in thinking that the Government cannot possibly ensure people are better off working than on benefits unless they increase wages massively?

[TheJollyPirate]

TBH I cannot see how the Govt are going th achieve their aim to make sure "nobody is better off financially on benefits than in work".

I work part-time as I have a son with a disability. I take home £849 and get Tax credit of £190 plus Child benefit of course - Working Tax credit adds another £50 - all in all just over £1100. I am just over the limit for housing benefit and all other help although if DLA is approved for my son that may change a bit.

One of my families gets housing benefit of £700 a month plus tax credit, plus income support, plus child benefit. On paper at least they out-strip me and unless wages drastically improve (oh - was that a recession I just saw over there) then nothing much CAN change. The Govt are talking big but cannot deliver no matter what they say.

I will stay worse off financially than the family I work with who will remain unemployed because wages are NEVER going to amount to enough for them to get work and maintain their home. Not their fault and I am more fortunate in other ways but financially - nah - they are doing a bit better than me (but probably only just).

I am watching the Govt but not holding my breath on this one.

Or do you know different?

If so - explain because I am being a bit thick about it.

'As for earning over £250 a week, I wonder if this was before you had DC, or were you juggling a baby and the phone lines. I am inclined to think it was pre DC, but please put me right if I have that wrong.'

Nope it was when I was pregnant til my daughter was 1. I was doing it round my uni degree then I went part time for the final year of my degree and worked in my current job whilst doing it.

Just for your information, prostitution is 'the act or practice of engaging in sexual intercourse for money'

Well I am no to engaging in sexual intercouse for money either.

riven - i am right with you. incidentally there was some debate about sex lines in the press lately because in some town a sex call centre wanted to advertise vacancies in the local job centre. i suppose the concern was that if they could be advertised they they could be pushed on to job seekers. there has also been talk (in light of the recent murders of sex workers in yorkshire) again of legal brothels - i dread to think what the expectations of women with regard to providing for their families will become in the future if that ever happens.

sunshine - i could list some crappy jobs i've done in my lifetime and i too have never claimed any benefits but still reserve my judegement. the social housing where i live is pretty grim and the private rentals here which take hb are no better ime.

i will never suggest to any of my service users that they take on sex work to boost their finances. i'd probably bebreaking my code of practice if i did!

sunshine2010

My DC will be fine. They will not live on benefits as a lifestyle choice, but they will be grateful to live in a society where they will not starve.

You are being very judgemental, when you are not even aware of my circs.

'Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract'

as defined by the dictionary dont recall this ever happening with anyone other than my husband in my whole life?

So Sunshine2010, you worked non stop on the phone lines, at 'peak' times, without a break between calls, for more than 23 hrs a week, as well as doing a full time uni degree, running a home and looking after a baby.

Then you carried on the phone line, whilst working in another job, and doing your uni degree part time, all while running a household and bringing up a baby?

WHAT A SHINING EXAMPLE OF A WOMAN YOU ARE!!!

Is this possible to do for any substantial amount of time without severely fucking you up mentally or physically?

I did knock down my hours a bit when I first gave birth. I started back on the lines 4 days after but was only making 60 a week for 2 months as I had to get my work in. I went back to uni after 10 days only one day a week then did the rest of the work from home. Then the term finished and I went back to 30 hours a week on the lines when she was asleep and at nights. It was hard but the luxury was I could work round my daughter.

Then I started a new job quit the phoneline and started doing my third year of my degree part time over 2 years whilst working my new job. I did it as flexible distance learning and completed it all at night. (I get my final grades next month, cant wait). My daughter is at nursery with me the whole time I am there so that kills 2 birds with 1 stone. Household stuff well there isnt that much as I live in a 2 bed flat so doesnt take much to clean it really.

''I would also expect to be paid more than 18p a minute'

well of course you would cause you are getting paid loads for sitting at home doing nothing.'

I get 17 an hour as a carer. We are cheaper than sex workers it appears.

I get 10p an hour as a graduate child carer so what?

I am not 'paid loads' for sitting at home doing nothing. How rude!!!

