do "we" have the right to say what benefit claimants spend the money on?

[DizzyHoneyBee]

In the news today, a think tank suggests that many would support restrictions on what benefit claimants can spend the money on.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19792066

What do you think?

My local library is now a muddy patch of ground . We have to use the main library now located in the town centre and they charge for computer use.

I have BT Broadband.

I use it on my phone as wifi because I cant afford a laptop. And payg internet is 1. slower than treacle and 2. extortionate prices.

Maybe someone should start charity, tonnes of perfectly good computer gear gets chucked out every year, donate them to the poor, they can be canablised to make working models, fitting with a nice ubuntu something, desktops can go to oap homes and the like, job seekers can borrow laptops and be given cards that entitle them to free WiFi at hot spots, as long as they provide proof every two weeks of the jobs they have applied for on it they get to continue to keep it.

If it magically vanishes off the face of the earth tho they should pay a fine tho and be banned from being given one again.

Sun theres a charity near me that does that. Even the ubuntu stuff.

They send them to Africa.

I like the idea of providing computer equipment to people who need it. Really, anyone who doesn't have home internet access is at a huge disadvantage.

I'd go further and say there are a lot of people (like me) who could share their technical knowledge, teach others how to use a computer, how to use the internet, and skills like using a word processor to create a cv. Also how to find useful stuff online - jobs, cheaper deals, training courses, etc.

That would be brilliant Saskia

I'd have a queue a mile long for that kind of 121 help.

Well there you go, judging by the levels of emails from African banks people in the UK get they are clearly using the skills gained from those computers to make businesses for themselves.

Saskia...Im almost sure thats what the JCP is meant to do :o

We only buy food, knickers, and medical supplies (gloves and bedpads etc) new. If we had to buy everything with vouchers we couldn't buy...anything. No furniture, no clothes, no appliances, no wheelchairs...nothing.

It's just another way to funnel money to Tesco. Like workfare. And people will cheer it on because they hate us that much they will do anything, anything, to press us down just a little bit further, to abase us just that little bit more. There's no end. I have despaired.

Sakis - just google local charities working with illiterate mums.

If it's mine I'd snap you up!

(thinking of starting it in my area now .....)

I would like to know where the library is that recently opened near MrsBucket.

"MrsBucketxx Wed 03-Oct-12 18:16:43
mad banners has not heard of libraries then psssst there free."

As is having a social conscience and some compassion for those worse off than you, something that seems to have completely passed you by.

I think this is more demonise the poor bullshit.

The fact that so many people think this is a good idea just proves how dangerous some of the shit in the media is. I despair that there are so many fucking gullible idiots in this country.

Anyone who agrees with this is a twat. HTH

wanna we are advisors, not tutors. I am not qualified to teach someone how to use a PC. And seeing as I only have on average 20 mins to spend with each customer, not enough time either.

God everything is so bloody cut and dry when you've actually got the means to get by isn't it?! thanks to this government i lost my well paid job and despite looking really hard for a new one it took nine months to find apart time job that paid half of what i was on previously.

life on benefits can be fucking hard, you're treated like dirt when you go to the benefits office to get help, most people assume that you're not working out of choice, loving every minute of it AND are quite well off as well. the reality is things were already bad employment wise in this country but in the last couple of years things have gotten ridiculous. the job i am lucky enough to have now had 147 applicants - 147 people wanting a job, wanting to earn a living not wanting to be on benefits and (at the time of me getting the job) 146 people still out of work.

People who make assumptions that working is always a choice and unemployment is due to laziness or not planning for the future (seriously how are you meant to save if you're on the breadline already FFS?) are conveniently ignoring that this is a real and insurmountable problem for many people.

P fucking S: Wannabe, i know how difficult it was for me trying to treat my DS to even little things when i was out of work, the aquarium sounds like a lovely idea and hope you both enjoyed every minute of it. xx

linerunner google the hive in worcester.

we have lots if really good ones in worcestershire, maybe there better funded here somehow.

KatieScarlett & Wannabe I thought it was something JCP provided, but then my BIL was made redundant last year and discovered it wasn't routinely offered. He's in his 50s, and had never used a computer in his life - he had no need to - but suddenly he was expected to use one to find a job. DH and I were able to help him out, but not everyone has that option. That really seems like a big oversight.

"weegiemum* I'm in South Yorkshire, happy to help if you're near by!

I think I'll have a Google and see if there's a local group who might need that kind of help

Saskia

We can signpost to places that offer courses, but we don't have a basic "How To" one for beginners locally. It depends on what is available in the local area, really.

Katie That's very wrong - definitely not blaming you! I know you can only work with what you're given. There should be a national policy of providing courses.

Nowadays not having basic IT skills disadvantages someone almost as much as struggling with literacy or numeracy. It's akin to not being able to read a newspaper thirty years ago.

That link says the Hive is a reprovision and relies on University money to exist.

Where somebody is determined to prioritise their personal treats over their childrens' needs they will find a way.

Selling WIC products, like babymilk, food vouchers etc is hardly unheard of in the states that already has a model of restricted spending.

You also have to take into account the costs of implementing restricted spending as opposed to single payments.

I understand the frustration of knowing children are going without basic needs while their parent/s feed their wants. But restricted spending schemes aren't going to change that reality for the hardcore wasters who couldn't put their kids first if their lives depended on it.

The only thing to do there, and I'm sure it will stick in the throat of many, is to have an additional emergency fund so if sure start, SS or school is aware a child is being deprived due to parental priorities being put of whack extra non parent directed funds can be focused on where the specific need is. Like suitable clothing, additional nutritous food to be distributed and eaten on site (so it can't be resold), stuff like that.

I know that looks like rewarding the parents who fail to parent well at the expense of those who succeed even in the worst of circumstances. But the kids with the crappy parents have such an unlevel playing field from the onset, and that needs to be acknowledged.

ah Worcestershire. The idyll where disabled people are being forced into residential care. MrsBucket, you lack compassion and also knowledge. If you deveoloped a serious disability or one of your children did, your insurance company would drop you lke a hot potato.

it has to be said tho, there are families who choose benefits over work, and single mothers who have never worked in their lives, I have met them.
and yes the money does (sometimes) get spent on drugs etc.
I have also been on benefits but would rather work so see both sides.

Everythings a scam.

Unemployment is just an opportunity to make money, service providers train the unemployed that cost a damn sight more then college and don't give you a recognised accreditation at the end just in house crap, slavery to big names passed off as work experience. They'd love to give MasterCard a licence to get their sticky fingers in the pot too.

And as long as they make out that the poor are the enemy, laughing at the hard working,tthey will be able continue handing out tax payers money as much as they like, even if the people know just how much it all costs and just how popointless it all is they will be happy to give cash to A4E and tesco to make people's lives a misery because they are so fucking spiteful.

This is what Thatcher was talking about, no such thing as society, just selfishness, greed and jealousy.