Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Skint Britain: Friends without Benefits on C4

999 replies

amrscot · 13/02/2019 21:16

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 Sad

Horrendous..

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
WeeTinkerMonkey · 02/03/2019 14:51

So basically you're saying that:
You said: "you should volunteer"
No poster: i refuse to volunteer

So you're point is pointless. Good good.

Or have I misquoted there?

WeeTinkerMonkey · 02/03/2019 14:53

it’s better than doing nothing to increase your skills

And what skills can giving a few hours to a charity shop, homeless shelter, local school increase that makes a person more employable?

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 14:54

Now now Tinker we all know that Tesco Sainsburys et al regularly go head hunting down the homeless shelter and food bank.

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 14:56

Dorset a young man got sanctioned for doing his civic duty. People have been investigated for volunteering and benefits have been suspended in the meantime.

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 14:57

WeeTinker. You’re not making much sense now but I’ll try and explain again so that you understand...

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

I replied that I have never said that anyone has refused to volunteer. What I said was that when anyone suggested volunteering the responses were a variety of excuses as to why it wouldn’t work (including from you) and every time a poster came back with a response that refuted those excuses, another excuses was thought up.

Please stop trying to twist comments and put words into people’s mouths. It doesn’t make you look as clever as you think, it just undermines your point.

WeeTinkerMonkey · 02/03/2019 14:57

Helena I've never seen them? Do they go in disguise?

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 14:59

WeeTinker. I think I rest my case there with your comment about what skills would volunteering for a few hours give you.

You seriously don’t understand what difference that would make to your CV and to a potential employer? 🤦‍♀️

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 14:59

oh yes Its always a clandestine operation.

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 15:00

Helena. I’m sure they may have, only every single person that I know who volunteers has never encountered any of those issues so based on averages I reckon it’s still worth exploring, don’t you?

Unless that’s just another excuse for someone not to bother?

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 15:01

Dorset On New Deal there were many on work placements to get experience Afterwards there were all these people all with identical experience of working in charity shops.

Now how does it help when there are loads of others all with the same identical experience.

WeeTinkerMonkey · 02/03/2019 15:04

responses were a variety of excuses

Why is it that benefit claimants have excuses but most people have reasons?

Is it too make the people feel superior I wonder? Is it insecurity? Or is it stupidity?

"Volunteer at a charity shop"
I can't get to the nearest town, the bus fare is expensive.
"What a silly excuse"

"Volunteer at a school"
Because all school let just anyone volunteer with no safety checks. Plus they have infinite room.for volunteers.
"What a silly excuse"

"Volunteer at some imagined organisation"
And when Universal Credit stop my money because they think that organisation is paying me?
"That never happens, what a silly excuse"

Hey Mrs Worker... Why don't you go on holiday more often?
"I don't have the money"
That's no excuse.

Hey, why don't you volunteer at the food bank on a Wednesday?
"Cause in working till 5 and have to get home"
What a silly excuse.

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 15:05

Helena. Read my comment to WeeTinker and hopefully you’ll get it.

At the end of the day, as I said before, it’s entirely up to you. There are opportunities out there for people to explore if they want to. If they choose not to then they can’t complain that nothing changes etc etc.

Makes not a jot of difference to me which option they choose.

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 15:08

Swindon man had benefits sanctioned after volunteering at care home

THREAD

twitter.com/imajsaclaimant/status/582611359994683392

WeeTinkerMonkey · 02/03/2019 15:09

what difference that would make to your CV and to a potential employer?

That would be dependant on the role you're going for.

If I applied as senior supervisor at my local engineering company, they're not going to give a shit that I volunteered in a shop.

If I applied to Aldi, they're not going to care I volunteered at the homeless shelter, they want retail experience.

In fact, listing too many voluntary positions and having too many details on your CV negatively impacts the applicant.

One side of A4 with relevant experience, contact details, brief work history... That's what they want to see.

Oh but that's kinda useless anyway as pretty much all job applications are done online, they ask you the questions and you answer. No space to list all the work for 'Charidee' you do.

Has it been long since you searched for work? You'd probably have known that.

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 15:10

WeeTinker. The difference in your examples though is that the “worker” doesn’t need volunteering on their CV to try and improve their employability because, you know, they have a job.

You just managed to come up with yet more excuses....schools don’t have infinite spaces for volunteers? I don’t know a single school that would turn away a parent who offered to listen to the children read or to help out with trips or clubs, if DBS checks are required they are arranged by the school etc.

