Dispatches- Britain’s Benefit scandal

[Sunnywalker]

Anybody watched this? It’s made me so angry. Some highlights include a company that can’t recruit an apprentice on 26k because sickness benefits would amount to 24k so it wouldn’t be worth it. 500,000, 25-34 years old on long term sick, a woman who has never had a FT job and claims 35k in benefits, this lady would like to work but says will never achieve the same income if she worked.

This country is bankrupt, public services crumbling! What is going on? Why isn’t there an overhaul!

I haven't seen it but if employers are paying at or around benefits levels, surely it's a wages problem, not a benefits problem.

This, in a nutshell

Also, don't envy people on benefits. They never progress. They never get promoted. They never have more than £6k in savings. They just get their benefits and buy "stuff". Not much of a way to live but I can see why they do it,

I chose to work and better myself rather than a life on benefits and here I am now, almost 60 with a paid off house and plenty in my pension fund. I wouldn't have had that on benefits

Edited to add £26k isn't enough to live on anyway. It's at least £30k for a decent quality of life Plus, very often it isn't what you earn that counts, its what you don't have to pay for that is the real attraction

I grew up on benefits, and to be fair as a personal choice I get it. I have many family members on benefits, and one who's on minimum wage (breaking his back every day in a care role...) and the ones on benefits have a higher standard of living.

Personally I pursued a high paying career and got out of the cycle. But I can see why, if you weren't chasing a high paying career, the choice between a life on minimum wage (often with shitty conditions and shift patterns) or benefits is fairly comparable.

Benefits have a disincentive effect which it's now unacceptable to mention in political discussion. Now add in the disincentives created by tax credits and look at what's been created. Unfortunately neither main party has the courage to tackle this.

Yes and I think that's where the problem lies. No one should be better off on benefits than someone on the minimum wage. Working should always pay a lot more.

Really ? Because a large portion of society appear to manage on salaries less than the benefits packages these people are getting. How on earth can you expect someone who has effectively never worked and has no qualifications to be employed with a 35k salary ? I mean teachers start on 32k and many other professions I would imagine!

Another thing is lots of people now claim benefits alongside working, which might feel pretty demeaning. If you were once proud to support your family on a hard-working minimum wage job, and now have to claim benefits to supplement that, it's easy to see why you might look for ways out of working altogether and claiming more.

Well I can see why. People take the route with least resistance. Why isn’t the Government allowing it at the expense of everything else !

I get your point and you certainly have more security (there could be a benefits crackdown in a couple of years, who knows).

However, you say it's no way to live, but they might say that giving 5/7 days of your time until you're a pensioner isn't a great way to live when you can get £35k and retain every single day of your time to do as you please.

Well done to you for breaking the cycle 👏 I have done the same and it's not easy when you have no support from your family. I had family members thinking I was nuts for going off to do a degree instead of just sitting at home. I had no encouragement to work hard whatsoever.

This is the issue - it doesn't pay to work. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

If my son doesn't end up going to uni he would love an apprenticeship but they are like gold dust. He would happily do an apprenticeship and learn skills/ a trade for less than 24 grand a year.

I suppose the point it he can live at home for free whilst he is sorting out his life/ career but he won't want to be skint for the rest of his life. Rubbish wages for a few years to get into a field you are interested in- totally worth it. Where I live it's really hard to get an apprenticeship so I'm surprised they can't fill them even if it's not great money.

I didn't watch the program but I have done a benefits calculator for myself just out of interest and I'm the amount I would get is really, really low (I wouldn't leave work I was just interested). I suppose to get more you have to have various elements that amount to more money like childcare or high rent.

Exactly, people "manage" on low wages. Over a lifetime - to age 67 and rising - it's stressful and dispiriting and at the end if you need care you lose it all anyway, because on that level of wage you're not going to save much beyond what the government will take off you. Wages in the lowest three income deciles have barely moved since they plummeted in 2008. Full time work buys you substantially less - for housing, for food, for leisure activities - than it did 25 years ago.

But most people DONT survive on low wages. They will be getting top up benefits. Once tax credits and housing benefits, now universal credit.

It's a minority that doesn't get top ups. Particularly if you have kids.

But this also comes from seeing this behaviour modelled by you/family.

Growing up, my parents didn't work, very few people on the estate I lived did. I realised through reading the kind of life I wanted to live, figured quickly I couldn't afford it on benefits, and fought for it - starting on 60 hour weeks on minimum wage.
But the majority of teens my age were heading for a life on benefits because they just hadn't seen/had modelled for them a work ethic, or the idea of struggling for a few years for a better future. It sounds stupid but it was genuinely alien to everyone!

Absolutely agree with this. No party has ever had the balls to tackle it because it makes them unpopular. I was only speaking to my family this morning about the sheer numbers of people we know who are on some kind of sickness benefit.

Topups mean employers set their wages accordingly. Even for the people who have kids, there's a lot of working life outside of the 18 years of topups to get through on £26k.

Why exactly is this person getting £35k in benefits?

I have been a benefits claimant for 16 years, both unemployed and employed so I'm extremely well versed in claiming. The more you work, the more you get to keep - you are never better off on benefits.

It's a wage problem, not a benefits problem.
Till that's sorted it's a endless loop.

The misinformation needs to stop, the person isn't getting £35k in her hand, a huge amount of this will be for rent, the benefits are shoring up private landlords ridiculous rent.
Most ppl with a family on a low income will be receive UC to top up the crap wages.

Agree

£35k will mostly be for their rent. Private landlords taking the piss chucking up the rents.

We are a family on universal credit and my husband does minimal work. Our situation is one which I feel benefits were meant to help support - I have disabilities both my children do and my husband has a health condition. He work less than part time and everything combined we have an income of just under £5,500 a month. When people see the figure they immediately want to judge and berate but the majority of that is universal credit the rest is disability payments . We do not live a life of luxury. 3 disabled people come with higher care / living costs but I know we are lucky to not have to worry about heating or never having food in the fridge. Even if my husband could work full time which he cannot due to his health I doubt it would match the £3,000 a month uc pay ( that includes rent ) I totally agree benefits need to be overhauled

However, you say it's no way to live, but they might say that giving 5/7 days of your time until you're a pensioner isn't a great way to live when you can get £35k and retain every single day of your time to do as you please.

I was on benefits for a few years, not quite 35k but probably not far off. The benefits included enhanced rate disability element for two of my dc, DLA for two of my dc and carers allowance.

Benefits don’t fling out money willy nilly, there’s a process.

There’s usually an awful lot of made up stuff and jealousy about benefits, and it fits the whole scrounger narrative that people love. In truth though the people on higher rate benefits are often saving the country a lot of money by caring for their disabled children or family members.

I’m now off benefits completely, I have much less money coming in, but it feels safer as I’m reliant on myself. Relying on the government feels terrifying.

Plus if they got a job they would likely still be eligible for benefits anyway if their rent is that high and they'd get more money in their pocket so it's a false equivalence to talk about starting salaries.