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Original poster

So now I'm on JSA, when do I get my flat screen TV?

45 replies

MegaBloks · 09/04/2011 08:46

Sorry, my attempt at being light hearted.

I've recently been awarded JSA after a disatrous job. It's only temporary (I have been offered a new job already but it takes a good couple of months to do all the HR stuff first before I get a start date)

What I would like to know is, what other help is available to me now I am on benefits? I know I get free prescriptions, is there any other discounts I should look out for? I would like to still take my DD out and about (within reason, cost permitting) but as the JSA and DH wage only cover the bills with about £50 a month to spare, I would like it to stretch as far as possible!

OP posts:
WhatsWrongWithYou · 09/04/2011 08:51

This might be useful.

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 08:54

I have no idea when the flat screen turns up, I've been waiting 3yrs for mine!! (and really need it now as the ancient dead weight TV died over a week ago >>)

Yes - the website WWWY has linked to has a benefits checker on it that you can make sure you're getting what you're entitled to.

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:01

You lucky thing. I was refused my very small JSA claim because my very high contributions were in the wrong years. It's supposed to help you out when you're down on your luck but no, it seems not. But I'm contributing to yours, and everyone else's, and now I've got a job which isn't particularly well paid I'll be doing that until I retire, so if you're feeling sorry for yourself for not having a flat screen TV, or even if you think it's funny that the "system" isn't helping you out enough, I'm not going to join in.

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:03

oh fgs Gooseberrybushes - it's a long standing "thing" that apparently all scroungers on benefits have a brand new flat screen TV (though I'm guessing it must by now surely have been upgraded to plasma as flat screen is the "norm" these days).

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:03

yes I know it's a long standing thing

it's just part of the moaning -- whatever you get, it's never enough

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:06

no it's a stereotype - you know "I know this woman, she's a single parent to 5 children they all have different fathers, she goes on a foreign holidays twice a year, goes out every weekend and has a brand new flat screen TV"

The OP is being tongue in cheek

(though I do hear the new "marker" is a swimming pool Wink)

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:13

Absolutely it's a cliche -- it's arisen as an expression of frustration because people who earn and don't have those things pay for people who don't to have those things. (And in my case, are refused help when they need it despite their voluminous contributions). Are you suggesting that isn't sometimes true? It would never have become a cliche if it wasn't. Yes, I'm off topic. I don't care. Perhaps I should head for the tax avoidance section.

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:15

yes I am saying it isn't true in the majority of cases.

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:16

really -- that's why when all those jobs were available no one could be arsed to take them

WhatsWrongWithYou · 09/04/2011 09:17

Gooseberry, you might be entitled to things yourself - the DWP has been known to get it wrong! Try the benefits checker or go to CAB.

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:17

things don't become cliches by magic, they're not just made up

they're cliches because people see it and talk about it

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:17

i'ts a JOKE, I'm presuming the OP is trying to make light of a situation which by all accounts is pretty shite. When you end up on benefits you are allowed to retain a sense of humur (thank god otherwise I'd have long since lost the plot even more than I already have Grin)

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:18

what you mean the 500,000 or so available jobs for the nearly 3 million on JSA??????

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:19

no, I'm not, I was a stay at home mum for too long after giving up work

all that time I could have claim this that and the other but no, was honest, waited until i was actually looking

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:19

I never had that attitude of planning to screw everything I could out of the system

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:21

two million jobs actually

as if they were all "job-seeking"

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:21

so claiming what you are entitled to when you need the help (you may notice that the OP is going to be back in work in a fiew months - she's just needing help at the moment) is "screwing" the system is it?

expatinscotland · 09/04/2011 09:21

Another thread down the pan.

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:26

really - where did you get 2 million from???

of course "job seekers" doesn't include the other people on benefits who are looking for work but aren't officially classed as "out of work".

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 09:27

No, Bach, it's not. You're right. She should get the help she needs. Ugh. I was just being mean. Sorry.

Aw, expat, it is annoying when people don't post what you want them to post isn't it? If only there was some method of control.

BachAroundTheChoc · 09/04/2011 09:28

indeed -expat - hey ho, I am a scrounging single parent benefit claimer who has no TV at all

expatinscotland · 09/04/2011 09:31

You feckless sponger! You should spend your holiday on your hands and knees licking Victoria Station clean in atonement for your very existence. Oh, and don't forget, as you probably can't afford free-range eggs and meat, you should be eating gruel and mung beans.

If I've forgotten any scorn I could have heaped on you, I'm sure someone else will be along to add it in Wink.

wubblybubbly · 09/04/2011 09:41

Gooseberrry, you were a SAHM so not job seeking, of course you're not entitled to JSA! If your family were on a low income, however, you would have been entitled to other benefits.

Gooseberrybushes · 09/04/2011 12:27

uh huh so when I was job seeking, it was too late to get contribution based allowance despite my not inconsiderable contributions

still, I suppose other people get to enjoy them even if I don't

expatinscotland · 09/04/2011 13:17

People are having to live off them because they can't find a job, it's hardly an enjoyable experience for most.

This OP is only on them temporarily and, from the sounds of it, they are a working poor family.

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