To think too many people are happy to live off benefits forever?

[BritishQueue]

Okay, I know this is a touchy subject here on MN, but I need to ask, AIBU to think that too many people are just choosing to stay on universal credit rather than work?

Obviously, I’m not talking about people who genuinely can’t work - disabilities, carers, etc (even though a lot of those who claim to be unfit for work are perfectly capable, and I’ve seen “carers” for people who don’t actually need any care…). But I know multiple people who are completely able-bodied and yet have no intention of ever getting a job. They say things like “it’s not worth it” or “I’d be worse off working,” and honestly, I don’t get it. I work full-time, pay tax, and yet I see people getting rent paid, extra handouts, and still managing holidays and luxuries I can’t afford. Not to mention that a lot of women think the government should subsidise their SAHM lifestyle.

I just don’t understand how it’s fair? Surely benefits should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice? AIBU?

OP, you do realise benefits pay barely enough (and sometimes not enough) to live on, right?

I mean, if benefits are so lavish and it's so easy to get them and stay on them, why aren't you making this 'lifestyle choice' yourself? 🤔

Long term unemployment rates are quite low. Like 1%.

I am sure there are areas where it's higher or lower.

Well I literally don’t know a single person like this so according to me this problem doesn’t exist.

I'm a single mum (not by choice) on top-up benefits due to being a sole earner household.

If I'd had things my way my children's father would not have died suddenly when the kids were still young but the twat never bothered asking my opinion before he went and keeled over.

Did you come on a public forum and shame them? Well, apart from now.

As part of your job, did it rile so much that it became the 'them' and 'us' of society.

Did you spew nonsense without fact?

I suspect not.

Because people don't normally do that, and claim that they've seen and heard it all with their own eyes and ears.

Op will be back now claiming she works at the Job Centre.
My first job after GCSEs and before Alevels incidentally - hand writing giros.

Seconded, working in housing opened my eyes.

I agree attitude is different from estate to estate.

I've been asked to support over 50 people last month to fill out benefit PIP forms, all because so and so gets it.
Hurts my head, some need it - some don't - unfortunately its the ones that do need it that suffer.
But that's my opinion from what I have experienced.

How rude you sound awful OP. I hardly jumped into it. We was together 10 years before the kids. He just didn’t cope with children. How could I predict that.

Funny how right-wing types always bang on about ‘politics of envy’ when anyone agrees with VAT on public school fees etc, yet they go completely mental when poor people get £100 a week in benefits that they don’t get.

As far as I am aware there are plenty of people on UC that work.
UC tops up income for people who should get a living wage from their jobs but they don't.
Imo a single person should be able to work NMW FT and be able to live in a one bedroom property (not a house share) and be able to eat well, save for a pension and enjoy a modest lifestyle.

I'm not picking up my sons tab.

Can't afford to.

The Rowntree Foundation disagrees with your anecdata.

Try Google.

The people who are on MN all day, every day? Those people "paying all the tax"?

All those hard working tax payers whinging about the people who clean your toilets and stack your shelves, but aren't paid enough to survive so rely on UC for top-up?

@Shirking told you in the post you replied to - she wrote: "Then partner run off abroad with his 20 year old."

Surely you mean the government is having to subsidise children abandoned economically at least by their fathers.

How dare you? In some cases workplace bullying breaks people.

What in the name of Universal Credit is going on here? Oh yes, another benefit bashing thread. I don't think I have seen one on here a long time.

You do realise this country doesn't have full employment, I take it? And that for every person with 'a bit of get up and go' applying for a job, there are a ton of other people with 'a bit of get up and go' competing for said job? 'Get up and go' alone doesn't get someone into employment, not nowadays.

I'd also be riveted to know what your definition of 'a bit of get up and go' is. You do realise the days where people could pound the pavement dressed in a suit with hard copy CVs clutched in their hand, drop a copy off at every local business and end up with a CEO shaking their hand and saying 'I like the cut of your jib, welcome to the team' are long gone, right?

People paying school fees aren't burdening the tax payer with the cost of educating their children. £100 a week on benefits is paid for by the tax payer and is a burden.

You’re obviously on a wind up. You don’t know how UC works, you’re absolutely ‘better off’ working and living solely on the basic benefits is not financially viable. I’m not sure who you’ve been talking to who has anywhere near a comfortable lifestyle on UC alone…

Not everyone wants to climb a career ladder. Some people just want to earn some money and go home and not think about work until their next shift.
Not everyone is even capable of having a career. All of those starter jobs need someone to do them.

Imagine commenting on your own thread blaming women for shit men. How about holding the men that abandon kids accountable, rather than victim blaming mothers doing their best.

Tbf from the ops first message, she doesn't seem to be talking about people like yourself. Not saying I agree with her message, just pointing that out

Yep.
i only know one person on UC and she has a part time job, an excellent work ethic and a small child. She doesn’t want to stay on it forever but it’s not financially viable for her to get a full time job and then throw that money away on childcare.
So there’s my anecdotal evidence

Some people may choose to.live on benefits, I don't know. But it seems to me that people who work for decent salaries have much better choices. Money buys you choices, limited funds means limited choices. It's folks who work and work and yet don't have enough to better their lifestyles that I feel sorry for.