Don't cap my benefits - BBC1

[SoleSource]

Anybody watching?

p.s those stairs are dangerous, not normal way too steep. in the first house i rented with husband we had similar stairs. i was not used to them and 2nd week i fell down had muscle pain for months. id hate to see a kid fall down those.

but would i complain about the stairs if ive got a roof over my head no, just supervise kids up the stairs get a gate, make the best of the situation.

When I was young my parents got into financial difficulties and lost their house. We were moved multiple times through council accommodation, I went to 5 primary schools and the 7 of us (4 kids, my gran and my parents) spent 3 years living in a 2 bed council house (gran slept in the dining room cum kitchen) while my parents got back on their feet and paid off their debts. I have zero literally zero sympathy for any of the people shown on this programme tonight. The sense of entitlement is ridiculous.

I'm shouting at the screen- you are not in the position to be picky. It's a dining/ living area. That is not unreasonable. Ffs.

Infuriating viewing.

Voulunteering is quite simply that, not a replacement for a paid job. I really pity these chidlren with such irresponsible parents.

oh god yes! It's a living diner and the floor looked new, the windows were new. What did she want? A palace?

Mixed feelings about this. I'm on benefits in London but not affected by the cap as DS is disabled. I grew up here, have family here and I definitely understand the security of having family close by. But I also lived outside of London in my 20s, moving to a town where I knew no one. My parents also did the same when I was young. It's not the end of the world to move somewhere new and start afresh. Very many of my school friends have left London for cheaper areas in the country, most of them with jobs and mortgages.

And I've lived in plenty of places with a downstairs loo or mixed diner/lounge (in fact most of the expensive flats in London have open plan living areas). I think the house with stairs that were supposed to be too dangerous was similar to the house that I first moved in with DS.

Personally I think if I'd been hit by the cap I would probably try to set myself up as self-employed for 16 hours. I would rather do that than have to leave my home. I think that is the best advice if you're finding it hard to get a job, especially as you can fit it around DC and possibly work from home. But it does need a certain level of skill and there were clearly educational/language issues with most of the people on the programme.

I didn't know if I heard right that the chap with 7 kids was getting £800 a week (tax free of course). I have looked after my DD for 25 years who is severely disabled with Cerebral Palsy. I have worked albeit P.T. around my daughter and would love to go back to work F/T but with my local Borough only providing care for 5 hours a week that is just a pipe dream for now. I do wonder with the benefit capping exactly WHERE all these jobs are actually going to come from??? Very few people actually CHOSE to go on benefits in my experience because it's not 'The Good life' and with a severely disabled DD there are added costs of heating, electric (for her bed, lift and wheelchair) and the carers allowance is an absolute joke! Before you scream 'Where's the Father?' he passed away last year after a long separation! My partner of 7 years has only managed to get P/T work working from 4am, although it was stated that disabled people who have major adaptations to their bedroom would be exempt from the 40% bedroom tax DWP has now decided that will only be for 1 year and then you have to re-apply. The programme tonight reminded me of the old film 'Cathy Come Home' 2014 style. Maybe they are trying to get rid of more 'social housing' in the city to make way for hugely expensive redevelopment . Their was a feeling with some of the people with larger families tonight that if they protested enough a large 'mansion style' property would suddenly appear on the housing officers screen .

Does anyone know how they decide where people are to be housed outside of their area? Don't all areas have housing shortages, although less though than London?

I have met 2 people recently who have been moved to my area from a London borough, one to private let, and one to a council house, both on housing benefit. This is still a very expensive area, although not a patch on some bits of London.

I waited 5 years for my council place, despite being in urgent need due to dh's disability (he had to live in residential care while waiting, so missed all of ds' preschool years). I know plenty of other people round here who are still on the housing waiting list round here, so how do they decide whether to tackle their own housing list, or take in others from crisis areas?

One of the ladies who I know has been given a 2 bed old style council house in a sussex village just for her and her husband, both in their 50s. They're over the moon. I asked how she managed to get a 2 bed place, and she said they could make stipulations like this as long as she agreed to move out of London. That seems wrong at the expense of the local housing need.

