To think pre-paid benefits cards are a stigmatizing, punitive scheme?

[ArsenicFaceCream]

Just announced at the Conservative Party conference.

They will initially be 'voluntary' for claimants with addiction issues, apparently.

But of course the intention is to roll it out.

Universal Credit is going national in February so this could get interesting, given that UC will be paid to working claimants as well as those not working.

In Leicestershire there used to be a system of taxi tokens for people who lived in the countryside where there were no buses. They quickly became currency in the local pubs. The Conservatives under estimate people's ingenuity.

aer it used to be that child benefit was paid separately and always to the primary carer. Not much longer.

With cash, small amounts could be saved towards a modest escape fund. Not possible witha benefits card.

How is this hysterical? It is fact.

Debit cards are attached to bank accounts which contain cash, which can be transferred, withdrawn etc. Not the same at all.

This is the old Labour policy of vouchers isn't it? Just with new technology.

It's been tried and it didn't work

And recycling New Labour really does show they must be devoid of ideas.

Ditto the people saying how it will give abusers an opportunity. If they could do it with a prepaid card they could do exactly the same with cash. There would be absolutely no additional risks and I can't really see how being given their benefits in cash would make any difference. If someone wants to take your card off you they will take your cash off you too. Ditto debit cards, it would present no addtional risks, if an abuser would take a prepaid card they'd take a debit card too

Day in day out all I deal with professionally are people who are experiencing domestic abuse and its pretty much all I've done for 2 decades. Without exception financial abuse is part of it. If you have no concept of how these cards can make it easier to do or harder to position yourself favourably escape wise,then you have a lack of understanding.

The vast majority of my clients escape after months and months of acting like squirrels with loose change

I think they should have something like that for MPs so we know they are spending their income correctly. It is taxpayers money, after all. We can't have them frittering it all away on second homes and dodgy cleaners.

They'd only work in certain shop I assume, so no bulk buying on the internet or popping to the corner shop?

"I'm not really sure what sort of ideology you could promote via the means of grocery shopping."

What on earth are you talking about, aer?

The entire point of vouchers is to dictate what benefit recipients do and don't get to spend them on. Otherwise you'd just use the existing currency called money.

The moment you make a decision that someone is permitted to buy X, and isn't permitted to buy why, you are exercising an ideology.

So would I have to have them? a carer caring for two children and a husband? I am studying to get my place into uni right now so will be getting different benefits then but I am still currently a carer and a student.

Nice.. because I don't want to be punished because it wasn't my fault DH became disabled and I have children with SN's. I didn't plan things this way. I couldn't envision that the things that happened would happen leaving me in this temporary position.

I have been worried about this happening for all benefit claimants for a long time. I thought it was always going to be the next step.

I don't know why this government don't just stick every benefits claimant in a concentration camp and be done with it They really have a way of treating those in need of the most help like lesser human beings. It's just awful.

It's always been leading up to to something like this.. The propaganda machines have been running full pelt.. dripping into people's brains that there are people out there aren't worth shot in your shoe.

There will be another run before it starts to refresh people's memorys of the scroungers living happily on the backs of the taxpayer

Well having looked at the American SNAP (food stamp) website I really hope they're not modelling the voucher system on that...
You can apparently buy seeds to grow your own fruit and veg but not nappies, soap etc.

I disagree aermingers, I vividly remember readying a story about a woman who was in an abusive relationship where he did take all the money but she still managed to save something like 10p at a time, tiny amounts that were barely noticeable. Eventually she managed to save up £2.50 for the bus so she and her son could go to the nearest town and find a woman's centre.

I also have a make friend who's gf worked full time while he was a SAHD and used to leave him an 'allowance' of about £3 a day for him to buy food etc for him and his son. If these cards were introduced he would have been sat at home all day with no food and no money, she refused to let him have access to any of 'her' money as 'she earned it' and just dished out what she thought was fair.

*shit on

Or will they be an open invitation for less scrupulous shops to bung close to date food, bruised fruit and veg to the stigmatised poor and vulnerable. It is just another stick to beat the poor with for the benefit of the daily mail readership.

Daughterdilemma too bloody right they should! A voucher for each MP prepaid with how much the taxpayer think they deserve each month.
I would vote for that

And as Daisy's just demonstrated, there are some for whom making the receipt of benefits unpleasant is a point in itself.

It's not enough that the benefits bill be low, or that poverty be intrinsically unpleasant: people must be punished or they won't work.

^male friend!

we used to save money in the bank for washing machines christmas etc this means if i was on benefits i would have to spend the full amount every week/fortnight i cant do that don't get me wrong it all gets spent but not all at once for example we went on holiday when we were on JSA (paid for by nanny we didn't have that much left over a month) i saved up £300 to spend on days out etc how could i save if i was given a card?

that'll help encourage people to claim all the unclaimed benefit the gov is sitting on

biggest welfare recipients - pensioners - who are exempt from everything ...because they vote

people on benefits are bloody human beings - it disgusts me the way we are encouraged to view them

the us do food stamps but that only makes up a portion of the benefit not the entire benefit

Ah, apologies, I only did a quick scan of what was eligible and I thought it was the whole of the benefit.

and food stamp fraud is rife in the USA

Also, what about people who live in rural areas - I can't see how for example the veg stall or the fish van here are going to take vouchers. So will claimants have to pay £6.00 return for the bus to a town with a supermarket every time they want some shopping? Cos that's really going to help their benefits stretch further.

I do wonder if ministers have any conception of the fact that not everyone lives in a town 5 minutes walk from a supermarket. And I don't suppose they even think about the idea of buying cheap veg / anything else from a market stall.

And I don't suppose they even think about the idea of buying cheap veg / anything else from a market stall.

They have no concept of any of the things mere mortals do to stretch a £.

Like the ebay example upthread, charity shop trawling, costco shopping with friends....

No way will Universal Credit be nationwide in February,i bet money on it

UC has been a huge cock up in the few areas it has been trialed

And they think they are going to add millions in February

They still havent sorted out waiting times for ESA and PIP currently 6months plus with new claims

i really really dislike the Tories,i just hope they dont get in next year,but there they have created such a hate towards benefit claimants it wouldnt surprise me if they were voted in

i despair