Welfare spending to rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn

[topicalaffair]

Over the next five years, the OBR is forecasting that UK welfare spending will rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn.

How does everyone feel about this? I’m livid because I pay lots of tax. I don’t mind paying tax to maintain a civilised society - but this? This is surely taking the piss and will result in weaker and weaker services as the amount of £ available reduces day by day.

YANBU - it’s totally deranged. The every growing uk population can’t function effectively on such a benefits for all basis.

YABU - this welfare spending bill is truly representative of need.

Have you seen the state of the job market? It is taking some people a lot longer than 6 months to find work.

How do you propose taxing the CEO of Amazon who's not a UK citizen/resident?? The UK has no tax jurisdiction on foreigners who don't live in the UK.

As for shareholders, most big firms have shareholders who are pension schemes, i.e. local authorities, private pension, some NHS, and all manner of UK/foreign businesses. I don't think past and present employees/pension holders will be impressed at ANOTHER attack on pension scheme assets/income - Gordon Brown's raid on pension schemes (dividends) was an absolute shit storm and caused massive damage to workers/pensioners pension funds, many schemes never recovered!

Please explain where all the full-time jobs are coming from?

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/december2025

Does getting all snide about it make you feel better?

Opposing opinions that's all.

God the rudeness on here.

If it isn't compulsory, why would people go there? People are obviously going to "leave it" rather than go to your "concentration camp for the crippled".

It would be a lot more clear if you just said yes or no.

Medical assistance would include adapted properties? Or adapted dorms? If the dorms are as basic as you want to be, they would unlikely be big enough to be adapted for a wheelchair user.

And it doesn't take much for life to change dramatically,redundancy at 50s,accident ,illness,disability etc so all the frothing at the mouth about benefit claimants be careful for what you wish for.
Most on the above would definitely choose a different life.

There's this thing called the internet, you can access it and find the answers to things you're not educated on. It's really useful. You should try it.

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethical-campaigns-boycotts/amazon-uks-substantial-tax-avoidance

She needs to get onto payroll then. She should be paying about £20 a week, which is just under £90 a month.

How can you have an opinion on something such as a day centre when you don't even know what they are?

I'll take that as a yes. Unfortunately I'm too disabled to reach your toes, but I'm sure someone in one of cappuccino's camps can be assigned to do it.

I agree. It's a massive scandal that people can "choose" to do the optimum number of working hours to maximise their benefits. Thanks Gordon Brown for that! Utterly stupid. I agree with, say, a temporary period to allow people to find full time work, but after a specific timescale, benefits need to be based on full time hours at minimum wage rates, whether the person actually works that or not - if they choose to work fewer than full time hours, they should bear the financial cost of their choice themselves, not get "topped up" by the taxpayer for being lazy!

We can't carry on funding crap life choices and also causing generational under performance.

People aren’t having loads of babies for benefits. What can younger people/low earners do about housing costs?

I agree it wouldn't be someone's ideal setup.

The point is, if they cannot provide for themselves, it is available.

It is the same with benefits too. Half the people frothing about them don't know how they awarded, what for, and how little they can be.

And that's assuming full time hours at minimum wage, whereas the poster said "a few hours" which suggests a lot less than full time??

Uc it's 35 hrs weekly if not held back by health issues etc

I'm done being polite to people who say outrageously stupid things with undeserved authority on topics they can't even be bothered to Google.

My DD is 19 and at uni, she applied for 70+ jobs last year before getting an 8 hr/wk contract at a high street store. They were unable to transfer the job between the branch near home and one of the branches in her uni city, so she had to hand in her notice.
She applied for multiple other jobs, now she's got a zero hours contract in a clothes shop, mostly she gets 8 hrs/week....ideally she needs 10-12 hrs for living expenses (excluding rent) ...this week she got zero hours. Fortunately we can top up when she doesnt get any hours but for lots of people that wouldn't be an option.

My sibling works in retail, they say there almost no ft contracts, 12 or 20 hours a week is the norm

When looking for jobs, a lot were not suitable as she doesnt drive, and public transport would take an unreasonably long time to get there. I dont think its the always the case that young people are lazy or not bothered to work.

But everyone's moaning about disabled people and how they should work but maybe part time work is the most they can do with thier condition.

Oh, absolutely.

The best 'advice' I've had on a previous thread similar to this one when saying the only reason I don't work and rely on UC is because I have a disabled child was that I should simply just move to a cheaper area in the most basic, small house and then apparently, I magically wouldn't need UC any more.

I take it you have not heard of zero hour contracts then?
A lot of minimum wage work is zero hour. People get UC top ups because there is no full time work.

Doesn't help with most housing associations now charging "affordable rents" Which is around 900pm in my town... Where as normal HA homes are around 575pm so nearly double and which will increase the HB element! It's madness!

I dont think its the always the case that young people are lazy or not bothered to work

of course it isn’t, people ignore how the landscape of work has changed.

I’m on a permanent contract, had sick pay from day 1 if needed, paid extra for overtime etc, however younger people at my work come in on zero hour contracts, SSP only & the same rate of pay if they work extra hours.