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..

As an aside I'd suggest most of the problems with UC and the people in these articles is that they aren't aware of their rights and don't seem to do much about learning what they are or how UC works beyond receiving the money e.g. how a change of circumstances affect it, how assessment periods work, when they can apply for sick related money. That's the side of it that I think is particularly unfair.

SmashedMug

You should read your own links and follow your own advice.

You'd have seen that the man in the couple is a recovering alcoholic, sober for 2 1/2 years, something to be celebrated and not judged for.

You'd have read they spent 15 nights homeless after they were automatically put onto UC and their rental payment had the statutory 5 week wait.

If you'd have read your own story you'd have seen that the woman was pregnant at the time of being made homeless, shortly losing the baby after living in a car with no money.

Now you can twist all of that and somehow say,l it's their fault, they're too blame or that the one news source doesn't give all facts, or you can read the same story on other sites and see the truth of the matter.

UC delayed payment, rent didn't get paid, they ended up homeless, they lost a baby shortly after. All facts, all there and all very much real.

Excerpt from: thepoorsideof.life

I then spoke to Gill, a young woman who visibly looked upset. I asked Gill if I could help her. Her reply was ‘My baby died three months ago, I had only just made a claim for universal credit just before my little boy died.’

Gill then told me that her baby’s funeral had been performed by the local council council and she had had to pay for this themselves. She’s now struggling to get the DWP to reimburse her some of this money.

My heart went out to her, she had been ill advised, felt alone in the world and was now trying to get a receipt for the funeral to satisfy the DWP. I signposted her to my local MP for help with this.

I asked Gill how she was coping and were the DWP treating her well. Her reply was that she’s struggling to cope and the DWP haven’t shown her any sympathy for the death of her baby. She’s still got to search for a job.

This is a genuine question. Several people have mentioned public transport issues that mean eg a 15 min car ride takes 90 minutes by bus, or similar. Why don't you use a bicycle?

Our local bike recycling place sells second hand for £20 and you can definitely get them for free on freecycle etc.

(I often cycle for that kind of journey, and have bike commuted in the past - though in my case I am not also dealing with poverty and am able-bodied)

(And I do realise that a bit of cycling is not going to solve the whole problem....)

LtGreggs

It's a fair comment TBF.
I don't want to go into too much detail so I'll keep it brief.

Right now, if I got a job that was in my nearest town, it would take 15 mins by car, 45 mins by bike according to Google.

Too put it absolutely bluntly... Theres currently not enough fuel in my tank to fuel 45 minute bike ride, work shift, 45 minute bike ride home. Today, just as an example and bearing in mind I'm a 40 year old man, I've had 4 slices of bread butter, 2 eggs, 70g pasta with 1 tin chopped tomatoes.. I consider today to be a higher intake day than usual. Does that make sense?

If I tried to cycle for those miles for five days a week and do work shift and school runs and stuff with daughter the energy in / out deficit would reach catastrophic levels pretty quick. Any extra money I'd get working wouldn't be seen for months due to child care costs needing to be paid for.

It was me who said the only opportunities in Hartlepool are in the care sector and I don't believe there is anything wrong with it. I am a fulltime care worker. I suggested up thread the other hartlepool resident who said she was searching for jobs should try care. My point was there are limited opportunities for people living hartlepool and less so for those shown in the programme The jobs that are available are physically and emotionally tough with low pay and little opportunity for career growth meaning the majority of people living in Hartlepool will always be on UC or top up benefits like tax credits. There is no local opportunities available for them.

And if you were honest would let any of the people shown care for your elderly parents or grandparents?

It was also me who said a fifteen minute by car commute took me 90 minutes on the bus. It was hartlepool to ormesby. I used the example of hartlepool to ormesby because that is a commute I did do for work. Google maps says it would take 70 minutes by bike and includes a ferry trip across the tees. I guess I could swim the tees to save the wait for the ferry but I doubt I would stay healthy enough to work if I was regularly swimming in the river tees. The transporter bridge doesnt take peddle bikes.

@LtGreggs

I honestly would if it were safe or feasible, traveling by bus adds an hour each side to my shift, for a job a 15 min car journey away. A taxi is £12 each way. Google says 40 mins to cycle.
I work nights, so for about 8 months out of 12 it's dark when I'd be going, about 6 months it'd be dark in the morning too. I also live and work fairly rurally and much of the route would be unlit 60mph roads, in the dark, about 3/4 of the way wouldn't have pavement either. I also live on the north east coast, with the weather that brings in winter, open fields with gusts of wind etc, I'm not a confident enough cyclist to deal with that, I lived in a city for a while and did cycle to work - on well lit roads with cycle lanes. Saved a fortune and kept me fit.
Add to that I'm 40 and have a very physical job, I'm not sure I'd have the energy to be cycling up the big banks (hills) we have here after a 12 hour Nightshift constantly on the move and lifting/moving all night.

Question: how do these people on UC who get paid monthly now think us working people get on?

Question Have you ever lost six weeks wages for being a couple of minutes late to work one day?

The Pension Service wrote to us today to let us know what changes in circumstances would put my 69 year old husband and i over to UC

*if you leave "Great" Britain for more than 4 consecutive weeks
*if your household income or savings increase.
*if you or your partner move out of your home.
*if you move home into a new local authority area.
*if your or your partners entitlement to another benefit ends.

