Why do you benefit bash?

[greyblanket76]

My family and I are working class and always have been. My friends are too and so are the people that I tend to socialise with/meet in everyday life. I've only been on MN since last year but have seen so many comments bashing people who are on/depend on benefits and I'd really like to know why?

Is this because some people on here think everyone that's on benefits is lazy and doesn't want to work therefore claim benefits? Or is it something else?

I'll talk about my situation and will keep it as brief as possible as I already know people will come in the comments to try and shame me. I'm early 20s and a single mum (didn't start out that way but your whole life can literally change overnight and that's what happened to me). I have one DC and I'm expecting another so I've been on maternity leave back to back as I'll have 2 under 2.

I've worked full time since I was 17 right up until I went on my first maternity leave. Due to the rate of SMP, I'm entitled to benefits as SMP doesn't even cover my rent which is £1200. I'm entitled to £1670 of UC which covers my rent and all my bills. During the first 9 months of my maternity leave I was receiving around £1507 UC (due to deductions) + £638 SMP = £2145 a month.
Once I give birth to my second DC, my UC entitlement should go from £1670 to £1907. This isn't 100% accurate but due to receiving SMP, let's say the deductions would be due £1700 UC + £638 SMP = £2388 a month. That would be excluding child benefit for both children btw.

When I was working full time, I was earning £1383 a month. I do plan to go back to work after my maternity leave ends as I genuinely love my work and have my whole career in front of me. However can people see the huge jump in difference between the two amounts? Nearly a grand in total! When returning back to work, I would be entitled to some benefits however because I'd be working full time, it wouldn't be a lot. That's why it's advised that you drop hours to work part time in order to get the most help available.

I've read my post back and hope it isn't too confusing but I just wanted some people who benefit bash to understand that sometimes life on benefits seems better especially as you have kids because you get so much more help. My mum keeps telling me to consider not working for a year or two just because I need to consider the quality of life my DC and I will have. I wouldn't be able to pay for rent AND childcare so what would I do? There's a lot that comes into play when deciding if you should go back to work or just be on benefits and I hope some people got that from this post. Seeing as this is an anonymous forum, if you judge/bash people on benefits, I'd really be interested to hear why. Posting in AIBU because I'm prepared to be flamed and have learnt not to take nasty comments to heart

You're entitled (or may be) to UC as a student of you have a child at or disabled, regardless of whether you rent or live with family.

Perfectly reasonable if someone is working towards a career and need extra help on top of their maintenance loan.

I also saw people making a lifestyle choice to continue claiming benefits for years

And that’s why people will get angry/bash.

If people consciously make decisions to avoid ending up of benefits whilst watching others foolishly make decisions that mean they’ll almost certainly end up on them it’s hard not to have the mindset ‘why didn’t you see the risk in this decision’

Single parent, renting - one child and one vulnerable adult child, paying back student loan some months but not others (depends on the hours I work). Currently entitled to WTC but not getting it due to reasons.

I'd be happy to work 35 hours a week and study on an evening.

@Brefugee

If you could read, you'd see most of those questions have already been answered. No one's on a wind up

you do realise, OP, that idiotic entitled-sounding comments are why you are being "bashed" here, right?

You used the word entitled after having worked 3 years or so. Of course you're getting "bashed".

As many people here have said, repeatedly, they don't have any issues with benefits, they don't worry about paying tax, and they don't judge (too much, judging others is natural). But your comments ALL smack of smug entitlement. So again: great wind up, you're keeping it up well.

@Brefugee if you bothered to read any of my posts, you'd see that the reason I use the word 'entitled' is because when you log on to the Payment page of Universal Credit, it literally says, 'What you're entitled to' and shows a breakdown of your circumstance. I've done the same thing explaining my entitlement according to the Universal Credit breakdown. That's all...

@Frequency

Single parent, renting - one child and one vulnerable adult child, paying back student loan some months but not others (depends on the hours I work). Currently entitled to WTC but not getting it due to reasons.

I'd be happy to work 35 hours a week and study on an evening.

If you've already had a tuition loan you might not be entitled to another. If you're a single parent studying for the first time you can get tuition loans, student loans and UC for rent help and childcare costs.

