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

I benefit bash because my mother chose free handouts and poverty over working and we all suffered because of it

@HTH1

Pretty sure there is a maximum savings limit when you start to lose benefits, which is why there is a ‘use it or lose it’ mentality and you see people on benefits with posh cars, huge flat screen TVs etc. Do you actually know anyone on benefits as the two comments you've made so far don't sound realistic at all? Of course there may be some that spend their benefits money on useless things but the majority can't afford to as they don't have that money to spare. Not one person that I know who gets UC has anything like this

Like many others, I have a lot of sympathy for the (genuinely) disabled or those who, for example, work long hours but are so underpaid that they need top up benefits. I also would not begrudge someone who did everything right (had DC with their DH when they could actually afford them then they and DH lost their jobs for reasons beyond their control) but am not happy to pay for the feckless.

And there is it. 'Those that did everything right.' Who are you to speak on what's right or not when it comes to people's lives? And I don't mean people that have kids just so they can claim benefits. I mean those that have found themselves in unfortunate situations. I guess you don't have any empathy or anything because they didn't do things 'right' in your eyes. Oh also 19% of taxpayers money went on welfare. I hardly doubt YOU'RE paying for the 'feckless'

I think a lot of peoples opinions stem from being told to make the right decisions, get a good education. Set yourself up in life etc from a young age and some people on benefits don’t seem to have done this and get more money.

Sometimes a child may happen which wasn’t planned completely get that, happened to a friend but then they didn’t have any more children for 7/8 years to work on careers and earning potential.

I do think we should have a benefit system but I do wonder if sometimes it needs to be tweaked, no one should ever be hungry but it’s crazy that you can earn more on benefits than working. In all honesty I don’t think I would bother working in your situation…but then it’s a cycle you may struggle to ever get out of.

Just for context I’ve convert your month amount to what a yearly salary would look like:
£2145 a month is roughly a £33,000 year job
£2388 a month is roughly a £37,000 year job

I don't judge as such but I tell you what does piss me off...the fact that me and my dh have worked incredibly hard to get where we are and earn a combined income of approx 150. (Which is not the maximum we can earn we choose this as we have no mortgage and two dc!) we get nothing and then when the shit hits the fan in ANY way, shape, or form. People then have the bloody audacity to tax the "rich" more. Which generally means anyone earning over 100k etc!

Also it’s bloody annoying when everyone acts like they’re entitled to your life story to determine if you’re worthy of your benefits or if you should just bloody starve.

Literally!! It's honestly quite disgusting

Thing is people who go on about people being better off on benefits while they are struggling seem to fail to realise that they would be entitled to benefits if they were renting instead of having a mortgage.

To the poster on maternity pay, if that is paid by an employer as pay then you should be entitled to a top up from UC as much as the op is.

Most of the ones moaning are people who's threshold is low because they chose to buy rather than rent, so are saddled with a mortgage that benefits don't help with. Most of us who rent don't have a choice to buy and most renters are in private rent, only 30% of renters are in social rent and able to by houses under right to buy.

Being in private rent and on UC, and working for UC I honestly nearly cry every time I have a customer who buys thier social rent house, for 20k or 30k as I have no hope of buying a house on the open market or from social rent right to buy. And I have no idea what I am going to do when I retire in another 30 years and won't be able to rent where I am any more.

The government does not want to contribute to an asset that will give you wealth, but needs to help people be housed.

BTW for OP, I have one child but get 1400 wages for full time work and get between 800 and 1200 for UC (depending on childcare) you will be better off in work if you can get the right childcare as you will be able to get 85% back up to £1108 each month. I have plenty of clients who literally only get UC for childcare.

@greyblanket76 yet you start a goody thread and explain why you are entitled to it!

If you worked in the benefits office you'd realise that for every genuine case there is at least one piss taker.

For every desolate sad and unjust story, there is one that bleeds and cons the system for decades.

Some people use it as a life support and some as a life choice.

@Mumoblue

It seems like a lot of people here are actually mad at the cost of living crisis/low wages and are just misdirecting that at people on benefits, which I imagine has all the tax dodging millionaires and exploitative bosses laughing all the way to the bank. 🙄

Yep!

@TTstormtrooper

Most of the people who benefit bash on here are the same people who don't work whilst living with a DH who brings in a six figure salary.

Yet fail to see the irony.

Forgive me, as I am new on here. Where is the irony?

I am on UC, and got fed up with the snide comments from supposed friends. They seemed to think I get "free money", when they are working their asses off. I am unable to work, and my vast amount of UC I claim is less than £700 a month. That is it.

years of government and media telling them that we're stealing their money to distract from the fact that actually it's the rich stealing their money.

