To wonder what else can be done to break the cycle of generations living off benefits?

[Allonthesametrain]

Sounds harsh because It is. As a former teacher, then eduation social worker, now the past few years more heavily involved with school attendance.

My desire has always been to help children from unprivileged backgrounds to know their worth and achieve the best they can and this has been my career from age 23 to 57.

The number of times I've cried, torn my hair out, is immeasurable. I and colleagues have gone above and beyond to support the families, genuinely care about them, but unfortunately the outcome has been, as I've said in title, it's a continiation of the cycle of being brought up within a small community and low expectations.

So many gorgeous kids (supported throughout their young lives until they leave school) who tell you their dreams of what they want to to achieve in life, we do everything we can to enable it and some have indeed broken out of the circle but unfortunately the reality has been...

Parents who live lifestyles of no bedtime routine, tell their kids not to come back before ...pm, sleep in and don't get them out of bed ready and fed for school and as for weekends, pub and take back a new bloke

Parents who have issues themselves and project them onto DC. The kids soon realise they can stay off school for feigning illness and would actually be a comfort to Mum

The parents who just cba and say shall we just still in bed?

Of course there are so many other mitigating factors but these are the 3 main experiences we've dealt with. Unfortunately it really does come down to poor parenting and no matter what interventions we do to encourage attendance, only a minority are genuine.

So the cycle...DC think education isn't important, parents are hopeless role models and can often be aggressive to teachers, a deflection of blame.

Then oh DD gets pregnant at age 15, DS has been reprimanded by the police for scooting around in a balaclava. Then pure hostility when we try to continue to talk to them and what could be done to help.

Basically it's just such a shame, these sweet young kids who say they want to be ... become so influenced by their homelife, a need to fit in with their family and peers from the same estate, that they ignore the support we give them, don't turn up to appointments etc.

For the genuine cases, DC with SEN, the effort to try and ensure they are in best place is utmost and it's heartbreaking there aren't enough of them. Yes, we do know genuine cases and not just so many parents striving for a diagnosis because they feed DC a terrible diet and let them stay up late so are tired and irritable at school.

Expecting some backlash, whatever anyone says I can reason with.

Il rephrase that then I don't get free eye tests or glasses or anything else for being on uc

I'm glad youre not bothered. If you want to call me a scrounger - hope it makes your day. Bye now

I think we could start by asking the people concerned what's going wrong, rather than starting from the point of our own assumptions.
Ask parents why they're not valuing education for their children. What are their beliefs that have led to that? How could it be different so they got on board? If they feel it's pointless, irrelevant, not worth bothering with, what would they want to see for their children?
Then ask adults who grew up in these families. Ask the ones who succeeded despite it, what made the difference. Ask those who didn't suceed what the barriers were and what could have been different.
Because you can't do change to people in line with your own view of where the issues lie. You have to find out what they really are and make change with them.

Yeah we take healthy start pre payment card where I work but its very little pregnancy and children aged 1-4 its about £4 a week and birth to 1 is about £9. Years ago when mine where babies you went to get your milk from a local health centre. Now its just a voucher towards it which doesn't even cover the cost of a tub of formula now. As much as people don't like to acknowledge it being on benefits now compared to 20 years ago is not the same thing. Edit just realised you where talking about sure start Grant.

A new student financial model is needed. Too many go to university and are saddled with debts. That has to change.
Employers. Need to offer training and apprenticeships and work experience opportunities to those presently here.
They hold a key role and arguably many have been very lacking.
Work credits. These need to wither on the vine. They are not helpful. And just a pay subsidy for employers who can afford to pay more and not expect the taxpayer to do so.
Any young person not in education training or work gets no benefits. Disabled people will need support and those with children. But they can and should be doing one of the three.
Stop social housing being able to be rented out. There are plenty of people I suspect claiming who are also renting out their council flat or house. Not okay.
A new teacher training approach. I think some are too absorbed in being friends.
A work ethic is learnt. People thrive on praise, on seeing the benefit of doing something that works for them. I do like public and private schools linking up with schools in deprived areas. I watched a programme once where those from the deprived area were silent watching peers of their own age playing classical music. They realised that it was not something their well off peers laughed at. But took seriously. And it was an experience they had not come across.
Exposing the children from each area benefitted both. It wasn’t some sort of ghoulish look how poor you are. It didn’t have that impact. It was positive.
Invest in our society is the answer. In all ways from education to work, opportunities. It requires organisations to want to do so. It requires policy makers to be imaginative. It requires high standards to be expected.

