To think the able bodied / mind/ non carer/ non low wage s worker on benefits, benefit population that claim benefits should contribute somehow to the community/ get the money for WORK .

[Crikeymaccrikey]

Yes this may be costly to set up such as enhanced dbs checks etc.

I feel that this would both give a purpose and a contribution. And lead to jobs possibly/ develop cv / show work ethic.

In addition , it may stop the resentment and the benefit bashing if the claimants are seen to be contributing to society.

This is not necessarily a tory notion.
Karl Marxs idea about each to ones own ability... encompasses this idea of people working together for the whole of society accordi ng to ability. A quick google implies this is actually a socilaist idea of all doing what they can . This is what i am suggesting.

And before anyone says they would be pushed into things.. maybe there could be a choice of ways to contribute ,like on a data base.

Also, I am a cleaner myself. I literally clean poo off loos. I do not feel less worthy than others . I do the job because I can no longer work in my profession , as I get older, ( burnt out nhs) and see nothing but value in my ( ? Seen as some,lowly work). It gives me structure, a decent wage, and I contribute. All good. No shame in doing a good job , whatever that job if it is in my ability.

How can this idea, properly managed be other than reasonable. ?

Last year I briefly worked in care, getting poo thrown at me, service users head butting, hitting and scratching me. It was awful and so traumatizing. I’d love to see some of these people doing that job for just one shift to see what some people actually do to get their money.

I worked in care for years the very last thing we need is carers with no experience who do not want to be there. For the staff's sake as much as the resident's sake. You cannot run a shift sucessfully if your co-worker has no experience and no motivation.

Also in the four years I worked there not a single person bit me, scratched me, threw feaces at me or headbutted me. Perhaps the issue was your treatment of the residents? You don't conme across as the caring type.

Be angry at the system which allows employers to pay shit wages, not those on benefits.

Also, be careful what you wish for - yours is exactly the sort of role that unscrupulous employers would rather not pay staff to do. You might end up out on your ear - and having to do the same work for £77pw.

I agree. I am on UC.. it is my sole source of income.
If my own MH didn't make me feel shit enough, the attitudes displayed on here is enough to push me over the edge quite frankly.
I hate myself enough, and it is sad to see that strangers look down on me because of where my money comes from.

Unemployed people get £343 a month.

There's other top ups like housing element and child element that people in work can also claim.

The numbers of actual unemployed have been posted above.

The welfare bill for this country is made up of many different slices. Housing and such as well as some pensions.

When you looks t the welfare bill 42% of it is paid on pensions.
Less than 2% is on unemployed.
There are currently.inder 400k long term unemloyed people.

The massive drain and Scroungers narrative is a Tory press and media once too to cause division, jealousy and hatred.
I the grand scheme, an employed person pays less than £5 toward unemployment a month out of their tax. They pay 20 x that amount toward pensions.

Working actually improves mental health. Having purpose, support, direction, autonomy and a future with achievement is incredibly beneficial to well being.

Nope.

The figures of Stress, anxiety, depression etc
Caused in the workplace are sky rocketing

I don't disagree with you, but what employer will take on someone who has to have time off for appointments, or who has extended sickness absences?

Nobody mentioned offence.

It's not good for people's.mental health to be dragged and insulted for situations beyond their control

You definitely don’t want to work do you!

I think people need to remember how easily life can change. Illness that disables you but not in a way that gets you enough points for PIP, an abusive relationship, unemployment etc. These things happen.

But those people who don't want to work are a minority, and would find a way round it anyway. All your doing is bashing benefit claimants, most of whom are either carers or do some kind of low paid work.

i think many more than you imagine offer flexibility. I say this as someone that was very ill as a young adult. Working transformed my life and self esteem. It was literally a life saver.
You need to start with a flexible, gentle employer and start slowly and build up. I worked afternoons only at the start, as I found I could manage better. Or work for yourself so you can choose the hours or days when you are feeling stronger.

Used to use it to work for the civil service, but then they had to privatise everything.

The clue is in the "decent wage" you mentioned.

Are you really advocating state sanctioned slave labour?

No, that's not the purpose of benefits and I'm not convinced it would be better for the economy.

When I left university, I claimed JSA for a period of time. I deliberately messed up my job applications so I could continue to spend my time looking for a graduate job, rather than working the sort of low-wage, low-progression jobs that I was being advised to apply for.

Nowadays I have a fairly well paid career and have paid back the amount I used in JSA many times over.

People who don't want to work will always find ways to not work. People who pay taxes do so, in part, so that they will be protected if they cannot work.

I don't think additional impediments are necessary. Some people will always benefit more than others from such a system, but that should be an expectation of being part of it.

Yes, this. If you're able-bodied, have no caring responsibilities or dependants, and can work, then the only benefit you can claim is the jobseekers allowance part of universal credit. To get that, you have to agree to job hunt for 37 hours a week. You have to provide evidence to the job centre, each time you sign on, that you have sought work. You have to sign a jobseekers agreement. The money you get is barely enough to make ends meet, if that.

The idea that people are lounging around on benefits doing fuck all is propagated so that the finger of blame is pointed at the feckless poor, rather than where it should be pointed, which is at politicians creating a system and a society in which even those who do work, still need to claim benefits.

If you're spouting this nonsense, that the idle able-bodied just get handed money with no strings attached, then you are one of two things. You're either pig ignorant of how the system works, or you're a government shill being paid to promote this kind of nonsense, to detract from what is actually going on.

Grind them up into pet food I say. That'll teach them.

Under UC, you can't just "work up gently". If you are fit for work, you are fit for work... not a phased return to it.

I agree, @PastMyBestBeforeDate , but I have repeatedly said (in all threads I post on about people on benefits) that when I speak my mind on this, I’m not including the disabled or parents that are single through no fault of their own (dv, crap father running off etc).

I have huge empathy for people that really can’t work but not if they’re a bit down or something. I have always had mh issues, eating disorders and other health issues, and have really fought to work, even in shit jobs. I have broken down many times and run for the hills when it’s got tough (job hopped frequently) but I don’t give up and I don’t rely on the state.

In fact, I’m bloody proud of this if I’m being honest. I’ve always fought to hold down a job and not given up.

Quite possibly. And that's fine.

As long as you're getting paid a proper wage, and not £77pw.

It was send them to the fields to pick fruit yesterday promoted by the angry mob with flaming torches and here we are back at square one. I'm in the process of starting a claim for benefit and to the haters, I would give anything to be able to get a job. I usually say hope you never experience what it's like but actually I hope some of posters that spew vitriol on this subject, I hope you do and experience the feelings of degradation that having to claim brings.

You think wrong.

Get other workshy layabouts to do it for their £77pw! Two birds with one stone and all that!

Why pet food?
Feed it back to the work shy via mince at the foodbanks. Would make a nice spag bol.

💐

I'm so sorry you have to read this crap. And I hope things look up for you soon.