Thank you! Didn't the government just somehow write off £4 billion? But it's the people claiming benefits that some want to be mad at. The anger is getting directed to the wrong people!

@Hospedia

Benefits are meant for those who find themselves in temporary or permanent difficulties and unable to work.

Approximately 40% of UC claimants are in work, benefits are not just for people who are not working.

Thank you for the percentage. This just proves how many people struggle to pay their way even with them working

But if you are benefit capped at £20,000 a year or £1666 per month and your rent is £1200 a month that will only leave £466 for you to pay all your bills and feed and clothe yourself and 2 children. This is including child benefit. I don’t see how you could live without working?

So is your bloke not paying any child support then?

I don’t have a problem with people claiming benefits per se. I had to claim JSA once for 8 months so I’ve been there. However, I job searched day in day out and had a volunteer job the entire time to keep my skills up. Benefits are a stop gap and I will unashamedly benefits bash anyone who is too damn lazy to work. Why should I have to work 37.5 hours a week whilst other people get it handed to them for free? I have a disability which is a protected characteristic yet I still work and other people still don’t bother. So if you want to know why some people ‘benefits bash’, that’s why. They’re fed up of going to work whilst others don’t bother.

I don't 'benefit bash' but the people who do, do it because they are cunts. There is no deeper explanation IMO.

Benefits and the welfare state came in under the beveridge report after the Second World War to end the 5 giants of poverty- want, idleness, disease, squalor and ignorance. They were introduced to remove poverty suffered by those who had absolutely no way of getting out of it. It is not an alternative lifestyle, benefits are a temporary measure to ensure those who are in poor health, can't find work have enough funds to live. I'm utterly heartbroken that I can't get my daughter an appointment at the hospital to get her hearing checked and fixed as it is impaired. Yet you can earn more than 40k per year on benefits. You are milking a broken system. And as you mentioned why work when benefits are so lucrative?! And you are so right, that's why the system needs to change to ensure those who truly are in need get them support they are entitled too and those who want an easy life can do one! And maybe then the nhs will have enough funding to help my little girl hear.

And I can kind of understand why. He works all hours under the sun so that I can be off work to look after our 2 DC who are both under 5. I can't work full time because what I earn whilst working wouldn't cover the extortionate nursery fees where we live. But it means that we really struggle to pay the bills every month as we only have one wage coming in

So why don’t you work around your husband? Then you wouldn’t need childcare. There are two of you to manage the complexities of young children, free nursery hours, pick up and drop off, and yet you’re moaning that the OP, as one person, gets help when you don’t. You’re not really trying, are you?

I think what no one seems to realise is that OP's UC monthly payment is high, is because rents are high.
If rents were lower, she wouldn't be getting 24k a year, but the average worker would still be getting 24k and have a lot more disposable income, compared to the OP.

For example, let's say everyone's rent was £500 pm. She'd get her rent payment and around £700- £800 per month to pay for her and her two kids. After your rent was paid, you, as an average earner would have £1500 to pay for you and your two kids, and possibly a partner with £2000 a month to contribute as well. The reason OP is better off on benefits is because of the cost of renting. If renting was affordable, she would have an incentive of doubling her monthly income, to go back to work.

It's better to direct your anger to the cost of renting and those who are causing and allowing the rental costs to be so extortionate that is taking up your wages. You're not having all your money go to subsidise people on benefits, you're having all your money go to your landlord.

@labyrinthlaziness I'm not a cunt!
I'm a survivor of a shite childhood, that could of been better, if my mother wasn't given free money to be fucking work shy

@greyblanket76

years of government and media telling them that we're stealing their money to distract from the fact that actually it's the rich stealing their money.

Thank you! Didn't the government just somehow write off £4 billion? But it's the people claiming benefits that some want to be mad at. The anger is getting directed to the wrong people!

Yes as well as poor refugees. Some people spend inordinate amounts of time and energy punching down. They need to start looking up, and see.

@lucythejuicy

Because most people work hard and save up to have a baby and they are paying for you two have two kids under two without properly providing for them. Will that do?

I think I've got my answer. It seems that people have this mindset that they 'pay' for those that are on benefits. Yes benefits come from taxpayers but do you ever look into just how much money is ACTUALLY spent on benefits? I don't think anyone is even interested, you just get to use the, 'I'm paying for you' line. It's disgusting really

I work 22.5 hours a week (term time as I have to be available for dd) and I take home about £750 a month. If dh left me I'd be up shit creek.

@Sarahcoggles

I don’t blame individuals for taking whatever path is most financially advantageous to them. However I get frustrated at a system which sometimes makes it more financially rewarding to not work than to work. That makes no sense. Benefits should be claimed out of necessity, not out of choice.

Exactly what I was going to say