to think cutting benefits will increase crime

[everydaywonderful]

because people need money, you know, for food and rent and stuff. I'd be prepared to break the law before seeing my children without food, or homeless, wouldn't you?

Personally I'm looking forward to them somehow curing my son of his chromosome deletion so he and I can both work.

it just seems nowadays that there are just too many excuses... i was a single parent, i had not support network but i worked out how to do it. my kids never had new, always 2nd hand and free... i would go without! its what we did 20 years ago... now! god forbid its not handed on a plate now

i agree there are exceptions out there, people who simply cannot work for genuine reasons and for them the help should be there, but its the work shy lazy one full of excuses who spoil it for those who really need it.

children die in this country because of inadequate housing. Adults die in this country because of inadequate diets as a child

I have two kids at Uni in different towns, one up North, one down south. Both have been trying to get some part time work for months to fit around their studies. Not sure where they are going wrong if there are so many jobs available.

Thing is that age/health does result in discrimination. I'm employed fulltime in a fairly 'big' role with an absolute shedload of specialist experience and knowledge in an area that is struggling to find experienced people capable of filling roles - agencies aren't interested once they realise I'm older and disabled.

Exactly, the majority of people receiving PIP work. And getting the PIP enables me to afford a car to get to work as if I took public transport I would be in too much pain to work by time I get there.

And there are many non agency government job sites.
NHS jobs probably being the biggest, but every council also has their own job site.

But people dont seem to want the lower paid jobs. In my nhs team we have tried to recruit admin - no skills needed beyond a pleasant phone manner, organised and basic IT skills, can work from home at least part of week if wishes, flexible working (long days/early or late starts as phones need manning 8am -6pm so choice of fewerlonger days or shifts) - would suit those with physical disabilities who may struggle to commute. But we have no decent applicants - as someone mentioned above, we get lots of people who seem to not be bothered about even getting the job. It's really frustrating

Haven't read all the thread , but ordinary members of the public suffered this during Maggie's reign , it wasn't nice . It was certainly a horrible time to repeat .
Even items of clothing were at risk , your shoes they weren't safe either .
But don't worry Richi Sunak wont have to risk walking anywhere .

Correlation is not causation. Shoplifting rates most likely fell during the pandemic because no fecker was going to the shops (non-essential ones weren’t even open). Not because hard up mums suddenly had a bit extra.

If you look at people convicted of shoplifting in the magistrates courts, it’s nearly always driven by addiction, not poverty.

🍿I hope you are feeling brave. Working for a living is not a popular theme on MN.

the problem is; there are those with a condition where it impacts their lives dramatically, where others use the condition as an excuse!

so for example my sister has had a new hip, therefore she cannot work! its got nothing to do with IF she can work, as far as she is concerned she has mobility issues BECAUSE she has a new hip!

now, there is a chance she's right, but whenever i've seen her, she swims, she runs, she cooks, she cleans, she does everything i can do (i also need a new hip) but on paper because she has a new hip... she has mobility issues and can't work?

I dont think 'a little understanding' should be used... because everyone is different, everyone should be judged independantly. too many people at the bottom end of the 'scale' as it were spoil it for those at the top...

this is my issue.. i suffer from migraine... my friends suffer from headaches... a migrain and a headache are 2 totally different things but you can guarantee if i said i had a migraine... people would say, oh its only a bad headache!

im not expressing this very well. there are those who simply cannot work, and they unfortunately and quite wrongly get the brunt end because of those who could if they tried

ha ha so it seems... how very dare i? ive been a single mum who worked shifts... I'm disabled and get pip and I work!! its probably way too much for some MN members to be able to cope with and they may need to have a lie down

Hmm see I don't know, my ex has been "on benefits" for 8 years, so pays no child maintenance I would like to see his benefits be cut and forced to finally get a job.

Labour will be in power before this can even happen. So it’s a moot point.
Not that they will be any better mind.

Exactly, the majority of people receiving PIP work

They most certainly don’t. Universal Credit, yes. PIP, no. When people are getting assessed for PIP, the assessor uses the fact that someone works as evidence why they shouldn’t get PIP.

The amount of people that live on benefits as a "lifestyle choice" or commit benefit fraud to live a certain lifestyle is tiny. Far more people work and recieve benefits such as myself. I work full time earning 35k and still get a small amount of UC as a single parent who works and private rents. And it's still a bloody struggle I've skipped meals so my kid is fed!
I am incredibly lucky to WFH with an amazing employer who let's me do school runs etc and work flexibly as long as my work is done. Not everybody has that opportunity! Before this I was paying wraparound, commuting over an hour a day and claiming the costs back.
Even if I jacked in my job and lived off benefits I'd get around £1200 which is nothing when rent is so high, that would barely cover my bills! Hardly raking it in!
A lot of single parents work part time around school hours and use UC as a top up, not all of them may have the skills to land themselves a flexible remote job where you are competing with the whole of the UK for an interview! These women could have had their lives turned upside down, been a SAHM and husband has left or even died. Maybe they haven't had access to the education others have to get a good job, etc etc.
I agree with you OP, kids are going to go hungry and I think it's abysmal, I'd do anything for mine.
If I see someone shoplifting nappies, food formula, essentials etc, I'll be minding my business.

i was working when i applied for PiP... we are not talking about UC. I told the PiP assessor I work, i explained my job, my hours, my routine.... i still got PiP. I work with at least 3 people who receive PiP.

i suppose, if you apply for PiP as you have a bad back, and you work lifting boxes all day, then the assessor would have to ask, if you have a bad back, how can you lift boxes all day, so i suppose it does depend on the job itself.

my work have supplied me with my own ergonomic desk, chair, breaks, hours, they have bent over backwards to keep me working.. and fair play to them as not everyone does.

