AIBU to think 'cheers for leaving me up shit creek, society'?

[ahfuckHelpme]

I've lost my job and used this username to ask for extreme budgeting advice (which I got, nothing but love for MN for that :D )
I have no kids, was TTC (hence using this site) of course this has now stopped.
Myself and DH are under 25.
I have had job breaks in the last 2yrs, where I lost my job and had to find a new one. In total I've spent a few months unemployed in the last few years. I always do my best to find a job quickly but its not always easy.
Anyhow.
I tried to claim JSA, My initial claim was refused (for income based JSA) with no reason given. So I tried to claim the other type (Think its called contributions based) And was told I hadn't worked enough, fair enough. so I demanded an answer to why I couldn't claim JSA (income based) was told its because my partner earns over 16k a year, barely mind, but does. He's on 15.6k (Per year) after taxes and NI. he's paid 4 weekly and gets 1.2k per pay. however before deductions is on about 17k.
AIBU to think this is fucking shit? Our finances are so badly at breaking point we've had to apply for a debt relief order (referred to as mini bankruptcy) work is hard to come by. as of today there are 4 jobs within a 10 mile radius I can apply for and some of those have over 100 applicants(of course I've still applied but I'm prepared to be unemployed for a few months minimum) yet we can't even claim JSA for me.
PS. I'm also annoyed I was told to apply for income support, which I am not eligible for (not a carer/disabled/in education/no kids) but I applied for it anyway and today was told I'm not eligible for that either!
can't get housing benefit, still waiting to find out about council tax reduction but unlikely, can't get JSA, can't get income support. I'm sorting this the best I can (Advice isn't what I'm looking for as such but is definitely welcome!) I'm just ranting really.
In what world is it ok to leave people this badly up shit creek? I campaigned against lots of welfare 'reforms' (read: cuts) and will contnue to do so but even I didn't realize it would be this bad :(

The OP lives in the Welsh valleys. It's a shithole of an area and anyone in their 20s in the position of the OP is well advised to get out. As to why the Welsh valleys have gone down the drain the short answers are:

• Decline of religion (Methodist and Baptist churches which once dominated south Wales) and consequent decline of morality - people want quick buck, spend money on gambling and alcohol (neither of which Methodist or Baptist churches were keen on). This has happened in a period of approx. 45 years.

• Decline of industry - coal-mining, steel-making, etc. Whereas there are plenty of specialist high-end steel-making and engineering companies in England there are practically none in Wales.

• Rubbish education system. The quality of state education in Wales, and Welsh people's attitudes to education, is declining continuously. Welsh applications to Oxford University in 2013 hit a 14-year low.

Are you able to move to an area, preferably a city, with better job prospects? I would not stay where you are if it's so bad for jobs. I've moved many times for work.

Somebody should suggest she moves...

On second thoughts, perhaps all the people who do would like to donate to
www.gofundme.com/ahfucksmovingfundbecausemovingcostsmoney

Somebody should suggest she moves…

What a great idea :-D
Her partner who does have a job should quit and they should both rock up to a city estate agent with no jobs and no savings, they'll be SNAPPED UP by a landlord in no time I tell ya! It'ld be GREAT! and easy and cheap!

Sex chant lines have largely disappeared as it is all webcams these days.

Sex chant lines have largely disappeared as it is all webcams these days.

I thought that might be the case practy i suppose i was grasping at straws a bit.

Beyond

I once asked a rather well know mumsnetter who has rather, er, strident views on matters of earnings and career for an actual practical suggestion as to how we could have moved from Belfast to London (as she had suggested we should have hypothetically done) when my dh was unemployed many years ago, when the price of a flight for one of us, at that time, was equal to our month's budget for food. And we didn't know anyone who lived there, so he couldn't go over and sleep on a friend's floor until he got a job. The answer was 'I'm sure you could have found a way'. I asked for some actual practical suggestions because believe me, at the time we would have moved if we could have done, but no one was able to suggest anything above and beyond asking our parents for money. (Which they wouldn't have given us, since they were vehemently opposed to the idea of us moving away.)

Anyway, my rather rambling point is that comparing now to 100 years ago isn't really an accurate comparison either. It's not like you can arrive at the train station without a ticket and ask if you can get a journey to 'the big city' in return for a day's work or something.

God. Some people on the thread are so tedious. Lots of couples live apart for years. It's life. Even educated, well paid couples do it. But I guess it's too much to ask of people without qualifications and employment in south Wales!

