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?

That’s awful i feel bad for her, i wonder if she was pressurised to have that last kid or all of them.

Because it seems incredibly unwise for them to have had a string of kids in close succession while her refugee claim is being processed.

Where is the father?

btw I am genuinely curious about this case but I do agree there’s a lot of myths designed to demonise refugees!

Benefits should actually be higher, that is one thing they could do to help people not be scared to move off them.

You’re right that they don’t care about the gap in between starting your first job after a stint on benefits. They also don’t care if you can’t afford to buy interview clothes or travel for interviews.

I remember when I was 18 I had a few months on JSA back when you were allowed to work up to 16 hours I think. I declared how many hours I worked via this agency I was with and they cut my benefit completely which was wrong and I had to appeal .

Years later I had tax credits and I called to update my workplace - same wage different job - and due to some mishap they ended my tax credit claim, claiming I earned too much.
I had to apply all over again and it was so much hassle I just left it. Especially as I was going back to uni within 7 months or so.

When they are paying people so little, any administrative mishap /people being jobsworth can have a terrible impact. For some people it’s just not worth the hassle and to keep things simple and the money coming in uninterrupted they’d rather not attempt to move off it.

I hear in Germany and some European countries some benefits are tied to wages, so if you were working previously and getting say 3K a month they’d pay you 80% of that. From what I understand the amounts are higher but more time limited. For those non-disabled I believe this makes sense.

I’d rather give people a decent amount for 6-12 months than have people just sit on a pittance for a lifetime. It’s not good for them and the economy to be long term employed like that.

Because recently I looked online and as a single adult with no dependents I’d only be entitled to getting around £500 a month and I think that’s disgusting considering I’ve worked for two decades. If I was renting I’d get another £600 more but you don’t get anything extra if you have a mortgage. And even then most rents in my area are way above £600.

I agree! neither scenario is great but I fear those are the ways we are heading.

She arrived in the country with 3 DC, her husband was not allowed to live with her in the same house as he had a separate asylum claim so was housed in a hotel for men type of thing. If he didn't go 'home' every night the hotel would inform the home office and it would jeopardize his accomodation and therefore claim. The baby was not planned as she told me as such, but didn't want a termination. She is extremely traumatized by everything of course, the LA are saying there's nothing they can do as they've given her emergency hotel accommodation so they have done their job. The DM and such paint such a privileged position of these asylum seekers, I literally have secondary trauma from the things I've seen.

Me too. I wish I had a practical answer but I simply don't and looking at these types of threads it's obvious no one has a way to resolve the issue cleanly.

Another point in case: one mother with 5 DC (all born before she came here) had been moved about 7 times in two years. Each time she was literally given 24 hours notice, the children had been in four schools in 1.5 years. When i.met her she had been.moved to an emergency hotel beside an airport. She had very little money, no cooking facilities and was miles away from everywhere with no car. She was expected to feed herself and the DC from the M&S shop in the airport, which was a fortune. Poor woman ended up in a psychiatric hospital and the DC went into care. I often wonder about her 💔

It used to be a safety net and it was shameful for anyone to go and 'beg' for welfare. To work was pride, providing for your family and it really was a case parents would do anything to make ends meet, including several jobs all hours, lodgers in an already overcrowded house.

Gradually it's become an entitlement for generations) for some and an alternative to planning ahead having kids because you can claim and don't need to look for work until child is 3, so meanwhile have another and another...

It is generally, at a young age, people from certain demographics as area and religious backgrounds. The birth rate is dropping in other demographic areas but staying the same or increasing amongst the generation cycle of benefits and cultures who prefer larger families.

Aw that all sounds horrific and difficult . I wish her and her family all the best.

Claiming refugee status is not an enviable position to be in at all.

Her situation is awful. But she is not representative of the majority of those coming across the channel from France. I don’t see how Europe, not just the UK, can continue to support so many people.

But the fact its gone from 16 to 3 is already showing great improvement. Benefits aren't just easy to claim and sit on lile they use to be. The majority of people on long term Benefits now are disabled or carers

I didn't say she was representative, but things like this happen on a daily basis. It's such a fat cry from what you read in the DM.

far cry

16 is stupid but I think four or five would make sense than three considering unless you earn a fair bit you only get 15 hours nursery..

It’s 30 hours now isn’t it? Unless someone in your household earns over £100k

The three year funding you have to earn over £700 a month.

LCWRA has been quietly halved for most new claimants, from £430pm to £217pm. Which isn’t great for people who genuinely can’t work.

@lavenderscenteddrawerliners we spent a long time in NICU with DS1. Many NICUs have access to short term hospital accommodation or charity accommodation (e.g. a Ronald McDonald House) for parents living a long way away from their baby. I’m sure you must have suggested this already, but just in case…. I hope this family get the support they need.

I was going to suggest this too. My son was older so he was in PICU and we were given priority for charity accommodation as he was transferred to the hospital from our local miles away as it didn't have a PICU.

LCWRA has been quietly halved for most new claimants, from £430pm to £217pm

yeah I heard about that. It’s outrageous. Surprised they were able to do it with seemingly little pushback or discourse on it?

Yes but that’s hardly an onerous requirement - less than 14 hours a week on national living wage

It is for some of us who have no family and have a child with SEN who can only attend nursery in the mornings. I would have to work three shifts a week in order to match a higher paid individual who might do less hours for that wage. My point is that for the low paid worker starting work requirements at starting school might be better.

No wonder the country is fucked if some people think working for 14 hours a week is too much.

It is for some though, especially in circumstances such as pp with a disabled child. Some can't work at all with a disabled child, never mind 14 hours a week.

The extra amount that LCW used to have was taken away in 2017. That was not mentioned anywhere at all.
I have known people in that group who had been in it for years. They end up getting reassessed and placed in LCWRA because living on such a low amount had a detrimental affect on their health. LCW is the same amount as people looking for work.

I am not 100% but AFAIK there are still plans to do away with the WCA altogether and link UC to PIP... which makes no sense to me.

LCWRA has been quietly halved for most new claimants, from £430pm to £217pm. Which isn’t great for people who genuinely can’t work.

This isn't quite correct. People who are assessed as having 'severe, lifelong conditions' or terminal illness will still receive the full rate. It's not entirely clear what those conditions will be, and the longer term plan is to replace the LCWRA assessment with the one for PIP.

What do you mean? Were people paid more than £430 in 2017?