AIBU to feel annoyed about discounted attractions for benefit claimants?

[Sheldonsheher]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15721199/Benefit-claiming-families-UK-attractions-working-Brits.html

I know I’ll get slated as the origin is the daily fail but, but this kind of annoys me too! I mean as a single parent I don’t want to pay £60 to go to the zoo either.

So did I.

and I still don’t have an issue with businesses running discounts as they deem fit.

each £4/£10/£100 revenue they receive brings in VAT and taxes and provides jobs for people. Gives young people the opportunity to experience things they may otherwise not get the chance to experience.

plus 90% of it is in London so isn’t particularly a national scheme anyway as I doubt unless you are local you can afford the travel with train fares.

You have me there. Perhaps it is because I don't use the bus much, and when I do it is small change or a tap of the card that I don't think about, and is also functional rather than fun, but the zoo is a large outlay that I can afford, but work bloody hard to, as does my husband. Its a privilege that I've earned.

A family on UC that get the higher amounts tend to have disabilities involved.
You can have their UC and all the discounts, but you have to have the disabilities too.

Nope, the cost of the scheme is partially subsidised by those paying full price too.

Also the zoo is actually in financial trouble and making voluntary redundancies so arguably even with both elements it's unaffordable

I have never claimed any benefits other than the state pension.

I fully support interventions such as this to enrich the lives of children and help their parents on limited incomes.

Depends on number of children, disabilities, where you live etc.

"These benefit people" - well that's grim.

UC is all benefits, collected into one. Perhaps that's where all the stigma comes from. It includes lower paid working people, people who get help with childcare, people with life limiting conditions (or their carers).

I wouldn't know as I can't afford to take my kids to these places as im on uc and can't get there

People have to live the life they can afford. Should the state just pay for everything now? What's incentive to get off benefits if you are literally having everything handed to you?

But surely the £1 zoo tickets you might use once every couple of years is worth more than financial independence and a better future???

Is the state paying for attractions offering discounts?

The money thrown is:

Triple locked state pension (increases calculated on 'best of all worlds' basis.
Free bus pass
Winter fuel allowance for most
Free prescriptions

There's probably other things too, but I can't think of them. That's a good start.

Tell you what, why don't I take you to the zoo? You'll need to help me up if we take a moment to sit and perhaps open a gate if it's too heavy or fiddly but my PIP ticket lets me bring a carer along for free! Fancy it?

I would wager that most that support this initiative stand to gain from it. Of course there will be exceptions but turkeys generally don't vote for Christmas.

Equally I would expect that those who just don't quite qualify for the scheme and also can't afford to attend the attractions will be most against it.

Exactly! The last thing we want is all of the Kaidens and Chardonnays sharing our spaces for free, they should be in the zoo themselves!

This doesn’t surprise me. I was told by an NT worker that there are lots of families living in Cornwall / Devon whose children have never been to the beach because their parents can’t afford a car / transport to get there.

Where is the evidence that on the day that London Zoo introduced UC discounts, the price for full paying customers increased?

Do you pay more for your trainers because my daughter gets 20% off in JD? Or more for your Wagamama's because my mum gets blue light discount?

Don't waste your time being annoyed here. Join the boards of these organisations, where you can effect change. Anything else is a pointless exercise.

Nobody's life would be made better if they didn't offer these discounts. It wouldn't result in any meaningful standard price reduction. All that would happen is that some poorer families who could have enjoyed a cheap day out would be unable to do so. Maybe they are claiming UC due to doing low paid work or because they have a disability or because they have lost their job in this difficult economic climate. Does denying such families a cheap day out really make anyone happier?
I don't think so.

I agree - I read somewhere that its giving free spaces out to people that inflates the prices for everyone else which makes sense.

We have to plan and budget carefully as
do loads of families and the holidays can be really hard for people.

On a more serious note, imagine getting worked up about disadvantaged children having access to so many educational attractions! Poverty is systemic and education is surely key to helping people break free.

Where did you read that?

Has there been a notable hike in price since the roll out of the £1 tickets?

Who would gain if attractions were banned from offering discounts to people on low incomes?

Would it actually improve anything for you practically, or is it purely about the satisfaction of feeling poor kids don't get something they don't deserve?

The attractions offering the controversial discounts are not state owned.