to be sick of people saying...

[Harimo]

... that the tories / lib-dems only care about themselves and have a 'as long as I'm alright jack' attitude,..

yet. all the people complaining about it are the ones who are worried THEIR benefits will be cut (and two that I know shouldn't be on benefits in hte first place as they are both on JSA and patently not looking for work )

But, these self same people don't give a jack about the people paying more tax to keep them in benefits.

Double standards, IMHO.

And, yes, I'm prepared to be crucified.

yabu
but hey ho what do I know,
of course I should survive with out DLA/CTC/CB/CA
i know
I will put dd into residential.....
it will cost thousands............(paid for by the tax payer)
but at least the op will be happy

I've got double standards. I don't care a jack if people like dh and me who have jobs pay more in taxes if it means people who are at home caring for severely disabled relatives get what they need.

As a single mum working full time receiving CTC and WTC I can understand why people are worried. My wages cover rent, council tax and childcare so yes I could live in the dark, cold, never wash or eat if you think they should cut my benefits. I'm sure my DS 5 will be fine too.

Harimo As an Irish person who has given birth in Ireland twice in the last four years I can assure you Maternity services are free here to everyone.

Can't see the advantage of travelling to the UK to give birth.

I had this sort of frame of mind until I had my ds my idea of life was that I'd stay at home till kids went to school, unfortunately ds who is now 15 has complex needs and can't be left for more than half an hour without supervision we only get by because of ctc and dla DH works bloody long hours so I do most of it.If we where to put him in residential care it would cost about £750 a week only know because looked into it when I was really struggling to cope with him.

What really gets to me on threads like this is the fact that as soon as there is talk about cutting benefits for those WHO DONT GENUINELY HAVE A REASON TO BE CLAIMING, along come people like Riven who clearly have a very good reason to be receiving help being sarcy about the discussion.

Nobody is saying cut benefits to those who genuinely need it - just those who can work, or help themselves, but choose not to.

Even Cameron said he commits to support those who genuinely need it . If he sticks to this commitment you will be ok. Those who cock up interviews on purpose (and we see them a lot as have continuing vacancies where I work) so they dont have to work do not deserve to be paid by the taxpayer.

YABU in my case as I am worried about the Tories cutting tax credits etc and we don't get them.

Well said Frog

I don't think anyone has a problem with people genuinely in need, just with those who are only interested in their 'rights', not responsibilities. I also know several people who have absolutely no intention of coming off benefits and looking for work - one in particular is on her 7th child - and it makes me sick that it is funded by the taxpayer. By all means have 7 children, but pay for them yourself!

i always wonder but am afraid to ask if we are counted as what most people think as "being on benefits" or the "jeremy kyle type"?

i had my own small business untill 3 years ago when ihad DS and was just looking to go back to work when discovered DD was on her way.

Dh works really hard 41 hrs a week for 16,400k gross a year and always has worked. we rent privately and get a bit of housing benefit as well as tax credits.

WDYT?

Frog the problem is, how will they decide who is deserving and who isn't? Do you really think Labour were happy to let anyone claim?

The people I refer to are those who have never worked - neither partner - and have absolutely no intention of working. They just sit on their backsides and take everything they possibly can. So no, I j0807 I don't put you in the same category

I imagine people like Riven get narked because 1)there's no guarantee the government will apply a mumsnet type "worthiness" test and
2)because it must be irritating feeling the need to explain personal stuff to pass the mumsnet "worthiness" test and not be lumped in with the benefit "scroungers"

jo807bump. Thankyou for asking I was wondering the same (after posting my own sarky reply above)

I work full time, am single and have DS (5) do people class my CTC and WTC as benefit?

I actually get annoyed myself at those who could work and don't.

RIVEN I totally understand where you are coming from. I work in a SLD/PMLD school where quite a lot of parents or just 1 don't work bcause they have to put children on and off transport, some only sleep during school hours etc, a there are many appointments to attend. And the 'extra' money does not cover the ridiculously expensive equipment etc these children need.

ABAT - Firstly - it is fairly obvious that somebody or a family need help (depending on their own income) if they are carers of any kind where the care is fundamental to the health of that person such as caring for a person with disabilities, caring for those with long term or terminal illness etc etc. By being a carer they are 1)saving the government money as the individual being cared for would have to be cared for in some form of care home or hospital if the family did not do it, and 2) it is obvious that the carer cannot work.

Secondly - people lose their jobs. That is life and obviously we need to support people while they find another. This support needs to be ongoing while they look. However, it becomes quite obvious that somebody is flunking interviews if they turn up late more than once, if feedback is that they didnt appear motivated or keen, if they turn up in jeans when they have been advised to wear trousers and a smart shirt etc. After a while some claimants are quite obviously not wanting to succeed and we seem to get many of them where I work!

Thirdly - rightly or wrongly people ought to have to prove they are entitled to sickness benefits etc. I know too many people who claim invalidity (or whatever its called) and carers allowance, when in fact they could be working. Im not saying that they are fit enough to do any old job - but take for example my step uncle. He referees for football at weekends, but has too bad a back to work. It does hurt him sometimes and I have seen him in pain. But there are certain things that aggravate it, referreeing for one. His attitude is that he loves the footie so does that and then 'pays for it' with the pain for two days after. My attitude is that he should give up the footie and get a desk job which he is more than capable of doing as he sits on the computer for hours on days he isnt laid up due to the football at weekends. He is on full benefits.

It all needs tightening up and it did appear that Labour tried to tighten it up but it still stayed too easy to fiddle.

And I am not a conservative voter.

Public sector fraud costs around £20 billion a year all told, including benefit fraud. If that were tackled, then more money would be available for carers, or deficit reduction.

Public sector fraud costs all of us money as tax is increased (or not lowered) to cover it. It's like shoplifitng - shops charge more for goods to cover the losses that will be made due to theft. Same with Council Tax, there is an element of that that is ring fenced for writing off debt that cannot be collected from those who won't pay.

Those pesky Irish freeloaders.
Their own free maternity services aren't good enough for them so they come here to steal OUR midwives time and energy when we are busy pushing a baby out on the delivery ward.

Ooops, forgot myself there. I am Irish too. I came eight years ago to work in the NHS on the offchance I might get a cheap birth.

Now back to what I actually wanted to say..
it's my understanding that the last time the Tories reviewed disability payments with a view to getting those scroungers off the DLA they discovered so many people in need in dire poverty that they increased the payments? Is this true or not?

Dp has had many people come for a job interview to work in his shop and they have turned up looking really scruffy with the wrong attitude, often late with no appology or explaination. You can tell they are just going through the motions so it "appears" they are "trying" to get a job but clearly don't actually want the job at all. One guy came with half his dinner down his top

I realise that these day there simply are no jobs about at all but i knew of guys years ago where they went out in the morning and came back later that day with a job. Maybe not a great job, but they had the right attitude where they would take on anything, even if it was only temp. They would then go on the look for better work from there.

I hate JSA. I just think it gives no incentive for someone who isn't keen on getting a job in the first place to really try to find work. Much better to get a job, even if it's crappy, that gives the incentive to go and find a better job but still be earning in the crappy one while you look.

There are jobs available, my paper's full of them every week, they're just jobs that people don't want to do. Odd hours, physical work etc.

Disability's different and I think carer's allowance should be increased, but income support/JSA can be abused. In many cases we shouldn't be handing out cash but food vouchers.

OP, you're NBU at all!