To be agreeing with new conservative benefits proposal re alcohol etc

[Tigerthebreadroll]

They will cut benefits for people that haven't paid into the system and been unemployed for over 6 months (don't quote me on that number ) by 30 % and it will be given on a prepaid type card. Meaning it won't be accepted by betting shops, for alcohol or cigarettes. I feel that's right . Why should tax payers money be spent on funding cigarettes etc but I have no problem with funding the basics like food etc.
Thoughts?
Basically you will claim full benefits if you've worked and paid into the system. Should reduce generational unemployment hopefully

I have a work canteen. We work in the heart of a city. In fact the majority of places I’ve worked in as a financial services professional have had canteens. They’re not that rare. I don’t think it needs to be subsidised but if you think charging full price for catering in the Houses of Parliament is going to plug the gap in the UK budget you are naive.

Well, if you have a card and want money, there are always ways. You could go into an independent shop and 'buy' something, then take it back and get the money - but this would only work if the shop worker was implicit with the trick

No you're right. I was thinking of JSA. Apologies.

I bet they won't put pensioners on the prepaid cards, and they are the biggest slice of the welfare bill.

I am somewhat sceptical about the "there are no jobs and there never will be" trope. Jobs are not a zero sum game. Everyone who has a job and more pay enables other people to have more jobs. That's not to say that the jobs are evenly distributed nor that they are the same jobs as in olden days, or even that there are as many, but I think there could be more jobs at the moment, it's not a situation that is definitely hopeless due to illegal migration/AI/NI/lack of resilience in younger people/insert your bogeyman here.

A lot of people don't read beyond the headlines or put in a bit of thought.

Unmedicated alcohol withdrawal can be fatal. A project I worked on for a couple of years lost 2 clients as a result of alcohol withdrawal.

100% agree!!! I know someone on PIP that snorts every penny of it

Well, this is the problem - where does it end? Plenty of people are on top up benefits as well as full benefits. . Do we ban nail treatments, haircuts, takeaways, buying new gadgets?

Child benefit isn’t always spent on the child - do we issue vouchers for that?

I worked in benefits, back in the day, and then went onto volunteering as a welfare rights advocate - none of these ‘fag packet’ schemes would ever work.

Some parents, without a doubt, put their own needs and wants before their children. They scam the system.

Others scam the sickness system or say they’re a lone parent when they’re not.

But, let’s not assume every benefit claimant is like that - they’re not.

You appreciate the NHS won’t step in, so you’re happy for the 120,000 or so alcohol dependent people on benefits to just… die? Wow, what a moral and economic saving that will be.

@drspouse not to mention the fact that it is pensioners who are more likely to be drinking than younger people.

Wonder why we don't moan about Betty having a sherry on a Sunday but heaven forbid a young poor want to have the odd drink.

It's funny how she knows what they're doing IN the house 😱

Are you aware that there are millions of small business employers in the U.K. as well? I don’t know why you can only think of Amazon and Starbucks but they are not a particularly relevant example.

Restricting spending of benefits on certain products means that people aren’t wasting their money on those items so have more available for essentials.

I think there’s a strong argument for making being on long term unemployed benefits less attractive to people. Obviously the government also need to encourage growth to create more jobs and limit the number of immigrants for whom we clearly have little need to fill jobs as we have unemployment already. No point importing more people to sit on benefits.

I don’t know why you are expecting me to come up with the details of ‘policing’ , thresholds and restrictions - that’s what we pay the government and their legions of Civil Servants to sort.

Its not. Take a way their fags and their booze and their lives will improve. They may even become employable.

Also stop them from having Monster energy drinks and red bull.

Not really a new idea is it? Wasn't Angela Lansbury's dad or maybe grandad imprisoned for refusing to administer means tested benefits. He was the leader of the council in Poplar not just a regular citizen.
Also wasnt this why child benefit was introduced and payable only to mothers not fathers? This was because those rich old philanthropists did all that sociology research and discovered money given to fathers was spent on the men for their own benefit, ie in the pub or on tobacco whereas the mothers spent it on their children. Beveridge Plan and all that. He was a Liberal party man, I wonder what he would have made of the lib dems and their "men are really women, and cut the children's genitals off".

Another fun fact about the benefits system is when looking at the long-term lifetime probability of those who are long term unemployed with untreated mental health, learning difficulties, or addiction issues, research reveals that between 40% and 50% end up facing a sanction at some point during their claim.

Are you saying being an alcoholic excuses someone from working?

Pensions?

Yes, and maybe a gradual roll out will be required so Ambulance and ED aren't inundated all at once.

Completely agree there could be more jobs - easy wins are that private employers could get rid of self checkout, employ more staff and security to deter shoplifting. Government could invest in LAs to clear up communities, parks and gardens, maintenance and community centre refurbs, youth clubs and day centres. Green energy, recycling… But will they?

It certainly calmed mine for 44 years.

I would take it one step further and give vouchers out instead of money.

Vouchers can be used to buy food (only healthy stuff, no dinosaur nuggets).

Because it’s apples and oranges.

Most Betty’s holding their Sherrys, paid in, and are on contributory state pension, and this Tory thing is about those that haven’t ever paid in. 🤷‍♀️

If any Betty has never paid in, then fair comment.

Exactly.

If someone is physically dependent on alcohol they will be unlikely to be in work, nor be able to secure employment. I’m not talking about the bulk of the population who drink too much, I’m talking about actual physical dependency.