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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I do not know anyone who is having a 'party' living on benefits....post here if you do

444 replies

electra · 03/05/2010 13:01

On MN, I keep reading on many different threads that Labour has been giving away loads of money in benefits to people who don't really need it which has caused the financial crisis.

All the people I know who rely on their tax credits and have children seem to have to watch every penny. I do not see evidence of them having any sort of 'party' life.

I had thought the banks were mostly responsible for the financial crisis by lending money that didn't exist.

Can anyone correct me on this? I'm open to different opinions.

OP posts:
Chandon · 05/05/2010 08:01

When I lived in a rough part of East London, we were the only people in the street who worked (ie had to get up "early"). People mocked us for be so square as to work.

The whole block of flats was on benefits, my next door neighbour supplemented this with drugs dealing until he was carried away by police.

My upstairs neighbours defo partied all night.

The nearest pub was a big BNP headquarters...

Not sure this answesr your question?
s(anyway, thank God I don´t live there anynmore!).

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 08:47

I know that its the DM and many of you do not like it but here is one of many many examples of people taking the piss. He wants more money, than WORK like the rest of us have to!!!!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1272512/20-000-benefits-father-seven-children-video-games--pay-huge -booze-bill.html

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 08:50

I personally do not know anyone who is taking the piss, but have heard about them through friends who do know a few. My dh used to know a uni friend of his who was so lazy, just sit at home playing computer games whilst the taxpayer pays to keep him with no intention of getting a job. There was a documentary on tv about this and a few like the chap my dh knew were doing this.

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 08:53

I am probably going to get flamed but you do hear about these kind of people on benefits having many children because they dont have to pay for them, I expect that if they did have to work and support them they would not have as many. I am fed up of hearing of boys should i say like the notorious sperminator who is supported by the taxpayers and goes round sowing his wild oats then buggering off. You read about them in the likes of Love it, Pick Me up and such magazines

thesecondcoming · 05/05/2010 09:01

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sarah293 · 05/05/2010 09:12

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pigletmania · 05/05/2010 09:16

Riven not necessarily there are people like that in society. Not begruding one min genuine people like you who care for disabled/sick children and my neighbour who has a daughter with autism who is a full time carer, its just people who take the piss and there are people out there you cannot deny it.

sarah293 · 05/05/2010 09:18

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pigletmania · 05/05/2010 09:18

A while ago Wife Swap highlighted the Bardsley family who was getting £30k benefit including disability benefit for a child whith severe asthma, yet they spend a lot of money each week on fags wtf!

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 09:19

Of course but something has to be done about those particular people they cannot go on like that taking the piss.

sarah293 · 05/05/2010 09:22

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thesecondcoming · 05/05/2010 09:46

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IveGotABiggerTellyThanYou · 05/05/2010 09:50

I am asthmatic and we dont have no pets or anything. My mum has a dog and when we go over there we cant stay long and she cannot understand why?

Bonnyandborris · 05/05/2010 09:51

Surely not chickens 2nd coming??? They can save you money!

Kaloki · 05/05/2010 09:53

"it's amazing how many neighbours\parents at school seem to know the intimate ins and outs of how much who gets,i have no idea what my closest friends earn but seems all those on benefits publish accounts for the general consumption of all."

I was thinking that.

"they are rare piglet and I'd rather a few pisstakers and have a decent welfare system personally."

Very true.

Stories like the ones in this thread make it seem oh so easy to get benefits like Incapacity or Disability, when the reality is quite different. The system is too hard rather than too easy right now, especially where disability is concerned. It doesn't just get handed to you.

flockwallpaper · 05/05/2010 10:01

Haven't read every post, but the missing link is the availability of jobs to apply for. The benefits system needs reform and there are lots of people claiming that probably could work, but they need the job vacancies to apply for as well. In my area, there are very few vacancies at the moment and if I lost my job I don't know what I'd do as an alternative.

I think all three of the main parties have been let off the hook to some extent. They need to spell out how they are going to encourage businesses to create more vacancies.

I wouldn't blame anyone for taking what they are entitled to.

firsttimemum77 · 05/05/2010 10:22

There are people that take the mick and there are people that don't....I know of people that are taking the mick and I know of people who genuinely need the help! I know of many people who have worked all their lives but due to the economic situation have been made redundant and have no choice but to claim (and why shouldn't they - they paid into the pot long enough!) I also know (I work for the Council) how many benefit fraud cases are being dealt with!

Me personally...have never ever been on benefits - i started work (as a volunteer to gain experience) when I was 17 and got my first 'proper' job at 18 - am now 32 and continue to work - fulltime - I also have a 2.8 year old. I want my child to know that you have to work hard to have nice things and they don't just appear out of thin air - or by sitting on your bum all day...I want my child to have aspirations and I want her to one day also work like her mummy and daddy. My parents always worked and still do...Children usually aspire to their parents and from what I can see if they see parents, grandparents etc always on benefits and happy that way then they are more likely to continue that 'way of life'...

Nancy66 · 05/05/2010 10:25

I don't think they are rare though - they should be - but they're not. there's families like that on every estate in the country.

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 10:38

There was a documentary about the myth that 'immigrants are taking all the jobs' on BBC a while ago. They featured a group of white British people who were unemployed and on the dole and to see if they could go back to work. One group went into a factory where there was a high proportion of immigrants there including the line manager who was Portugese. In the morning a couple of people did not show up so the factory was short of staff. In another situation an owner of an Indian restaurant was pursuaded (sp) to part with his regular staff for the day so that these unemployed people could fill their placed. Well thank goodness the restaurant owner had the forsight to keep his regular staff on standby because only 2 out of 6 turned up. By 12'o clock in the afternoon one of them had enough because the work was too hard so walk out.

So there you go.

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 10:44

There are people who think that the jobs are benith them and do not want to do them so the immigrants do them or are just too lazy to get up off their backsides and work, especailly when benefits can pay more than the actual job, no incentive there.

pigletmania · 05/05/2010 10:46

As much as you dont like to see it some people are having a complete and utter ball on benefits.

motherlovebone · 05/05/2010 11:10

well if it was on a documentary it must be true, and also represent the whole of the UK.

they will hardly air a programme where they all turned up for work and got on quietly with their jobs coz its not good telly.

Kaloki · 05/05/2010 12:21

"especailly when benefits can pay more than the actual job, no incentive there."

This one I can understand.

I was on JSA after being made redundant, the only jobs I could find were seriously short term temp jobs (eg. 3 days)

When I spoke to the jobcentre I asked what my best plan was - seeing as I wanted to work, but also wanted to afford food - they told me that 3 days works would mean I'd have to come off JSA and reapply. Bearing in mind it took them 3 months to get JSA started in the first place. (I was incredibly lucky to have had savings from my last job - though for the last month I didn't actually buy any food - good thing it coincided with an eating disorder huh? )

So yes, I could have worked, I'd have felt better in myself for working. But the only way I could conceivably have worked would have been to not declare it.

What would you have done? Would you have put working above affording to live?

thesecondcoming · 05/05/2010 13:22

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foureleven · 05/05/2010 13:47

The whole thing about not being able to take temp work because you have to cancel your benefits and apply again is appauling.

I cant beleive they havent sorted that out. I mean in loads of cases if you do a temp job well, it will lead to a permanent one in the same company. Also, temp work can expand your skills on your CV. So this ridiculous scheme is preventing unemployed people find employment. Its bollocks.