Are we morally obliged to work ?

[Justthisonce12]

630,000 economically inactive people in the UK not claiming benefits. Early retiree’s I guess.

Hunt plans to tackle this and encourage work force participation to allow businesses to grow. ie cheap labour I presume ? But also preventing a brain drain.

Will be interesting to see how he plans to address this.

My MIL has never worked due to disability, she’s been on benefits her whole life. I’m not saying they were rolling in money while DH grew up but she is very comfortable now on her state pension and pension credits. She has a council house with very low rent, doesn’t pay council tax. I know everything going in and out because she needs me to help with her online banking. She also gifted DSIL 2k last year to help with a wedding to keep her savings under the £16k mark.

Apparently these people don’t exist though and if anyone dares mention them they get told off for not focusing on the big companies not paying enough tax.

There’s a lot more younger people living hand to mouth than pensioners IME.

Sorry, I just posted on the wrong thread!

Good point there. I’ll add an e) who does voluntary work

I’ve always said businesses are not making a good business decision. They’ve cut out a HUGE number of perfectly working people who are mums

i don’t work. I don’t claim benefits. I dont pay tax!

they want us who don’t work to pay tax but if you don’t claim benefits then what else can you do? Pay tax for not working?

👏👏👏 Well said. I agree.

Economists to blame, sell drugs or sell your body and you are counted as being economically active, raise kids, care for family, friends or neighbours or donate your time to charity and they don't think you exist - even if you enable many others to keep working who wouldn't be able to otherwise.

The voluntary sector will simply collapse without people who are self funding.

Every volunteer org I’ve ever been involved with relies on retirees, people whose partner earns enough for them both, people living on an inheritance, even a lady who won the pools years ago!

The government’s lack of understanding that not contributing financially (self funding, disabled etc) means not contributing to society at all is rage inducing.

So reforming childcare would be a help. I wonder if subsiding childcare might results in enough extra tax being paid to cover that cost?

As a sahm to school aged children I am in this category, he’d have to give me a school
hours/term time job that pays enough to cover childcare for kids sick days, a cleaner, and a babysitter for my gym sessions… I don’t think it will happen 🤷🏻‍♀️

there are 5.8million people claiming UC.

Hand Up here, this was me.

Youngest started school this year, but I’m now in the, I have chronic health conditions that prevent me getting work category, but not entitled to PIP because I can still do basic things.

Even if I did go back to work we’d have childcare issues so while we can afford it there is no point me looking at going back to work.

No, economically inactive are definitely not morally obliged to work. Both my husband and I have been in this category in the past. He has volunteered at a museum and cathedral, me doing auditing for a credit union as a volunteer and we now do childcare for our grandson a couple of days a week. My husband's public sector job was so stressful it was slowly killing him - so glad he got out. We were self-sufficient after many years of work and savings. I would encourage anyone to do the same if they can support themselves.

Jeremy Hunt is targeting 600,000 of those universal credit claimants for additional support.
The 630,000 are in addition, they are not universal credit claimants.

Number of people in UK: 67.3 million
Number of worker in UK: 32.7 million

The 48 percent have to support the 52 percent.

Only one in six of those workers pay the higher rate tax.

Something needs to give.

If we lived in a society where we could all afford a decent quality of life, regardless of our job, then yes I think there’s a moral obligation.

But we don’t. We live in a society where the people at the top are using us as slaves, our quality of life is declining, healthcare isn’t sufficient. Most of us can’t afford to buy a house. It causes a sort of paralysis where a lot of us just can’t see the point and don’t want to be treated like we’re worth nothing except for helping to provide others with wealth.

I’m not talking about myself particularly…..I’m at an age where I’ve just about scraped enough equity to survive and I will be caring my my elderly mother very soon. But if I had no commitments I would be living in a van and travelling because I wouldn’t want to be part of the system as it is. If I lived in a Scandinavian country (at least how things were twenty years ago) then my attitude would be very different.

I think the plan will be to make it impossible for you to be able to afford to stay at home on one income in the future. Whether you require childcare, a cleaner, babysitters, dog walkers will be neither here nor there you’ll just have to get on with it.

Yes, it doesn't fit with the whole big society, austerity nonsense they've inflicted on us over the last dozen years. Withdraw state funding from vital services, shove them into the voluntary sector, see what happens if a large pool of volunteers go back to paid jobs instead.

I was previously considering retiring generally and more so recently when the increased tax burden became clear, but actually now yes, I do feel a moral obligation to continue, and will do so for a few more years until I'm 64 or 65. I have specialist knowledge that would be hard to replace at the same cost, and I think we all need to pay off the huge debts created through Covid and contribute to the economy. I have no problem with it at all.
Obviously there are other ways to contribute generally (volunteering, raising children etc.) but paying tax is a big deal and what is needed right now.

Much better dear.

That said it will be finally good to see His Royal Highness Prince Andrew The Duke of York getting off his non-sweaty arse and doing a job at last .... or did I miss that bit in the budget? 😂

Hunt is such an idiot...

The people he describes might not have jobs but they still contribute to the economy by being consumers, paying council tax and so on.

There are many good reasons for being ''inactive'': caring for kids and relatives, having disabilities/health issues, career break to study/retrain, early retirement, inheritance, having a wealthy partner that is able to keep the household going on one income.

Mostly it is none of his business as long as people have the means to finance their lifestyle or are simply unable to work for health reasons.

Boris Johnson hasn't done a real day of work in his entire life if you want to talk about the ''inactive''...

Given that Liz Truss in 6 weeks has cost the Uk some 30 billion, that nothing will happen to her as a consequence , I don’t feel obliged to work more.
I have 4 years to go to retirement, have a small pension, some rental income and work part time. I won’t work more as I have some health issues, and given the current state of the NHS, want to prioritize my health. Many people I know quit work early during Covid if they could afford to. I’m actively considering quitting now too.

Exactly.

I already know of several places that are struggling because volunteers are having to do other things more.

I personally used to chair a playscheme and out of school care as well as being one the committee and a regular volunteer for a uniform bank. It was my time to do something useful and keep an element of normality. All support services for my youngest were lost (no respite available, children’s centre closed etc) so I have no time to do it.

It’s no real surprise to me that a roundabout attack on the voluntary sector will, imo, disproportionately impact the poorest (and women and children most).

I know the feeling. I suppose a lot of the people not working and not claiming benefits haven’t been able to claim PIP. it seems that one has to be a complete imbecile who can’t wash or change their clothes and can’t leave the house unaccompanied to claim PIP. People don’t have a clue do they? It makes me so so angry.

But anyway, it’s all fine because eventually a lot of them commit suicide. They’re not useful to society so who cares?

Last week - a journalist specifically looking for a "good news" story interviewed me and three others at the charity we do voluntary work for. We had our photos in the paper, plus a write-up about how important our voluntary work is.

This week - Jeremy Hunt castigates non-working, non-benefit claiming people like me.