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..

These people are low life’s, they don’t want to work, pop out child after child they can’t afford. They want to live off everyone else and cry poverty when the benefits get cut!! I’m not interested.
Let's hope it doesn't happen to you then. Your lack of interest denotes a serious lack of both empathy and comprehension too. I'm sure you're an absolute delight.

They can't use the toilet properly, she had to teach the women as only woman on her shift that isn't foreign.
Ahh, you think you're civilised being able to use a lavatory properly. Do you know what's really funny about that - most gastro units are teaching people how to use the toilet in a different fashion to imitate the crouching over a hole, it's better for all of us and very definitely helpful for people with severe gastro problems. So Civilised Person, maybe think about changing your attitude.

Actually there is a problem with rabbit, it’s a food that use more calories to digest than it does to eat so if it’s your only food you can starve to death whilst eating
sorry, but this is bullshit
rabbit meat contains 173 calories per 100grams as opposed to chicken at 239 calories per 100g.
So slightly fewer calories but it's not exactly lettuce!

"Popping out kids" is an utterly dehumanising and misogynistic phrase. Look at all the boards Mumsnet has on the subject. Thousands of threads on conception, pregnancy, pregnancy choices, childbirth, breastfeeding...

All the complex issues surrounding bringing another human being into the world. But no, these scum just pop them out.

I don’t doubt that reforms were needed to the welfare regime but universal credit has left some people in a terrible state. I don’t want to see disabled people sanctioned, I don’t want to see the children of unemployed parents starving and dependent on school for decent meals. The fact that there are so many working people in poverty shows there is something broken about the system in general. From the documentary yesterday, you can see that the people on film just looked far older than they were. You could see poverty having a direct effect on people’s appearance (eg poor teeth or people being either very thin or obese) but there will also be major impacts on mental health and/or physically health more generally.

It is hard to get out of an area that has been left behind and I’m not sure that some of the harsher posters on here really appreciate that. There are parts of Hartlepool that are totally bleak and there is no doubt an aspiration gap for a lot of young people. From a privileged position it is easy to say people shouldn’t be spending their money on booze and fags but if it gives some pleasure to people who are living otherwise dificult lives, I can see why people go for the instant gratification.

I am one of the minority that struggles to sympathise I'm afraid.

I grew up in a very poor area, mum and dad split when I was 3. We had no money and my mum was depressed, she used to walk us to school then go back to bed, only waking up to collect us from school.

Me and my sister both tried our hardest at school and have both come out the other side.

Now in my 30s we bought a house which me and dh saved for.

We didn't have our first dc till 2 years ago, simply because we couldn't afford it.

We had another dc a few months back. We are about to experience childcare bills of £1300 a month for the next year. We can't afford this and we are not entitled to a penny to help us out till dc1 gets his 30 funded hours.

We haven't been on holiday for 5 years as we cannot afford it.

We don't have sky tv, a swanky car, or any kind of technology expect our phones.

We have family members living off benefits who manage to go on holidays, buy expensive gifts at Xmas, keep having kids etc.

I agree that programme last night did look horrific but at the same time I do think something had to be done! Me and dh don't work to pay for others to stay at home because they've become accustomed to a life of not working. It isn't fair on the rest of us.

So this was real then? From the title I thought it was but then when I saw the advert I kept wondering whether it was a documentary but the way it was edited made it look like an acted TV show and that's what I decided it was so in the end didn't watch it.

back when I had to claim income support I was getting only £46/week.

I was under 18 and had left home due to abuse.

on pay day, which was every tuesday, Ido go into my local sandwich shop and buy what was essentially a foot long baguette filled with salad and either ham or prawn mayo. I looked forward to that sandwich all bloody week. Thats how dire life on benefits is.

of that £46/wk £10 went as rent top up and electricity - I had no gas. £10 on laundry every week. One load of clothes, one of bedding/towels .Because i had no washing machine and I had no garden to dry them in so had to be tumble dried too. The rest covered food and studying related costs. My grandparents would buy me laundry powder and soap. I remember running out of loo roll and soap just before i turned 18 and the DWP decided to stop all my income (I was still studying) and it took weeks to sort out. I resorted to nicking loo roll from the college loo and washed with washing up liquid. I didn't even have cash to call grandparents to ask for help. They lived in another town. There weren't any food banks like there are now. It was my college lecturer who noticed things weren't good. Arranged to get me some free meals in college canteen, let me call my grandparents, sorted out a small bursary application and signed it off so I had a little money. He bent the rules. He helped me out an awful lot (in the right way, he wasn't a creep).

It was horrendous. Lots of the scars from those years in poverty still stick. I always make sure I have 2 decent pairs of shoes and replace them as soon as they need it because going through winter with your shoes falling apart is grim.

I have an intense dislike of green washing up liquid, silly I know but thats what I smelled off for weeks just trying to stay clean.

I never have empty cupboards. I actually have too much food in my house but I am terrified of poverty. I'm lucky I can have a surplus now.

I overeat through eating everything on my plate even if I don't need it because in the back of my head I still know what proper hunger feels like, I still worry this might be my last meal. THIS IS WHY MANY IN POVERTY ARE OVERWEIGHT. The fear of hunger plus eating of high calorie, cheap foods leads to this issue. If anyone understood the relationship between poverty, food and weight you'd see this too.You'd know what its like.

I am well aware there may be some PTSD-like symptoms here because of living in poverty.

I know a lot of people who are fearful of similar things. I'm still scared of falling off that cliff again.

Not watched the show, but I’ve smoked while on the bones of my arse. I knew it cost money, so I ate less so I didn’t feel bad. Lost a few stone on the value coffee, value cup a soup, child’s portion of tea and 3 fags a day diet, let me tell you.

There was nothing else to enjoy. No internet, horrible temporary housing, tossed most of my books to move into a tiny flat, sleeping poorly on a knackered old corner settee - me on one end, DH on the other so kids could have the bedroom. Only place to go for free was a playground. Had to live my life around our allotted slot in the communal laundry, which coincided with the local mum and baby group.

Could have been worse. Poor people here often live in ex-hotels, where they pay £100+ a week for a room and en-suite they have to vacate by 9 and can only come back at 5. They usually just have a kettle for tea and pot noodles and no laundry facilities. Some of them have to bunk up with a stranger and split the room cost. I’d probably go through a pack a day living like that. I’ve known people rent sheds in people’s back garden with dodgy electrics and have to go in the house for a shower.

In what world is right that someone who is employed is living in poverty?

That's me. I work fulltime in care. I'm also studying one fulltime course and one part time course. No matter how many hours I work it will never be enough to live comfortably. I will never be able to afford a holiday a year, or to buy a house or not worry about keeping the gas on over winter. If things stay as they are I don't need to worry about affording food but I'm one pay check away from destitution. I had my HA LL on the phone earlier. Due to a change in circumstances my HB was suspended (I got the aforementioned job and left my old job). It's one missed payment and they are sending a letter out threatening to start collection proceedings with a view to evict if the arrears are not cleared within six weeks.

I got paid £283 for my first month's wage as only worked 8 days during the pay period. It has to last me 4 weeks. My rent is £86.50 a week. The tax credits reckon they overpaid me so I get £0 of that until April when I'll get £60 CTC and £48 WTC less the overpayment they'll claw back if the appeal still hasn't been heard. I'm awaiting a date for appeal.

Once it's all sorted, I'll have a 'disposable' income of £80 pw (money left after rent, food, council tax, phones, internet, water rates, gas and electric.) From this I have to clothe 3 people and pay for any 'luxuries' like swimming club for the oldest or art club for the youngest. That's working 32 hours a week. The more I work, the more disposable income I get but the less WTC I get.

Unless a miracle happens I will always be in poverty. I can't leave Hartlepool as there are people here who rely on me. My gran and my dad need care. Their care needs are only going to increase as time passes. I can't learn to drive because I can't afford it and even if I could I can't afford to run a car. I'm going to continue studying with the hopes I reach the dizzying heights of care home manager on £19k p/a. Oh, the life I will lead on £19k p/a...

Me and dh don't work to pay for others to stay at home because they've become accustomed to a life of not working. It isn't fair on the rest of us.

Maybe you and your dp are paying tax so that some other girl who's father has abandoned her and who's mother is depressed has access to food and clothes so she can drag herself out of shitty circumstances, like you were able to?

@Frequency Is this the same HA who left your back garden full of sewage.

Me and dh don't work to pay for others to stay at home because they've become accustomed to a life of not working. It isn't fair on the rest of us.

You own a house, you have the security of a roof over your head that isn't subject to a landlords whims.

You say you don't drive a swanky car but presumably that means you have a non-swanky car at least?

You're paying £1300 a month for childcare for two preschoolers but in a year or two you'll qualify for the 30 hours and your bill will reduce, as your children get older it will reduce evenmore until it reaches zero and that's £1300 a month in your pocket.

You and DH will have some sort of progression in your chosen careers, pay progression at the very least, and a pension to keep you in your old age.

Yup. And they still haven't fixed the downstairs window which they say is not an urgent repair even though it doesn't lock and can be opened from the outside. I've given up on asking when it will be done and I'm planning to save some of my whopping £80 a week to have it repaired from my own money.

We have family members living off benefits who manage to go on holidays, buy expensive gifts at Xmas, keep having kids etc.

If it's so great, quit your job and join them.

I can almost certainly guarantee a large portion of those gifts and holidays will have been on credit from the likes of Very, Bright House, Provident, etc or bought cheaply from the local shoplifters.

frequency have you contacted your MP first? honestly, any MP will be hot on social housing issues. Give it a go and see if they can help before you have to pay out. An email should be enough.

I contacted mine when my kitchen was dire, back door had no lock on it except those little diddy bolts, no actual cupboards in the kitchen etc.

Within 3mth my then labour MP had got it all sorted and I had a brand new back door, fully fitted, council issue (the plain white ones with metal tops and that check pattern worktop) kitchen and I didn't care because it was lovely.

“loads of people in that region take their dogs rabbiting and eat the catch. They would do that regardless of UC”

umm being from that region I can definitely say people don’t do that on the regular here

also don’t forget programmes like this and benefits britain are only made so people get mad at those on benefits, rather than the rich people who don’t actually pay taxes!!

Nope people are lazy! I’m not interested in working when the government can fund me and all my children! Yey I’ll have a nice sky tv package instead of buying healthy food! I’ll smoke instead of drinking water then except the NHS to fund all my many health problems. It’s total rubbish!

I know people who work their arses off and still only just get by. Hard working and spending what little money they have on food and bills and kids.

The people in that show are easy targets for tv shows, their uneducated and don’t care about working. They don’t want to work so they should be in poverty. Get a job!

their uneducated

Um

I’m dyslexic not uneducated there’s a massive difference 😁

@Frequency thats appalling. The Crime Prevention Officer might be interested in that .

A police force was having a go at L &Q housing on Twitter for a broken door because of the security issue L and Q told them it was in hand but force is still having a go at them two weeks later because its still not been done.

Anyway I’m out it’s been lovely :)

Please do continue to feel sorry for people who spend their lives living off your hard earned money.

Oh do come back Jelly We are missing you already

You can have worked or be working and still be on benefits. I quit school at 15 to enter the workforce as did DH (was legal here then). Low paid work is still work.

I’m dyslexic not uneducated there’s a massive difference

You'll be telling me we should be compassionate to people for things which are outside their control next.