To think being on benefits might be better than working

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Is there anyway being on benefits is better than working? So much of day is spent worrying about work, working and dealing with office politics. I dislike work, and get no pleasure or satisfaction other than my pay. It’s got nothing to do with my job or team; I just dislike working.

I was thinking that being on benefits might not be as bad as people once thought. The main benefit would be not having to stress about working. With council tax, housing benefit and a hole host of other benefits, you could life a fairly decent life.

A return bus journey is £8 where I live. You have to work 30 mins just to cover your trip to and from work. You’ll work all month, live in a HMO and have nothing at the end of each month.

You did ask the question though.

Living on benefits is not a happy life; it undermines your confidence and self worth....and reduces your pension for later life.

I have a very happy life, but thanks for the concern.

This! And a single person over 25 would only receive £393.45 per MONTH. Yes you might get a little more if you have children, and if you rent you might get some of your rent paid but not all if you are deemed to have too many bedrooms (same sex kids are expected to share same bedroom by way of what rooms they will pay you for), if you privately rent they will only pay a certain amount of Local Housing Allowance and that's not usually enough so you have to find the rest yourself. Good luck paying your all bills on that...

They get nasty.... like you have already in your previous comment.

Having seen your comments on other threads, you seem to be out to cause offence.

Be better.

Yes. Being on benefits is much harder than working, is beyond demoralising and you are treated like 3 kinds of shit, and the potential to lose even more than you can imagine. You are considered to be a criminal. Living on benefits is nothing like the scumbag Daily Mail has the thick half the population believing. As for jobs, I spent half my life dealing with horrible jobs and even worse people in the workplace.

Yes if you want to rely on food banks, no holidays and skrimping all month. I lost my job 6 months ago and am a single Mum on benefits. Yes no rent no CT though you don’t get enough to even cover basic needs and food costs. When I worked always thought oh these people are loaded tho reality is not. I know a lot of people supplement their benefits (not judging) and some say are single and have a partner that works so again may appear better off. It’s horrendeous.

They start reducing benefits at 6k. I do think it might make sense if people could save in a dedicated account for a house deposit and it be disregarded. You could apply a penalty if was withdrawn for any other reason. It costs a fortune to keep people in private rentals, you could easily be looking at six figures worth of rental payments over someone’s lifetime. TBH Id prefer they built adequate supplies of social housing but anything is better than nothing.

I do think home ownership encourages people out to work as often can’t pay the mortgage otherwise. If you feel like your going to be renting forever and then pension credit/ government funded care home then it could seem a bit pointless.

Bother in law has been on benefits since age 18, now 50. Has a council flat with a garage but has no car. Lives a great life, goes to the gym and always has a new pair of trainers and flat is filled with model trains which is his hobby.
Not working might be bad for your mental health/ confidence but it's a hell of a lot easier that dealing with the stress of working everyday!

This is satire, right??

uhmmmm I would retrain in something i love doing .... i was a designer work in fashion was drying up so I had to retrain and started working in schools ...then put my degree to a good use and trained as a teacher.... do i love it ? some days yes some days no... but being at home doing nothing would kill me .... I am actually considering training as a social worker or mentor as I love to help kids ...

As a single person mid 40’s no it’s not better, I lost my job a couple of yrs ago, I was entitled to £77 a week Jobseeker’s Allowance, most of it went on bills I literally had £5 a week for food, I would visit the job centre every week a 5 mile round trip walking as I couldn’t even afford the bus fare, I was in the marital home at the time & my ex was paying the mortgage until I moved out. I couldn’t even get food from a food bank as they seem to discriminate against single people in my area anyway.

Luckily I now have a job, doesn’t pay great & desperate for more hours but it’s better than where I was!

I enjoy working it’s getting out meeting new people & knowing I’ve earned my money, it gives me a purpose, being unemployed is sad & lonely.

I was on benefits when I was young, it was great, I used to go out clubbing every night and my rent was paid. I don't need much (still don't) so had enough money. Although, I say that, I did used to go days sometimes without eating a single thing, this is because I had spent all my money clubbing.
I think things were different back then though 35+ years ago, everything was easier to come by. I grew up a benefits and, sadly, it was the natural progression, you leave school and sign on. I think things are very different now.
I think if I was single and childless I could happily live on very little money in a tiny flat. I could easily fill my day, it's just the hassle from the job centre that would irritate me.
I have children though and am actually quite comfortably off now. I would really, really hate a life on benefits to be the lifestyle I was modeling for my kids. I also seem to be working 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I love what I do, but could be happy filling my day with other stuff.