You were right. He earned £150 per week and then received £800 in benefits. He was the one who didn't like the stairs and rammed the pushchair in the door without any regard for the door frame or the paintwork. As it turned out none of the people ended up being permanently housed outside of London apart from the woman with two teenage children who ended up in Luton and had finally to get a job after 12 years of not working.

i had mixed feelings about the program however it did raise lots of valid questions. It does seem wrong that people are moved miles and miles away from their families with no support around them however why are we paying people 1000 a week in benefits? whilst it was on we were speaking and couldnt believe how many people on the program had big families - surely you need to take responsibility for your own family planning - if you cant afford to have 5 or 7 kids then dont have them - keep your pants up! also wonder how people can come to this country as asylum seekers and not work at all and not contribute to society here yet it all gets paid for? why did all the people featured seem to be asylum seekers or single mothers - where are the fathers to all these single mothers kids? why are they not paying? why are these mothers having so many kids when there is obviously no responsible man about?

I think the program maker picked london to highlight the issues around the cap because the rent are so high that people are being affected however im not sure its the case that this is happening all over the country as rent here is nowhere near as expensive as london.

after watching the program we thought the govt. had absolutely done the right thing - it cannot be sustainable for taxpayers to keep handing over an endless amount of money to people who dont/wont contribute - people need to take responsibility for their own lives and need to realise money doesnt grow on trees.

I felt some sympathy for the local government officers. I don't suppose they are are on a huge wage, may be coping as single parents themselves etc and yet having to face this sense of entitlement on a daily basis.

Some questions occurred to me:

Where are the fathers in some of these cases?
Who the devil needs seven children?
Why allow those seven children to witness that performance in the council offices?
Is it a good idea to cart your baby around while handing out your CV?
If you can volunteer, then why can't you get a job, especially in the London area? Wembley is very central really.

the housing officers do not show sympathy sometimes because they are sick of people getting more in benefits than they do in wages who then demand palaces to live in without making any effort. the woman who did not want to move to luton was strong enough to get to this country thousands of miles away from east Africa but then found 50 miles 'too much'. I almost laughed when I saw the luton housing officers faces when she appeared to turn down the house she was being shown.

the problem with these programmes is that they rarely show sympathetic claimants, they just show the lazy, cheeky entitled ones who have managed not to work for 12 years or who have 7,8,9 children. they never show older tenants or disabled tenants who may be getting the short end of the stick.

Is it a good idea to cart your baby around while handing out your CV?

Yes, of course it is. What a strange question.

I did have some empathy with the families affected, however it is unrealistic that they should receive such a vast sum in benefits. In the real world most of us consider the implications of having large families and assess affordibility,we only have one DC and definitely couldn't afford 7 or 9.
The main problem is the lack of affordable housing, private rents take up all their benefit allowance, I can't belive it is 500 pw to rent a place in Wembley. It is that per month round here. In addition I would think that the employment market in London is better and getting a 16 hour a week job can't be that hard? or perhaps it is childcare that is the problem?
This is social cleansing and there will be no one left to do the menial low paid jobs? Only the rich can live in London

Tories Iain Duncan Smith and Cameron should be ashamed of themselves. Benefit not Reformed But DEFORMED Did Victoria Derbyshire do the programme this morning?

I watched a programme about a London Estate Agent and he was selling places for 30 million, his commission on this was 500,000. (how much is the stamp duty

I just don't get how a home can cost so much? This is the other side of the London coin, a city of divide?