@MaryAndHerNet

*So you'll be advised to go back on the magic number of 16h and claim benefits to maximise your income vs hours needed to work"

There is no such magic number on UC
UC tapers with earnings, more hours you work, more you earn, the more it goes down.

Thank you! It's quite interesting to see people's takes on people who receive benefits when they literally don't understand it themselves. I see why so many people benefit bash now, they're bashing something they've literally made up in their head as opposed to the reality of what it's like to receive benefits

I'm entitled to student loans. I was studying for an OU degree but put it on hold as it was making me ill. I currently have one level 3 qualification which is what the student loan was for and am working towards another level 3 qualification but my workplace are paying for that.

So, UC is the way forward? Are you allowed to claim UC if HMRC have declared you cannot get WTC?

did you miss the part where I work and have been working for years?

You started working at 17, have had 2 maternity leaves back to back & are early 20s. Let’s be generous and say you’re 23, even then you’ve worked a grand total of 4 years. That’s nothing. Most women work for at least a decade before having children.

Also would I need to cut my hours before I claim UC or can I claim with a view to cutting my hours once I get UC?

I might try and get in and see CAB as I'm struggling more and more to keep up with the hours I currently work.

@Cheekypeach

did you miss the part where I work and have been working for years?

You started working at 17, have had 2 maternity leaves back to back & are early 20s. Let’s be generous and say you’re 23, even then you’ve worked a grand total of 4 years. That’s nothing. Most women work for at least a decade before having children.

Okay so it's gone from 'you haven't had any NI contributions' to 'that's nothing.' Again, this is just furthering my point of people's mindset that you haven't 'put enough into society' to 'take anything out.' Ok👍

@Cheekypeach

did you miss the part where I work and have been working for years?

You started working at 17, have had 2 maternity leaves back to back & are early 20s. Let’s be generous and say you’re 23, even then you’ve worked a grand total of 4 years. That’s nothing. Most women work for at least a decade before having children.

I know right!

I worked from mid teens but started paying tax at 18, now 38 (DD 8 yrs ago) have never claimed any benefits, took 9 months mat leave as most we could afford. Am now a higher rate tax payer and have another 30 years of full time work ahead of me. If my salary remains static and they don't increase tax then in that 30 years I'll pay 30 x 12 x £1600 = £576,000 in tax alone, an additional £145,000 in NI.

When I had DD we had a household income of £28,000 a year and were paying over £1000 a month on nursery fees plus £400 a month on our mortgage (bought a very cheap doer upper and didn't have money to do up so just lived with all the stuff that was falling apart)

What plans have you got to further your career and possibly gain higher level qualifications?

That will benefit you in the longer term.

@greyblanket76

Well MAYBE they bash because they haven’t actually been in the position to need benefits
Yeah no doubt some exploit the system but there are some that need the money to survive and get by.

My mum is disabled and has severe mental illness and can’t work she can barely get through the day she has every right to be supported the forms I’ve had to fill in for her to support her award is tiring we had had to go through court appeals to support her claim and she is a paranoid schizophrenic and severe life threatening heart problems and a whole list of debilitating illnesses no faking that and she will NEVER recover or get better yet she has to give blood life and limb to be supported

Just because someone genuinely need government help doesn’t make them a less worthy Part of society.

People 'benefit bash' because we live in a capitalist class-obsessed society where sadly the vast majority of the public readily believe and adopt the opinions presented to them through the status quo/ legacy media.

The truth is a lot of this hate and disdain for people on 'benefits' is grossly misdirected. The anger and outrage should be pointing at the one per cent who continually get richer as society gets poorer.

My lovely hairdresser works full time, has two kids in nursery which costs £2k a month and lives in a housing association flat. This is a classic symptom of a broken society. If you work full time you should automatically be able to afford your own house and childcare should not be this disgracefully overpriced business entity in my opinion but it should be free or heavily subsided at all ages to encourage people to continue to work.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this (can you tell 😆) and it makes me really sad how unfair the set up is for most people.

Why do people not understand simple stuff. The 1200 she does not see that gos to her landlord. She did not choose the rent cost. Her benefits are paying that landlords mortgage. But its the op that gets bashed for it. If op was in social housing paying 400 a month no one would say anything. Well I suppose it will then be the free house brigade.

