSA. We have kids so would get CTC and CB, but the though of having to pay credit cards as well as everything actually scares me to death.

We are lucky that our debt is really low, but the thought of working hard all our lives, being able to pay for holidays abroad and being able to save for some luxuries (a weekend away once in a while) or saving up and buying a Surface Pro for DP, and then suddenly having to manage on fuck all...it horrifies me. We pay so much into the system every month and I know we will only get the basic minimum out of it.

Sorry, I know this is not the point of the thread, but not everyone sees being on JSA as bloody paradise and easy street.

Still could always send DD up the chimneys....

""I'm currently reading a lot about the Working Class in Victorian times - you know, when if you had a lazy husband who didn't work, you had to live in buildings condemned as unfit for human habitation ""

Incorrect.

You need to read more Social Policy books around the Rowntree report into the causes of poverty.

Beatrix Webb (Potter) (not the author) went door to door researching and it led her to write the blue print for our Welfare system.

She was a Fabian.

Hmm, the OP hasn't been back. How very odd. I wonder why...?

No, it was a genuine post. Perhaps I am misinformed or ill educated.

I have also lived on JSA/IS for a number of years.

My point was that we're lucky to live in an age where there is a welfare state to fall back onto when we're out of work.

I've just become frustrated recently at comments that it is such a low amount and that it ought to be more, when actually, we're lucky to have anything at all.

Actual lol at "lazy husband". What a load of auld toss.

Op why don't you educate yourself about debters' prisons and work house conditions?

FYI I love our welfare state. I'm very proud of it and we don't claim any benefits at all, not even child benefit so you cannot infer that we're only happy because we're taking out. We happily pay in because given the choice between being fortunate enough to be in a position to contribute rather than being unfortunate enough to have to rely on the state I would choose the former every time.

It is the mark of a civilised society how well we look after the most vulnerable.

Omg, I summoned the OP! I don't know my own strength...