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.

It is Saturday night. All the home drinkers are online 😆

Haven't you realised by now that when I challenge people's lazy assumptions, I'm expecting robust data and not opinion pieces? Answer properly or stop wasting my time.

@OneTealShaker

Thank you. They are incredibly proud of me. Particularly the upbringing and the barriers I faced, they know how far I’ve come. I completed an OU degree when they were smaller with my eyes shut. Got a first. My sons taking his GCSEs right now and is due for some cracking results judging from his mocks 😜. So yeah, thanks. 🤩

I understood it fine although it’s strongly worded.

🤣🤣🤣 it certainly seems like it!

Er...good for you?

What robust data are you looking for? I mean here are some facts:

Treasury spending on working-age benefits is forecast to rise by £27bn to £75.7bn by 2030. The UK government says that is unsustainable.
The original welfare reforms were expected to save £5bn a year by the end of the decade. The last-minute concessions are expected to have significantly reduced any savings, and may have added some additional costs.
The Scottish government is also facing questions about how it will fund its more generous social security system.
Holyrood spending on social security is already £1.2bn higher than the block grant funding it receives from the Treasury. The gap is forecast to grow to £2bn by 2030.
Britain’s welfare bill is set to surge by £18 billion in a single year, enough to fund a huge expansion of the armed forces, as ministers scramble to find money to strengthen the military.
Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests the increase in welfare spending this year alone is equivalent to 15 advanced Royal Navy frigates, 220 fighter jets, or 250,000 soldiers’ salaries, more than three times the size of the regular British Army.
New figures show the cost of benefits and pensions will climb to around £333 billion this year, an increase larger than the annual budgets of several government departments combined.
The rise, driven by soaring sickness and disability claims as well as increases to pensions and benefits, is adding fresh pressure to the public finances just as defence chiefs warn Britain must rearm in an increasingly dangerous world.
The surge comes as Britain already spends more on health and disability benefits than defence, highlighting the scale of the fiscal pressures facing ministers.
The think tank says the crisis is underpinned by the growing number of working age people outside the labour market.
More than four million people now claim Universal Credit with no requirement to look for work, while the number of people claiming disability benefits has surged in the years since Covid.
Official forecasts suggest claims will continue to rise sharply over the coming decade, with around 1,000 new disability benefit claims being approved every working day largely due to mental health claims.
The CSJ says reversing economic inactivity could dramatically improve the UK’s fiscal position. The think tank estimates that getting one million people back into work would boost the public finances by around £18 billion a year through higher tax receipts and lower benefit spending.
That would be enough to fund the entire increase needed to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, give workers a £2,200 tax cut by raising the personal allowance, or build 15 new hospitals.

Let me guess ‘none of that proves it’s unaffordable…’

Why can’t you work? Instead of living on benefits and other people’s money.

I don't know when you were younger, but I do know that here and now, you can't rent easily without a secure, guaranteed income. You can't just pitch up and say, 'oh, yes, I've got a week's work'. You have to be able to prove you will be good for the rent, or know somebody willing to go guarantor.

It didn't used to be like that, but it is now. It's one of the problems with being on zero hours contracts. It's not an excuse, it's a genuine hurdle, and it's why a lot of people end up living in dodgy, under-the-radar accomodation, because decent landlords won't look twice at them.

I am glad I am a homeowner, to be honest.

What a wall of text. Let's simplify it for you.

What is the alternative to affording the welfare state?

I got to the last two of a job that you needed to have professional qualifications for. 25 years ago. 97 people applied. I was also a manager for 7 years - we got 200 applications for one post. I live in an area of high deprivation and lots of people chase every vacancy

Cutting it.

Murray. Subsided food and drink. Gravy train. One of the biggest expense claimers at Westminster

Cutting it for who specifically disabled, carers or people working on low wages. Who in your mind isn't deserving of any help?

You should post this on the “Family Lockdown” Facebook group, which is full of people who appear to just be really thick, with, no ability to parent and no common sense, yet a deep opposition to school, social workers or anyone who suggests that school attendance and good food might be beneficial for their children (who are all in large, often blended families, poor kids.)

Why? Didn’t you like what’s in the post? Is it because you don’t like facts?

Able bodied under 25 year olds. Signing on straight from school is ruining their lives - no incentive to work, they lie in bed all day, within a few years they’re unemployable with zero work ethic, usually some kind of addiction and a blank CV.

Can you please stop replying to me.

Of course they don’t. They do this silly thing where they ‘demand proof it’s unaffordable’ yet whatever proof you provide is dismissed and rejected for whatever reason they can dredge up. It’s pointless.

To add, let's remember that:
(a).Spending on benefits and pensions as both a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of government spending has remained stable for decades and look! The sky hasn't fallen in!

(b) The reason for increased UC claims is THE END OF LEGACY BENEFITS AND MIGRATION TO UC. (In capitals because people still aren't grasping it after literally years).

(c) We have had COVID and we have had a severe reduction in funding for the NHS under ideological austerity. Discuss how these might interact and what effect it may have on the nation's health. Consider also the cost of living crisis which has now become a structural problem and the crisis in good quality and affordable housing.

Have a think about all that and come back and argue further welfare retrenchment/dismantlement of the welfare state. Let me know what you think would happen.

But they have cut this that happened recently

I mean that's a pretty stupid answer to be fair but if it's all you have 🤷‍♀️
What do you understand by "the welfare state"?

Proof?

Has it??

I like them enough if I see them. I'll let you know if anyone posts anything current and sensible.