The zone 1 /London bashing . London is not just for the rich. Op said her support network is there . Her Job could be there as well.

The people who have mortgage you choose to do that you could have rented and got help with the rent. The benefits won't pay for your house. (Unless your a landlord)

What has stayed with me are the low earners, just above thresholds , struggling with no help.

Also just to add to that, those people on low incomes but above thresholds are still looked down on.

So really, you can’t win with some people unless you’re earning really comfortable money. Those people are so out of touch.

Again, this is just furthering my point of people's mindset that you haven't 'put enough into society' to 'take anything out.'

And is that mindset wrong? It so, can you tell me why some people should be able to take, take, take with minimal contributions?

@Tomanynames

Why do people not understand simple stuff. The 1200 she does not see that gos to her landlord. She did not choose the rent cost. Her benefits are paying that landlords mortgage. But its the op that gets bashed for it. If op was in social housing paying 400 a month no one would say anything. Well I suppose it will then be the free house brigade.

The zone 1 /London bashing . London is not just for the rich. Op said her support network is there . Her Job could be there as well.

The people who have mortgage you choose to do that you could have rented and got help with the rent. The benefits won't pay for your house. (Unless your a landlord)

But she is gaining a benefit from living in the house it doesn’t matter that the house is rented, she gets to live in it for free, the rest of us don’t. You’re trying to paint it as OP is not benefitting because she will get no ‘return’ from the value of the house, but that’s like saying the UC she spends on food goes straight to the supermarkets and not her. The benefit is she gets to eat.

There’s a bit in that Disney movie, The Emperors New Groove, where the villain sits on a throne and yells “You should have thought of that before you became peasants!”

She’d be a MN poster. 😂
“The benefit is she gets to eat”

You’re right, let’s just let the peasants starve. Good grief.

The zone 1 /London bashing . London is not just for the rich. Op said her support network is there . Her Job could be there as well.

Millions of people work in zone 1. Very few can afford to live there

Thank you! It's quite interesting to see people's takes on people who receive benefits when they literally don't understand it themselves. I see why so many people benefit bash now, they're bashing something they've literally made up in their head as opposed to the reality of what it's like to receive benefits
I uderstand it very well. The 16h is the minimum hours single mum have to work with primary school children earning nmw. So yes, it is the 'magic' number, the common hours I've been asked to reduce by a number of employees and prospective applicants.

It's amazing OP how selective you are in the posts you pick to respond to. The ones you can justify nothing is your fault.

@Mumoblue

There’s a bit in that Disney movie, The Emperors New Groove, where the villain sits on a throne and yells “You should have thought of that before you became peasants!”

She’d be a MN poster. 😂
“The benefit is she gets to eat”

You’re right, let’s just let the peasants starve. Good grief.

So you think nobody should have to pay for housing or food? It should be a universal human right?

@HopefulRose

People 'benefit bash' because we live in a capitalist class-obsessed society where sadly the vast majority of the public readily believe and adopt the opinions presented to them through the status quo/ legacy media.

The truth is a lot of this hate and disdain for people on 'benefits' is grossly misdirected. The anger and outrage should be pointing at the one per cent who continually get richer as society gets poorer.

My lovely hairdresser works full time, has two kids in nursery which costs £2k a month and lives in a housing association flat. This is a classic symptom of a broken society. If you work full time you should automatically be able to afford your own house and childcare should not be this disgracefully overpriced business entity in my opinion but it should be free or heavily subsided at all ages to encourage people to continue to work.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this (can you tell 😆) and it makes me really sad how unfair the set up is for most people.

I don't think anyone is against people on very low wages who genuinely need benefits or the disabled having benefits. People who genuinely can't work. The issue is when people who don't work or only work part time get more income through benefits than those who don't claim and work. That system is not right and it should not be the case. You should always be better off working and working more hours.

When I had my two dcs I had £20 left over a day from my wages after childcare costs. I could have claimed benefits but I didn't. It's a mindset about getting things for free instead of working hard which people take issue with.

@Cheekypeach blink twice if you're cheeseonpost reincarnated. You're giving the exact same energy as that horrible poster that got banned last night

@Cheekypeach

I think people entitled to benefits should get them. I do not believe we should allow the less fortunate to starve.