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?

There are a lot of jobs going unfilled. It is also true that government websites are not good places to find jobs - employers don’t tend to want to advertise there.

Why on earth would you think of stealing rather than getting a job, that just doesn't make sense. I really hope that not many people think like you.

Lovely how the Tories managed to firmly return Britain to 19th century.
Only the deserving poor have the rights to any benefits.
You have access to the internet? That's luxury! You only count as poor if you are lying in dirt on the street, begging for pennies. Sell the laptop, use the money to do your weekly shopping and then educate yourselves or look for jobs by handing out hand written CVs. Also, no access to the internet means you will be even easier to be manipulated into believing you're just a worthless piece of poor shit, completely on the bottom of the caste based society of the great British Empire.

Because consistently and accurately distinguishing between "can't" and "won't" would be more time consuming and costly than maintaining the status quo.

The number of people genuinely playing the system is so small it's a complete non-issue. The only reason it gets the attention it does is because it's an emotive issue that causes division and distraction.

You have not read my posts.

Where have I said I am poor? Where have I said I am on benefits? Where have I said I even have children?

I have said if I depended on benefits, and they were cut, leaving me unable to feed children, I would likely be seriously considering illegal ways of paying for food and rent.

As would many or most parents.

Because I would prioritise my children's welfare, wouldn't you?

And I am well aware that the government website which supposedly lists available jobs, does absolutely no such thing, as I have tried to use it to find a job in the past.

Hence, my argument that this planned policy, cutting benefits for people who have been unemployed for 12 months, is going to lead to desperate people who's only available option to feed and house their children is crime

I've seen some nasty threads, but this has to be in the top ten. So many ignorant people. Seriously.

Um, I don't have a TV, why is this an issue to you? What difference does whether or not I own a TV to my opinion on this policy to stop benefits to anyone who has been unemployed for 12 months?

The availability of jobs really does depend on where you live, living in or near a City, where there are more vacancies, definitely helps. If you're in the SE, it's even easier, as long as you have somewhere to live.

Only thing going round here is Care Work and really not everyone is suited to doing that, although that might be what @caringcarer does for a living, given their username.

There's a difference between people who can't work for health reasons and people who simply don't want to work.
I agree with you.

I just don't trust the Tories to make that distinction properly and am very worried that people with genuine illnesses and disabilities are going to get shafted.

It's very telling that they're not pushing for part time, flexible working with appropriate adjustments that would make work a brilliant option for people who could work if the right adjustments are in place.

It's also interesting that they haven't shown any interest in other ways the benefit bill could be cut (like improving access to healthcare and mental health support).

Their approach seems to be grind people further and further into poverty to teach them a lesson.

Well, quite. If you're on the bones of your arse, you won't have a lot to sell. Your laptop? You'll get £50 if you're lucky. Then you're more than likely still stuck on an internet contract you can't cancel without being charged £££ that you don't have, and on top of that you no longer have a device you can use to apply for jobs. Well, you could go to a library - oh no, that's probably been closed and in any case, you can't afford transport to get there. So you sell some more stuff until you're living in a house with nothing - your kids have no beds, you've got no furniture. Someone reports you to social services and now you're under investigation. And there's no help for you because all the services your council once supplied have been cut.

To the work house with you!

Whereas @LolaSmiles nails it with her analysis of what needs to change in order to make work accessible and available to everyone - but that would take investment and someone giving a damn. Far easier to sit in your ivory tower of middle class financial privilege and kick people when they're down.

exactly this

Same old disingenuous, false premise questions apologists for this failed system keep hiding behind.

1. The alternative would be not voting for a party that has systematically ruined this country for four decades and kept itself in power by divisive lies, including scapegoating poor people for the benefit of idiots who depend on the Sun and Daily Mail to inform their opinions.
2. “People who refuse to work” are about as unlimited as benefits of Brexit. The avoidance of driving increasing numbers of desperate people to commit crimes is an infinitely better option than punishing all benefit claimants just to make sure you hammer the small percentage of malingerers.

@srailfonaidraug 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Hold on a minute, you're now saying you're not on benefits. So you're actually speaking on behalf of people who are. How the fuck do you know what other people would or would not do. What a stupid thread this is.

The system is a mess.

It took 2 full years for my disabl0prjttthĵrlhlpljpttjy4kkuuukujlulukkluljluuuuyiulmpility claim to be accepted, after an independent tribunal.