The letter is in regards to Housing Benefit.

Im guessing there will be less couples in our situation willing to risk a move to sheltered housing now so wont be freeing up social housing any time soon!

Thanks for the bike replies. They make sense - and I definitely understand that some destinations are just more bike-able than others.

Implies they lost their home and baby due to UC and rent being missed.
I wonder whether such articles are specifically written / laid out in a particular way to trigger subconscious negative feelings. I tried to empathise, but could not help noticing the freshly done immaculate nails on the photo - of a person who says she has not got a penny spare.

I tried to empathise, but could not help noticing the freshly done immaculate nails on the photo

This sums up the attitude that needs changing in this country.

A woman, loses a child, loses a home, lived in the streets for 15 days and manages to get a place with a homeless charity....
But fuck her, she's painted her nails, bitch deserves it.

Disgusting, what a fucked up society we live in. Disgraceful absolutely fucking disgraceful.

Nails, hair etc are very easy to get when you're skint if you know the right people. I have freshly cut and coloured hair that is professionally blow dried every day. I also, on the rare occassions I go out have professional make-up.

I'm a qualified hairdresser and make-up artist and until recently volunteered in a salon to gain work experience. Some of the students from the year above us went on to do nails. They'd do a gel manicure for a fiver for me if I asked them to. I wouldn't judge someone on their nails. Her mate could have done them with a UV lamp bought from Wish for 99p.

Looks like 2.99 Rimmel Black Cherries to me if you are talking about the woman on the left of the photo.

Maybe she didnt get the memo that she was supposed to throw out any nail polish she already had when applying for UC#

You do realize that a bottle of nail polish usually holds more than one application right? And can be kept for a while.

There is misogyny behind these attitudes as well as classism.

Women are treated like shit when they dont keep up beauty standards but when poorer women try to do the same they are vilified for daring to spend their UC on it.

Ive pointed this out on the waxing pubic hair threads and will continue to do so.

Thank You for proving me right

But fuck her, she's painted her nails, bitch deserves it.
And that is absolutely not what I said. I highlighted how the article tells one story, but the selection of the photo delivers a different underlying message. I know, I know, everyone else is a saint and it was only me who noticed, and the journalist was also a saint and chose the photo innocently.
I am not as lucky as Frequency to have my nails done for 99p by friends, and I guess I am not alone in this, and women can usually assign a market value to a manicure like that - from £12 in a cheap nail bar and up.

And that is absolutely not what I said

That's exactly what you said,
You couldn't empathise because she has painted nails.

You know in the absolute depths of fucking never ending shitty bleak black depressing loneley and hopeless fucking misery, splashing out £15 on some nice nails is fuck all. I wouldn't begrudge her that, hell, I'd hand her the £15 myself cause compared to her, I'm on easy Street.
Poor woman, I feel sorry for her, but I feel more sorry for you for being unable to empathise with a woman that's lost a child just because she spent some of her pittance on her nails. What a sad and upsetting life you must have.

You do realize that a bottle of nail polish usually holds more than one application right?
I really envy then people who can make their nails look professionally done while homeless and in possession of one bottle of nail polish. I totally have two left hands when it comes to painting own nails. I was sure it was one of those shellac extension sets.

Poor woman, I feel sorry for her, but I feel more sorry for you for being unable to empathise with a woman that's lost a child just because she spent some of her pittance on her nails.
She had a miscarriage at 6 weeks. It is very sad, but it happens in around 20%-25% of all pregnancies.
You are a better person than I am, if you are prepared to pay for someone's fancy nails. I am not, but there is no need to feel sorry for my emotional dumbness - I have plenty of causes to empathise with, everyone's different

Here she is, the woman in question..

Looks well minted don't they?
Look at em, in their coats... He's even got a hat on, the bastard...

How can the government keep handing money to people like that?

Yes its defo designer What do you reckon Tinker? Prada or Gucci?

There are a few on here who cant wait to see more pensioners out on the street too.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/3479693-Changes-to-Pension-Credit

Looks a bit Vivien Westwood to me, with the fur trim, real fur that is, from a wild Alaskan Albino Shit Weasel, very rare.

The common shit weasel isn't rare, there's a few of them fuckers on this thread.

She had a miscarriage at 6 weeks. It is very sad, but it happens in around 20%-25% of all pregnancies.

Six weeks or six months, doesn't matter how far along in a pregnancy your are, it doesn't make the loss any easier. You can sit there blabbing on about 20-25% and all it's doing is making you look like an even bigger dickhead who - in their own words - tried to empathise right up until they saw the woman was wearing nail varnish because heaven fucking forbid someone going through a horrendous time should try and do something to give themselves a little boost.

Maybe it's a £1 bottle from the pound shop. Maybe it's a bottle she already owned before her life went to shit. Maybe a friend did them. Maybe a family member paid for her to have them done. Doesn't matter, however your inability to empathise based on those nails says far more about what sort of person you are than her painted nails say about her.

If those nails are 'professionally done' she needs to ask for a refund. They're way too square, not at all long enough to pull off a colour that dark and the varnish is already starting to chip on some fingers.