Benefits Britain: Life On The Dole

[newnametoday1]

Did anyone watch this?

Oh, I thought I'd missed that! Lots of hull slagging off on the advert.

I thought I had too. Makes me so proud!

Good old Hull!

Homesick for my family. It's a funny place, I hate people slagging it off.

oh god, these poor sods.

Me too. It's alright for us to slag it off but anyone else does and I'm like Strange really :)

I can't believe how much it's changed when I go back. It's like a ghost town.

I haven't been back for a while now. Do you mean like shops closed down and stuff? :(

Shops closing being replaced by Poundland. The centre used to be full of people drinking. They built the marina up it looked fab but no-one ever made the effort to go there. Tbf they are converting the old fruit markets and trying to get things going again. No-one goes into town anymore they tend to cause chaos down the Avenues. The schools are dire, the kids have no ambition, it's just that awful cycle people get in. Hopefully the city of culture thing will give it a kick up the backside.

Oh no, that does sound a bit sad. I think last time I went princes quay was slowly losing it's shops one by one and it was so quiet compared to when I was younger. I really hope the city of culture boosts it all because it has so potential!

The commentary/ narration is really irritating me tonight. She's so smug and making unnecessarily mean comments, 'she's using her Pregnancy test from poundland'

agree about commentary

can't wait till next week. Immigrants + benefits = tv gold

Yeah, I agree too. She mocked the accent near the beginning too.

That was absolutely horrible. They don't actually give a stuff about what happens to people, just mock and belittle them. So awful. It's clear of course that the chosen ones were unaware of what would be screened, and I watch most of these programmes as have always worked in related fields but this one was without a doubt the most hideous one I've seen

can't argue with that. They essentially just ripped the piss out of one family all episode. The other family were just struggling but doing the best they could in difficult circumstances. There wasn't even the usual cross section of cliche claimants they usually have.

This was easily the worst benefits episode i've ever watched.

To be fair, coming from Hull, this could have been a lot worse.

It's a cycle, mum and dad never worked, so this is the norm. It's very wrong when the benefits are more than an actual job.

I totally agree, the narrating was hideous, camera panning to large T.V. and laptops/mobile phones...and then when they do budget by buying a pregnancy test from £ land that's ridiculed too!! damned if you do.....when it was mentioned 'foster Mum' several times it didn't say how many of her children were foster children etc..The financial figures are incorrect stating that the skinhead Dad and his wife were getting £450 a week because they have a disabled son, I have a disabled daughter and my partner works-albeit low pay it is a job...we were NEVER getting £450 a week for us to live on ( I'm full time carer for my DD) There was even a statement on F/B this morning stating 'at least 'they' have a 3 bed house!!!!! pretty rich coming from a couple who live with Mum n Dad with a toddler and would NEVER WANT to live in a council house...GGGRRRR (they moved back in with DP to save for a house and haven't saved a penny) I s'pos they DO NOT see Child Benefit as an actual 'benefit' though

I know someone who is related to the 'benefits baby' couple. Mark has got Aspergers and other learning disabilities and he still completed a degree. But doesn't stop channel 5 from exploiting them.

Lighthouse I live in hull and you made some very general sweeping comments. You can't call all schools dire and assume that kids have no ambition. There are a mixture of not so good and also some amazing schools like any other part of the country.
People do go into the city centre however yes the avenues are very popular, not sure about the chaos though, I've never seen any trouble down there.

It has fantastic primary schools and is let down after that. My friends teach at what is supposed to be the best school in the city. The facilities are there that's for sure. It barely gets average gcse results. They do t enjoy teaching anymore. It's very sad.

salsmum

it is possible that skinhead dad and wife with 3-4 children (cant remember exact figure) may recieve £450 a week benefits

three children alone will recieve £169 a week tax credit thats without disability premiums if applicable,so could be more

they may be getting DLA for the child,carers allowance,

also child benefit would be £45ish a week

jsa for the parents or income support £120 ish a week

add on rent and council tax it is possible

im not saying its wrong or right just stating that it is very possible,and to say its not is just not true

Ffcukfifa thank you for explaining that. It all falls into place now. Shame they didn't mention that on the programme. In an article in the Hull Daily Mail they also said they had had jobs previously as care workers but when you say you aren't available they stop offering you work (Zero hours contracts). I heard someone else say that on the radio- puts you under a lot of pressure to work seven days a week.
The bit I didn't understand was 'unemployed foster carer'. We have family members who foster (not in Hull) and there is never a shortage of foster children. It doesn't pay well though.
We have family in Hull who used to live in the Avenues in one of the big houses sub divided into flats. I rather like Hull.

I thought it was disgusting that the foster mum was described as "unemployed" and made to look for work. She is raising 4 teens with various problems to be functioning members of society. With her help they'll learn to budget, be self sufficient, and hopefully go into further education but with her "benefits" being severely trimmed she's having to encourage them to stay with her so she can keep a roof over the other kids heads, now she will have an unemployed teen couple with a baby on the way to support. We should be thanking her and possibly training her up to take other children in, not restricting what she can do with the children she already has on limited funds. Fostering is not easy. Maybe that was the message channel 5 should have been getting across? Not describing the mum as a benefits recipient. Any home with foster children should not be subject to any cuts at all.