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.

Reallytired...but i actually agree with you

My dh and i have been married 12 years, and have three kids (our first born was teins - we only had dd3 ten months ago - that's a LOT of condoms since i can't go on the pill ). All three kids are his (surprise surprise), and we have agreed that on NO account are we ever having any more.

And when he has his work placements he enjoys them and works harder than the paid employees! So community service (provided we took it in turns so there is always one of us to look after the kids), would be quite welcome, actually. Voluntary work is also not a bad idea (have done some).

Yes macdoodle those things are all what you choose to do....apart from what your tax is spent on. But then none of us really have much choice about that. Some people don't agree with a lot of things the gov't allocate our taxes for. I don't know the amounts but I'm sure the bill for Iraq, for example, far outstripped any misused benefit payments.

I have actually sought out accurate financial details further down the thread .. you are significantly better off than a single non working parent of two if you have a partner who earns £12 grand a year, so goodness knows what you are doing with £33 grand.

I am doing fine thanks but do not live a life of luxury and work bloody hard for what I have....I think you too are WILFULLY missing the point...I do not begrudge those that find themselves needing to claim benefit (onlyjoking, abusive partners etc)...I really get annoyed with those who seem to think it is their right to have as many kids as they want when they have never had any means of supporting them and gleefully say with distaste at WOHM that they want to look after their own DC and never had or will ahve any intention of working.....

wow there's some hard hearted bitches on here

people on benefits will not usually be able to own their own home, save for their old age, give their children many of the advantages other children enjoy - holidays, music lessons, extra tuition, nice clothes

being a single mum is incredibly difficult and not always a lifestyle choice, most of us have been badly let down and left holding not only a baby or two or three but also a mortgage and everything else. I totally understand why some mums choose to give their children time rather than run themselves into the ground being mum and dad and the only person to put food on the table and shoes on their feet. They're making long term sacrifices in order to care for their children personally, these single mums on benefits.

why can't parents just stick together instead of making such stupid judgments all the time?

By Reallytired on Fri 09-Nov-07 21:34:18

However I know several single mums who have three or four children by different Dads. The fathers are useless and irresponsible. The children are just as useless as their Dads. I doult that either the Mums or Dads are particularly bright. Does the country really benefit from them reproducing? A lot of the offspring of the mums on benefits are as lazy and gormless as their parents.

There is no doult that benefits system needs to be reformed. Working single mums are a completely different group of people.

Yes, I think that able bodied long term benefit claiments should do community service. Why do benefit claiments think that the rest of the country owe them a living?

I don't know where to start with this disgustingly offensive post.

Perhaps, reallytired, you would prefer it if anyone with an IQ under 120 was sterilised?

And really ALL benefit claimants think the country owes them? ALL of them?

What is the system in other countries, EU and otherwise?

AFAIK, in the USA benefits are paid to support a first child if a parent/parents aren't working but no further support is paid for subsequent children. Not sure how it works though if parents with three children, for example, lose work due to ill health etc.

macdoodle my comment wasnt throwaway it is nobody elses business if people choose to claim benefits. I pay tax but i dont think i have a right to know who is and who isnt claiming benefits.

I never said I wasn't I am a lot better off I would guess but I earnt every single penny of it through hard slog and a lot of responsibilty and time away from my precious DD...funny enough I feel that I am entitled to what I have (less the 40% or so)...as I worked for it

But I will be sensible much as it hurts because I will have 2 beautiful children that I can support...'

And what if you or your spouse become unable to support them? Even temporarily?

What then. You'd be a family on benefits and then you can read others write nasty comments about you not knowing a thing about your situation or how you got there.

A lot of single parents do work, in addition to two-parent families.

But the government is so busy handing out corporate welfare, which by the way makes the amount of money given as benefits to individuals look like chump change and supporting and instituting policies so the rich keep getting richer that millions are now unable to afford to eat and pay rent here without some form of benefit.

Bec, that is not what reallys post is saying now, is it!

to bloody right macdoodle if you have worked for it then you are entitled to it, all of it. i also take it that as you earn a high wage you must of done a good few years of studying to get where you are now???

But Macdoodle, people like that are not as pervasive as the Daily Mail would have you believe.

I know a LOT of single mothers.

