to expect to have more disposable income than single mums claiming benefits

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i no longer know why me and dh bother, he works full time and i work part time so that i can juggle the child care.

i know of 3 single mums who stay near me who seem to have more money than i can dream of, out every weekend, always shopping and 2 of them manage to run cars.

i know the benefit system is needed by some people but it seems to be a complete joke these days, the wasters in this country are leading the life of reilly while the rest of us are left to slog our guts out to pay for there existence.

no doubt i will get flamed for this post but i have been out xmas shopping today trying to work to a budget then i stand next to these people at the school gates and hear about all the grants they are entitled to so they can buy xmas presents, one of them has even cut back the last 2 months and managed to save £800, it would take me bloody months to save that up.

ok rant over, deep down i am glad i am not one of these people and i do actually work for what i have but it still pisses me of.

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That would be the odd bit of time spent signing on would it?

Oh yes, and perusing the local paper and attending the occasional interview(all expenses paid)

Sorry sixlostmonkeys, I am not out to have a go at someone who loses their job and finds themself in receipt of benefits, I know it is an unenviable situation.

My gripe is with those who 'use' the system to their benefit and ultimately deprive the genuinely needy of funds, also making the accessibility of thos funds more difficult.

No one who is prepared to work needs to have taken offence at what I have posted.

I know there are those who can't work, they are not the people who cause me frustration.

It's the 'I can but why should I, I'm better off on benefits@ who stick in my craw.

But that's mumsnet, we are all entitled to an opinion and on here we have a platform until we ge 'booed off'.

Harman, I think you'll find many mothers 'lucky enough to have a partner' would love to afford to be able to be SAHMs but can't!

Well said NoNameToday. No one who can work and is prepared to work should take offence at what's been said.

harman: but single parents CAN work - when their kids are at school, surely????

That would be the odd bit of time spent signing on would it?

Oh yes, and perusing the local paper and attending the occasional interview(all expenses paid)

You will find (if you research) that a lot more than this is involved. A system is set up which actually works better than sending them to a building

I am lucky to have a dh, I know that.

BUT I also work because I choose to and because I have to, financially.

Nonametoday- word of advice - you are not going to win - I think what you are saying is obvious (and not insulting or offensive)but there are those who have enormous chips on their shoulders and are not willing to listen or argue intelligently without getting angry and taking personal offense (when none is intended) which is why I bowed out when a sensible debate deteriorated into vitriol.....

I have taken offence at the assumption that Income Support is a benefit given to those feckless enough to have not made enough NI contributions for any other benefit. I have taken offence at someone proposing an unworkabvle solution to a problem they haven't researched when they have the WWW at their fingertips, and couold easily find out what Income support is, what it is for, and who will be given it. It's not just parents of school aged children who receive income support, it's those who have non school aged children too, yet according to 'noname' they are all capable of finding childcare for 80 hour a week (2 children) at a minimum cost of £3.50 an hour - how?

And as for not going to win ... I didn't realise anyone was trying to.

Nobody has answered my questions on how you propose to make the 'building' idea work.

I think I may follow your example Macdoodle. Some people aren't actually reading the posts, they're just going off on one. And anyone I've got a pile of marking to do.....ho hum!

macdoodle - it is not 'obvious' it is infact nonsense based on ignorance of facts.

I should think 'anyone' would take offense at a suggestion that people should be sent to a building!

I don't see how a woman with 5 kids could be said to have "never worked a day in her life"

Is 'building' a euphemism for something here?

yep me too Colditz, I think the building idea is unworkable too, especially since NoName will not clarify exactly which benefit claimants would be in the scheme if it was enforced. Until she replies with actual facts,no one can have a reasoned arguement really. Her scheme is more feasible if she is only talking about JSA but has gaping holes if she is talking about IS claimants also.

I think you should jusr leave noname to her inevitable stroke/heart attack and let her blame that on spongers too.

Is 'building' a euphemism for something here?

it's some kind of camp I think
...but it's been done already

monkeytrousers - that's uncalled for - that's a very hurtful comment and you should retract it.

Those who insist on single parents working once their children are in full time education probably haven't thought it through and almost certainly have no personal experience of what this means in real life. In fact it's much easier to work when they are too small for school and can be left in a day nursery or at a childminder's from 8 to 6, once you're into school terms, school runs and holidays it's incredibly difficult. Only this term have things become easier for me personally with the advent of a morning and after school club.

I'm a working single parent of school age children, it's just not straightforward or easy for all people in my situation to work. I'm self employed in two different jobs so if I don't work a day, I not only don't get paid for that day but I risk losing further work through unreliability. My ex-husband doesn't contribute a single penny nor is he available/suitable for so much as visiting his children, far less have them for a weekend. I've got one child only just emerging from a period of critical illness who looks set to remain hospitalised for some time, one slightly older teen and a child in primary school. I have periods of ill health myself, the NI contributions I make don't entitle me to incapacity benefit should I become wholly unable to work. I don't have family around for free babysitting, school runs/pick ups or childcare. I don't claim any means tested benefits.

I'm happy with my lot because I enjoy my work and precarious as my living is, I can just about make things fit. Some people in my situation just can't find work that fits around their family responsibilities or pays enough to meet their needs. Definitely there should be as much encouragement and practical support to get all the single parents who want to back into work - flexible or term time only working, an easier on/off benefits process; there are lots of things that will help. Without some of those options in place, how can we expect single parents to manage?

What's hurtful - the fact that getting yourself worked up over nothing is back for your health. Grow up. When did MN become so soft?

bad for your health.

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The SAHM v non-working single mum is an interesting point, it must be easier if you are sharing parental responsibility with someone. I really don't understand why people like me who are acting as both mother and father, have nobody to back them up with discipline/boundary setting, nobody to help with ANYTHING at home and who are guiding their children into responsible, happy adults should be the subject of such ignorant assaults.

jesus this has got really bitchy. Do you really think the 'building' is a real place or summat? Not picked up that maybe nonametoday was putting forward a hypothetical argument which actually makes a great deal of sense, i.e. that PEOPLE WHO CAN WORK BUT CHOOSE NOT TO SHOULD MAYBE NOT AUTOMATICALLY BE GIVEN HANDOUTS FOR DOING BUGGER ALL. And as for the heart attack/stroke comment monkeytrousers - nasty, very nasty. Hope you or your loved ones don't ever have to suffer one of those. Anyway I'm back to work - and I have to say the level of argument in the Year 10 essays I'm marking is a damn sight more sophisticated than most of what's gone on in the last few threads.