To see benefits as a safety net, not handouts?

[ForGreyStork]

It’s the way benefits are talked about. To me, they’re part of a social security system -a safety net that people may need at different points in life, rather than “gifts” or handouts.
I also wonder whether increasing conditions and restrictions risk undermining that safety net over time.

AIBU?

Lots of people live in rural areas with little or no public transport. Walking or cycling to work isn't an option if your work is, say, 30 miles away or requires travel throughout the day (for example many carer roles only accept drivers with their own car).

I should have RTFT!

We don't "know" any such thing.

Oh, a fetishist.

Then they need to negotiate a higher wage with their employers rather than relying on a blanket high NMW which actively dissuades employers from hiring at entry level in the first place.

Where does it say that NMW should just be for the essentials?
I must have missed the memo on that.

NMW used to be enough to live on. A PP mentioned that they could afford to live alone, have a car, and a social life too.
I was the same. NMW job, could afford to live in a flat with a garden, I did not need a car but I could have afforded one. Plenty of money for a social life and hobbies too.
My monthly electricity bill now, is what I used to pay quarterly back then (16 years ago). The cost of living has gone up.

The jobs people on NMW do are very often essential, and you could argue they are more essential than some better paid jobs. Who is more essential? A carer, or some 'scrum' master type non-job role?
Why then, are people on NMW in those vital jobs just expected to not have anything apart from the bare essentials for living? And why are people putting up with this viewpoint?

I've also lost count of how many times I've been told to just hire a professional carer for my disabled son so I can work. A person even helpfully told me just the other day how wonderful it would be because it would mean someone else gaining employment too.

Absolutely clueless.

Good luck doing that in the NHS.

So? What difference does that make?

Below NMW? So you want to push children of benefits recipients further into poverty? Let's bring back the workhouse, don't want these greedy children getting used to the "gifts".

I would argue that MH/ND is harder to have accommodation for in the workplace.
A ramp, adjusted desk and apps etc is easier to accommodate for.

How do you accommodate for someone with behavioural or mood issues?

High? You think the NMW is high?

I take you’re aware that some on the NMW need to claim UC to make ends meet?

@millymollymoomoo is one of those people who comments on benefits that has no clue, because the 16 hour thing has not been a thing for a very long time.

It’s literally the second highest in Europe (after Luxembourg, a far wealthier country). Yes I think it’s high. And it’s insane that people can also get benefits to top it up, much of which goes straight into the pockets of landlords.

What do you suggest? That it is cut?
If people get UC top ups to afford rent, then how it is considered too high?

The issue is not with the people claiming benefits... it is who they pay their rent to.

And often NMW jobs are shift work and unsocial hours so even if you dont live rural and there are good transport links , thats not helpful jf you are finishing work at 11pm like my DH does every other week.

So that’s an argument to reduce the costs of housing, not an argument to reduce NMW.

The people suggesting that have no idea.
Carers save the nation a ton of money. I find it weird that by you caring for your own child, which will be a good thing for them... is considered wrong because you are depriving someone of a job somewhere down the line.

Yet in other threads, people are berated for not caring for their elderly parents.

You think care companies provide their staff with cars? Oh my. 😂

And if you live rurally it’s nothing short of baffling that you think everyone should be able to get to work without a car. 🤷‍♀️

Literally how do you expect them to exist, then?

And I'm sure Reform will shout about what they intend to do (but won't). They'll be grifting themselves senseless .

There a plenty of jobs people will be unable to do do due to their disability. And that's fine we need to acknowledge this and move on.
But equally there are plenty of jobs that someone who is in a wheelchair or has social anxiety could do. We need to shift the focus onto these types of jobs. Yes, we will push people out of their comfort zone, so what?

The issues is employers taking those people on.
A massive barrier to work for disabled people is not their disability... it is employers willing to take them on despite their disability.
But it is easier to blame disabled people.

That's unrealistic. Care workers aren't going to be able to do that for one, nor are shift workers who often can't afford to live anywhere near their work. And why shouldn't minimum wage cover transport costs? It's an essential.

Council housing.