1 flits from job to job, temporary work, you would assume she is unemployed because she works wierd hours. Another works nights , again is always home in the day, asleep on the sofa, you'd think she was a layabout. Yet another is schizophrenic ... she keeps it VERY well under control, but cannot deal with the stress of kids and a job. Another has two of her three children with a rare illness I don't know the name of, she doesn't trust child carers to adhere to their care plan thing. Another hardly dares leave the house in case her abusive ex tracks her down to this town, and follows her home - she puts her kids in taxis to school, must cost a bomb. Another has a baby with a heart condition.

Some people are feckless and irresponsible, and it is sad that A.E. Taxpayer inevitably picks up the tab. but far more than that are just downright unlucky.

Well, they must DEFINITELY have another source of income. For the brief time i HAD to claim some benefits. I had NO spare money at all. In fact my outgoings still exceeded my income by a sickeningly considerable amount every month.

I have to say, i'm actually quite offended by this post. Why assume that all single mums are on benefits?
why assume that all single mums on benefits have more money disposable money than you?
Why assume that all mums on benefits are indeed single in the first place?
There is enough stigma about being in such dire need as to require claiming benefits, DESPITE having been a tax payer since i was 17, without being made to feel more guilty and despised by comments such as this. I'm really shocked by this thought.

NOT all people in this situation do have extra money by any means! most people HAVING to claim benefits are living hand to mouth,eating crap quality food and not having enough money to clothe themselves, after the DC have been taken care of.

The government has set amounts that they feel a person can live off every week. They increase it for a parent with child. HTey then take into account EVERY penny you have coming into your household and reduce or increase the amount you receive accordingly.

I believe the amount for a single person with no children is £66 per week. and about £120 ( i think) for a parent with child. this does NOT take into account, food, bills or rent / mortgage.
could you live on this? really? and still pay for your food shopping, your gas, electricity, council tax, water, rent, tv licence, household insurance?
ok, so if you are on certain benefits, you can get help with rent and council tax, but even with this there is very little for all the other stuff. add into that any loans or credit card payments you may have had when you WERE employed / able to work...

I think you should re think your attitude really. sorry, to sound rude, but i'm shocked your perception is so inaccurate to the truth that so many have to deal with .

What happens if you fall pregnant unexpected by accident is well?

jofeb04 My CB is 4 weekly not weekly. I actually prefer it that way! A lump sum every 4 weeks is better than a bit each week for me.

And i am bloody freezing because i can't afford to put anymore gas on until Thursday so i can't have the heating on much.

I really think this is NOT about anyone with whatever number of Kids, etc...finding themselfs in the position of having to claim benefits and begrudging those...it is about those that USE the system to support a lifestyle whilst not ever considering actually giving towards it!

Quote again 'I doult that either the Mums or Dads are particularly bright. Does the country really benefit from them reproducing? A lot of the offspring of the mums on benefits are as lazy and gormless as their parents.'

What do you think it's saying then 3andnomore?

And I haven't even mentioned the bit about 'single working mothers being a completely different group of people' WTF is that supposed to mean?

I agree with your last post, 3.

Whatever happened to Xenia?

WHy aren't those of you who feel so hard done by about what your taxes pay for, demanding to know the full details of what the fucking Royal Parasites spend their money on? Because you're paying for them, after all.

And yes, there are some people who commit benefit fraud, some cynically, some out of confusion and some out of sheer desperation - the thing with being poor, you have no money to cope in an emergency, such as having to call a plumber or locksmith, so you either start bouncing bills or you borrow at extremely high interest rates (because cheap credit is only available to people who have money) and you're rapidly in serious debt. But because some people misuse the system doesn;t seem to be a very good reason for taking such a vicious self-righteous punitive line towards all those who are struggling. Remember, the biggest factor in the poverty trap for both the unwaged and the working poor is low wages and high housing costs. Your taxes are actaully subsidising big corporations' deliberate payment of slave wages to employees.

Tortoise , Thanks for stating that. TBH, as my child tax etc is paid weekly, it made sense to have child benefit weekly, which they won't do.

TBH, I don't think I could ever cope with being a single mum. After seeing how much work a friend of mine has to do day in,day out, I don't know how single mums cope - apart from you have to (hoping ykwim!)

well so fucking what if some people DO abuse it?

is it really more important than letting genuinely needy people go without shelter or food or clothes?

Amen, madamez! That was the point I was trying to get across in my post a bit farther down, but you put it so much better.

Agree with Vacua.