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AIBU?

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Original poster

Re- Benefits..please read..!!

196 replies

bichonbuzz · 20/08/2009 23:21

Have just watched Benefits Busters prog where women on benefits are supported to try to return to work.One of the women gets £240 pw- has 4 chldren - which coincidentally is my wage - and she stated that she wanted to return to work but felt that benefits are too high and actually discorage some people to work.She was offered a job during her course but calculated that to take this job it would mean that she would be £50 pw WORSE OFF- i just feel that the gov should have let her work and contribute something for the benefits she would continue to get - it would be a win win situation as she felt it wd help her self esteem to work (appriciate some people could nt do this due to circumstances )- She seemed upset and motivated to work and it would have been one less person on benefits - AIBU to wish that she could have been supported to do this whilst keeping her benefits ....

OP posts:
thesouthsbelle · 23/08/2009 18:39

there are yes, and this is what needs changing the mentalitiy of someone being too good for a job - if you've got kids to provide for at hte end of the day as long as the money's honest what wouldn't most of us do to keep a roof/food on the table when we can.

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 18:39

I belive I said in my first post that childcare should be free for all regardless of income untill school.

expatinscotland · 23/08/2009 18:41

they don't stop needing childcare because they are in school, however. not as much, but that need does not go away.

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 18:43

I know what its like to care I was doing it at 12, not for a child but for my mum and only for a year but I still did it between school and looked after my 8 year old bro and a new baby, I never said caring was easy and never would.

violethill · 23/08/2009 18:43

Agree with your posts thesouthbelle.

It's a very complex issue, but I think the starting point in any civilised society has to be that if there are jobs which need doing and people who are capable of doing them, opting out and claiming benefits instead should not be an option. That means, sometimes, taking jobs which are lower paid than you'd ideally like, or not as interesting. That's the way of the world. Once we start accepting that it's ok for people to not work purely because they can't be arsed, and that the state should support them in that choice, I think we're on a very rocky road. Where do you draw the line? Why should some people work and not others?

expatinscotland · 23/08/2009 18:43

also, tax credits are under the domain of HMRC. income support and income-based JSA are under the domain of the DWP.

those are two separate pots of money.

policymakers and legislators read this site.

why not have an interesting discussion that respects these angles, in addition to addressing the barriers to lone parents coming off benefits?

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 18:49

full time care should be free as well then lol. I might have more money then as I wouldn't fell bad about charing enough to make some profit and not just survive. I haven't been on a holiday for 6 years only to my dads in deven. I decided to stop smoking so I can have one. I am now an anoying ex smoker who thinks smokers are selfish. (I always smoked outside and never when I worked, smoking in front of kids is child abuse, ooooooo)

thesouthsbelle · 23/08/2009 18:50

they shouldn't, in an ideal world if you're able you should be working. simple. or bettering yourself in uni/college etc etc. Apprenticeships should come back as well - how many people would benefit from them due to being more practical than academic. but it's not that simple.

Working age people who are of the view the state owes them a living need the shock treatment (I feel anyhow)

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 18:51

Maybe the minum they pay to people should be at leat 20 per week more if you work not less. They should read these threds they will see what thigs are like then

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 18:52

top ups in tax credits I mean

foreverchanges · 23/08/2009 18:56

i dont work . im not proud of this fact . i have 10 o levels , 4 a levels and a degree in psychology from one of the top 10 uni s in the country . im not bragging i just want to highlight a point that it not always under achievers that are on benefits

i am better off than on a minium wage even though i have good qualifications

i am (more or less) a lone parent and it takes me all my time to look after the house and children

i feel lucky i can live like this but i feel like a loser compared to my friends from school who all have very well paid professional careers

judge if you will but its just a scenario in modern times

my parents both worked very hard and gave me a lovely childhood but even my mum (who hates benefit scroungers ) understands why i dont work............

kellybelx · 23/08/2009 18:56

Im married with 2 kids under 3. We get CTC/WTC/CB...we dont claim anything else. We are not allowed to Dh is from Malaysia and is restricted from claiming public funds, their for meaning i am too. CTC/WTC/CB are the only things we can claim.

What we get we barely survive each week. DH can not find another job apart from CHinese take aways because he is quietly discrimnated against.

We can not afford for me to go back to work. We dont get any of our rent or tax paid for.

I can not tell you how angry it makes me everytime i read in the papers about immigrants or family with masses of kids getting so much money in government payments when we can not get any help for me to go back to work. I would love to...but dh's visa restriction means we can not get the extra help i would need.

Because we barely survive each week there is nothing left over to even think about saving to have a some of money for up front nursery payments of anything...

And coming from a home that moved every 18months for my father to get work i can quite hohnestly say it is NOT a good idea at all to be prepared to move in some cases. I can quite honestly say it ruined my education. Its only now at 25 that im trying to get all that back through the Open University.