I couldn't work, I had cancer, then a stroke, I am in constant pain, and don't have the use of my arm, and my mobility can be pretty crap some days and I have a neurological condition.

The job centre made me quit my employment to free up that job, and then pushed me to do care work which I was physically unable to do. I had to have weekly meetings and was humiliated and degraded at each appointment, despite working from the age of 13 until I got unwell.

Process of my claim being accepted took so long because the NHS is so fucking shit my diagnosis took forever to get.

So basically the tories screw the NHS to the point people can't get a diagnosis, now they don't want to pay the minimum amount of benefit to see people to see them through to a tribunal.

It was bad enough that I was put under the benefit cap for the 2 years I waited for my tribunal, I couldn't imagine having zero, and being physically unable to work.

@srailfonaidraug

Curious….what do you think is going to happen after the next election? That goes out to all the Tory bashers by the way.
Do you think the Labour Party will adopt different policies?
What exactly do you think they will do?

Why on earth would you think of stealing rather than getting a job, that just doesn't make sense. I really hope that not many people think like you

I think the point is that most of the jobs are not practical for certain people. If you are looking for a low skilled job, it is very unlikely that the hours are going to fit around school hours, caring commitments primary jobs etc so you then need to pay for childcare to look after your children while you work. You then need to find childcare providers for the holidays that the kids have off school, due to the low wage, the money you earn will bit cover your bills and your childcare cost - which means you can't go to work.

Also, most people who claim benefits actually work and get "topped up" because we allow people to work for pittance now as costs soar, so it's not like all the benefits claimer won't work.

So then you have the unemployed who can't work due to disability. The ones who are terrified that they may be tried to be forced back to work in jobs they physically can't do, just to be given the benefit to survive. Which is a disgrace and we should be ashamed of ourselves.

Our country is only as successful as the quality of life our most vulnerable in society have, we have failed...massively.

Then you get the teeny tiny percentage who won't work, yes it is better to find ways to instentivise them back to work rather than starving their kids or sending them further into crime.

But some people will just run with the nonsense fed to them by the press, to hate those benefits scroungers - not that we are the 5th wealthiest country in the world and can afford to look after a teeny tiny minority of our population. This tiny % of our countries wealth being spent here is the least of our worries currently. Some just choose not to see it.

And people saying we should just make our most vulnerable accept shitty contracts because they are "desperate" are despicable. The argument is, make these contracts illegal and give people decent, secured salaries with benefits, better conditions all around - not accept the worse because your desperate - exploitative springs to mind.

careful you'll get an email from admin!! 😂😂

This is a disgrace and, sadly, not uncommon. We, as a country, should be ashamed we allow people to live like this.

I hope everything got sorted, I wouldn't mind, the amount that most people are actually fighting for is the basics to live, not like fighting to live like a queen.

People have these things called friends. Some of whom may be on benefits. I'm not sure why that is beyond the bounds of your understanding. What a blinkered post that was.

Jesus. This is just the most awful thread to read, I’m a single parent, I work, I have to claim UC because my wages are shit.
I don’t have a sought after skill, so I would just go from on NMW job to another and my lot won’t improve.

My childrens dad doesn’t pay maintenance and the inept CSA won’t do their job, so we survive on what I earn and my UC. No one wants to address that issue of people dodging paying maintenance, because it’s far easier to go for me, make me feel like shit and scum and judging by some posts be punished for it too.

I don’t know why I read these threads. I, like lots of people, was married and was fine until one day I wasn’t and my husband turned out to be an A grade arsehole, I was a decent person and I still am, but needing top ups makes me feel like shit, it makes people view me like shit and somehow as a single mum who needs help I get it from all sides.

because I have some sense of what being in that situation is like. Because I work in a prison, and work in schools and work with homeless people, and know what sort of situations many people are living in.

I never said I was unemployed or on benefits. I have never been unemployed, I have been on benefits, and I have been unable to find a job outside my profession.

You misread my posts. Not my problem.

It won't happen. It's trying to scared people.
Nobody would vote for a party that let people starve.

I don’t think it follows that cutting benefits will make loads of people go out and steal, I think many will look for work. It’s a bit depressing that the alternative to benefits is to start nicking stuff. I think most people are better than that.

The dependency in the Uk is unaffordable, thats the bottom line. Doesn’t really matter which government it is, something has got to give.

Thank you yes! I also have friends and family! Not sure why I would not be allowed to post my opinion on this topic