To think people on benefits can’t win

[Flamingosareflummoxed]

I’ve heard so many people this week, in real life, moaning about people on benefits. I get it that we are all struggling. The cost of living is crippling.
But every week there are posts on here from women who were in 70K per year HR positions who are finding it difficult to get interviews for MW jobs.
There are no jobs.
The few jobs that there are will be flooded with applications, why would recruiters chose someone who has been unemployed for years?
Plus all those with long term disabilities who need reasonable adjustments.
Its like people want to bash people knowing there is no real alternative.

Let’s be honest, I doubt any of us would care about who got what benefit and the ‘fairness’ of it all if we had competent politicians and MPs. I voted for Labour as it promised to help working people. I must have missed the small print, as I didn’t realise it meant only helping working people on benefits. This government has gone very little to help ordinary working people who, believe it or not, many are struggling but aren’t entitled to any UC. Labour back benchers (and so it seems the cabinet) believe just constantly taxing middle earners and small businesses, whilst giving more to welfare and only giving ‘targeted’ help is like rubbing salt in a wound.

I work from 9-11pm most days and weekends. I don’t have money for any luxuries at all. Yet the government doesn’t recognise that helping a single working mother with wraparound childcare costs would be life changing. The government doesn’t recognise hard working people not on UC. I am one of millions of people in this situation. To be honest most people I know aren’t on UC and aren’t rich and we’re all working ourselves to the point of exhaustion/breakdown for nothing in return. Labour will lose by a landslide at the next election for not recognising us and small businesses!

There are many people who work hard on UC top up and there are many that get UC and PIP who play the system. I see it first hand. We can’t all be guilted into think just hammering money at welfare is a good thing. This government needs to get people excited to work and start their own business. This government is so weak and it’s because of its even weaker back benchers. This whole leadership contest is only happening because they’re so shit scared of losing their jobs, which they will. Again they should be focusing on fixing the problems at hand.

I will 100% be voting for the Tory party at the next election because Kemi is the only politician that speaks to me, words I never thought I would say. Counting the days until I can vote Labour out and they will be to blame when Reform gets into power and takes away UC and Pip!

People are obsessed on Mumsnet with saying there are ‘loads of jobs’ as if people who can’t find one are lazy. So let’s quote the official stats. We have the lowest level of vacancies since 2021 and outside of the pandemic since 2014. It is really bad out there.

On the year, vacancies have decreased by 65,000 (8.3%), with total estimated vacancies now 78,000 (9.9%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic January to March 2020 level. The last time the estimated number of vacancies was 711,000 or fewer was in February to April 2021, when they were 660,000. Outside of the pandemic period, the last time they were fewer than 711,000 was in November 2014 to January 2015, when they were 710,000.

@Stressedoutmummyof3how old is your son? Is he only at school three hours a day? If you really want to work, why isn’t the government helping you to get childcare when you’re at work? It’s insanity on their part!

This. As someone else mentioned, in some other countries when someone loses their job they get a certain percentage of their previous income for a limited period.
In Germany it’s 60% of your previous take home pay, 67% if you have children, for 6 to 24 months.
Compared to that, job seekers allowance is neither here nor there, really.

I think a lot of people insisting there are loads of jobs are (in the main) not the ones applying and looking for them!
As well as the fact that simply by virtue of the fact they require the least qualifications, a lot of the nmw jobs will have hundreds of applicants including people well overqualified for them.
DD has a zero hours contract at uni but wants something in , or near our home town over summer and has been applying and not found anything. Shes loathe to give up the zero hours one at her uni town but its not that practical - or esp cost effective- to come home...and then travel (at least) 1.5hrs each way for a 4 hour shift.

Quite. They also could have run a small pilot in a select few across the country for like a year, realised it worked and rolled it out everywhere but no it’s been two years and still no sign.

