Irritated that families on UC get heavily discounted entry

[happybug1234]

feel very aggrieved this afternoon to find out that people on UC get heavily discounted entry to popular attractions:

London Zoo
London transport museum
science museum wonderlab
Cutty Sark
kew Gardens
St Paul’s cathedral

As a mum with a professional career, with both husband and I working full time, paying a mortgage, paying a fortune in childcare for 2 under 4’s I seriously despair! From experience of people I see around me, families on UC seem to have more disposable income than us as their rent is paid, have no childcare costs and all their costs subsidised on social tariffs etc.

why is the government getting away with this and why are more middle class/income people not up in arms about it! At the moment I can’t see how us working hard and being self sufficient has benefited us as a family.

And the biggest chunk of UC goes to private landlords.
If only we had more council houses.
We did till Thatcher allowed the sell off and now came back to bite us on the arse.

The incredible ever fertile 60 year olds. I'm in the category you are making so many judgements on. I have one child. That is all I could afford and maintain a reasonable quality of life. I work full time and pay towards my rent and childcare which is topped up by uc. The idea you think I'd start popping out more children is equally hilarious and depressing. It also shows how little you know about benefit claimants and why some people have lots of children.

It is a privilege. People from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to study and less likely to earn middle incomes for a variety of reasons not just because they couldn’t be arsed. Not recognising privilege is thinking you’ve scored a hat trick but actually you were born three nil up.

This exactly. Living on benefits is awful - I used to be on Working Tax Credits (as UC was then known) 20 years ago. Now I'm an additional rate taxpayer. But I certainly don't mind my taxes helping those who haven't had the lucky breaks I did - and particularly their children - because I'm not a total bastard.

Who denies a child a nice day out? And I'm sure their parents would rather not be taking handouts, but we can't all have two professional jobs in the family and the luxury of choosing a naice nursery (not all take UC). I'm pretty sure most people also know the value of work, too. But if you can't make it into the dwindling pool of professions, then it's easy to become depressed and ill and then... ah.

Im not sure what not having a partner has to do with it…I feel like single parents are getting some stick on this thread.

Being a single parent doesn’t automatically mean you’re entitled to UC or after handouts.

So you have complex medical and psychological understanding of every possible condition that exists and how they might manifest in ever individual? And you have come to the conclusion that what…? It’s possible for all of those people to be in full time work that will pay their bills so they don’t need your so- called handouts? Ok then….we know where to come to, eh?!

am absolute lack of understanding or empathy. Hope it never happens to you.

so if you're on UC you could take your children to one of these places every day of the week because they're practically free. yet the average family with two working parents probably have to budget to visit one of these attractions a month. it really is shit.

Well yes, but same for both? Or live in London - £1.75 bus fare. I was just pointing out the huge difference on one ticket alone.

This sort of post again? Green doesn't suit you OP.

So does your guaba.d upbringing prove or disprove that people on UC are busy enjoying all the freebies, and living better than the employed?

What about the travel to get there?

This comes down to budgeting and priorities a lot of the time though as well as the type of holiday you want to do.

It's not fair to say all benefit claimants are jetting off when others aren't. Before I claimed benefits and was in a very different situation, I chose to live in a not great area with a much smaller mortgage because I wanted to prioritise being able to save for holidays etc. Other people prioritise a nice big house or a nicer car on finance etc. It's swings and roundabouts. Why shouldn't people go on a holiday if they are able to live frugally and budget hard enough to set a bit aside to do it.

I am really excited to use my free tickets at the Yorkshire Museum soon. 😃😃

At 64 I’m honestly seriously thinking of coming back to south west London - yes rents are higher ( but we pay a massive amount anyway where we are to live in a very nice area ) - but the amount of low cost stuff to do , less use of car and in our case free transport kind of balances it off -.

Royals cost us £132.1 million.

Welfare costs £250 billion.

If we didn't have Royals we'd have to replace them with some kind of other ceremonial people which would still cost. If we replaced people on welfare with workers our economy would go through the ceiling and everyone would be better off.

Maybe their grandparents paid for them to go abroad?

I have a friend who receives DLA for her autistic DD. Having a disabled child is really expensive. She is extremely intelligent and highly qualified but can’t work full time, because her DD can only go to (mainstream) school for 2 hours a day. Her husband couldn’t cope with the situation so he moved out years ago. The only reason my friend can work at all is because she has grandparent help. All the SEN schools in the county she lives in are either full or are not suited for her particular child’s needs. She now needs to take the LA to a tribunal. Solicitor costs have amounted to nearly 10k so far. When she is eventually assigned a SEN school, it will be miles away, so she will have to sell her house and pay ££ in moving costs because her DD wouldn’t cope with the state funded transport.

She said to me once “I just want to go to work and for my child to go to school”, things that most families take for granted. Yet people like you would resent her for being able to take her DD into a theme park and skip a couple of queues. You have no idea what some families have to go through just to live.

This thread is really grim. Eurgh.

Sigh. Deliberately missing the point (shocker). Or just Actually refusing to read words?

Yes. Governments SHOULD get off their complacent arses so that HUGE companies are forced to:
Actually pay their fucking taxes
Actually pay better wages and not keep them artificially suppressed (resulting in a system with the need for benefits where two adults work).
Meaning an
Increase subsidies to historical/ educational/ cultural attractions would be affordable for the country.
I dont think blaming attractions that are trying to remain accessible is at all helpful. Neither is batching about anyone who qualifies for benefits helpful, as a reasonable society SHOULD support itself.

The only people sitting around not doing enough about it and drawing an actually decent wage from the public purse get elected to do that, and then get all up in arms about people on benefits not 'trying'.

I said adults should take responsibility. Is it responsible to have 4 children by choice and no partner and no intention of working?

All my life I have been a champion of those struggling, but this is just ridiculous.

Yes, it doesn’t sit right in those terms. However, if you witnessed how some families and children are living then I don’t think you’d begrudge them a day out.

Not when you think of all the young carers, children living in poverty, etc…

Why should you expect respect for your ignorant and jealous comments?
We as a decent society should support each other. You know that terrible thing called community.
We are, as has been pointed out, only a few adverse events away from disaster. It's called spreading risk.

What about those on low income but not receiving UC. Don't their kids also " deserve" to go?

Are you hoping or wanting that to be free / subsidised as well?

What happened to the partner, or did she use a donor?

Do you know if she was in a DA situation, or the circumstances DC were conceived, or if a parent died, or if they were multiples?

Royals cost the county more than they make - and most of the benefits bill is caused by pensions - not people on UC. No we would not need to replace them with anyone. Btw I'm on UC and disabled. I am currently too unwell to work. Do your homework before you start slagging off everyone on benefits