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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to question no hosepipe ban exemption for people on benefits?

454 replies

Crosorbled · 14/07/2026 14:14

No hosepipe ban for people on benefits .

OP posts:
Squirrelsarecleverbastards · 14/07/2026 15:13

I looked it up and it’s not just for people with disabilities.

I’m very careful with my water but now I’m beginning to think I’m taken for a mug while so many households have lower bills and are exempt from restrictions.

Sambucaandcoke · 14/07/2026 15:14

Why do people start threads about things they know nothing about and cannot be bothered to research? We'll have people frothing over benefit claimants getting free trips to the moon next!

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:14

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:13

Sad, but true. There are too many selfish arseholes in the world as we can see on this thread.

Hostile you say? Now using a hose pipe when there’s no ban fits this for you. Very angry stuff.

youalright · 14/07/2026 15:14

Ginmonkeyagain · 14/07/2026 14:51

Also what the hell is everyone suddenly so anxious to use a hosepipes for - I don't think i have ever even owned a hosepipe in 28 years of being an adult.

Same I've never owned a hosepipe

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:15

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:14

Hostile you say? Now using a hose pipe when there’s no ban fits this for you. Very angry stuff.

Not angry at all. Sad perhaps 😔.

ThreadGuardDog · 14/07/2026 15:16

angelos02 · 14/07/2026 15:04

Takes 3 hours to fill my pool. I couldn't do it without a hosepipe.

That’s great. A few more years of climate change with longer/more frequent heatwaves and you’ll be using it to store your drinking water when there’s nothing coming out of the taps.

MrsMcGarry · 14/07/2026 15:16

You would be reasonable to be annoyed by this. You are unreasonable to believe benefit bashing in the media.

TopPocketFind · 14/07/2026 15:16

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:14

Hostile you say? Now using a hose pipe when there’s no ban fits this for you. Very angry stuff.

Unlike the angry stuff aimed at people eligble for the exemption?

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:19

youalright · 14/07/2026 15:14

Same I've never owned a hosepipe

Me neither.

My next door neighbour has one. One night some friend of their children turned it on for a Halloween prank as they were leaving the garden. Nobody noticed until the next morning. We are on water meters so it was an expensive prank. Rather put me off.

saraclara · 14/07/2026 15:19

OneAmberFinch · 14/07/2026 14:59

Substantively though, is this not another example of using benefit receipt as a blanket "gateway" to other advantages? Which has the effect of compounding the reasons to stay on benefits as long as possible, because they open the door to so much. Similar to the example from a few months ago about £4 zoo tickets.

I don't know anyone in real life who cares about hosepipe bans (certainly my neighbours haven't got the news) so I don't really care about this specific example but I dislike the trend of anything that entrenches the "benefits class" as a group that blanket receives advantages.

No it isn't a gateway. More of a stile that you can only climb over of you have specific benefits PLUS either specific medical needs (and there's a relatively short list of those qualifying medical conditions) or you have three or more children. And, of course, if you get your water from a company that is signed up to Water Sure.

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:20

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:15

Not angry at all. Sad perhaps 😔.

At hoses generally?

So many things going on and a family might use a hose when there’s no ban. Posting on the internet uses water too btw.

To cool systems. So maybe add posting to hose pipes.

ThreadGuardDog · 14/07/2026 15:21

Tableforjoan · 14/07/2026 14:38

I don’t think everyone on water sure is exempt only those who are also on the priority list.

I’ve just seen an article in The Telegraph, and that’s actually how it reads.

Error404FucksNotFound · 14/07/2026 15:22

You know, when people plop bollocks, mn should at least edit the op to include the actual facts. Ideally with a link to the facts.

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:23

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:20

At hoses generally?

So many things going on and a family might use a hose when there’s no ban. Posting on the internet uses water too btw.

To cool systems. So maybe add posting to hose pipes.

Oh for goodness sake. All this just because I pointed out hoses waste a lot of water. Which they do.

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:24

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:23

Oh for goodness sake. All this just because I pointed out hoses waste a lot of water. Which they do.

Yes you were irate about it and said selfish arseholes. You’re using water now.

TicklishReader · 14/07/2026 15:24

Oh, how embarrassing.

MrsVBS · 14/07/2026 15:25

It’s an absolute joke, as is the time the water companies take to fix issues and the astronomical pay and bonuses the management get paid, hence why they can shove their ban.

dancingdeidre · 14/07/2026 15:26

Nonsense. Some water companies make exemptions in certain circumstances. For example, a disabled person unable to fill and carry a watering can might be allowed to use a hosepipe to water her flower bed. This 'people on benefits' thing we keep hearing is a nonsense category.I suspect all these posts bashing or inciting envy against 'people on benefits' are coming from some kind of PR campaign, not ordinary Mumsnet users who have been made aware of a particular issue.
If you are an individual Mumsnetter, @Crosorbled , please tell us about where you heard about this issue and what your interested is. If you don't reply, I will draw my own conclusions.

MargoLivebetter · 14/07/2026 15:27

I do wonder why the British press need to pit Brit against Brit. What does it achieve?!

Firstly, we have the frothers who are incensed that someone on benefits might be able to use a hosepipe, when they the hard working bill payer can't.

Then we have the frothers on benefits saying that they'll use their hosepipe if they damn well want to because they somehow qualify for doing that.

Then we have the frothers who think hosepipe bans are somehow to do with the Government, even though the water companies have been privately owned companies since the Conservative Govt privatised them in 1989 (yes that's nearly 30 years ago since the Government were responsible).

It has been hot and dry for a long time now in certain areas. The water supply is struggling - there are lots of reasons for this and we could have a variety of threads discussing this and I think that water companies have a great deal to answer for.

However, I can't help thinking that regardless of what the rights and wrongs are, that it would be a good idea for everyone to be more careful with their water consumption just until it rains again, without it turning into a battle about who can get around the hosepipe bans!

Tableforjoan · 14/07/2026 15:28

ThreadGuardDog · 14/07/2026 15:21

I’ve just seen an article in The Telegraph, and that’s actually how it reads.

Interesting. It would then seem nearly every sod is exempt. 😅

Because 3 children and a universal credit or once upon a Time tax credits gets you on water sure for pretty much life here.

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:28

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:24

Yes you were irate about it and said selfish arseholes. You’re using water now.

I see you are now targeting me on another thread. I think I shall take a step back as I feel this is becoming a bit of a derail. No doubt you will want the last word, though.

Dweetfidilove · 14/07/2026 15:28

YABU! And likely eligible to vote - I despair 🤦🏾‍♀️.

AnyDayNowChuckJacksonNSoul · 14/07/2026 15:29

TheFairyCaravan · 14/07/2026 14:37

Has the Daily Mail been shit stirring again by any chance?

Oh how did you guess The info hub of the burning torches and pitchfork brigade.

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:29

MellowZebra · 14/07/2026 15:28

I see you are now targeting me on another thread. I think I shall take a step back as I feel this is becoming a bit of a derail. No doubt you will want the last word, though.

Edited

Not sure what you mean but fine. Don’t quote me.

PosieNosie · 14/07/2026 15:30

EasternStandard · 14/07/2026 15:12

Do you use a watering can too then even if no ban?

What’s with the scolding anyway?

I live in Scotland where there hasn't been a hosepipe ban in about thirty years, but I use a watering can filled from a water butt for my tomatoes because it's more environmentally friendly anyway.

I think it's fine to scold people for wasting water, littering, and leaving dog shit around, it's objectively rotten behaviour.

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