Whats it been like for you if your on benefits - General Discussion

scriffed · 29-11-2009, 11:52

As I've not had to be on them for ages
was wondering what its been like over the last few
years or more if you've experience

The changes that have happened
for good and for bad

anybody on any of the following

Jobseekers

Disability

War Widows/Widowers pensioners

Housing benefits

State pensioners

Family tax credits

Deaf Leppard · 29-11-2009, 11:53

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

crazychris12 · 29-11-2009, 11:55

I've been on Incapacity Benefit 21 years and the way they need improving is increase the amounts.

rmpc77 · 29-11-2009, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

You really think that happens?

I only know a couple of career-benefit drawers and they're the most miserable, hopeless, pathetic beings I know. I sure as hell ain't resentful of them

adopter · 29-11-2009, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

Why don't you stop working then?

Deaf Leppard · 29-11-2009, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazychris12

I've been on Incapacity Benefit 21 years and the way they need improving is increase the amounts.

Isn't incapacity the one that is being looked at currently? Lots of people who convince themselves that they are unable to work, and then become a drain on society, when if they actually had some help they could be back in the workplace, instead of sat at home whinging about how taxpayers don't give them enough money.

Deaf Leppard · 29-11-2009, 11:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by adopter

Why don't you stop working then?

Pride, and a love for what i do.

crazychris12 · 29-11-2009, 12:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Isn't incapacity the one that is being looked at currently? .

I believe so. Tories picking on the disabled and ill again.

Deaf Leppard · 29-11-2009, 12:01

Jobseekers is fine if the claiment is actually job-seeking. if they've been claiming it for years though, questions should be being asked.

Boyard · 29-11-2009, 12:02

Fab! Get to lie in every morning, don't have to deal with the stress of work and still have enough money to go out at weekends. I want to stay on it as long as possible, just need to pretend I've been looking for work each week lol.

crazychris12 · 29-11-2009, 12:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyard

Fab! Get to lie in every morning, don't have to deal with the stress of work and still have enough money to go out at weekends. I tend to stay on it as long as possible, just need to pretend I've been looking for work each week lol.

You forgot that we get to watch Jeremy Kyle too and Deal Or No Deal Too!!!

annette kurten · 29-11-2009, 12:03

i get by, rather fortunately as i`m apparently unemployable.

adopter · 29-11-2009, 12:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Pride, and a love for what i do.

You sound like you're cutting your nose of to spite your face.

Surely you would be just as proud if you could buy yourself a nice flatscreen TV using taxpayers' money and I'm sure you'd love watching it too.

crazychris12 · 29-11-2009, 12:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by annette kurten

i get by, rather fortunately as i`m apparently unemployable.

Same here. I'll be 50 soon and have had depression for 30 years so can't see any employer giving me a job.

onefineday · 29-11-2009, 12:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Lots of people who convince themselves that they are unable to work, and then become a drain on society

Considering it takes a medical examination, it would be more accurate to say there are lots of people convinced by doctors that they are unable to work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

if they actually had some help they could be back in the workplace

Sometimes that help is expensive or hard to get. For example, a thorough fixing of mental health provision to offer CBT to all depressed and anxious people would certainly help, except it's far cheaper to just prescribe a pill.

GetMeOuttaHere · 29-11-2009, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

Council families equate to benefit claimants, do they?

Dan Fortesque · 29-11-2009, 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

A bit of a myth I think you will find that is. Particularly with regards to around £64 a week JSA. Unless someone is committing benefit fraud, which is illegal.

tauran_shammy · 29-11-2009, 12:14

It's ok if you never want to go away on a holiday or have a home to call your own. It's ok if you are better off on the dole than working because the csa will leave you destitute if you get a minimum wage job.
It's ok if you enjoy being sneered at by snotty suits at the jobcentre. It's ok if you like to feel your self respect ebbing away each day. It's ok if you refuse to go out socially with working friends because you can't keep up with the way they spend money.
It's ok if you occasionally consider suicide.

annette kurten · 29-11-2009, 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazychris12

Same here. I'll be 50 soon and have had depression for 30 years so can't see any employer giving me a job.

innit though?
my doc "can`t foresee a circumstance in which she`ll ever be employable"

Terry Wigon · 29-11-2009, 12:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boyard

Fab! Get to lie in every morning, don't have to deal with the stress of work and still have enough money to go out at weekends. I want to stay on it as long as possible, just need to pretend I've been looking for work each week lol.