Actually, I wonder if anyone would know the answer to this. A friend has a non working adult child (kid has some difficulties). Kid could apparently be entitled to benefits, neither friend nor kid want to start down that road though. What they do want though is support from job centre (work coaching, courses etc). Any way to access this without claiming any money? Not claiming would free kid up to take tiny bits of cash work when it comes up.

Especially when they're Autistic, eh?

Being pregnant doesn't automatically qualify someone for council housing. There are enough people on UC private renting to bear that out.

No. Potentially from other providers but not the job centre

Funny. Still haven’t received my inevitable council house. Been waiting 16 years? I had a baby young. I’ve paid for private housing topped up by my daughter’s DLA. I earned a degree and then a masters - desperate to get out of this awful trap I’m in. ‘When she’s older and well enough I’ll be able to return to work’ I thought. My son comes along, suffers medical negligence, has brain damage, cerebral palsy, ADHD/Autism and epilepsy.. still no council house.

my joints swell up twice the size. As a carer you don’t sleep, you don’t look after yourself. Those you care for come first. You ignore it for years until you can’t any longer. The myriad of health issues I have now, pushing myself so hard for so many years to get us away from evictions and benefits…

and there’s always people like you that think we get it handed all on a plate. It must be nice to have healthy children. It must be nice to have your health. I’m so tired of the high horses.

Unfortunately as work becomes more unpredictable and unsafe due to redundancies and manh pay freezes in my sector then it becomes harder and harder to see some people I know going on MULTIPLE holidays a year while on benefits. Call me a liar if you want but that's true. Same with not having to worry about the mortgage. Etc.

Over the last few years the gap between working full time and benefits seems smaller.

Benefits aren't a replacement for a job. The ideal of benefits is to be temporary while you search for employment.

Or if you have disabilities meaning you can't work and need benefits.

My relative refuses to get a job, has been on benefits for years. She doesn't have to seek work so she must have told them she has anxiety or a bad back. She watches tv and makes stupid tik tok videos. She drinks too much then can't get up to take her kids to school. She refuses to entertain even thinking about applying for any kind of job. We bought her a car to help her but she had her mate 'steal it' , then she claimed on her insurance and kept/spent the money before we realised what had gone on

What, that they are all judgemental arseholes who come up with their small minded opinions without knowing the full facts?

Also in claiming benefits after giving up your job you would have to declare the reason why you are no longer working, i.e that you'd left your job voluntarily - and DWP could well sanction you for doing this without having another job to go to!

You have been warned...

So spend time thinking about what work you could do that you'd enjoy and ideally be paid more than you are currently. Visit the National Careers Service website
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/contact-us for lots of free information on how to change career, create a CV, etc.

When I was a lone parent. For a number of reasons for 5 years I was unable to work.
I was far better off on benefits than I am now as a family unit.
I'm not saying it was right. I'm saying it being honest. I didn't enjoy not working .
I had rent paid , council tax paid. Enough to have a UK holiday for a week. For dc to do activities. Shop without having to think about the cost too much.

When I was then able to I worked Part time 20 hours a week . By time the rent element etc changed, I was £100 better off a month ! So average worked for just Over £1 an hour . With childcare expenses, Parking/ fuel.
But I felt good to be able to work. It was a social element of it too I loved.

Now fortunate enough not to have to claim. But I still have less disposable income than when I was fully on benefits.

This was prior to UC. Was wtc and housing benefit.

Not with the way Universal Credit works. They give you an entitlement based on how many children and rent if you pay it. You're given an amount of earnings that doesn't have any deductions (if you have kids or disabilities - in my case it was the first £673 as I don't rent), and then they taper it off by 55% on the £. So if I earned an extra £10, I would get to keep £4.50 benefits on top, making it £14.50. It's designed to make you want to work more

Yes, whatever you do, do NOT leave your current one to claim benefits without another job to go to. When you make your benefit claim, you'll be asked to give the reason why you're no longer working, and if DWP finds you've left your job voluntarily without another one to go to, you're likely to be sanctioned. You have been warned!!

Have a look at the National Careers Service website below for free advice on changing your career, creating or updating your CV, etc.
Good luck!

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk