To think that being a single SAHM on benefits is not a 'lifestyle choice' but .........

[Littleredshoe]

basically scrounging ?

Surely being lucky enough to SAH with your children comes IF you can afford it? Either because you work part time, or have a partner who provides for you to do this.....

To just 'decide' that you 'prefer' not to work and live off benefits (when you are fit to work) is ridiculous and it makes me bl**dy angry that I pay tax to enable others to sit on their arses......

maybe I am ? But ......I bet there would be a lot less feckless teenage mothers if the 'right' to benefits and SAH was withdrawn.....

Its fuck all to do with what I want anyway, its about what I feel is best for my child.

She has had her father abandon us completely. It traumatised her more than you'd think - she was just 2, and her speech regressed, she stopped potty training and did not start again for a year.

She is already disadvantaged by not having her father there - buggered if I am going to attempt to take on any more, she needs all of me whist she is still little. As OrmIrian said, if its a Good Thing for a parent to stay at home in a couple, then why the hell should my child be denied that on top of being denied her father's care, attention and love?

I'd like to point out that single mothers are entitled to pretty much bugger all if they haven't paid enought tax/national insurance or been in full time education and under 19 for the last two years. So, no, your tax doesn't pay for them, theirs does. That's the whole point of National INSURANCE. It's INSURANCE against you not working.

I think every mother should have the right to stay at home with her children if she chooses. It's not like anyone is minted from living on benefits. That person has decided that the child would benefit more from her loving care and attention than from the much higher income she could probably earn if she went back to work.

Anyone thinks its so fucking great being a single parent on benefits - you go for it.

You be grateful for your dole money (don't be spending a penny on anything for yourself though, oh no siree), you enjoy your crappy falling apart damp rented house that is all you can get, you have fun trying to get any maintainance off your ex, you enjoy the choice between heating or food, and the fact you can't go out after bedtime even if you have no milk, and when you are ill your DC have to get their own breakfast whilst you puke in a bowl on the sofa, and of course please feel free to bask in the total lack of recognition or compassion people like the OP display.

I'm still interested in how OP is going to apply a system where single mothers with pre-school children will be forced back to work or starve (and their DC's too presumably) but 26 year old Fred Jones can claim unemployment pay provided they appear to be actively job hunting.

Tell me your a troll? as i cant believe anyone, who is not deliberately trying to be provocative, could be so ignorant

OP has evidently not thought it through that far.

I would imagine that most sahms on benefits would love a fat paycheck and the chance to swan around all day in an office....the reality is that the jobs out there have low pay and staying on benefits gives about the same standard of living.

Littleredshoe - you sound like you support the return of workhouses.

The reality is that single parents often have to take low paid, low skilled jobs, with very little security as anyone could do them.

Its all very well if you had a glittering career, were well paid and valued in your job before you became a single parent - but not everyone is in that situation. Thats why I have used this time to do training, and volunteering, that I can fit around my DD's needs - so when we are ready for me to work, I will be able to get a better job.

Cupsoftea I agree with you I know people that have been forced to go back on benefits as there pay didn't cover rent food clothes council tax and bills were as on benefits alot of the main expensive things get paid for like Rent.

I am glad we have a benefit system in this country you never know whats around the corner and when yourself may need these benefits.

I think i'm a little bit in love with VinegarTits

What an ignorant OP - i'm sure I don't need to say any more than has already been said, I'm not a single SAHM but I'm fucked off by your judgey judgey twattyness

I am sure that this is in response to the other thread and the poster there was painting it totally differently to you anarchyaunt, saying she had a nice house and wasn't interested in foreign holidays etc, so she was doing just fine on her benefits.

I couldn't possibly imagine I would feel like that on that amount of money myself but she claimed to be quite happy.

as far as I can see, the only difference between myself and a single mum on benefits is that my husband hasn't run off with the floosie down the road

so I can still enjoy his salary while working part-time to fit around the needs of my disabled daughter

does that make me a better, more moral person?

always happy to claim the moral high ground of course, but I can't say I entirely understand how this one works...

Why is it the mother that always gets it in the neck? How about we blame dads for all the ills of society? Would make a refreshing change, no?

I'm not a SAHM on benefits BTW.

"as far as I can see, the only difference between myself and a single mum on benefits is that my husband hasn't run off with the floosie down the road"

PMSL

Totally disagree with the troll, er, OP.
Bugger off now, there's a dear.

I'm a SAHP on benefits and so is dh. Is that ok cos we are still (at the moment) together?

what about married sahm's on benefits I wonder?

Actually do you know what I think you may have had some kind of point hidden in your crapply written op but you lost me by..well.. being a twat really.

Waynetta - you asked about what a single parent gets - it varies really but I can give you a run down of what I cuurently get .

I get

Income support - £60.50 a week
CTC (for 3 children) - £487 every 4 weeks (obviously fewer children=less CTC)
Child Benefit £175 every 4 weeks (again would be less for fewer children)
Council Tax Benefit (for me that's worth roughly £70 a month)
Also entitled to free school meals (which I use), free prescription etc.
Also get £3 a week of Healthy Eating vouchers for us on fresh fruit and veg and milk.

I don't currently qualify for housing benefit, nor do I get help with the interest on the mortgage on this house (as it's not in my name) but until recently was contributing £400 towards the mortgage on this house (marital home - but in exH's name) - but when I move I will be entitled to approx £130 a week housing benefit which should almost cover the rent somewhere in the local(ish) area.

Wheres the troll OP gone? odd how she hasnt come back

some sahm have worked damn hard for years waited to have a baby until they felt they where financially secure enough to start a family and have saved enough money to tide them over for a few years till their children are at school or whatever.

you are being totally rude to sahm with or without partners

single mums i don't know how you do it, i take my hat off to you.

£3 a week FAQ for fresh veg and fruit and milk for 4 people that is a joke they should
give you more.