Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To think cycling isn't free and job center should pay milliage

164 replies

feellikeahugefailure · 07/03/2016 16:24

I have to sign on every week. Every other week they pay expenses. It's several busses to get there, so is 14.60 return.

They will pay this bus fare or pay 25p a mile but if you use your bike you get nothing.

When you are on such a limited income ware and tear on the bike does happen and is a big expense also the calories used are an expense. Even just something like 5p a mile should be possible imo.

I was going to use my bike on nice days and I would end up saving the country money and be fitter. But seeing as they pay for the bus fare I would never bike there. Its a reasonably long way and I would need alot of calories after doing the return journey.

OP posts:
BlueEyesAndDarkChocolate · 07/03/2016 17:29

Well obviously they should give you a free bike, and replace it annually. And install a Starbucks in the Job Centre, where you can consume as much free coffee as you like in order to replace your lost calories. and hopefully pay for you to attend a spelling course

JenEric · 07/03/2016 17:32

They should pay cycle mileage. Why not?

Even if they paid 25p per mile for car/bike/walking (Google maps the distance to get an amount) surely they would save money? It would be a major cycle ride to rack up £15 at 25p a mile! Also it may encourage someone to walk or cycle for a bit of extra cash keeping them fitter and healthier.

Katenka · 07/03/2016 17:34

means feel will get valuable exercise so less likely to need NHS resources and fuel free travel should be being encouraged where possible.

this means jack shit. I am fit and healthy. I don't pay less tax than someone who isn't.

NHS is based on need. End of.

Why should the OP be paid for getting fit?

JanetOfTheApes · 07/03/2016 17:34

however a healthy balanced and varied diet is difficult to acheive on benefits

Not really, in the UK, it isn't.

ClarenceTheLion · 07/03/2016 17:35

Well then, continue to get the bus. Problem solved. How are they supposed to know you cycled in, do they have to troop outside and watch you unlock the padlock for proof? Bus tickets are checkable proof, giving cash for bike riders could be open to abuse. And walkers could argue that walking costs them in terms of shoe leather. Let's just give everyone in walks into the Jobcentre a tenner then...

HelenaDove · 07/03/2016 17:37

, however a healthy balanced and varied diet is difficult to acheive on benefits,

Its fucking impossible especially if someone is on workfare and having to pay to get to their "placement" every day.

sleeponeday · 07/03/2016 17:38

BlueEyes, was the spelling dig essential? Did you not feel superior enough just attacking someone for being on benefits?

I'm afraid you show yourself up with that sort of post, and not anyone else.

MeadowHay · 07/03/2016 17:39

I think YABU but mainly because I think there would be problems with ensuring a system for cycle milage reimbursement isn't abused. But I am sympathetic and think that actually you've highlighted a very interesting point. Are there "city bikes" in your area OP? I'm wondering whether it could be a really interesting and positive thing for councils/the government to a) boost provision of city bikes, and b) offer reimbursements for city bike use. That could solve the problem of traceability and proof, and promote fitness/good health. Also if the city bike scheme was run by the council it would also mean reducing the amount of money that the job centre is sending to private bus companies like Arriva via reimbursements!

rookiemere · 07/03/2016 17:41

KatenkaOP is not being paid for getting fit - OP is being paid for depreciation and wear and tear on her bicycle and also being encouraged to use a cheaper to the taxpayers means of getting to her destination.

If you have a fundamental argument with travel expenses to sign on being paid at all, then that's a different matter, but I cannot understand why people wouldn't want the government to save money by encouraging people to use the cheapest mode of transport.

Pipbin · 07/03/2016 17:41

Why don't you use your oyster card and surely the daily limit will be under that amount?

Because not everyone is in London. I know, shocker isn't it?

allegretto · 07/03/2016 17:42

Surely Oyster cards are only for London?

allegretto · 07/03/2016 17:44

Yes, they should but I am pleasantly surprised they pay for buses tbh. When I briefly signed on they refused to give me an appointment that fitted in with buses so I had to walk 2 hours each way.

