They did say that his £100 a week was doubled by Tax Credits to £200, but that has to pay their rent and Council Tax, as well as feed them and their two DC's.
Have you any idea how hard it is to put electric and gas on the meter, feed your DC's, and pay all your bills on £200 a week?
No insurance on anything, as you can't afford it, so if you get burgled or have a house fire, you have lost everything, if your major appliances break, you can't afford to replace them without doorstep loans with 400% interest.
It's one thing doing that, with no going out, no fripperies in life, nothing other than brutal survival, for a few weeks. It's another thing entirely doing it for your whole life, from cradle to grave.
It's the utter hopelessness of the situation, knowing there's no FT jobs AT ALL that might actually go some way to supporting your family with help from Tax Credits, only MW PT jobs that are, at best, a way of keeping you off the streets for a couple of hours a day, all they ACTUALLY do is give you the wages then take all but £20 off your benefits, leaving you working for just £20 a week.
If you could get a job that would leave you above benefits level, you'd jump at the chance. But who the hell is going to take a job that leaves them worse off than benefits when benefits are set at a survival level? You would be leaving yourself below the level set as the minimum you need to survive off. Who the hell in their right mind is going to do that, work ethic or not?
I have worked in crappy NMW jobs plenty of times since my diagnosis, but ONLY when the logistics of them haven't put my family in a WORSE financial position than being on benefits.
I want to work, but I want to feed my DC's MORE!!