Labour increase benefits bill. AIBU To think what’s the point in working?

[topicalaffair]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15520831/Labours-push-lift-two-child-benefits-cap-hand-25-000-windfalls-thousands-Britains-biggest-jobless-families.html#

‘Official estimates suggest the cost of scrapping the cap will total £13.6 billion over the next five years.

The Tories said families currently affected by the cap are in line to receive windfalls worth an average £25,000 each over that period.

But the biggest families will gain far more. Thousands of families with five children will receive around £10,900 a year while those with six children will get an extra £16,600 a year.
Almost half of the families involved have no one in work.‘

It was @ArtyFarty29 who mentioned the system.

According to Chat GPT
In Norway, welfare is a temporary safety net, not a long-term lifestyle.
They support people properly at first, but there’s a strong expectation that most people — including disabled people where possible — will get back into some form of work, even if that’s part-time or adapted.
They invest heavily in:
• retraining
• rehab & mental health support
• workplace adjustments
• affordable childcare
So people aren’t just left drifting on benefits for years.
Unemployment is treated as a short-term problem to fix quickly.
Single parents are supported — but once kids are older, getting back to work is the norm, helped by childcare and flexible jobs.
And they intervene early with young people so you don’t get families where nobody works for generations.
Result 👉 very little multi-generational dependency.
In the United Kingdom, the system often does the opposite:
• lower support
• weaker help back into work
• people parked on benefits long term
• kids growing up in no-work households
So poverty and dependency can become generational.
👉 Norway uses welfare as a bridge back to independence.
👉 The UK often ends up managing long-term dependency instead of breaking it.
High support + high expectations works better than low support + low pathways back to work.

Mods are not paid.

Yes. We might grt better public services. As a working person I pay an increasingly high amount in, and get an increasingly small amount back in public services, and am getting increasingly irritated by it.

You said it.

@Lmktrfamazing! Have the best time and a glass of sangria for me ❤️

I've seen her on other threads.... I thought she worked as a cleaner in a hospital?

Yes, back in 2002

Think that was years ago.

@XenoBitchah damn! But I love that you looked
into it! In all
seriousness you’d be great 😊 (a stickler for anything but great haha)

I did admin in a MH group on FB... No, I can no cope with all the bitching and politics.

Ooh ooh I'm claiming. What category do you reckon I fall into?

The economic term is learned helplessness which has been on full display in this thread. Poorly designed economic inventives lead to that type of mentality.

It has been interesting to read their responses, which in all probability means that benefits will have to be brutally cut in 2029, as I really do not see these people adjusting their mindset in terms of making welfare spending more sustainable.

You think LCWRA reviews whether you are able to post on a forum?

@XenoBitchmaybe step away from this thread haha!

Because the job market is abysmal atm. I started looking for work 6 months before being made redundant. Got nothing back from any job I applied for, and honestly there weren't that many to apply for.

Working part-time now because someone I knew through the old job got in touch and invited me in for an interview. I'm very fortunate as they're happy for me to start a bit later because of the situation with DS - he's sleeps terribly, even with melatonin, and often wakes me in the night/keeps me up late, so being office based and having to be in at 9 would be a nightmare.

I post when I feel able to. If I am not, I don't lose wages or get sanctioned.
It is almost like anyone disabled is not allowed to have a precense online.

Hmm, why?

There is very much a mindset of I am owed x amount and I should be able to have all the extras people who are on comfortable salaries have but tax payers should not question how much they are being asked to shoulder or whether it is sustainable because they are lucky enough to work full time and have no disabilities.

It is a personal responsibility free zone.

And now? I honestly don't know and don't want to be rude and judgey about another person's struggles in life. We all have struggles in life and there's only so much we can ascertain from an online forum like this.

Do I? I’m sure you’re much more knowledgeable than I am on the cost of the welfare system. The increase in benefits for anxiety and depression is reaching unstainable levels. Google welfare spending ! Are you disagreeing that more and more people are claiming benefits for conditions that benefit from exercise and being in work or are you disagreeing that lots of people are playing the system?

As I said before, there literally aren't enough jobs for seekers. When you consider that ai is due to affect around a million jobs in London alone, and the govt are cutting eligibility all over, its only going to get worse. Only 25% of disabled people were born that way, 75% acquired it. You're far more likely to end up living in poverty than with riches.

Hating on the wrong people!

Yep. I am not sure why my personal work history is being pulled apart on here.

@Penelope23145I’m sorry to hear that. It sucks and the system really doesn’t reward hard work. I went part time because I was killing myself juggling motherhood and a full time stressful job. My tax goes up so much if I’m full time that my take home pay doesn’t make it worth it. I realised there aren’t any prizes for burning out and might as well prioritise my health and family (I don’t get benefits but I know others do and only work part time which was also galling)

@NorthXNorthWestNo, Eastern European country - one of the ones that people look down on. But actually I’ve realised it has a lot going for it. Could have had 2 years paid maternity leave (also contribution-based). But I digress.

Also welfare spending as % has remained stable for decades. They're bullshitting & you're falling for it.

Yeah, seems weird that my interviewer didn't ask me whether I go on Mumsnet or use Instagram. They were more interested in why I can't cook unsupervised and actual relevant life things like that.