Are you really that daft?! Where does the deposit and the months rent in advance come from when you’re unemployed? How do you pass credit checks? What landlord rents to someone with no income?

I didn't realise, not sure why some do and some don't then.

Obviously, if you can't afford to live while working, then it's a nonsense idea. I'm talking about working when you end up pretty much the same off as if you don't, but the example you're setting is hopefully going to pay dividends in terms of your kids ambitions. That's what I do. It's not just about money, it's about setting your kids up for life.

I do. Not sure why others on UC wouldn't, may be area dependant?

Oh no I agree, that’s why I was really surprised to read the grant was actually maintained throughout the Tory government. They got rid of EMA which actually helped poor kids get to college but kept that, weird.

@IsabellaVireauxLaurent what about white collar crime or barely legal tax avoidance or not proven insider trading perpetrated by the educated middle classes that is the norm for capitalist functioning? Just as much nature vs nurture. Many politicians should do better but turn to accepted criminality. See Donald Trump.

Meanwhile the people are distracted by the smoke and mirrors and imagine the poor and disenfranchised are the cause of world wide economic problems rather than the enormously rich and powerful people in charge.

Deporting people might make you feel better at great expense but will not end corruption or decline. So what next?

Because the whole of england is a postcode lottery its not just benefits, its nhs treatment, services, transport. People can be massively disadvantaged by their postcode alone

Absolute nonsense. If that's been your personal experience, great, but there literally aren't enough jobs to go round. You'd only need to do a bit of googling to find that out for yourself, but you're not going to do that re you, as it would get in the way of all the uninformed prejudice you've been displaying on this thread. Some of your posts have been absolutely disgusting, another one on this thread who ought to be ashamed of themselves.

I get free eye test and a voucher if I need new glasses that covers the cost of any pair apart from designer. I'm lucky to be with an NHS dentist. The water bill reduction scheme is called HelpU.

Are you in Wales i googled helpu and it came up wales

Does this mean you are not contributing towards your pension?

It’s funny how selective they are about the families you target. My significant SEN child has been out of school a year, school cannot meet need. LA continued to name them, so we’re at tribunal in a few weeks.

why aren’t you supporting me or my child? I’m in the same position as the people you ‘support’ - my child isn’t in school!

I work, as does my husband (who isn’t her father, he’s nowhere to be seen). But I’m just expected to juggle everything.

what actually qualifies for your interventions? Because in this whole year she’s been out of school, not even so much of an email from the education welfare officer or such.

in fact, LA tried to declare I was home educating. So let’s not put all the blame on shitty parenting, there is inadequate support, not a lot of knowledge about neurodivergence and learning difficulties.

its reasonable to assume these parents aren’t valuing education as they also had a hard time due to difficulties, this passes onto to the child.

i think for someone who’s meant to be supporting ‘specially selected’ people, you have little empathy of what their life has been like, how that’s shaped their choices. You just sound rather judgmental about people you don’t understand.

What do you think people did in previous generations - exactly that! It’s totally feasible

What are you talking about nobody moves house without a job

Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation indicates that three generations of the same family having never worked is a statistical myth. Fewer than 1% of workless households contain two generations that have never worked. In fact, longitudinal research shows that workless parents actively encourage their children to work, and persistent worklessness is generally the result of long-term ill health, disabilities, and structural poverty, rather than a transmitted "culture of worklessness".

Yes I am, hopefully there is an equivilant then in England.

"I work in Governance, Risk & Compliance and AI Governance is a huge requirement".

I'm sorry - but this sentence cracks me up. AI will create jobs because we needs humans to oversee AI!

It reminds me of the political satire in times of high unemployment where the government boasted they'd created more jobs - by opening and managing more unemployment offices which needed to be staffed

i appreciate I'm misrepresenting your post somewhat - but my point remains

Edited to say that I like your user name!

I didn’t … you’ve called that yourself 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s why you need a job!

Get out and look … there are jobs! People just to picky. Take what you can get.