As for sex chant (chat?) lines, the fact that this gets suggested to the OP as a possibility is a damning indictment of what decades of feminism have done for women in Britain.

actually, that came out a bit mixed up. I was making another rambling point

To be fair, I know the op DOES NOT WANT TO MOVE but when I was in my early 20s and couldn't get a job in South Wales I moved to London where I could get a job and got a room in a shared house (cheapest way.) My partner came up to join me six months later. If op can't/won't move, what is she going to do short-term and long-term?

No tax credits in those days btw.

migrant the problem isnt feminism It is class and privilege.

SOME middle/upper class feminists look down on women who have become unemployed and/or are SAHM but also look down on them for doing certain jobs.

Im a feminist but a realistic working class one.

With chatlines its just a voice on the phone. The bloke is nowhere near you.

The problem is class..........not feminism.

"

I don't think the OP actually said that she doesn't want to move (apologies if she did and I have missed that bit). She said she can't afford to move. Which is very different.

Justlikefire So was this before 1998.

Helena: Your post is itself a damning indictment of "feminism", realistic working class or otherwise. The problem with this country is that people have lost their self-respect and then expect others to give up theirs also.

I think we have to depend on family more, turn back the clock. I'm pretty sure that must happen in other countries, you live with DPs until you can afford somewhere or live in shared accomm

I think we have to depend on family more, turn back the clock. I'm pretty sure that must happen in other countries, you live with DPs until you can afford somewhere or live in shared accomm

That's exactly the Tory boy mentality that left people in this situation in the first place

not everyone who is old enough to have adult children are home owners with space to take in adult children and partners for free/reduced rent while the adult children get on track

Taking away benefits for under 25s hasn't magiced up a load of parents with the means to support their adult children in between jobs or to re-train or intern etc

That's kinda the point of the whole thread

MissMargie is completely correct. That's how Spain manages with 20% unemployment and Greece manages with 25% unemployment. As someone said, if the unemployment levels in the U.K. were those levels there would be civil disorder.

HOW DARE YOU eumigrant You have no idea what has gone on in someones life so dont be so bloody pompous.

I took sex chatline work back in 2001 after being on New Deal/workfare i had a choice I had already done workfare in a charity shop and for my local council for my JSA Then those bastards at Reed/Pelcombe wanted me to do 3 months in a soup factory for my JSA The only PAID job i was being offered was in a sex chatline office so these were the only 2 choices i had therefore i took the chatline job.

Had i got to the sex chatline office after signing off and discovered there was more to it than i had been told at the interview i cant honestly say that i would have said no and gone back to the Job Centre to sign on knowing for a fact that more workfare was awaiting me.

As it turned out i was treated with a bloody sight more respect there than i ever got from workfare providers.

I have plenty of self respect thank you very much you pompous misogynist.

Because it was my highest paid job at £12,000 a year. Which was a bloody good wage for round here and it also meant i didnt have to claim tax credits which were in their infancy then for ppl WITHOUT children and full of cock ups which were in the news at the time.

And how would ppl have the room Margie when they have been bedroom taxed out of their homes and had to downsize. Their adult kids often cant move back in because there isnt room.

Justlikefire are you mad? Read the full thread! The OP repeatedly says she really wants to move but DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY to do so. She is trapped in horrible accommodation that is expensive enough to eat up most of their income with no spare to save for deposit, first month's rent, overlap in tenancies, moving costs etc. Likewise those who say she should move in with parents you have no idea what her family situation is! There are any number of reasons why that would be impossible.

OP you have my sympathy. I can't offer any useful advice but I just want you to know I hear you. It's not your fault you're stuck in a shit situation. It must be complete crap to hear some people on this thread giving the same useless advice repeatedly and then blaming you when you can't take it. I was stuck in a house full of black mould that made me ill because we couldn't afford to move but at least I had a job and we live in a well off area with work around. Will be thinking of you.

If EU migrants can come to U.K. rent privately at market rates and support themselves, why can't British people (in particular those paying sub-market rents).

The problem with the so-called working classes is that they got used to a gravy train of subsidies - pay rent at 1/3 of the market rate (and don't even pay that some of the time), don't pay council tax, work 14 hours a week at something a machine could do and tax credits to top up.

I'll know that the Tories have gone far enough in cutting benefits when I get a card through my letterbox from a British person offering do do cleaning.