I should have added that because you have 40 hours one week, your claim is re-assessed making the assumption that you earn that every week. Which with zero-hours contracts is uncertain. Consequently you are left with not enough to pay your bills.
The system cannot cope with variable pay.
Of course it's fair and right to pay your way - no need to be so bloody patronising hmm
The same is true of lots of government systems, not least JSA, CSA... if you're self employed the same is true of the tax bill that you get halfway through the year (it's based on a previous years earnings and bears no resemblance to your current earnings... the PAYE system that almost every employed person uses to pay tax is based on what you earn there and then and not over the year (even though tax contributions are collected over a year - this is why some lucky people get tax rebates) it doesn't mean that the system isn't fit for purpose or that people should be paid more, it means that the system is slow to update, and needs to be more dynamic.
(would you rather that an arbirtay middle value was paid, or a bottom value, and then you end up working too many weeks and having attachment to earning and getting money reclaimed?)
Essentially it's a computer system issue! not a problem that means the system is broken.
LuisSuarezTeeth Mon 05-Jan-15 18:50:42
But there are a few people on here who are saying that they are pretty much consciously making a choice to have a hard life on benefits, and then saying that they want more.
Who?
The poster who said that if they were to work that after child care costs they'd be no better off and so don't work, this is a person that chooses to live on benefits, not because they can't work. but because they won't work.
RE wheel chairs vs pushchairs, I misread. (sorry)
however, you're talking about 7 seater cars? do you really need such a huge car? does it need to be a new car? does it have to be a more prestige badge?
You talk about Ford Galaxy or Volks wagon Sharan, the Vaxhall Zafira is definitely available as a mobility car as I've got a friend who has one under the DLA scheme. (that's a 7 seat MPV also)
What do you suggest I do? Strap a 9 year old to my back?
no, I don't suggest you strap a nine year old to your back because that would be stupid.
I suggest an older car that you can afford better instead of a brand new car. If I can drive a car that wasn't made inside of this millennium, why can't you be happy with a car 5 - 10 years old?,
I fail to understand why you need a brand new car? (this again comes back to what I said about need vs. want. you NEED a big seater car, you WANT a "higher brand" one, you WANT a new one, and you WANT it on a finance deal supported by a government scheme.)
Regards opinions, that's all your stories about a mobility car are! the only thing that can be said to be "hard facts" are the quotes earlier about JSA sanctions that are verifiable based on the MP's that have raised the issue.
your story about how you can't get a mobility 7 seat MPV that you want, is just an anecdote. just as every other posters story about their mate who got this, or the time that the power when out after their allowance was cut is just an anecdote.
The very fact that newspapers have reported on abuse of benefits, and that there are government statistics regarding it does prove as fact that it does happen. Same as news papers report on the way that some benefit claimants are very hard done by.
the benefits Britain/street, too fat to work etc shows are not representative, however they aren't made up either!
It's not an empathy bypass to try to point out that there are people on benefits who get benefits that they don't need. (and that is why people who work complain).
but at the same time there are people who get nowhere near enough.
The thread is asking what's the beef, I tried to be fair in my post. and tried to look at it from both sides of the argument.
I can't see anyone who purports to receive benefits showing that they feel any empathy for anyone working struggling to survive and paying tax to provide the very welfare system that they are reliant on.