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.

🤣

If both are on benefits life seems ok for people round here - seasonal working cash in hand gives good top ups -we are in the countryside. but there are no jobs apart from some caring so if you ordered everyone back to work not sure what they’d do.

benefits dont last forever

Stealth benefit bashing 🤦🏻‍♀️

Unless you have a disability or are a carer a few things will happen:

Firstly they will say you left voluntarily so you will not be entitled to benefits for he first 3 months.
Secondly, they will make you look for work, any work, for 35 hours a week. Failure to apply for and accept any job will result in being sanctioned, each time you re sanctioned the longer the sanction becomes until it lasts for 3 years.
Thirdly, have you checked the local housing allowance for your area? It very rarely covers he whole rent so that will have to come out of your standard allowance which is a maximum of £392/month.
Fourthly, you only get an 80% council tax reduction, the other 20% has to come out of your standard allowance.

Being on benefits sucks.

Downside of UC - you can't save for a rainy day unless it's under 16k.

I understand that fully, hence I keep working!
It is a case of the grass appearing greener on the other side and it is very, very hard to get out if bed every morning and carry on.

Yeah, let me get up at ridiculous o'clock, do a long commute, give up time with my child, deal with office politics to fund you.

Maybe a commune would suit you? We've all had phases where we hate work I had plenty so went to uni in my 40s to train to do something I really wanted.
A couple of friends joined live in communities one religious one not. They lived there for years.
There are options.
Decide what you would like to do and do it. Don't waste your life.

You literally can and usually better on UC if:

1. Have very high rent
2. Have big childcare costs
3. Have kids under school age

Obviously you will need to work at least part time when kids getting bigger. I used to work with lady who was worse working than staying at home. I couldn't believe it until she showed me her UC statement.

You also don’t just get benefits if you quit your job….thats making yourself intentionally unemployed

Not sure how it works but a lot of my dc classmates apparently live in social housing and both parents work only part time? I imagine it's easier and more common than many of us think.

We have worked hard to save for a mortgage and now we work hard to pay said mortgage. Pay good amount of money in taxes too.

(And we send our dc to the same school where the little thugs go - and yes, the behaviour of some of the kids is shocking. I know I'll get attacked for saying that.)

I get where you're coming from, OP. Life on benefits would be shit, though. But so is life in a soul-crushing poorly paid job.

If you're fit and able to work, you will be expected to spend your whole week job hunting and to take any job you are offered, which might be no better than your current job.

It would be better to look for a different job that might be more tolerable - it's easier to find another job while you are already in work - at the very least you might find somewhere without such heavy office politics - and you will have the luxury of being able to pick and choose, which you wouldn't if offered a job while claiming benefits.

I've been there, it was hell, as soon as we got the money it was gone on rent and bills because housing now comes out of your universal credit payment, we were struggling to afford the basics because of the debt we had that had to be paid so myself and my husband were going without food to feed the kids, we were lucky enough that my husband got a decent paying job so we didn't need to rely on it anymore, 100% do not recommend a life on just benefits

Well it wouldn’t be for me, I doubt that any kind of benefits would pay the same as I earn and I like having holidays, going out to eat and buying my kids nice things.

I think OP, if this is in fact a real thread, you are getting taken in by the Daily Mail stories of people living lavish benefit lifestyles, I think these instances can happen but will be quite rare.

I don’t however buy the stories of how hard life is being solely on benefits and don’t accept that they aren’t high enough because free money is free money and people should stop complaining, plus benefits were raised to deal with cost of living while most people’s salaries were not.

I think life is much shittier for people who work their arses off for a low wage, I read somewhere that it’s the ‘working poor’ who make up most food bank referrals.

Yes it can be a pain to go to work, to have the constraints on your time, alarms going off in the morning, paying taxes etc but I’d do that 100 times over rather than wake up every morning with no plans, no money to do anything and faced with the same daytime TV, isolation and social stigma.

Agree. I can't think of anything worse than life on benefits. It's not only the money, it's the sense of purpose in life. I would hate to be aimless, without any goals and not having anything to do other than keep ticking over etc.

I would literally do anything other than that. I'd clean toilets for ten hours a day over that.

Seriously OP you couldn’t have posted this on one of the many other threads complaining about benefits there have been in the last week or two?

Rage bait.

Just get a better job OP. Maybe one that isn't office based.

try and find a job you like

If only it was that easy.

It’s not easy, but it would be worth it to find more job satisfaction.

Clearly you have no work ethic! Go and get some qualifications, do an apprenticeship and most of all grow up! Stop thinking the world owes you!

If you can claim PIP you will be better off than most working people! I care for a lady with very very low needs (doesn't really need support but mum kicked her out and she has no where to go), she has £1300 a month to spend on whatever she wants- this is after bills. She just orders takeaways and plays video games all day, then visits friends all over the country regularly. She has worked the system out! If she didn't have the funds she would have to work but she is supported not to. And she isn't the only one, her friends are all the same. As long as you say the right things in your PIP assessment you are quids in.

I think without disability benefits though it would be tight.

Personally I couldn't do it, I have to work and keep busy but plenty of people are happy to do nothing and get paid well for it!