To think this won’t work and will force more into poverty?

[KimberleyClark]

Kwasi Korteng wants to cut benefits to part time workers to force them to work more hours.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/21/kwasi-kwarteng-to-shrink-part-time-work-benefits-to-grow-labour-supply

you gotta love the Tories

@caringcarer with inflation running as high as it is, that isn't really a rise - it's running to stand still.

I see no plans to address the difficulty of affordable childcare. The UK's childcare costs are still among the highest in Europe. I also see no plans to make employers offer substantial contracts, so that their workers know from month to month how much they have coming in. You can't run a household on a zero hours contract.

The Tories are vile and corrupt.

There's plenty of money, they just hoard it.

Read The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists. We don't all need to be slogging our guts out til we're 70, for a pittance, whilst the Tories steal the profits.

Let's just call it what it is.
It isn't trickle down economics.

It's piss on economics.

The problem with this is that employers are not willing to provide extra hours work as their wage and NI bill will increase.
finding a new job means you lose that job security you have if you’ve been at a place over 2 years.

There needs to be childcare, if there is no childcare they can't afford to work.

They need to resolve the child care and zero hours contracts issues first really

I think when you combine these changes with the ever deteriorating conditions of employment being offered by many employers, exploitation is the likely outcome.

And yet poor people vote them in . . .

The Conservative Party have destroyed the UK due to 12 years of incompetence, arrogance and corruption. Blaming the poor, sick, voiceless and powerless, is as pathetic as it is disgusting.

The same problems apply to fixed hours contracts, where your employer guarantees, say, 10 hours work, but expects you to come running in as needed just as if you were on zero hours.

The shortage of childcare is one thing. Employees expected to work for peanuts, unsurprisingly finding different sectors.

HOWEVER, people having kids they can't afford childcare for is quite another. Why should it be subsidised by child free people or those who made sacrifices when their own children were young?

I am ALL FOR benefits when people find themselves in shitty situations, but when they're of their own choosing (couples on benefits having 4 kids etc) then not so much, no. Plenty of people working as little as possible to maximise benefits, just means there's less for those who actually need them through no fault of their own.

people need to think first as well, zero hours contracts work well for SOME people, so they shouldn't be stopped entirely.

we need growth so we can afford higher wages.

Tell me again why people shouldn’t work more I don’t think people are arguing against people working more, just wondering how it will work in practice

@cowskeepingmeupatnight I'm totally with you and I'm centre left too.

I’m a single parent, I had a good career and then had an accident that has seriously limited my employability. I can’t walk very far or stand for long periods. I do work 28hrs a week in a school, they have been brilliant at accommodating me. I can vary my position regularly, I’m in one room so don’t have to walk far. The hours and holidays mean I can manage my exhaustion.

But when my dd reaches 12 I know it’s likely I’ll be pushed to up my hours and when she reaches 18 I’ll get nothing unless assessed as low capability to work (unlikely to get this as I’m
currently working!). So I’ll then be completely stuffed, I won’t have enough coming in to cover my bills and I’m not physically fit enough to get a more demanding job.

Many women who are in my situation will be affected badly if they keep upping the criteria.

The self employed where only one parent works and they claim the maximum working tax credit seem to be a bigger problem than part time workers, in my experience. At least some work is done, and minimum wage changes would be the better 'incentive'

I know of a plumber who scarcely works, his wife not at all, and they claim the maxim TC support for them and their children. They're able to afford an admittedly dilapidated mobile caravan on a site and run a car all at taxpayer expense. Though I think this will be addressed when they're moved onto universal credit I'm 2024?

Yes they do. It seems terribly punitive and I'm concerned as to how some people are going to manage it.

I think most people work part time because they have caring commitments or because thats the only type of work available.

I work in the voluntary sector & many of our jobs are part time because we only have the funding for part time hours 🤷🏻‍♀️

stil I’m sure the Eton educated author of Britannia unchained kwasi knows all about low paid part time work

Benefits are now capped at 2 children.

Why don't the government leave the over 50's alone? I know that in 5 yrs I'll be 54 and I'm semi-retiring. I've had enough of working.

I can see the logic and the country needs more workers . I'm also thinking they know tax paying people are very fed up for others to sit on benefits at their expense when they aren't disabled . Liz Truss has said a few things that make me realise she doesn't want people reliant on benefits indefinitely and all the ' carrots ' will be aimed at workers .
Ultimately benefits keep people in poverty so if there is a push to get people that can into the workplace I think it's good thinking outside the norm .

Instead, try

• Childcare being open at weekends and evenings
• Make it impossible for women to be fired due to child sickness related absence
• Raise the NMW for fucks sake
• A cap on private rental prices

Cutting NHS waiting times would be very beneficial in getting people back to work.

There’s another thread where people are saying that raising the minimum wage is going to screw the economy further.

There really isn’t a right or wrong answer, but the reality is that for to many people living on benefits is a lifestyle choice. I know at least 1 person who has school aged children who refuses to work more than 15 hours a week because then the government won’t pay her rent.

If the only people who were working less than 15 hours a week were preschool aged children then it would be understandable, but they’re not.

After school clubs are nowhere near as expensive as nursery fees, so there is very little excuse for parents of school aged children not to work more.

This will disproportionately affect women.