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.

PIP is not an out of work benefit.
Does this person you care for know you're posting her information on a public platform?

I can imagine this as an advert. Imagine a government that would circle info like this instead of always pointing the finger.

I am not on benefits now but I spent many years claiming benefits as I was a single parent with a disabled child. At first I claimed income support with housing benefit and council tax benefit, and living like that was hard, without much spare money. But later, when I got DLA for my child and PIP for myself, and Carer's Allowance, it was a reasonable income to live on and I had a decent lifestyle, able to pay for all my living costs and extras like holidays. I had a council flat and all my rent and most of my council tax was paid, and all my travel costs through a Freedom Pass.
So I think there are some situations like that where the lifestyle is comfortable enough, and there are no work requirements. We weren't bored and lonely, I spent quite a lot of time involved in SEN related activities, and had some creative hobbies which were free as it was funded through mental health services. But obviously the situation wouldn't apply to healthy people with no disability issues, and there would be a lot of pressure to seek work under UC rules.

With kids and and compared to a low skilled job I think it could be financially beneficial to not work and claim benefits. Unfortunately.

You cannot really choose to be on benefits. They will sanction you if you fail to accept any job, and there are some horrible jobs out there

People game the system. Have you ever interviewed someone who is clearly trying to not get the job? It is easy to not get selected with a bit of effort. You can't feed back to the job center that someone is a piss-taker due to "data protection" etc......

I have a relative who hasn't worked properly for over a decade. One excuse being she had a ganglion! All you have to do is prove you are looking for work, purposely flunk the interview or if by some miracle you get offered the job, you simply get yourself fired. Rinse and repeat.

Benefits for a single person with no children and no disabilities are very meagre. Claimants are expected to 'job search' for the same number of hours that they would be working if in employment.

You would lead a very austere and restricted life on benefits.

Yeap. People arrive late and have no reason other than they find it hard to get up before 11. I had one person tell their interests was smoking cannabis, one tell me they got fired from their last job due to stealing. Why do you want the job? Response I don't, I have to attend an interview every few weeks so that they don't stop my payments. No one answer like this unless they are trying to not get the job. People who think this isn't the case are deluding themselves.

but some would say why bend over backwards to do x,y,z for a compan to get paid a very basic wage, modern companies cannot survive without cheap labour, why do all eg clothes get made in cheap factories abroad, etc because workers here want proper wages,

yes thats not to say their are not any bad apples but companies also need to improve

Yes some people would say that - they are the very people who need their subsidiary removed so that they get off their arses and do something. It is always someone elses fault. As I started pff with there are two types of people in the world those that contribute to the country and those that take from the country.

I might well do if I could work out how to make enough money from it not to have to do it anymore 😂.

I don't think the younger generation are willing to put up with being treated like that as much as mine was, and I don't think they're willing to be treated badly by employers and society either. I've noticed the younger members of the team where I work aren't as 'subservient' towards the company or customers as I remember being back when I first started work.

When I think of some of the things said and done to me in my younger years that I swallowed and didn't address, some of it would be considered harrasment, abuse and sexual assault in any other relationship than customer - staff.

So I don't think it's a bad thing on balance that people aren't willing to put up with being treated badly and paid a pittance for the privilege.

If I wasn't already working I think I might stay on benefits.

The number of extremely bright and well educated young people who are trying to get jobs where they can actually afford to live and eat is shocking. They spend so much time on applications, doing online tests and video interviews kept waiting weeks for replies in the hope of getting their names pulled out of the hat to get selected for the next round. I would find it soul destroying and would have given up ages ago and signed on

You must be offering some seriously awful jobs if you're having to interview so many poor calibre candidates who go to such lengths to avoid working for you. If it were me I'd be giving some serious thought to how I could make working there more attractive so you had a better pool to select from. I'd also review your shortlisting process to avoid such terrible candidates getting through to interview stage.

lets say people were being more good how and where are all the magical companies going to come from that would suddenly give everyone jobs, based on the capitalist system we have economically its not fully possible ?

someone who knows economics etc better than me may be able to expand on it, but if everyone wants things cheap, then they are not going to pay proper wages here if another company across the world can make the products cheaper, then

so we would need laws made to prevent goods being made overseas for starters, all manufacturing done in england, it would be protectionist policys from an economic view and much more

now yes all of this is possible to achieve but we would need a complete rethink of modern society and capitalism as a whole to make society better

@Beekeepingmum
also it does not help when employers use the overqualified excuse too, to avoid hiring some workers

Again blaming anyone other than those on benefits. These aren't even minimum wage jobs - we work via the job center to try and give more people a change Of course we get some great candidates as well.

one of the issues is even if you had full employment and all companies making profits what do you do with all the people that companies will not employ due to health or other conditions ?

Exactly!

Employers wringing their hands at the level of applicants for jobs that pay minimum wage, want 24/7 short notice availability, but drop your shifts at a moments notice, say they provide free mandatory uniforms like it's a great bonus, advertise legally enforced breaks and holiday entitlement as a 'perk" and make sounding like you get paid at all is a great act of benevolence on their behalf.

And then wonder why people don't want to work there and the applicants they are getting aren't suitable. It's a mystery isn't it? 🤦

Of course they don't want to work because they don't have to they have cushy life already. Stop blaming the employers. Benefits for laying in and spending a few hours on the Xbox each day that is the problem. Once we cut the alternative those roles will be more attractive. We keep putting up benefits and minimum wage together. We need to cut benefits so they can only support you for a short period of time. Benefits should not be paying for holidays etc.

Indeed. Its ironic that that poster in particular isn't taking their own advice. 'Sitting on their arse' blaming the government, blaming the poor for their own misfortune in being unable to recruit good workers; rather than trying to 'improve themselves' as an employer so the good people might actually want to work for them.

What nonsense I don't have a problem filling lower skill vacancies. I am in the contributor catagory - creating new roles for people. It is the high skill £100k plus jobs that we have to look abroad for - part of the reason they are high paying is the skills are rare. We have a fantastic team. We try and bring in a range of people - not everyone on benefits is a waste of space - some people genuinely want to not be dependent. You can tell almost instantly if the person your interviewing is a contributor or a taker. We only employ the contributors.

Many people don't want full stop rather than don't want to work for us.

It might be better for you, but I don't want to pay for you just because you don't fancy working for your money.

Change jobs, Indinr know anyone on benefits who’s better off than working. It’s an existence not a life and without kids you get a pittance.

So your aspirations for your business or the employer you represent are to staff it with idle layabouts forced to work for you or starve? Would you not aim a little higher, and have a staff of good people who had chosen your business because you are a good employer? There's a severe shortage of workers at the lower end and its an employees market. Forcing people off benefits might lead to a bigger pool, but not a better one. If you want your customers to be happy with the service you provide you need good people, not just any people. If you're not attracting them, up your game.