Both my parents are still young enough to be working full time so i have no sources of help with the dd's to go back to work either.

This is something that is a sore point for me as i have these urges to go back to work but we cant afford to go to start with and to make it worth while I need to be working full time....when will i get to see my girls???????

foreverchanges · 23/08/2009 19:04

by the way op yabu it would be good to have extra incentive to work

expatinscotland · 23/08/2009 19:04

kelly, that visa restriction will be removed in a maximum of two years, once he gets his ILR.

and YOU, as a British national, can claim benefits on behalf of yourself and your children, who are British nationals by right of having you as a British mother.

you are already getting Child Benefit for them.

you can get housing and council tax benefit, too, if you qualify for it as a British national and they will take into consideration your British children.

he is not allowed to apply for it in his own right, but you can claim it and have him on the app (you'll have to because you are married) and explain his immigration status.

they will ask for his passport adn the like, but you can claim them.

the only immigrants who can claim as such are a) asylum seekers, and they are not permitted to work by law b) EU/EEA nationals who have been in the UK for 12 months or greater c) are on ILR or some other, non-time-restricted visa.

i am a naturalised Brit myself.

foreverchanges · 23/08/2009 19:07

kelybelx thats awful you dont get some rent paid for can you not get income support(which entitles you to hb)
you sound like you have a tough time

kellybelx · 23/08/2009 19:11

He got his ILR iin april...i thought the restriction still applied...

I dont think we can get HB or TB as we get full WTC...and im not entitled to the new income support...i dont even know what i can have...the masses of information out there is so confusing and i just dont know where to start (already spent 4 hours last night going through child care information and what we would have to pay )

we should be more like denmark...they get all the childcare free to get woman back to work...the tax people pay in their wages as far as i remember being told forms part of the payments to it like we pay for policing/health care...theirs includes child care...

thesouthsbelle · 23/08/2009 19:15

kelly, get down to the office and see what you can and can't claim. agree with expat, you as a british person and your DC's should not come under the same umbrella as non nationals as it were.

FWIW I get full (I think it's full anyhow) WTC/CTC and I get £50 p.w towards a rent of £155, I don't have any help at all with my council tax as I get the WTC's but that's fine, my main concern was loosing the HB.

it's worth asking.

oldraver · 23/08/2009 19:17

KELLY at entitled to, you should get some HB

www.entitledto.co.uk/

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 19:21

I get very angry when I read about imagrants too, I have minded for 5 sets of parents training to do nursing and they got alot less benifits than other people in the same circumstances got. and as for the big houses thing 2 of them lived in a 1bed flat with 3 kids for 2 years, they don't get prioraty at all.
Forever changes, I can understand why you don't work. But the point is, not working shouldn't provide more money than working does the systems a mess. I bet you can't wait to get a job that means you can afford to do it.

shaninemb · 23/08/2009 19:29

My parents also moved alot, I went to 25 schools and my education suffered, it was only when we stayed put for over a year that they found out I had dyslexia. Moving around is not the answer.

thesecondcoming · 23/08/2009 19:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

foreverchanges · 23/08/2009 19:49

yes shabine sometime when my kids are a little older i would like a job. one that pays me enough to afford to live to an ok standard and a job i enjoy(?!) . i would like my children to see me work rather than just be a housewife . although i have a degree i am not a qualified psychologist (that takes more study)

so many jobs are underpaid (care work ,teaching assistants to name a couple)
that its difficult to be motivated sometimes

plenty of graduates stack shelves ...

IUsedToBePeachy · 23/08/2009 19:49

A) no sarcasm

B) dont smoke, drink very rarely

C) am not like a playground bully but I dont think you know what it is to be THIS carer perhaps? In my situation, where no care provider will touch ds1.

Empathy and all that

peppamum · 23/08/2009 19:53

great article here about this subject
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/19/unemployed-benefits-welfare-poverty-jobcentre

expatinscotland · 23/08/2009 19:55

if he has ILR he can claim any benefit a British national can. what he cannot do is vote or hold certain jobs unless he is a British national (usually ones working for the Home Office or some HMRC positions, etc.).

you can't get income support unless you are a lone parent or quite disabled.

workin tax credits are meant to top up families earning around £15,000/annum or less.

that's what you are eligible for if you are married and at least one of you is working 16+ hours/annum and your total gross earnings are below or around £15,000/annum.

you may also be eligible for housing and council tax benefits if you are renting.

if your spouse is on ILR all he has to do is say so on any and all forms (many now have a box to explain immigration status if you indicate your nationality as non-British).

but, even for spouses of British nationals who are still on their two-year FLR, the British parent can still claim any and all benefit AND on behalf of their British children.