Skint Britain: Friends without Benefits on C4

[amrscot]

Is anybody else watching this?

One of the couples take their dog out to hunt rabbits and squirrels that they can eat.

They've just shown him with a dead rabbit he has caught skinning it in the kitchen

Horrendous..

I was moved onto UC in October . Had to take a loan as it was a 5 week wait .

Got a letter from Child Tax Credits a few weeks ago stating I owe them £215.00 . All down to the switch over so I suspect that will be more kept from my payment , though no fault of my own . It all sucks .

My SIL has 4 kids. Lives in a very large council house, has been abroad every year for 3 years. Goes out a lot. The 3 oldest kids all got a brand new Xbox for Xmas EACH
I think your SIL is a drug dealer or your DBro pays lots of maintenance.
Maybe SIL probably spends the maintenance for nights out too. not a stereotype at all

@LoisWilkerson1 and @Frequency

Yeah, me too. I work nights. Apparently I spend all day in bed and am out 'gallavanting' all night....... 🤨 True, I am in bed all day, because I've been grafting all night, but they don't let a little thing like that get in the way of a good old bitch.

And thank you marvel for the info. Much appreciated.

www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/lincoln-news/lincoln-couple-steal-food-iceland-2545161

The problem at the heart of it is that in the UK we still live in a feudal society. We still behave as though we are peasants grateful for scraps and turn on each other when there's not enough.
The fact that full time wages need to be topped up by the government is disgraceful.
I hope there is a bloody riot about UC.

@ifNotNow . I totally agree with you .

I took part in the Poll Tax demos. I also never paid a penny of Poll Tax: simply didn’t register for it like many of my friends. I remember that pretty much the whole nation was outraged about it.

What has happened in the intermediate years that we are all rolling over and letting UC happen? Is it the distraction of Brexit? Is it the scrounger narrative we are fed by the media? So many people are just not bothered.

A neighbour apparently thought I was on benefits but "living the life of riley". I worked full time from home and received no benefits at all.

What has happened in the intermediate years that we are all rolling over and letting UC happen? Is it the distraction of Brexit? Is it the scrounger narrative we are fed by the media? So many people are just not bothered.

I think the government played a perfect game of distraction, demonisation and threats.

They're distracting the nation from the awfulness if UC with Brexit.
They've demonised benefit claimants using the media to paint them all as feckless, lazy, big TV owning scum bags that pop kids out so they don't have to work.
They've threatened the claimants with sanctions that can let up to 3 years. Imagine that, 3 years without money or rent.

The thing is, as shown in this very thread, clueless morons have lapped up the demonising and cultivated a them and us attitude where the well off begrudge the poor getting a single penny.

How many times have you read similar too,
"I don't want to work to fund people that just have kids and don't want to work"
As if they're earning £40k to hand £20k to someone to stay home. When you point out that a matter of a few quid goes to unemployment, they don't take it on board, they just ignore the facts in favour of believing channel 5.

I think the current situation is unbearable for people. I don’t wish to be trite but the cost of running a household is immense and I think multi-generational living or friends combining their households is the way forward.

I don’t wish to be trite but the cost of running a household is immense

I dont really disagree, but I do disagree... Lol.

It can cost a lot, but it also can cost much less. I live on less than £1k, I'd love to have a £1k coming in.

MPs expenses claims...

Which they get on top of their wages..

And people moan about a poor fucker getting less than £1000 to pay all their bills.

WeeTinkerMonkey, MPs don’t get expenses as a nice little bonus, it’s the way the government funds things like wages for their staff, office space, rent for accommodation (as they’ll need to be in both London and their constituency, and many are too far away to commute), travel, stationery etc. The MP pays it out then reclaims it as an expense.

If you look at the breakdowns you can see exactly what each MP spends it on.

That said, some MPs are completely out of touch with the average man or woman on the street.

people in this world DO EXIST that are scroungers and will rinse the system for every penny they can!

I don't doubt there are a minority of people who would play the system. In an idea world, the system would be perfect and everyone woukd get exactly what they were entitled to.

However, I would think it's virtually impossible to create an entirely perfect system and I personally think it's better that a minority of people are receiving benefits they're not entitled to than some people are missing out on benefits that they are genuinely entitled to. Nobody starves, freezes or dies because a few people get more than they deserve, but all those things are happening when the genuinely needy are cut off from benefits.

ideal world

Friends combining households? how would that work for disabled people who are a group that have suffered the most with the cuts

When there are cases of self immolation in a foreign country its the oppressive regime

When there are cases of self immolation outside Job Centres in the UK its because the person is mentally ill.

Ive seen 3 cases reported in local media from different areas pop up in my Twitter feed in the last couple of years. Not taken up by the MSM though.

Just been told, not by UC as they don't tell anyone .

You CAN have two weekly payments apparently . This I shall be asking to switch too come next month .

I think you can have twice monthly payments on request in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but only in certain circumstances in England and Wales?

MPs don’t get expenses as a nice little bonus

ERM..

Duck island..
Moat..
Etc

#justsaying

Funny how UC claimants with fuck all are expected to travel 90monutes to work and pay out if their shitty wages.. MPs get near on £80 but they don't have too...

Awww. Thanks @WrongKindofFace . Thought it too good to be true , but then again it would mess up the rent that goes out so I suppose I should leave it as it is and just handle my money better .

Quentin Davis once claimed over £20k for a bell tower.

Duck island claim was £1600

Someone claimed 55p for a jar of Horlicks.

One Mp claimed expenses for travelling 1000 yards..

Ian Duncan Smith tried to climb for a £39 breakfast...

My favourite tho was the minister who tried to claim near £400 for... Staff? No.. travel? No... Offices? Nope...
Horse manure..... That's right, he wanted tax payer money to by shit...

Sure sounds like it's used on staff and important stuff and such don't it?

@Ihaveabloodyheadache sending love and I hope your situation improves soon can totally relate to everything you've said, it's so fucking hard to get by.

Iain Duncan Smith is an utter bastard .

My DC worked with him before he entered politics . She didn't paint a nice picture of him either . Arrogant tosser who married money .

It's not the fact that MPs can claim expenses that is the problem - nothing wrong with claiming back money you need to spend to do your job properly. The issue is that many MPs were, you know, working the system and taking hard working people's taxes to fund luxuries. When they are mostly not just well-paid for being MPs, but in many cases independently wealthy because they come from wealthy families. Quite often the ones lining their own pockets were the ones making the most noise about 'workshy scroungers' as well.

@emeraldshamrock

I think your SIL is a drug dealer or your DBro pays lots of maintenance.
Maybe SIL probably spends the maintenance for nights out too.not a stereotype at all

It's not my brothers wife, it's my husband's sister.
4 kids, 4 dad's, never worked a day in her 33 years. Currently think she's pregnant again.
Doesnt pay for babysitters as her friend she goes out with has a niece who like after all the kids together for a bottle of Windsor her and a pal (underage)

She's out every Saturday without fail

Has openly said for years she isn't interested in work as she enjoys being a stay at home mum and she gets lots of money from being one

I don't dislike her as a person, just her morals to be honest.

And yes it annoys me and no I will never apologise for that. Me and dh work very hard to have what we have, yet have still cancelled our night out tonight due to no money as we are trying to do our house up.

Not one comment on this thread has yet made me think that I'm wrong for feeling cross at this I'm afraid.