The problem is the amount of corporations and millionaires not paying their fair share, but the tories want to push this narrative of benefit scum bags and illegal immigrants taking your money. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
I agree with you.

If they were serious about getting people into work they could do any of the following:

• improve flexible working
• give incentives to companies to make the proper reasonable adjustments people with long term health conditions and disabilities need to get into work
• improve the ability for parents to share leave, or possibly increase paid leave for parents because having children comes with childhood illnesses, which means some people end up needing to stay home because nobody will accept them working with regular absences for their children
• improve public transport
• improve access to mental health services so early intervention can happen
• roll out sure start again to help families and promote access to services and healthy living
• deal with the problems caused by poor housing
• get SEN support sorted so the next generation of workers are educated properly and are ready to enter the workplace

But they won't do that because they don't actually want to solve the problems.

They want to create an underclass who are too poor to live on benefits, but also in precarious low-paid employment with poor working conditions so they can have a steady stream of people too stressed and worried to spend their time thinking about politics.
It also means they can create an culture of working people kicking other working people (we already see it on here when people discuss pay and conditions with "they should suck up having their conditions eroded, not everyone gets paid £X an hour. Unions are awful! How dare they fight for their workers when some people are working and in poverty")

nah... sorry but the rich should not pay more because they are rich is wrong (and no i am not rich).

i do believe that certain benefits for those who chose to not work should be removed. i do not mean disabled, i do not mean mentally unwell, i mean the lazy ones who refuse to find a job because its easier to sit on their arses 24/7 on xbox being given free money.

@queenofcruises I get you up to a point, but unlike you, I do not trust this government to be fair, decent or humane towards people who cannot work at all or cannot work full time.

My DS has a host of conditions - autism, depression, anxiety, severe mobility issues that mean he uses a wheelchair, chronic pain and fatigue. There are other symptoms that are part of the syndrome he has, it's complex. Barring a miraculous breakthrough in autoimmune conditions and their treatment, he will not get better.

He takes medication, stays as active as he can and he works - 22.5 hours a week on a shift pattern that gives him at least 3 days of rest between 3/4 consecutive days of working. He gets higher rate PIP for both aspects and between that and his work, he is financially just about OK.

I don't trust the Tories not to reform the system so that he will be forced into full time work. At that point, his conditions will worsen to the point where he will in fact not be able to work at all. This will be bad for his physical and mental health - he wants to work and contribute, but his situation is complex. Rish! Sunak's rhetoric tars everyone with the same brush, stokes up divisions and offers no prospect of reforms that are going to be sensible, humane and effective. It's all just punitive - if not, why is there no mention at all of improvine health services so that people don't have to spend years on waiting lists?

If you think the Tories are going to be decent about this, you're very naive.

Vacancies

Positions for which employers are actively seeking recruits from outside their business or organisation are defined as vacancies in our Guide to labour market statistics. The estimates are based on the Vacancy Survey; this is a survey of employers designed to provide estimates of the stock of vacancies across the economy, excluding agriculture, forestry, and fishing (a small sector for which the collection of estimates would not be practical).

OP, from the ONS. You are talking nonsense.

Agree that most receiving PIP are not working. I've just been trying to find some stats. I work in benefits advice and the vast majority claiming PIP are not working. I guess that may be because the ones we help are therefore more likely to be looking for other benefits alongside PIP though. The vast majority of those we help to claim PIP for the first time are not working - they are claiming it because they have become so debilitated that they can no longer work and are worried about how they will live on just UC/ ESA etc.

916,000 job vacancies, a PP said. There’s currently 1.4million out of work. So nearly 0.5 million for whom there is no work. Current prison population is just under 100,000, in other words outnumbered 5 to 1 by the people it is suggested should be sent to jail because there is no job for them. Cost of keeping them in jail is the least of their worries!

Sunak planning to remove benefits from anyone unemployed for more than 12 months

https://news.sky.com/story/rishi-sunak-pledges-to-remove-benefits-for-people-not-taking-jobs-after-12-months-13118419

ah now thats a different story! any government either tory or labour will go with the masses not the few and thats where its not fair.

there are people out there who simply cannot and never will be able to work, i completely accept that.. totally 100%

but because of the actions of those who 'swing the lead' as it were, they will probably end up being penalised.

and where do you draw the line on 'swinging the lead'? its a difficult and touchy subject which the OP clearly knew they were posting about and is probably laughing their socks off at all those getting upset and ranty, yes even me.

I'd vote for the governement which has the BEST plan to tackle this issue fairly and properly and i honestly do not think that will happen

and if you have never had your nails done, never drink or smoke, don't have a flat screen TV or games consul....

Not everyone has outgoings that can be cut! I am surprised you think getting your nails done every week is a common thing. I've only ever had my nails done for medical reasons. I think I know one person off the top of my head who regularly gets their nails done. I don't think it is normal