Think the bigger question really is why would you NOT want other people to increase their chances of securing employment by rubbishing every suggestion made.

swingofthings · 02/03/2019 15:10

Tell me, how can I work harder to improve my lot? And yes, I damn well do think I deserve the same luxuries as someone who doesn't claim UC
Totally agree @Frequency, but at the moment, it looks like you are doing everything to turn your life around and be ome self sufficient. That is exactly what many posters are suggesting, to do exactly what you are so one day you will.e able to afford the life you aspire to.

There is another thread going about encouraging daughters to marry rich and this makes me want to scream. So what? They can remain at their mercy that if they decide to leave they can be left vulnerable and having to try even harder to get the education they could have got at an earlier stage of life when it would have been so much easier?

I do have a lot of esteem for single mums who do what you do. It's hard, very hard, but you'll be one of those people who get there not because they are 'lucky' but because you work so hard at it.

The excuse of 'I can't volunteer because I don't trust the dwp not to withhold my benefits' totally reminds me of the excuses my teenage kids come up with! There's no point in doing tbis piece of work because our teacher hasn't taught us that module, and when I ask 'we'll have you spoken to her about it and ask her what she expects, I get 'no', she'll tell us to do anyway'. Then he speaks to her and oh surprise, she gives some directioms of where to find support'.

Surely it doesn't take a brain surgeon to look for a volunteering opportunity and then speak to the work coach, explaining what the volunteering job entails, ask if it is allowed and then ask for confirmation in writing. Some people though will always focus on the 'buts' rather than consider solutions and then moan that it's not their fault they are still where they were months/years ago.

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 15:13

WeeTinker. I work in recruitment so please don’t try to tell me what I want to see on a CV 😂

Trust me, I’d much rather a CV that is full of volunteering during 12 months of unemployment than absolutely sod all because it demonstrates to me that the person is bothered and is trying to better themself.

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 15:15

Lindsay Pantry
@LindsayPantryYP
17 Jul 2015

One JRF volunteer had her benefits sanctioned for volunteering, creating financial hardship for six months #unlonelyleeds

WeeTinkerMonkey · 02/03/2019 15:15

WeeTinker. I work in recruitment so please don’t try to tell me what I want to see on a CV

Yeah... Course you do love... And I'm really an eccentric millionaire that is currently sat in my pants in a hot tub with a supermodel.

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 15:16

Lynsey Slater
@lynseyvslater
15 Nov 2016
Replying to @lynseyvslater

When I was unemployed and volunteering 3 years ago I was sanctioned for doing too many hours of volunteering.. #museumhour
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
Lynsey Slater
@lynseyvslater
15 Nov 2016
Replying to @SusannahDarby @NadWGab and

3 years ago, when I was on JSA and volunteering they sanctioned me for doing too many hours

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 15:17

heltraq
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿mcbot
@heltraq
28 Nov 2017
Replying to @NiceConvos

However, if you are in receipt of benefits you can be "sanctioned " for volunteering too much of your time . I only found this out when I tried to help out my local food Bank

Dorsetdays · 02/03/2019 15:18

Helena. Not sure why you’re wasting your time scouring the internet for a few examples, I could just as easily list the numerous names of people who volunteer at my organisation alone whose benefits are not affected at all (except that would breach GDPR so I can’t) which runs easily into 50+ people.

So, as I said before, working on averages it’s still worth people exploring those opportunities isn’t it. Unless of course, you’d prefer people not to improve their chances..

clairemcnam · 02/03/2019 15:19

I did volunteer. If I am honest the 5 hours volunteering a week I did (the maximum allowed) made no difference at all to getting a job. What might have made a difference was volunteering say 3 days a week, so I was effectively working unpaid part time, in the type of role that I am now doing.
The reason the number of hours volunteering is limited is that you are supposed to do minimum of 30 hours a week job seeking, plus attend the job centre. So if you are doing a lot of volunteering, they suspect you are lying about the amount of job seeking you are doing.

clairemcnam · 02/03/2019 15:20

Dorset You keep saying benefits. Are they actually on JSA? Because there are other benefits that are not affected by volunteering, but JSA is.

HelenaDove · 02/03/2019 15:20

Youve got 50+ people there who arent receiving a wage. Fucking hell.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread