To ask for a view on this ? If someone gets benefits and are not a carer / single parent etc .. then they should contribute to society in order to receive benefits ?

[Ooola]

I think in society we should all support orhers.
The taxpayers contribute by paying taxes .
Vulnerable people such as disabled , carers etc should be supported by others .
Those who can’t find work and get benefits .. should be required to give something back for the money they get ...not be forced to work for a big co operation but to contribute . Things like park maintenance , listening services , support to the struggling public services . There could be matching service so that they could chose to gain experience or use the skills they have to benefit others .
Any police checks , as are required in other jobs , would be funded . Does this sound fair ? If we all give what we can then it may be of benefit to all , including the claimant who could use this to build c v , etc . Surely it’s win win in principle ? If someone gets benefits say at a level of 10 k , 13 k , 20 k
.. it feels fair that they give something for that especially as it is comparable to someone working and getting minimum wage ?
Clearly time would need to be given off for job interviews etc .

FFS, what an idiot.

My younger brother is a qualified mortgage adviser and has worked in that field since he was 16. At age 20, he found himself unemployed with a potential case to answer to the FCA (it was unfounded in the end) so was unable to get any other FCA-approved job during that time.

He was unemployed for two months, receiving £80 a week.

He spent those two months applying for jobs. Jobs with Local Authorities take hours upon hours to complete, having to demonstrate how you meet every single essential criteria. These would take him at least one day. He studied in a subject he failed at school to make him more employable. He had interviews almost every other day, alongside studying and applying for jobs. He'd often be awake until midnight filling out applications for anything and everything.

Where exactly was his spare time to do some of the work you suggest? Is the work he put in above not worthy enough of the measly £80 a week he got which just about fed him and paid his fuel bill and parking costs for interviews? How about the contributions he's made to the system over the four years he'd worked; does that not qualify him for a little bit of support so that he could afford to eat/stay alive whilst finding another job?

Ooola

There’s a difference between someone on disability benefits and someone unemployed.
The latter is general entitled to fuck all.
For someone with so many ideas you have very little knowledge of the system.

Yes it would be nicer to have more choice but that's the incentive to move up from the safety net.

Doublehelix, taking away people's dignity and independence is hardly going to help boost their confidence and enable them to move up from the safety net.

Would you be happy to live in this "family accommodation" if you lost your job or were unable to work? It can happen to anyone you know. Or perhaps you are independently wealthy and don't have to worry about that sort of thing.

And yes the government's failure to properly regulate the big tech companies

How many people do you know who get 10k or 20 k in benefits stupid idea

Pardonwhat
I don’t know much about the system . That is true . However , this was an idea .. and obviously it’s application may not suit some circumstances .
Unemployed people do not get fuck all . They get benefits .

princessTiasmum

We’ve been through this.
Susan at no7.
She’s got brand new trainers and a Brighthouse Sofa. A PP said she even has a new flatscreen.
Coining it in she is

How would you decide who was disabled?

For example someone with severe mental health problems is assessed by physiotherapy nurse and its decided they can work, even though they throw up just by leaving the house? However they have their benefits taken off them.

But because the assessment has said they are fine to work, they should volunteer?

Ooola

It. Is. Fuck. All. To. Live. Off.

You can be as pedantic in your interpretations as you like

But at £35k you were just about breaking even @Ooola.

What about the people on benefits now who worked and paid tax in the past, or who will work and pay tax in the future? Why shouldn’t that get taken into account for them, just as you want it to be taken into account for you?

And you’d better believe that there are people out there who think that those on low wages should make up the difference or lose access to services if they aren’t paying enough in, just like you think people on benefits should do work to give something back.

I think a better way would be for the state to properly support people who are unemployed- a decent % of last wage for a lot longer. Proper support to find a new job, from people are professionally trained to do so.

People who are long-term employed- paid re-training. And not on “schemes”- courses at established institutions.

Areas without jobs- government creates jobs (like Roosevelt’s New Deal to rebuild the US after the depression). And proper financial and practical support for people to relocate to where there is work (if that’s what they want to do). Proper support to set up businesses.

And most of all- make employers pay decent wages and make sure corporations pay proper tax on their profits, not just a tiny percentage because everything is credited to a parent company in another country.

Christ, I hate the “clean toilets” phrase. Does anybody out there really think that there is such a job as cleaning toilets? That there are millions of dirty toilets out there just festering because those lazy unemployed people won’t take one of the readily available toilet cleaning jobs?

I was an unemployed single mother during the recession. I job hunted relentlessly and applied for everything I was qualified to do. That included many cleaning jobs. None of them specifically for cleaning toilets, mind you, but perhaps that comes under the general title of ‘cleaner’. Didn’t get a single interview in a year. Do you know how it feels to start your day by opening thirteen job rejection emails? That was my record in one day, but I suppose at least they got back to me. It was fucking shit. No wonder my mental health was shot to pieces. And I had to listen to arseholes mouthing off about benefits claimants being lazy and how they should “clean toilets”. I would have jumped at the chance.

Sobeyondthehills Absolutely not . I don’t mean that at all .

Whilst I understand the underlying principle I think you really need to check your facts first. The government should ensure that people are actually able to get a job which will enable them to have a reasonable standard of living.
We all know this is not the case.

And god yes, decent regulation of the housing market and massive building of council houses. Building the houses would get a lot of people back into work for a start.

TokenGinger
I know . Am terrible at typing . Not my thing . I got rather institutionalised in my career as I wrote reports that someone else typed . Showing my age !

But Ooola, they have their disability benefits taken off them and put onto JSA, thus they are suitable for working, under the current system it can take up to 2 years to appeal.

The government have decided they are fit for work, so how are you planning on telling the difference?

STILL waiting for an answer.....
20k benefit with 13k rent?

An unemployed single person with no disabilities, living in a one bed flat with rent if £450 per month and Band A council tax would be entitled to £165.91 per week in benefits. They would need to pay rent and council tax out of this (minus a 25%, single persons discount).

It really is fuck all to live off.

Take my previous example, above.

£450 a month rent is the equivalent of £103.84 a week do that leaves £62.07 after rent.

Council Tax for Band A in my area minus 25% single person discount, is £19 a week. That leaves £43.07 per week.

Out of that £43.07 this person needs to pay for:

• water rates
• gas and electricity
• food
• phone/internet
• transport
• clothing

How far do you think £43 will go?

Your suggestions are a bit jumbled and muddled. Perhaps you could get your thoughts in order and get back to us when you've straightened your idea out.

I think it sounds good personally! It stops people lazing about if they're unemployed and builds valuable skills that can be used in the workplace.

Also, there are plenty of public services that could use extra help - and this way of providing more people would avoid tax hikes.

Sobeyondthehills
Of course that is terrible . Correct and skilled assessment , by an appropriate professional
. I would question physio led skills assessing a mental health condition , as of course one would a mental health practitioner assessing a physio based issue . Of course someone can have both issues and would need assessing accordingly .

I'm a trustee of an organisation that relies on volunteers. We hold introduction meetings. They have an interview to see if they're suitable, they undertake a full day of training. Then they're interviewed again. Then we have to wait for at least four weeks to get them DBS checked. You're talking at least a couple of months in all.

If we used benefit claimants who had to come to us, all that would apply. And by the time it was all done they'd probably have found another job. And that process would have cost us money and time that we'd get nothing for.

And I bet most other places that you think people could volunteer would feel exactly the same as us.

It's like those who think work experience kids are helpful in their workplace. No. No they're not.

Greysparkles
Not do able . Agreed .