Morrisons just announced the closure of 100 smaller stores
Where I am, there are also new businesses opening. In the last couple of years, one very large Aldi, another similar type of supermarkets I don't remember the name, 2 Macdonald's, three Costa, a large gym and more that I can't think about.

Exactly. We are paying through our taxes for others to get it free, and again to pay for it for our own children as we aren't in one of the few (predominantly labour area) schools who have been allocated one if the (not) 'universal' funded breakfast clubs.

The interesting thing with this is also in the detail. Prior to labour introducing this free breakfast club policy (in an extremely limited way), around 12% of schools had free breakfast clubs during previous Parliament via a grant. Some of these converted to the new scheme, so the total number actually hasn't increased much. Also, the poster who mentioned the pilot, these scheme were already in place under a different name, so they didn't need a pilot to prove effectiveness

He's 6 so should be at school full time but he can't cope. Three hours a day is his limit and tbh he's struggling with that.
The government and LA don't care. We're waiting for a date for tribunal to try and get him in to a SEN school (although no guarantee he'll be able to do more hours) but like everything there's a waiting list.

@speckledpinkhen ..then you can continue contributing to Kemi's rent,heating oil and council tax. Rent around £2,700 a month. Ctax £300ish a month. Paid for by tax payer.For house in her constituency.

yes, it's the same in Scandi, welfare is time limited and linked to previous earnings.

This would be transformational here. You work, get redundant - you're supported to find another suitable job, retrain. Given sufficient time, e.g. six months or even a year. But then it stops. Never worked? tough.
Obviously severe disabilities and carers excluded, but criteria for exclusion must be very precise and resticted.

I earned significantly more than DLA and carers. Carers allowance is a joke.

DDs friend applied for over 100 jobs before he got one. Friends son is applying for everything and hears nothing back.
There may be patches of the country where there are lots of jobs and lower unemployment but that’s not everywhere. Not all of us live in prosperous parts of the country.

So many of the posts on here have been made by people who are absolutely determined not to let the facts get in the way of their prejudices regarding those on benefits. The ignorance surrounding PIP and Motobility is particularly depressing because it seems to excite real spite and venom towards people who would far rather not have to claim it. I wish people had the wit and humility to imagine how they would feel if they suddenly had to face a sudden degenerative disease, a severe mental illness,
a catastrophic accident, or the birth of a profoundly disabled child. It can happen to any of us at any time and our lives can change in the blink of an eye. I'd urge them to think about that before they post on this topic again.

There’s more than just care jobs in the care sector!!
Theres cleaning jobs and Kitchen jobs!!

Some people think they’re not cut out to work in that environment, and yet many of them are better at it than others!

I have seen them on my FB. The kitchen jobs wants years of experience from applicants. For NMW.
I have not seen any cleaning jobs for care homes though.

It’s definitely not like that everywhere
only chefs/cooks need experience, not someone to wash dishes, and looking on Indeed, there are some places that offer about minimum wage, £15 ph where I work and enhance pay for Sundays and double pay for bank holidays
if people were that desperate for a job they would do whatever they could get!

Yes I agree with you totally. My 17 year old claims PIP for autism and FND. This includes fainting, drop attacks, seizures (both conscious and unconscious) betwetting, tics and massively impacts her life most days. People who have only seen her on a good day think she's exaggerating or shouldn't be claiming. I wish they could live one day in her life to see what it's like.

Your argument lacks logic. What makes you assume people who are desperate aren't applying for these jobs? There's likely to be a huge number of desperate people applying for each job like this that you see, and only one person (or a few, if multiple staff are being recruited) can get them. The rest are left to repeat the cycle of applying and applying, for most their persistence will pay off eventually, but not for all because there simply are not enough jobs to go around.

It's extraordinary the way some who post on these threads like to peddle this anecdotal fallacy of how there are 'plenty' of jobs because they've seen some jobs advertised. And it's both illogical and insulting to assume jobseekers who haven't yet been successful aren't trying hard enough, or are being too picky.