Voluntary work or lose benefits

[Marjoriew]

Government intend to cut benefits of claimants on JSA who refuse to do voluntary work of 30 hours a week over a 4-week period.
Benefits could be stopped for up to 3 months if claimants refuse to comply.

Yes, I live in central London where people are apparently going to be hit most hard by the HB changes but there is in fact still lots of social housing here.

People often complain that there is 'no social housing left' but statistically there are far more in council/HA flats than private rentals. The fact is that the social housing tenants are invisible politically and many of those in private rentals wouldn't want to live in council flats anyway. The reason they don't know anyone in social housing is because they don't want to associate with the poorest families who occupy social housing.

Statistically the mean household wage for families in private rentals is more than three times that of families in social rented homes and their education levels are higher; which means in the media their voices get heard above that of council/HA tenants. There is far more coverage of the LHA changes (which affect private rentals only) than of the changes to social tenancies, for example.

the end of council houses for life was headline news.

everyone i know in rented accom. would prefer council / HA...

£250pwk V 90pwk

dont want to associate with poorer families?

What planet are you on?

I wouldn't say that I don't asociate with poorer families, I would VASTLY prefer to be in social housing, for a start we would be paying less rent than we curently pay AND we wouldn't need to claim any HB. There just isn't the social housing available in my town.

That 63% figure may be good over the SE as a whole, but I'll stake my right arm and leg on the fact that in my particular town the figure will be considerably less. I have been told that unless I get 2 months notice from my Private LL I cannot even apply to go onto the social housing list, and if we lose our home we will have a 4 yr wait in B&B in the next major town over which is a) 40 miles away, and b)not even in the same county as our town!

The only way to get social housing through our council at all is through the homelessness route. You aren't considered homeless if you are PR.

There may be social housing left, but as people tend to stay there till they die, the properties are not available. So what happens to anyone who needs somewhere to live? They have to private rent. Not everybody is willing to have their adult dc stay at home with them. I have been running my own home since my mum kicked me out 2 months after I turned 15yo.

OK so how do you sue for unfair dismissal if you can't claim benefits for 6 months because you've been (unfairly) sacked, so have no way of getting legal aid. And when you take a job like that, you aren't necessariy going to it straight from benefits - I had lost my previous job whilst on mat leave when my previous employer went bust, I took that job when dc3 was 9 weeks old as DP and I needed more money to pay the rent!

And yes, it does make the employer a turd, but if you have the choice between one employer treating you like a turd or another one doing the same thing, eventually you have to choose one employer that will treat you like a slave. Most min wage employees are worked like a dog, and a lot of them have no idea of employment law and what is and isn't acceptable in the workplace. DP this week worked 3 solid 8 hr shifts with only one toilet break (no lunch break) for the whole shift. He didn't realise that even though his boss had told him he couldn't go for a break due to staff shortages that his boss was breaching employment regs! (Until I told him!).

Oh, and it took me 11 months in that shitty job before I found one that was supposed to be better. Turns out that while I got proper breaks in my next job - each staff member was doing the work of 2 staff as they had got rid of half their staff. If you didn't do 2 people's work in one shift - you didn't get kept on after your probationary period. In that job, I lost 2 stone in the first month I was worked so hard! I stayed there for over a year. Then found another min wage job, where the conditions were (thanfully) quite a bit better, and worked there until that company went under. A month after that I was signed off sick due to my (worsening) disability. Min wage jobs are crap.

Especially if you trained to do a job with much higher pay and much better conditions, and much better respected by the public.

I guess they had two choices, rent or the park bench.

exactly wubbly. That's why housing costs (whether buying or renting) aren't going to get markedly cheaper any time soon unless we build more houses and/or reduce the population. The housing stock simply hasn't kept pace with the population growth & the increase in 1 and 2 person households as the population ages.

If we can get the housing stock more in balance with the population, then as relative demand drops so will house prices & rents. It doesn't necessarily have to be from an increae in social housing (although from a personal level I can understand why people want the security of tenure that brings). What has happened over the past decade is that social housing has been "allowed" to be immune from the supply and demand cycle of the private sector (whether owner/occupier or rental) - hence the huge disparity we now have between social rents and private rents in some areas.

The blindingly obvious answer (to me anyway!) is to build more social housing during a recession. This helps in a number of ways

1. gets unemployed builders, plumbers etc back in work = reduces benefits bill (although obviously have to pay them!)
2. stimulates the local economy = job creation & reduces benefits bill
3. longer term reduction in average rents as relative demand drops = longer term reduction in HB costs as low income families need less/no help.

well if they don't like it they can go and get a job their is a choice they don't have to do the voluntary work.

In Southampton there is an army of women who go into the worst homes in the city, feed the children, get them dressed and get them to school every morning. They aren't the mothers, friends or relatives. They are paid rubbish money but do it so that these kids have a chance in life. This service is being scrapped byteh council and likewise across the UK. So I guess if we all give a stuff maybe we should offer to help these kids, like the Tories or not?

You do have to have been kept on at the end of any probationary period to claim for unfair dismissal. You cannot claim any benefits if you are in the process of claiming unfair dismissal. Hence you can't afford to claim unfair dismissal, or you wouldn't be able to pay your rent and bills.

Sovreign - If the mothers aren't doing these jobs, then the dc in these houses are being NEGLECTED and should be taken into FC. Sorry, but I am registered disabled, 2 out of 3 of my dc have SN, my DP works FT and I still manage to get my dc to school on time, despite a 30-40 minute bus journey. My dc get a good cooked meal, clean clothes etc. Surely you can see that providing this 'service' is a waste of money, if those dc aren't being looked after properly then they would be better off NOT being with their parents? And this is coming from someone that grew up in that situation, and being in FC genuinely WAS the best place for me. Not being left to rot in a home where I was being neglected.

GOVT seeking headlines

you must realise some things Cameron floats are just seeking headlines.

Cameron learned this from the boy blair.

I domt think this scheme will have much reality