I very rarely get the chance to do nothing.

What a nasty assumption to make about anyone who is a SAHM!!!

Having grown up in a developed country where there is no welfare provision beyond patchy charities, I definitely see the benefits of a welfare state.

However, I think in this country, it has become deeply entrenched into a sense of entitlement, which is very sad to see. From expecting NO HELP from the government except in starvation circumstances (my country of birth), it sometimes seems it can be the exact opposite in UK.

I don't classify adult chatlines as 'sex work'. Sunshine has described it aptly, and it sounds believable. Unless you say she is lying, no one has any experience to refute it.

Being picky or moralistic about jobs is laughable if the alternative is being out on the streets. There is no 'hard luck' exception in other countries.

I admire sunshine's pluck and pride in her ability to pay her own way.

Anyway, what is clear is that the benefits system cannot continue in its present incarnation. Everyone in this country will have to get used to greater austerity.

lol sorry that was meant to say I get paid 10p a minute.

can we invite that Oliver James fella on to this thread? And Steve Biddulph - they'd just adore Sunshine!!

I can't believe that is what it comes down to benefits or sex work, have people no bloody initiative or imagination ?

Thank you blueshoes I agree. My mum always used to say when she went out to work nights and had to leave us that we are lucky we dont live in the third world. Thats why I appreciate everything I have, I should take nothing for granted and when it gets me down I then see things in tv like how third world workers are exploited in sweat shops. I also see how hard even the kids work in these countries even very young kids.

These are people that really work hard and I dont think anything anyone in this country has to face in regards to working is anywhere near this hard.

It does annoy me and I think I have got a bit too emotionally involved in this thread. I am not trying to be a martyr I am just saying it can be done it is hard, extremely at times. My mum had to carry on like this after my dads death and she worked terribly long hours for low pay and still managed to clean and cook for us. She is a woman with true guts and if I can be half what she is to my own kids then I will be happy.

blueshoes

You don't classify adult chat lines as sex work? WTF do you think you spend your time discussing with these men? I have a good idea [boak]

I am not saying Sunshine is lying, but there are surely things that haven't been said about the topics of conversations covered during these conversations, not to mention what the girls on webcams are expected to do. The mind boggles.

'Being picky or moralistic about jobs is laughable if the alternative is being out on the streets. There is no 'hard luck' exception in other countries'

I live in the UK thankfully, therefore, the alternative of being out on the streets doesn't apply here Thank God. I don't live in 'other' countries.

mamatomany, I would suggest you read the thread before oversimplifying in a way which suggests you are being deliberately provocative, or worse.

sparkle, give a few years and you might not recognise the UK benefits system. So much for 'other' countries.

Sunshine When your mother worked nights, and 'left' you, who looked after you. Did your mother ever sleep? If she did, when did she sleep?

'I am not saying Sunshine is lying, but there are surely things that haven't been said about the topics of conversations covered during these conversations, not to mention what the girls on webcams are expected to do.'

It was whatever they wanted really your the gas man, I am the bored housewife, I am at uni, your the college tutor etc. There are different things you can do I just stuck with things like college girls etc. I dont do fetish or anything weird. Fine if you do but not for me.

I never did webcam as I didnt want to be recognised.

RIVEN - PLEASE PAY ATTENTION YOU ARE A CARER THERE FOR THIS DOESNT APPLY TO YOU. sorry for shouting there but I have said that about a million times. I am talking about able bodied individuals, not carers, sn etc etc etc who just happen to be mothers.

I've read the thread blueshoes usual rubbish about poor me and my 8 children who were all accidents yawn yawn

I believe sunshine said her mother had a reciprocal system whereby her neighbour (I believe) looked after her and siblings those nights and in return her mother looked after neighbour's children in the day.

'Sunshine When your mother worked nights, and 'left' you, who looked after you. Did your mother ever sleep? If she did, when did she sleep?'

She made friends with a woman on the estate who was having the same childcare problems and then they just swapped childcare.

I take it back, mama. You were not being provocative, just a little ...