to not want people to judge those who recieve benefits????

[TidyTink]

Im a single mother of one,

i was working up until my DD (3) was born, rather than take a part time job that i knew i would always be stuck in i decided to get to college and study asubject that will lead me to a very hard working and well paid job so that i can fully support my DD in the future.

I hate recieving benefits and cannot wait untill i have finished my degree

Once i start at work i will be paying enough taxes in the future to more than cover the benefits ive recieved over the few yrs.

So why does everyone assume your a complete waste of space?? not all of us take advantage of the system!!!!

well i think the fact that she is out every weekend and also has the best of everything gives me some kind of idea about what she is like.

To be fair I dont think SEA said that anyone was a lazy layabout....just that some of the system pissed her off. Some of it pisses me off too but I dont necessarily think that people on benefits are lazy...far from it! But I do know of people who claim when they shouldn't.

Oh, I am confused now!! Who is out every weekend and has the best of everything??? have I missed something?

Agreed, YANBU.

we gave it a month in the hope the dh could find some work, but due to circumstances beyond our control (time of year, needing a digitacho) have had to go on benefits, and can honsestly, say, even the many forms, and hours spent in various local government dept offices haven't been as degrading as this evening when I was doing some shopping and had to use the new style milk token things, The way the cashier fussed, faffed, and behaved like a foghorn jobsworth was so degrading, with a Q of people craning to see what the hold up was. I ended up taking a deep breath, spelling out to her that I had enough qualifying goods to cover the vouchers, then stated 'do you think I would be using these if I didn't have to?' Bloody fuming, next job is a written complaint....

we are absolutly living week by week, as we went down to the bottom of our pockets in the hope we could avoid claiming, and hope to be off the system asap, fingers crossed.

I thought the idea of paying tax and NI was so we had the safety net of benefits for times like these, or am i just naive?

Do agree with the corporate welfare comments...surely the shareholders should be bailing it out, as they were happy enough to pocket lots when things were rosy.

i thought number6 was replying to what i posted but i could be wrong.

but again, no anger directed at the fat cats who give themselves huge bonuses basically at taxpayer expense, or corporations who use corporate welfare to pay a non-living wage - yes, there are people at the top getting HUGE golden handshakes for that, or your tax money being handed out to private shareholders who took a gamble on shares in a private company, lost and now you're compensating for them.

why is this? is it because these folks are less visible - mostly because your money went to fund them a lifestyle most of us could only wonder at?

honestly, i don't get all this anger directed at the lowest echelon of society whilst the dish runs away with the spoon right in front of our eyes - and does it in a Merc with a driver.

i blame them too expat, the whole system is corrupt

readytopop ooohhh I was going to start a thread about those bloody vouchers

The cashier in Tesco told me potatoes weren't vegetables so I couldn't use my voucher for them. I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself

expat, brilliant post can I nominate that last line for quote of the week

Well, as someone has already said, we're all recieving child benefit -and I'm sure a large proportion of us could easily manage without it, so are we all scroungers too?

whatever you like, sherby .

but seriously, a lot of people are struggling because employers are allowed by the government to pay a non-living wage and the government tops it up with tax credits.

and so much more, too!

tidttink and lewisfan. i to am on benefits working towards a degree and hate the way people look at you for daring to ask for help. the way i see it i could get a full time job but with no training etc would be on minimum wage and need top-up benefits or take a couple of years to do my degree qualify and be able to support my children without the need for top-ups and pay back into the sytem more than i will take out.( if that makes sense)
i can see why people get het up over people who take advantage of the system for no apparent reason and the rest of us get tarred with the same brush

Tori- she's nto that much of an exception, I can't work (Dh has 2 jobs although not stonkingly paid)- the benefits we geta re admittedly disability ones for 2 opf the dc's, buta s well as being PG I am like the OP at university. LODA of people on my course are very much like the OP- probably 70%. Including one single mum of 5 kids, I have nothing but admiration for her. yes she's on benefits but she's building a very real future- beena ccepted for her PhD.

Dh didn't go on IB when he was off work, we just claimed contribution based JSA. He was really ill though, his condition almost cost him his life. But because it was depression he was treated like a fraud by so many poeple!. Even MN had to remove a message from someone calling him a lazy NOW- they didn't bother to ask but in fact he has two jobs! . How much more can one man do, fgs?

(BTW meant toa dd good on you tidytink- and good luck with the degree!)

YANBU.i was a single mum for a few years and it really got to me when i had to go to those 'work-focused interviews' and was asked if i'd considered doing an adult literacy or numeracy course.then they would look at me in disbelief when i said i was educated to A-level standard and didnt think such courses would help.

being on benefits is not living the high-life.and what incentive is there to get a job when you constantly hear about people up to their eyes in debt because they have to pay tax credits back?whats the point in going to work for £5 a week more than you get on benefits?

i think the government like to draw attention to the small amount of benefit claimants who are abusing the system,so the taxpayers will be pissed off with them rather than realising that the goverments are a bunch of arseholes.

thanx peachy

and exactly my point dylsmum, strongly agree

readytopop - those ARE the reasons you pay tax and NI you have no reason at all to feel guilty or ashamed of the situation you're in. The safety net is there for people in circumstances like yours. There's absolutely nothing wrong with claiming benefits you're entitled to.