HelenaDove · 07/03/2016 17:45

Janet when i was on JSA and workfare around 2000 i gained weight (i was overweight already but the circumstances i was in added a couple more stone.

On workfare i and many others were existing on chips every day because thats all we could afford. Where do think the phrase cheap as chips comes from?

After a workfare stint they wanted me to do another workfare stint in a factory.
A job in a sex chatline office was in the local paper I applied, got it And after i had been there a while was able to afford to go to Slimming World AND afford to do their eating plan and i lost ten stone.

Kept it off for a few years until DHs massive heart attack in 2006. Became his full time carer. We were existing on little money again. I regained 4 stone.

3 years ago i went back to SW and i have slowly but surely lost the 4 stone regain.

You can pontificate as much as you like but poverty is one of the causes of obesity.

Lindy2 · 07/03/2016 17:47

What about walking? There would be wear and tear on shoes. The faster you walk though the more the wear and tear. A speed rated allowance might be needed.

rookiemere · 07/03/2016 17:47

Or if you look at it another way, not paying cycling mileage encourages more expensive travel costs.

So at my work you are not allowed to park in short stay car park at the airport. This is even if you are going for a day and are at the airport for 5am and not back until 9pm.
Cost of long stay car park for the day is say £15, short stay is say £30.
If you stay in short stay you get quizzed on it and I've heard of people not getting their expenses refunded.

Therefore to avoid this I take a taxi there and back. Much more relaxing for me.Total cost to the company is £45 - 50.

So even if something on the face of it seems a little illogical - surely if it saves money then it should be encouraged.

RochelleGoyle · 07/03/2016 17:54

One bout of semi intense exercise each or every other week is not going to cause concerning weight loss. We're lucky we have a welfare system at all.

BikeRunSki · 07/03/2016 18:01

I work for a public body and we get paid cycling mileage if we do a business journey by bike. I thinks it's 20p/mile. I have claimed it occassionally, for cycling to my nearest station (several miles away), then from a station at the other end (the nature of my work means that many of my sites are fairly remote).

Shallishanti · 07/03/2016 18:08

no, we're not lucky we have a welfare system, we have it because we pay for it
at some point in the distant past we had a government who decided it was in everyone's interests to provide a welfare safety net, which would be our collective responsibility (via tax)
I REALLY don't see shy people have a problem with this, it's almost as if they think they are immune to bad luck or that unlucky people are somehow less than human
You think it's s great life on benefits? try it then

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 07/03/2016 18:12

I'm not sure I've spent more than a tenner on my bike since buying it 12 years ago.

RhodaBull · 07/03/2016 18:25

It's not the bike mileage per se, but the tone of the OP does sound a bit... expectant. Eg, "I was going to use my bike on nice days" implying that she is anticipating cycling to job centre in spring and summer. I would have hope that I'd've secured a job by then. If I had some sort of disability then perhaps I'd be less optimistic, but someone who can do a 25-mile round trip on a bicycle sure ain't unfit. And as for the calorie bit - well, that's just preposterous.

Followyourart · 07/03/2016 18:32

Haha janet the last time I claimed jsa I had about £20 per week left over after my rent shortfall to pay for food - no I wasn't starving but I was very hungry , and would go to sleep hungry. I imagine the majority of claimants are the same.
They can refund you your travel fare for the extra signing, op.
I would be massively annoyed about having to go in weekly and have it cut into job searching time.. Don't understand what they want you there for - not to help you look for work that's for sure.

AtiaoftheJulii · 07/03/2016 18:34

Student nurses get cycle mileage for placement expenses. No need to wave paddocks to prove anything - and why would anyone claim to have cycled when they hadn't when that's the cheapest method? They've got to get there somehow, they can't get there for free!
YANBU.

Followyourart · 07/03/2016 18:36

And £20 might sound a lot but it really isnt. Food is expensive.

AtiaoftheJulii · 07/03/2016 18:36

^ padlocks!

londonrach · 07/03/2016 18:37

Abit surprised you get travel expenses for jsa. Learn something every day.