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.

But you did whilst ill .

That's simply not logical. There are many many times more jobs on low wages than high ones and the need for these jobs vastly outweighs the need for well paid work. Obviously not everyone can 'improve thenselves' and get off minimum wage or we'd end up with a top heavy society with no one to do the essential lower paid tasks that enable others to manage them and make money from them.

I don’t know much about universal income but I think I’d definitely enjoy working more if what I earned was going towards the extras of life rather than just on the rent. Work would feel more purposeful and rewarding and I’d be able to spend more in to help the economy flow.

How much do you earn at the moment?

I have to give up my career due to my baby having severe complex disabilities.

due to the childcare costs I would usually be paying, it means that I’m financially better off not working as we will get DLA and carers allowance.

if I could change this and my son not suffer, I would prefer much less money and a healthy child.

there is a six month wait for a decision with DLA which means we will struggle to pay the mortgage in the meantime.

if you can work, then work. The system is already struggling because people know how to play it and those in genuine need get penalised.

I was on benefits for 6 weeks after my husband left us. It was the mid 90s. It was soul destroying. I had just enough to survive and I was bored out of my brain. I got work as a supply teacher and then a permanent teaching post . Being tired at night because you have worked and achieved something is far better than being tired because you are sinking into depression.Bringing up children in a working household is far better for their future prospects.

How does anyone get anything? I am seriously asking the question. Couple now in our 50's always worked. Husband has had to retire through ill health at 54, cannot walk far and his treatment requires regular rests and sleep. Can barely get a bean. Its a disgrace.

I'll just reply to the OP, because I can't be arsed wading through pages of benefit bashing.

No, it is not better. It is stressful, demeaning, lonely, miserable. Right now, I'm trying to figure out if I have anything at all left to sell on ebay to make enough money to pay the water bill. 0/10. Do not recommend.

If you are a single person without disabilities your benefits will be very low and will include a requirement to look for work. There isn't an option to just decide you don't fancy working.

I don't quite get how universal credit works with regard to housing but my friend seemed to get some sort of housing element which was about 80% of the cost of a room in a shared house and then she had to pay the last bit out of the 300ish a month. I dont know if that's because there were no rooms available at the local rate or if the local rate is set with that in mind.

£393 a month is the current rate of unemployment for an over 25.
This is called the 'standard element'

Just how far would £393 go to pay the bills you currently have?

Electric? Gas? Water? Phone? Car? Internet? Council tax?

These things don't just become free when you're unemployed or sick or disabled.

The Housing element is based on LHA Rates.
They're an average, I believe, of the rentals in the area and were set some years back. They have had a few small increases since but I don't think they've been recalculated properly.

They're often several hundred pounds a month less than an actual rental so people have to pay the difference from the £393 standard element.

(Rent being £1200 for a 2 bed and the LHA Rate being £900 leaves a shortfall that pretty much wiped out the £393)

You're clearly out of touch with benefits and bus fares. Bus fares are capped at £3 per journey - so a return would be £6

Housing benefits is not payable to people of working age, people of working age would receive UC and you are forced to look for work.

Try a new job you would think you would hate . You may be surprised. I took a job as a cleaner as a stop gap until something better came along , thinking I would hate it and I ended up loving it much to my surprise.

I've always worked and I do believe that there are a lot of people who live much easier/nicer lives who have never worked or who haven't worked for years. They usually either have children or something like a health condition that gets them off the hook with looking for work though. They usually get quite well looked after, but the ones without children or issues usually have a much harder life than those working. So it depends on your wider circumstances really.

How are you spending £8 a day on buses when bus fares are capped lower than that? Multiple buses?

The incentive is supposed to be to get a better job rather than to go on benefits. Otherwise you end up scraping by in another five years instead of progressing to a much better salary, commute and a role you enjoy with people you really like.

Everyone starts at the bottom when they get into work, with that attitude no one would ever bother.

It depends on what income you already have coming in as to what benefits you maybe able to claim.

Do you claim council tax relief?
Have you looked at claiming for PIP?
do you have a blue badge?
Do you work?
Do you look after your husband?

what have you tried to claim for and been refused?

Exactly! would hate to single with no children and out of work. I don't know you can pay all the essential bills plus food etc out of that. Even if you were frugal with electric etc. The basic essential bills are going to be over £200. Leaving you less than £50 a week for food and transport. I'd be begging someone for a job!

If you are not well paid in your job, of course you will be better off on benefits - why do you think so many people do it, I mean, claim benefits when they can be working? I have acquaintances, with university degrees who do it, 'they see no point'. I despise them, because I work, but I can see their point. I even stopped contact with some of them, because it makes me mad seeing what they do, but nevertheless, here we are.

'Car' and 'benefits' in one sentence? Really?

An adult of working age without dependents under 3 is required to look for work for the equivalent of full time hours and they will be sanctioned if they don't apply for jobs, attend interviews etc. Gone are the days of money simply being handed out. How much do you think your acquaintances are getting in benefits?

This must be a wind-up.

You'd just swop one stress for another. I'm not sure how often the meetings are but you would still have to pay bus fare to attend them at the job centre. And you'd have to be looking for work.

They don't tell me and I never asked.

It's just replacing one source of stress with another. I can see why you feel like this though, working a job you don't enjoy really grinds you down and if you don't know what job you would prefer to do it can be hard to find a way out.

You think people on benefits shouldn't have a car? So disabled people should just stay home?
That's very noble and very moral of you.

Oh hey, one slight problem...
The Job Centre expect you to look for jobs within a 90minute commute time. Having access to a car is seen as a positive by the job centre because it widens the pool of jobs a person can apply for.