To hope that some people now understand that it's not somebody's fault they're poor?

[Moomin8]

All of a sudden loads of people have had to claim UC

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/24/britain-benefits-rishi-sunak-claimants-austerity?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Torsten Bell, head of the Resolution Foundation, says people on £50,000 salaries have been anxiously asking him about benefits rates. They’re in for a shock, he says.” Funny, that: before this crisis, those doing alright were adamant that benefit rates were too high. Now, they’re worried it’s the opposite.

Sorry but going to college / uni is not an automatic means by which to get a well paid job either.

I am not just taking about unemployed people.

Disabled people seem to be fair game fo be called benefit scroungers these days thanks to this government.

The whole work hard, get rich is a myth sold to keep the poor working despite the meagre return on their labour.

I couldn't agree more.

OP I think that you think that this going to be some lightbulb moment for professionals where they realise they're in the same boat as the chronically unemployed.

They are not in the same boat, because they have experience/skills and will be back to work, god willing, when this debacle is over - repaying the half-trillion pound bill for this disaster (along with all the old debt).

OP I think that you think that this going to be some lightbulb moment for professionals where they realise they're in the same boat as the chronically unemployed.

No. I'm talking about general circumstances and people finding themselves in a situation that was beyond their control. What is so hard about that that you can't grasp it?

And I am not talking about professionals vs unemployed. Some people losing their livelihoods right now are tradespeople.

You've missed my point entirely.

This all shows we need ubi now

No. I'm talking about general circumstances and people finding themselves in a situation that was beyond their control. What is so hard about that that you can't grasp it?

A situation beyond one's control. Let me guess. Like an 'unplanned' pregnancy?

As a care manager who will be working throughout this, 2.5 k a month annoys me immeasurably. My staff get paid £8.47 an hour. There are plenty of jobs in care going if any of the able bodied self employed who are going to struggle wants one. Probably less forms to fill in to apply than for your state benefit. weirdly I'm not seeing a surge in enquiries for jobs...

I agree with @pentium85.

Not everyone is in an altruistic, self righteous, victim of the world.

SOME choose to not have an education and cannot be bothered thus being poor and living on the state.

Again people have a choice to change their lives.

@OP yes you are right in that NO one wants to be poor.

But surely you are not so naive to think SOME people aren't lazy, entitled, cannot be bothered 'getting paid better on benefits mentality'

What world do you live in?

Fucking hell. Altruistic self righteous. Fucking hell.

Fucking hell.

People who voted for it to be cut are now having to enter into it and to be honest they deserve to be horrified and to suffer. This is the life they condemned fellow human beings to.

Damn, posted to soon!

I think there's a lot of truth in a PP's statement that I quoted above, and I hope that when things get back to normal those people remember how grim it was the next time there's an election and vote for a party that doesn't put tax cuts above social welfare.

If you want a right laugh, simply propose to pay self-employed people 80% of DECLARED earnings over the past twelve months, then sit back and watch the tantrums.

Oh yes, they spent all those years maximising expenses to minimise their tax bills and now they think they should get benefits based on turnover, not profit! This has led to some right guffaws in our house.

The phrase "reap what you sow" springs to mind.

@Wer2Next nobody is better paid on benefits than they are working. Been there myself. I'm a single mum and when I went back to work I found myself better off by almost £100 a week. I only work a low paid job as well.

People who think you get more money on benefits are deluded.

If finding well paid employment was so easy the government subsidy wouldn’t be needed, the people cleaning our offices in central London wouldn’t be cleaners, the guy serving you in McDonalds wouldn’t be there serving you, the cashier in Tesco wouldn’t be there.

My job isn’t hard work, I assess financial risk, I basically input data and press return, my job is very well paid. A friend cares for adults with severe learning needs, he works incredibly hard and the pay is very poor. His job is far more important than mine.

People who put others down for working are scummy snobs.

Wow some people just can't see what life is like for the people on the other side of the coin even when life's shit is hitting them squarely in the face.
Have you considered that 'Sharon' was happily married when she had her 3 kids dh working lovely life - then shit happened dh left/got injured/became ill/died/was made redundant pick your favourite! and bang life not so lovely.
Yes there is a small minority of people taking advantage of/cheating the system and a small minority of people choosing lower paid work or less hours but its just not the case for the thousands of people on benefits/in low paid/part time jobs.
I was a retail manager for years, its a fairly low paid job but at least I was full time. Almost every job in the entire store was part time and nmw and while this suited some of the people students/working moms there was a much higher number of people who were desperate for full time, some with 2 or more jobs and whole families to support.

As an aside a self employed friend fiddles by lying about her expenses, as result she claims to officially take a low profit. I am quite enjoying her rants, she’s getting exactly what she deserves.

Trying not to take sides, but this woman who has 12 children gets £40,000 annual benefits, buys herself designer luxuries and isn’t afraid to admit it and was trying for her 13th child

Someone in that family must be disabled then, because the benefit cap is a lot lower than £40k a year, even in London. If she's caring for a disabled child, she deserves a decent income.

And even if she's exempt from the benefit cap, she won't get any extra for that 13th child, or any of the other 12 that were born after April 2017.

And I wouldn't mind betting that a fair chunk of that income goes straight out again in rent.

Many people have MH issues that make it difficult to work. Or undiagnosed conditions that have dogged them their whole life and made them feel bad that they are 'unsuccessful'

This. My DF was considered a bit of a waster as he couldn’t stay in work long, didn’t move up the career path and was frequently unemployed. It turned out he had an undiagnosed progressive neurological condition and is now in a care home. I think many of people chronically out of work suffer with MH problems and which are palmed off as laziness. Then you get the lady with the 2 kids who is wheeled out as an example of all unemployed people and it gives voters permission to keep voting in governments who consistently cut benefits.

12 kids!

I agree with you, Op. After I was made redundant from a well-paid professional job during the last recession, I discovered how difficult it was for a 50 year old to get a job - any job. Ageism is alive and well. The people I used to work with (and probably some of those on this thread) would no doubt look down their nose at what I do now. Sure, I earn less than I did but I am now classed as a key worker, I work for a decent employer and am happy to go to work. Before being made redundant, I thought that working in a low paid job was a choice or a fault of the individual - and I was wrong.

It is my friend's fault he's poie.

Refuses to look for work outside of a very nice role in which he isn't experienced or qualified.

Spends his UC on take aways, eating out, cibena, computer games and very expensive phone contracts that he swaps around every 9-10 months because he 'needs' the latest S42 Edge (or whatever)

Lives with his mum and pays zero towards upkeep.
So, yeah, it's his fault.

@Pentium85. Some of the most socially useful jobs are low paid. A carer for elderly is very low paid, but a crucial role in society. My job is one of those jobs where you can easily earn £450 a day, but is in absolutely o way necessary to society.

As an aside a self employed friend fiddles by lying about her expenses, as result she claims to officially take a low profit. I am quite enjoying her rants, she’s getting exactly what she deserves

Someone I know puts almost everything through her business: boozy all day lunches with friends, train fares and taxis (including one for a 100 mile round trip on Boxing Day), her cleaner, her car (that she only ever uses for local journeys). She boasted that she made £180k one year and only paid tax on £28k of it.

Her business? She's a tax consultant.

I'm rather hoping that HMRC's tightening up on things over the last few years has put a stop to that sort of blatant fiddling.