Is it a good idea to take your baby with you when handing out your C.V? I think that in such a competitive employment market it probably wasn't the best move to take baby (and the purple hair that didn't reappear afterwards ). If I was an employer and someone came in for a job (with CVs) and she had a young baby with her it would say to me that she was unable to make provisions for childcare...this may then lead me to believe that childcare once she starts work could be a problem once employed further down the line. The purple hair did not give the best impression either. When you have sooo many people applying for VERY few work positions employers can afford to be really picky. The lady stated herself that she would be seeking work when the baby was older. Sorry but I think she was just applying for jobs on camera to prove (to the job centre) that she is 'actively seeking work' so as not to have her benefits cut. You have to make a real effort to look smart and presentable when handing out CVs to future employers or what is the point?. Before you ask yes I have cleaned toilets, worked on a market for 10 hours a day come rain or shine 6 days a week, I have worked on minimum wage and worked/work as a carer...as the saying goes beggars cannot be choosers and it puts food on the table. I know a lady/couple who have never worked a day since leaving school, are just about 30 and buy their (soon to be) EIGHT kids ipods/pads/x-boxes etc...for xmas and openly boast about it on F/B. Benefits are topped up with a bit of backstreet dog breeding every season the poor dog has which they then buy another pedigree dog off Gumtree to mate with breeding bitch and 6 months later they get rid of new pup and buy another!! apparently it's the larger families like this who will be capped the hardest. When I hear that some people last night will be £300+ worse off I just thought..does that mean they get £4/500 a week before the cuts we have @ £50 a week after paying bills etc. As stated previously I cannot work because I care full time for my daughter who is severely disabled.

salsmum

Who wouldn't hand out a CV in order not to lose benefits when it is an actual requirement of the benefit that you do so?

Do you really think a prospective employer would make assumptions about someone's childcare arrangements without actually asking them first?

im solesources twin!!! exactly same situation.

SuburbanRhonda

*Is it a good idea to cart your baby around while handing out your CV?

Yes, of course it is. What a strange question*

Well I asked it and I don't think it's strange. If I was a prospective employer, it would make me think that the mother couldn't organise herself.
I would have similar misgivings about the half-purple hair (though it would depend on the job).

Watching it now on catch up. And getting rather cross.

Firstly, the number of parents saying their children will be getting upset, or cross. Feel like shouting "you're the parent. Tell your children to get on with it."

Secondly, the Ethiopian lady. Where is the 12 year old staying??! And what is wrong with the lounge / dining room??

The teenager wound up staying with family in Brent as she didn't want to move.

Ah, yes just got to the end and seen the updates.

But again- the mum can't be grumbling she doesn't see her daughter when a TWELVE year old has decided to stay behind. My mother would have clipped me round the head and told me I was bloody well doing as she said.

Feel sorry for those genuinely searching for work with no luck though, must be extremely tough being continuously told no time and time again

I had mixed feelings about the programme.
I felt sorry for children who were being displaced through no fault of their own.
I felt it was wrong to send these people to other areas because effectively you are just shifting the problem to other cities and increasing the rates of unemployed households in those areas.
I do feel that we shouldn't be paying for people to live in excessively expensive housing if there is a cheaper alternative available, but I don't think you should just be handing those people to another LA to cope with.
I feel that too many of the parents were not taking responsibility for the lives of themselves and their children. The benefit cap was not suddenly sprung on people, they had plenty of warning.
The single mum who was a student was quite adamant that she wouldn't work unless she was better off and even when it was pointed out to her that she would be £300 pw better off working she refused to accept it and look for a job. This is an attitude that is all too prevalent.
I felt sympathy for the children, but none for the adults.
And where were the fathers as the two single mums both had children under the age of 1.

I think I must have been watching a different programme from many of you!

1. None of these people are "earning" £x000 a month in benefits. Their landlords are - big difference
2. Moving away from family and friends is all very well if it is your choice and/or you have means to travel to see said family and friends once in a while. There is no comparison with a situation where a family is picked up and dumped in a completely unfamiliar place and left to get on with it.
3. In what kind of a world does it make sense for a family where someone works to be moved out to a location that means that person may have to give up work due to the commuting costs?
4. Why the hell was the woman who was studying not exempt from the cap? What long term benefit is there to society in forcing someone out of education and worthwhile work experience and into a dead end job?

Let's be clear here. None of this is the fault of the people who have found themselves living in fleapits for which greedy landlords are charging hundreds of pounds a week. This seems to be all about clearing the hoi polloi out of London and into newly formed ghettos, social engineering plain and simple (I wonder how Birmingham and Luton feel about it?) To hell with the lives they ruin and the massive false economies incurred in the process.