I'm quite that you waited to claim until you had no other choice.

NumberSix
"WHY, with all that in mind, should I not consider ALL my other options including giving up work? And I wouldn't choose to give up work unless it was to do something like study in order to progress, and probably do some voluntary work or get involved with the school PTA etc."

Why indeed? Making the best calculation of how you can make the best life for you and your DC and best contribute to society in the long term is only sensible.

As for corporate welfare - somehow people have been convinced that it's "politics of envy" to in any way question what is available to the enormously wealthy (because of course, we live in a "meritocracy" ) but it's perfectly OK to resent anything at all given to those worse off than you. Because by the meritocratic logic they deserve to be poor and any relief they might get is at YOUR expense, whereas we need to bend over backwards to keep non-doms happy in case they might leave the country they supposedly don't live in anyway.

TidyTink Re:Benefits, maybe have a good look at your prejudices and assumptions too as You state "So why does everyone assume your a complete waste of space?? not all of us take advantage of the system!!!!"

why do you assume everyone stereotypes?have you had bad experience?has someone been unkind to you.please don't lump me in with your sweeping generalisations

Fwiw, the benefit system is variable and too complex for a stereotypical argument. Or wandering off into Deserving/Undeserving poor.thing about the benefit system is that there are many people who will (anecdotally) claim they know a man with a big telly, leather sofa, 4 holidays a year. However, many children also live in poverty on benefits

Hey many people stereotype students as drunken good for nothing studying on ology in arse scratching and naval gazing - does not make it true!

good luck with you degee

I was trying to stay away from this thread but anyhow my 2 penith is as such:-

I hated the system and never wanted to claim benifits - never have in my life never intended to. however XH walked out and basically I have to support DS somehow. I have tax credits, and CB - I have IS but after everything I went thru to get it the amount I get is £10 per week - however this £10 goes a long way. apparently as I get maintenace from XH i'm not entitled to anything more. fortunatly we do qualify for housing benifits - (i'm not sure how that will change thou when I get a job)

I alos hate the voucher thingys - and for one thing definatly didn't want them, however, when I had pretty much ran out of milk and didn't have the money to get more - needs must and all. as mum said at least you now know each week you can have milk and a packet of fruit. I try to go to teh shop with tehm when I know it's going ot be empty/go to the checkout the furthest away and pray no one comes in after me - touch wood i've never had a problem - well the last lady added it all up - (I do a manual note in my head) anyhow, it's not nice at all having to use them - but again needs must.

We moved to this house just on 4 weeks ago, i've been claiming IS since H walked out last sept - and only recently HB. at the end of the day the money I have is so short of were it needs to be, but I manage, we get by, can even afford the odd bar of dairy milk of a night (when it's on for £1) and a cup of tea out in town! thing is thou to the outside world I prob look like I don't need the money - but beleive me I do - it appears like i'm never home, always out and how am I affording it - well the simple truth is right now i'm always out cos it's cheaper for me to walk to a family members and stop there for a while to save the heating than it is to stop in and keep my heating on all say as I can't afford to do that. (like most working familys I should imagine)

My intention is to do an OU degree - having looked online even if I work PT I can have help with the funding of the course. I hate the position i'm in, and I hate it more that some people make this as a 'career choice' - honestly how and why would you do it? getting everyhting sorted has been bloody hard work - how those fraud people do it and get away with it i'll never know - but obv some do.

The absolute worst bit of all of this for me was the very first time I was paid IS - I literally had nothing in teh hosue for DS to eat, and was told the giro thingy would be at the postoffice - well they sent it to a post office which is 30 miles away and only open on a thurs for 45 mins. (i'd asked for it to go somewhere else) so instead I ahd to drive for 30 mins to the town to the job centre sign a decleration I wouldn't cash any giros I had thru the post and then was kept waiting for 2 hours while the job centre ladys tried to sort it out - I was tired, close to tears, and felt very ashamed and embaressed, in a position I never asked for or wanted to be in so now - I recon you shouldn't judge people unless you know the full in's and outs.

scottishmummy, i wasnt trying to say that everyone shares the same view, guess i knew who i was talking about but didnt come accross that way

I know there are many people out there who probably dont give a toss about any of this,

was just assuming that pople with the same view would know the sort of people i was talking about

fair enough, it is really that any emotive statement with an "everyone" component is bound not too be all inclusive, and so not everyone

DTMistress - I hope this doesnt sound patronising but I wanted to say thanks for sharing your side of things. Its nearly bought e to tears to imagine being in your position when you had no food in the house for your DS. Its really made me appreciate how lucky I am right now but also how that could be any one of us in your circumstances.

I normally steer clear of these threads but this one has been enlightening. I do see both sides of the argument as I was bought up in a single parent family on benefits but have also been extremely frustrated with a family member of mine who I percieve to be taking the mick out of the system. I am really pleased that OP has the option to study with the long term aim of improving her life but on the other hand there are so many of us who would love that opportunity but wouldnt qualify for the help. Its not a fair system because it just cant be but I am grafetul that we have some system to cater for those most in need.