Nobody is allowed to choose not to work. Fed up of hearing this expression.

[girlfriend44]

I keep hearing people say people who choose not to work. Target them.
Nobody is allowed to choose not to work. I wonder if some people actually know what they are talking about?

Nobody is allowed to just lounge around and not look for work.

Able bodied people on UC who don't have a paid job are harassed all the time.
They will probably be attending interviews at the jobcentre once a week, where they have to provide evidence they are jobsearching 35 hours a week.

They can be sanctioned over any little thing.
They have to attend any courses they are sent on, even if they are useless courses. Non attendance will end in a sanction.

The staff can arrange interviews on their behalf if the employer has a tie up with the jobcentre which some do.
If it's deemed you didn't try hard enough at the interview, the employer can discuss this with the staff,and you'll be hauled up and sanctioned for not trying.

Those who think people choose not to work please be educated.
It's a hostile environment for anyone out of work.
Not every able bodied person can find employment.
Your not just allowed to sit at home and choose not to work though.

You'll have a claimant commitment and you have to provide evidence of jobsearching. 35 hours too.

I think alot of people who comment don't really know. Everyone is under pressure.
The days of just signing on once a fortnight and not having to.prove your doing everything you can have long gone.

And lie your way through the assessment or use some of the many 'how to pull the wool over DWPs eyes' guides

Maverickess
A quick Google tells me a nurses average salary is around £33k

I think that average salary is a few years out of date. According to the last government, the average basic salary for a qualified nurse was rising to £37,000 by 2023.

Well, liars a.) generally get caught out and b) are a tiny minority. Why are we even worrying? I'm more worried about those who need benefits and don't get them or don't apply

Both my mum and my auntie chose not to work. They faked many illness that miraculously vanished the day they turned 65.

One of the school mums chooses not to work, and openly laughs at us workers, saying "at least she's always there for her children, not shoving them in clubs then running round like losers to make a few quid". Never worked a day in her life and has a new build house provided for her.

Of course, there are many many genuine applicants, but it seems like the genuine ones are the only ones who get the hassle, sanctions and struggle to get what they are entitled to.

It absolutely is how it works.
Come to my next family get together. They’ll explain it to you. They might even buy you a pint out of their benefit money if you’re lucky.

@OneAmberFinch I don’t disagree- as you say I’m not sure how to square that

Are you aware of how statistics work?

We’ve had youngsters start work in our warehouse….its obvious they’re just using it as a tick box thing. They turn up for a few days then just don't bother to anymore. Using excuses like the travel was too difficult, the start/finish times didn’t do it for them, they get too tired, etc…etc… Most of them come from a town a couple of miles away….they could easily get here by pushbike if they really wanted…..
but no, it means they go back to the unemployment bureau making out they’re genuinely seeking work but can’t find a suitable one…..then go back on the easy money route. If they do this a couple of times a year it looks good, doesn’t it. Why bother to work..anyways

Yes but we've been over this, on Mumsnet it's "ageist" to point out the statistics and issues with having children over 40. But apparently fine to do it to teen mum's to paint then all as lazy and on benefits.

Anyway I see from your other recent comment that I was right you have issues with your own parents please don't take it out on the rest of us

What percentage of older mothers have severely disabled children?

What percentage of teenage parents never work full time for more than 5 continuous years?

This isn’t about me or you specifically. This is about statistics.

For someone who gets overwhelmingly defensive about comments regarding statistical probability, it is somewhat surprising you seem to quickly resort to personal individual attacks.

But she isn't exempt from the rules OP listed so something else is obviously going on. This is the whole point of the post, 1 bad egg is 1 bad egg. If I was fired tomorrow because the public sector is repeatedly starved of funds so we can find tax cuts for billionaires, then I would be a job seeker. Most people lose jobs for reasons beyond their control. Until everyone accepts this, there is going to be swathes of undue hate for unlucky people. You may be reasonable overall but you can't let the bad egg you know tarnish everyone else who gets fired.

I hope they bring in an individual threshold rather than a couples.

A single person would be expected to work so why not both in a couple?

Lots of people have no family to help out and uc help with childcare costs.

I don't know your specific circumstances but the people I am thinking of could work They choose not to as the uc top up allows them not to and uc don't require them to work.

You can Google the link between age and down syndrome, many will be tested while pregnant and opt for abortions. I know so many ladies who left it too late and couldn't have children.

If it makes you feel better there are far less teen mum's then there were twenty years ago I wouldn't be surprised if many of your statistics were outdated.
But as one of the more recent ones I lived in a house share with other teen mum's a few years ago and they all had jobs or went to college.

I don't usually personally attack anyone on here but you clearly can't stand your own family going by comments on here, which may be fair enough you most likely have good reason.
All I'm saying is just because your parents had you when they were teens doesn't mean all teen parents are like your ones

Teen parents are statistically more likely to face financial insecurity and rely on the state. That is a fact.

How I feel about my own family is irrelevant.

They could have gone on to become doctors and cured cancer but it would not change the statistically likely outcome for that demographic.

I gave you the link to where those statistics are from. They are not outdated.

Except it's not like that. I know loads of people who receive UC and they are not job searching for 35 hours a week, if at all. Some of these people never intend to work a day in their life.

Yeah, even if people have some kind of work diary commitment, I don't know why it's so hard to understand that

"Fill out a form with 35 rows of entries and click submit"

and

"Actually do a 35h work week"

are not necessarily the same thing...

If someone put this much energy into harping on about statistics, African Americans and crime rates all their comments would of been deleted by now for being racist. Not to mention how unacceptable it's considered to say anything negative about having a kid over 35. But teen mum bashing is always a fair sport on here.

I don't really care much for the statistics tbh asking a small sample of people a handful of questions
And I'm supposed to take it as fact? Like I said I know loads of young mums and most of them have jobs or go to college.

Now where's the pint from their benefit money your family promised me 😉

So do you mean they get/got benefits or were/are stay at home mums/parents not claiming benefit? If not claiming unemployment benefit then they aren't doing anything most people would think 'wrong' just lifestyle choices. Stay at home parents do 'work' by looking after their families. If they had to fake illness to be SAHMs then it's sad their partners/spouses made them feel like that.

😳😳

You don’t care for statistics? You prefer to take your anecdotal observations as concrete evidence?

Ok. There’s not much to be said there.

Have you never claimed benefits yourself? Are you asking me to get my family to explain it to you?

No, to get benefits and housing.

They shouldn’t as a couples aet gives the choice for one parent to be a sahp if needed

There are some people with sad and cynical world views on here. I won't say I hope you never need benefits but I will say I hope you find a less Tory POV

Minority of people will be like this but if we get too tough some with real needs will slip through the system.