Benefit bashing

[LovelyBath77]

To think MN can be a bit benefit bashing at times. Even if people are rightfully claiming / ill / poor etc.

Recently, I have seen someone having a hard time although ill and having a baby and considering claiming tax credits. I also have had a hard time although illness (both me and DP) and low wage means claiming some tax credits.

I can understand the rage for those fraudulently claiming benefits or the like but why for those legitimately claiming? or AIBU?

Just seen a post from someone on Universal Credit who has been sanctioned because he has to attend Jury Service.

I've heard of that happening, too. Sanctions are brutal under UC.

who were only doing what was expected of them at the time. Bit gaslighty to blame them for it now

Oh FGS in hardly blaming them! My point was not every pensioner has worked their whole lives! And aren't benefit claimants also just doing what they have to do at the time as well? It pisses me off that people will bash young single mums and no one else despite the facts being pensioners, even wealthy Ines, make up the majority of the benefit bill.

Cherry I stick up for single mums a lot on here despite being childfree by choice.

Because i dont like the misogynistic attitude towards them.

The elephant in the room is the many thousands of Child Support thats not being paid.

And you do realise that some of the female pensioners now couldnt even buy a house in the late 1960s unless a MALE relative was involved. Women were discriminated at work and sacked for being pregnant.

i know someone who was working for Woolworths in the late 1970s and was told her pregnancy was "self inflicted" Shes one of todays pensioners now.

She struggled to get jobs post children ........really struggled. Just because the Sex Discrimination Act came in in 1975 doesnt mean it was enforced.

Helena I totally agree with you, and think women who are now pensioners have been treated appallingly.

I'm not personally of the train of thought that only people who've worked should have a pension. Female pensioners deserve their pension every bit as much as their male counterparts, wether they've worked or not. I'm having a dig at people on this thread who've taken umbridge with those who've never worked (therefore never "put into the pot") getting benefits. My point is, neither have many pensioners of both sexes, yet they don't have a moan about them. It's cognitive dissonance at its finest really! Selective benefit bashing, which is, IMO, steeped in sexism and classism

Ah im with you.

The taxi driver i used earlier tonight was doing a bit of B.B.

The irony is that he thinks business is bad NOW. But even less people will be able to afford things like taxis when U.C. comes in here in a couple of months time.

I think a lot of people dont realize that the changes that they have voted for are going to have a knock on effect on them too. And it will probably finish off the few small independent (niche) type shops we have left here (small market town) as its low income people who spend in them. The type of places where you can still buy things like feather dusters from etc.

@fuckingroundabout - so effectively WP like myself who can make it work and work really hard are subsidising you to stay at home with your children. I can understand going on the dole if you can't get a job, but to make a conscious decision not to work because you're 'better off' on the dole is judgement worthy in my opinion. Chances are you're probably not even better off considering there's more to work than just salary (there's pensions, life insurances, the ability to buy a house and save, and of course self-respect).

@CherryChasingDotMuncher - a lot of pensioners have contributed into the system though, often at a time when taxes were far higher (and wages smaller). I do agree with previous posters that only people who have worked should get the full state pension (with people who haven't getting benefits instead; divorced women who stayed at home should be entitled to claim part of their ex husband's pension if married above a certain time).

actually genghi my 2 year old daughter is autistic and my 10 month old son has what seems to be pretty unstable asthma and Im a very lone parent. I know full well even if I applied for the job that by the time I have factored in how much time I would need off for both of them I wouldnt be keeping a job for long nor would I physically earn enough to pay for 2 full time childcare places and then have to have unpaid time off constantly, theres better off and then there is comitting financial suicide.

I would only ever be able to get minimum wage jobs and I have never seen one with life insurance nor would I earn enough to have money to save for a pension or to buy a house. Its not as black and whitr as choosing to not work.

In the mean time Im finishing my degree off with the OU so hopefully when my daughter is settled down and my son no longer back to back chest infections I can grt a job that could be all those things.

and yes I know that comes.across as a massive drip feed but I put the figures in to see if it made me better off enough that I could afford to lose an average of a day off a week and still stay afloat which is why it caught my attention that financially it makes me.worse off even without the other factors

What a fantastic idea - putting even more pensioners into poverty

Under current pension rules you need 35 years of NI I believe (10 years of which can be at home with small children even if you aren't earning in that period). I will get not quite the whole state pension when I am 67 and 34 contiuous years of NI so far. My pension will be taxed at 40 or 45% because I will still be working for myself so it will be around £60 a week which I will get if there is still a state pension when I turn 67. It depends what we think we can afford as a nation by then.

@fuckingroundabout - I think you're assuming that many WP, myself included, don't have disabled or SN kids? Of course we do. In many cases I get more support than someone on the dole would through private medical, childcare vouchers, and carers organisations at work.

As a pp said about carers wages, I agree it's a huge injustice the amount carers are paid, the amount of skill and knowledge a good carer needs to possess (and dedication, hard work and horrendous hours!) are completely belied by wages offered. I worked as a carer for over 10 years before I trained as a nurse. I just feel it's fundamentally wrong that someone who literally has people's lives in their hands are on the minimum wage. But then you have the problem of you raise carers wages, you have to raise nurses wages (otherwise why take the extra responsibility/professional obligations/stress), If you raise nurses wages you have to raise managers wages etc etc As pointed out all that will happen is taxes will have to increase to fund NHS workers and in social care fees would go through the roof (and many of these are tax payer funded as well).
Tax credits are a very good thing, most carers I know claim them and need them to earn a living wage. I was extremely lucky in that I was able to train as a nurse whilst the bursary still existed but now that avenue is closed to carers as well. It's not so easy as to just get a better paid job, as has been suggested by some. Even if it was so easy, and everyone suddenly got new, well paid jobs and stopped needing tax credits, who will do these crucial low paid jobs? It's a sad fact that some of the most important jobs in our society are also some of the lowest paid.

genghi i am a lone parent with zero support my daughter is 2 and son 10 months. not every work place has carers organisations or private medical or even understanding employers that accept that my son is so up and down he would have to have fairly regular sick days and my daughter currently has a ridiculous amount of appointments. Last week in august she has three hospital appointments, every weds she has SALT every thursday she has portage. in january she already has 6 hospital appointments (using jan as an example). I would need to have a job where I earn enough to take these off unpaid as I have to save my holiday for childminder's holidays. (dd wouldnt cope in a nursery) Im a lone parent, not superhuman.

oh and an employer who would allow all the time off.

i did have a job, but I cant find childcare for alt weekends or two x 4am starts a week.

Genghi - but there are also some parents of disabled children who cannot work. No suitable childcare for example.