7 out of ten children in poverty

[Gilead]

Come from families where at least on parent is employed. 40% of UC claimants are working families BUT Sunak blames those on Welfare for inflation and he wants to cut benefits by at least £1000 per annum.
AIBU to think that the Tories are trying to create a two tier state?

And say that you often give it to charity. Doesn't make sense

It's not surprising that there are very few families where for 3 generations no-one has literally worked a day in their lives. I imagine if you looked at families where for 3 generations people have not worked more than they have worked, the number would be considerably higher.

TBH I don’t think it’s anyones business what people spend their benefits on. As long as children in the family are happy and well cared for.
its also interesting that people judge about Tattoos. There are a significant number of Tattoo places that for various reasons (sometimes self harm, sometimes other reasons) that give free tattoos.
What is it that gives people the right to be so judgmental ?

I have taught many, many children where no one ,in several generations of the family, has ever worked. In some areas it is the norm. To an outsider it looks like a desperately pointless way to live. If you have been brought up like that, and no one ever gets up and goes out to work, then you have no idea that there is a different way. The girls get to 16, get pregnant, and that's that. The cycle continues.

My SIL is a social worker. She works with people who are struggling and shows them how to budget. Very often they are not poor ,they have different priorities. Personal grooming stuff, smoking, new clothes, going out at weekends, netflix take priority over food and bills. I was a single parent for years. It was long before all the social media pressure. I rented a small TV from radio rentals. I wore secondhand clothes and drove my brothers old Ford Sierra. I didn't smoke, I didn't drink, I couldn't pay for childcare so I didn't go out unless a friend offered to babysit. I worked as a supply teacher. It was very hard. I looked tired and badly dressed all the time. There was no universal credit, you either worked and got paid ,or you claimed benefits. I didn't have any expectation that I should have anything that I couldn't pay for. I didn't expect new clothes or treats. I didn't feel I was entitled to them. The money wasnt there so I didn't spend it. People today seem to think they are entitled to a champagne lifestyle on an aldi value lemonade budget. Everytime someone appears on the news to say they are struggling they will always have dyed hair, huge eyelashes and eyebrows,fake nails, tatoos,giant tv. Every bloody time. Even if your friend did all those things for mates rates you have still spent a whole load of money on yourself that you don't have. That money should have gone on food and rent first. If there is anything left at the end of the month then ,and only then, can you spend it on a treat.

But that is the point isn’t that the children aren’t well cared for.

Yay, the giant tv has got its first mention! 🙄

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what’s included in this statistics?

For eg is a family with one parent working 16hours a week included?

Yep.

It's classic Tory shite: Fuck up the country then blame forigners and poor people. It is quite a successful tactic among low income Conservative voters.

Spot on.

Interesting as all those I know who are struggling are wearing old clothes and shoes, haven’t had a haircut in years (they do them themselves), don’t have lashes or nails etc ….. so these people you see on tv - do you think it’s media manipulation perhaps to perpetuate the myth of benefit recipients wasting money ….?

Angelina - Well of course some benefit recipients waste money, as do some people who aren't on benefits. There will always be people who aren't very good with money.

Sorry that was meant for Clementine.

62% of the adult population in the UK are either overweight or obese so it stands that a high proportion of foodbank users will also be overweight. Just because someone is overweight does not mean that someone is struggling to buy food that week.

I'm assuming you are proposing letting people starve till they are a normal weight?

I’m overweight, it’s my meds, although not being able to walk doesn’t help.

Considering the cost of fresh produce vs frozen beige crap I dare say most people would struggle to eat fresh, healthy, low-fat foods on UC.

I can feed a family of four for £2.25 a meal at Iceland;

1 frozen pizza
1 bag of frozen chips
1/4 bag of mixed veg

I'm a decent cook, brought up on homecooked meals of traditional northern meat and two veg type things including typical; budget-friendly dishes like stews, bubble and squeak and panacalty. I'd struggle to create a healthy, calorie-friendly, budget-friendly meal plan for less than £2.25 a meal that didn't use a lot of power to cook.

Genuinely, grow your own veg. I dug up a section of our garden threw some seeds in and done! Potatoes grow really well and easily.

Some may not have a garden or even a small outside space. The cost of seeds / plants may be out of reach for them or they may be time poor and unable to garden sadly or not physically able 😞

No, I don't think a £2 coffee is allowed OP.
Even if you were working 45 hours a week in a care home on top of cleaning jobs and school runs, apparently a take away coffee would be unreasonable and your poverty would be entirely your own fault due to such frivolous spending.

£2.25 to feed a family of four!
Can't remember which Tory it was who said you only need 30p per head.

And if you don't have a garden? Or space for grow bags?

We're okay, atm in terms of having the budget to buy fresh food. I'm not sure how long that will last with the sharp price increases we are seeing.

I was using the above as to why poverty might factor into weight gain. I missed the deleted post but from the replies, I'm guessing someone thought that the people in the food bank line were too big to be truly poor and therefore must be spending all their money on takeouts instead of budgeting like the hardworking folk have to?

And you have to consider the cost of cooking the meals. It takes a fair bit longer and costs a fair bit more to stew an offcut of beef and roast some homegrown veg than it does to whack a pizza and chips in the air fryer for 10 minutes. Most people on a low income are on pay-as-you-go meters. You can give them all the homegrown veg you want and lentil/bean-based recipes but if they only have £1.35 worth of gas left for the week they're not gonna spend it whipping up a lentil and cauliflower curry when they can cook a pizza for a fraction of the cost.

@Kendodd I would love to see that meal plan and the cost of cooking since the cheaper meals are normally the ones that require a lot of cooking and stewing.

When childcare for a 0-3 year old is some people's entire wage that might be why only one parent is employed.

I've stayed employed FT throughout, but because I was able to work flexibly and minimise costs, I can see why some people wouldn't.

Thats actually extremely rare.

the numbers back up its not widespread at all.
Grayling said 4 gens, no one could find a single family that had occurred in.

research-training-centre.sps.ed.ac.uk/generations-of-worklessness-a-myth-that-wont-die/

Numerous studies point this out.

There are some real dicks/Tory bots on this thread tonight.

I love the way they reduce poverty down to simply not being arsed in spite of evidence on this thread that some people have really complicated circumstances. Their overwhelmed tiny minds clearly can't process anything that requires critical thinking. No wonder the basic soundbites of the Tory party appeal. Its the party of the stupid and ignorant and the world knows it.