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..

You can hand out all the biscuits you want...it doesn’t change anything and just proves that you’re not willing to listen to anyone, even those who have been in similar situations and changed things round.

You can look for ways to be personally offended about comments that clearly don’t apply to you but not sure why you would do that if you are, as you say, genuinely trying to do everything you can to improve your lot.

The reason the comments started about trying was because every time anyone on here mentioned positive options to try, posters would immediately come back with reason after reason why it couldn’t possibly work for them....

volunteering could help with confidence, employability, upskilling etc = I can’t afford the bus fare into town.

You could volunteer at school, arrange local volunteering yourself, organisations often pay expenses so you don’t need to find bus fares = I have to spend 35 hours pw job hunting so I don’t have time.

DWP can allow you two days pw for volunteering as it’s so beneficial = *radio silence

No one can give any guarantees about the future but one things for sure, nothing will change unless you keep trying to change it.

But that's my question. What can I do that I am not already doing to be able to afford those things, baring in mind that my zero hours contract states I must be able to work any hours between 7am and 11pm with 24 hours notice and I am not allowed to take on any work or study that will effect my availability without prior consent from management

The same management who want you to be "on call" but dont want to pay you to be. Wanting to own you completely There is a term for the way they are behaving which they wouldnt like to be called.

people dont trust them Thats the point Dorset what you say might be true Prior to New Deal i asked about volunteering and was told not being available for work would affect my benefits.

their workfare didnt seem to count with not being available though

I volunteered when unemployed. But I was told by DWP it had to be 5 hours or under a week, not 2 whole days.

Helena. Just sounds like yet another excuse tbh. I know plenty of organisations, including mine, who have people volunteering with absolutely no impact on their benefits

At the end of the day, it’s up to you isn’t it? Don’t bother then because you “don’t trust them/don’t have time/it’s too far” (delete as appropriate) because the only person who that decision affects is you.

YY @WeeTinkerMonkey if they cant take it then they shouldnt dish it out.

Dorset im a full time carer for my DH who has COPD.

Why is the PP above who is about to care for his father a worthy carer and im not?

Helena. When did I ever say you weren’t a worthy career? 🤔

The same management who want you to be "on call" but dont want to pay you to be. Wanting to own you completely There is a term for the way they are behaving which they wouldnt like to be called.

Yup. My direct manager is brilliant. She's been a carer on a zero hours contract and a lone parent so she understands my position. She's the one who okay'd this years study and the part-time course I am starting next year but she has to pass on my availability to the out of hours team who organise cover work and has to justify any gaps in my availability. She's gotten away with this year and next year by telling them it was pre-planned study and I would have refused the job offer if I wasn't allowed to continue.

She's agreed if I take on any more part-time or short courses she will adjust my rota to accommodate it but she can't keep changing my availability or out of hours will escalate it to management who will investigate me for breaking terms of my contract and her for allowing it without getting the go-ahead from head office. She knows head office wouldn't okay it because they wouldn't okay her doing CPD courses. If out of hours call me and offer me hours between 7am and 11pm with 24 hours notice I have to take it and out of hours ring me around 3 times a week, usually with less than 24 hours notice which I am able to refuse but as my direct manager pointed out if I refuse overtime every Monday between 9am-3pm they're going to start wondering what I am doing every Monday between 9am and 3pm.

Dorset it is what i was told at the time. That i couldnt do it because it would affect my benefits. And there have been plenty of threads on here in the past where ppl have fallen foul of it

Dorset Plenty of people do things that they are not supposed to do if on job seekers allowance. They are breaking the rules. That is up to them. But please understand why some people might not want to.

i ended up in a sex chatline office after New Deal.

Used to get a wide range of callers. I think some of you would be very surprised.

Frequency Im glad you have got some support from your direct manager.

Helena. If you’re a full time carer then of course you’re not going to have time for volunteering etc, not sure why you’re suggesting that anyone has said that you should?

Again, just because one person was told no or because one person had an issue (which could just as easily have been because they didn’t follow the proper procedures, who knows?) then everyone forever should just give up even considering it?

Do you not see it’s that attitude that some people are finding frustrating? Wouldn’t it be better to encourage people to explore every possible option available to them? To be signposting them to organisations that could help? Suggesting ways they can access services and improve their chances of changing their futures?

Claire. But you are allowed to volunteer. You were clearly told you could do it for 5 hours per week so you’re not doing anything that you shouldn’t be doing whilst on JSA.

here is something else Both DH and i were signing on for a time in the late 90s

One day i was pulled to one side and made to sign a form saying i would consider part time work.

DH was made to do no such thing. #everydaysexism

Dorset

Please copy and paste where people have refused to volunteer based on what you claim.

I'll wait.

WeeTinkerMonkey well said! They manipulated all those people who shouted "scrounger" with other benefit TV shows and now the cold, hard reality is coming home to roost.

FFS Dorset its a question of trust. I know a 25 year old who was sanctioned for doing jury service while claiming UC Because he wasnt making himself available for work.

And yet ppl expect poorer people to trust the word that nothing bad will happen if they volunteer. Get your head out of your arse for goodness sake.

Dorset Yes I was, and I did volunteer. I was responding to your post saying people on JSA could volunteer 2 days a week. No they can't.
5 hours volunteering was fine, but it wasn't enough to keep skills up to date. I have now got a job though.

WeeTinker. Your insistence at trying to distort what people have said it getting a little tedious to be honest. As are you’re lengthy and patronising responses ONLY to questions you want to answer but for clarity....

What I, and others, have said on here is that time after time when someone has made a positive suggestion the response has been to come back with reasons why that won’t work. You were one of those and my comment above was actually based very much on your responses.

What I havent said at any time is that people have “refused to volunteer” just that they have come up with many reasons why it wouldn’t work.

So you can wait all you want but in the meantime, please stop misquoting as it undermines your point.

He was sanctioned for doing his CIVIC DUTY

Claire. Yes they can, it just depends on your local job centre and regardless, it doesn’t matter whether it’s two hours or two days, it’s better than doing nothing to increase your skills whilst complaining that you can’t find a job.

What I havent said at any time is that people have “refused to volunteer” just that they have come up with many reasons why it wouldn’t work

Semantics.

Helena. Nope, not semantics, just facts.

But keep looking for excuses....