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!

Which wouldn't be possible if Council houses hadn't been sold off, as social tenants would have social housing yo live in

Exactly. £13 billion a year goes to private landlords for rent payments. They argue that the rent price is market driven but how can it be when they're getting a £13 billion government subsidy every year.

Completely forgot about that!
Our area sold off over half of the council houses for a third of their market value!

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

if you’re sick, you’re not looking for work. And there isn’t anything called ‘sickness benefit’ anyway.

you know that huge proportions of someone’s benefits is the cost of housing them, right? The actual amount most people live on - pay their bills, use for food, transport etc is not very much at all.

you also know that thousands of us ‘on benefits’ are also in work, including full time work, and including people in professional positions?

The argument is not about why people should work and more about what we can do to ensure that working people - whether they be cleaners or doctors - have enough money to live a half decent life. Someone working 40 hours a week should be able to house themselves, have a child and have a modest holiday once a year. But more importantly we should recognise that people doing the minimum wage shit jobs are an integral part of our society and are part of what makes everything work. We need to stop with the ‘undeserving’ with assumptions that they didn’t work hard or get qualifications or lack ambition etc etc etc. Respect the fact that the person cleaning the toilets is important if the business is to operate efficiently and effectively for everyone.

This. Wage stagnation for years while costs have soared is the issue. The wage you mention simply isn’t enough to live on. Even the lowest paid full time jobs should enable one person to live. But they don’t anymore.

If only we could get as angry at the people above us, rather than the ones below! All those tax dodging individuals and companies, the offshore banking etc.

No it's absolutely not. It simply isn't affordable for many companies to pay entry level or unskilled roles at a higher rate. We have clear evidence of this since the government's latest budget which saw employee related costs rise and resulted in recruitment levels dropping, unemployment rising and growth stalling.

We need to find a way to ensure that a life on benefits is not a life of not contributing to society. (And by this is I am only talking about those that can work, NOT those that are unable to work through disability). I'd like to see a new approach to benefits which ensures that you only get benefits if you are working. Some kind of community service or government funded roles. This would give people work experience (which will help people get on the ladder that want to get on the ladder) and will prevent those who want a lifestyle of never working just sponging off the government/tax payers.

And if your area is at all typical, at least 30% of those are now owned by private landlords, charging "market rents" that tenants including working tenants claim benefits to pay. So instead of the rent money going into public funds, it's going out of public funds and into landlord portfolios.

As soon as you see "scandal" in the title, you know that there's an agenda. Instead of blaming sick people relying on benefits, why not tackle a health system that lets them down and employers who do not want to employ them?

I earn £30k a year but obviously less after NI, tax etc. I have to pay for prescriptions, dentist, council tax etc. There are loads of parents who have never worked a day in their life or only worked a few hours a week. Loads of people are better off on benefits as they receive more than me or close to the amount I earn and they also get loads of freebies and discounts!

Classic whataboutary nonsense. It's not an either/or situation - we can get angry about people sponging off the government AND those who are dodging tax.

A different point of view

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/britain%E2%80%99s-benefits-scandal

Softening up British public opinion prior to the governments health and disability benefits Green Paper in the Spring appears to have begun, with a shamefully inaccurate and prejudicial Channel 4 Dispatches episode entitled "Britain’s Benefits Scandal" screened last night.

The programme was researched, and is presented by, Fraser Nelson the former editor of the right-wing Spectator magazine.

Sickness needs to be separate from this. If people are genuinely sick and cannot work they absolutely should be supported through the benefits system.

As for the other work shirkers…there should be a max time limit for claiming benefits then they get cut off.

It is one thing to start off on benefits - say you get pregnant, get a housing association flat and get your rent paid and your UC income is yours.

It is when you have worked and have a mortgage and you lose your job and can't find another one or become disabled, then you find out how little you will be entitled to.

I haven't watched it but I've seen that it's presented by Fraser Nelson, the former editor of the Spectator and a board director of the Centre for Policy Studies. The goal of the Centre for Policy Studies 'is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independence, self determination and responsibility. While being independent, the centre has historical links to the Conservative Party.'

He is hardly an impartial presenter. I'm sure there are many examples of benefit claimants who live well below the poverty line.

The problem is that every government tries to tackle it but tackles it the wrong way by trying to cut benefits or make it more difficult to claim. They need to be going for those at the top that make huge profits from paying low wages or where high housing/rent prices make benefits higher & working people struggle. That’s where the issue lies.

You have your pride, your self respect and every day you are making a contribution to society. I get that respect doesn't pay your bills but at least you can sleep well at night knowing you're a decent upstanding human being.

A lot of people work awfully hard esp unpaid carers who often work 80-90h per week for as little as £81 per week. Why shouldn't they be paid at least at at the rate of NMW (they aren't ATM)

@AllTheMiceGoClang

But surely you can see how that is demoralising for people working long weeks. That’s probably equivalent to £45k salary which is more than I have ever earned.

@LittleRedRidingHoody

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.

This is the issue & according to Mumsnet anyone who questions this is discriminating against people on benefits. Well done to your relative who works for the same amount as those who are claiming.

I think the figure for those with children is also not quite right as things like free school meals, help with school trips can mount up. We find in school the children who are unable to go on trips are the ones with parents who work but don't earn much above minimum wage - but they get no financial help. I feel awful saying no to them if they ask if any financial support is available.

My sister in law has never worked. Single mum, kids are now in thirties. She has lived in the same three bed council house for 35 years. Meanwhile we have had to move regularly as private renters, and both have jobs paying well above minimum wage. I don't begrudge her the benefits, it's the lack of security in having a home that gets me.

Yes they are the true benefits scroungers

Although, I have to say we haven’t had a benefits thread in a while. It’s a refreshing change from the nonsense of last week.

People don't manage on low salaries, they either struggle a lot or are in receipt of benefits in addition to wages.

We have had very low wage growth since 2010.

Salaries are low and living costs high.

People claiming benefits are not decent upstanding human being(s)?

It would also help if men who got women pregnant were mandated by law to pay half of that child’s costs for 21 years! Punishable by prison etc if they didn’t bother or just disappeared.