Well, each to their own but that for me would be a living hell.

I actually like the mechanics of choosing nice clothes to wear for work, ironing them, looking smart, going to work at a fairly interesting and well-paid job for a good organisation, meeting a lot of different people, travelling around and having enough money to do what I want and having six weeks' paid hols a year.

Those, and having self respect and being self-sufficient, are the reasons why I work.

If your ambition in life is lying in bed and watching J Kyle for a pittance to spend at the weekend, then you have probably recognised that you have reached your potential and ambition. Maybe you can't aspire to better as you don't have the skills or attributes. If that's the case, it's better you are on the dole as there must be something wrong somewhere: possibly you don't have the skills or character traits to cope with the basic demands and discipline of having a job.

Once the benefits system is overhauled maybe you'll be put on a different type of scheme to reflect your difficulties.

scriffed · 29-11-2009, 12:22

Anybody lost their jobs over the last few years and
had to go on them? Had a mortgage to pay?

Or know people that have

What ones could you / they could get? And how much roughly
for each one ?

annette kurten · 29-11-2009, 12:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by scriffed

Anybody lost their jobs over the last few years and
had to go on them? Had a mortgage to pay?

What is it you could get?

yes, no and skint.

rockerchick · 29-11-2009, 12:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

Don't know where to start!

Firstly, you have made an assumption that all people in council houses don't work.
Secondly, how do you know someone who is buying a tv lives in a council house??
Lastly, people on benefits could have had a tv bought for them by a family member or they could have been saving up for yonks to buy it.

Terry Wigon · 29-11-2009, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockerchick

Don't know where to start!

Firstly, you have made an assumption that all people in council houses don't work.
Secondly, how do you know someone who is buying a tv lives in a council house??
Lastly, people on benefits could have had a tv bought for them by a family member or they could have been saving up for yonks to buy it.

Or have gone to somewhere like Brighthouse and are paying back for the TV at £5 a week for the next 100 years!

Most people living on benefits long term have to look to other means to buy luxuries (unlike what some of the media would like us to believe).

elsquid · 29-11-2009, 12:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deaf Leppard

Benefits improved?

They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

How much do you think people on benefits receive per week?
There's no way I could afford a flat-screen tv even if I saved up for two years.
I'm also not a "council" family. Most people that I know who live in council properties are in full-time work anyway.

29-11-2009, 11:52	#1
scriffed Forum Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 244	Whats it been like for you if your on benefits As I've not had to be on them for ages was wondering what its been like over the last few years or more if you've experience The changes that have happened for good and for bad anybody on any of the following Jobseekers Disability War Widows/Widowers pensioners Housing benefits State pensioners Family tax credits

29-11-2009, 11:53	#2
Deaf Leppard Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Guantanamo Bay Services: Sky, Sky+, Multiroom, Sky Broadband, PS3 Posts: 1,123 Blog Entries: 1	Benefits improved? They need to be scaled back if anything. Makes my blood boil to see flatscreen tvs and the like being bought by council families who end up better off than those who work all hours.

29-11-2009, 11:55	#3
crazychris12 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: East London Services: BT Broadband Posts: 7,312	I've been on Incapacity Benefit 21 years and the way they need improving is increase the amounts.

29-11-2009, 12:01	#9
Deaf Leppard Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Guantanamo Bay Services: Sky, Sky+, Multiroom, Sky Broadband, PS3 Posts: 1,123 Blog Entries: 1	Jobseekers is fine if the claiment is actually job-seeking. if they've been claiming it for years though, questions should be being asked.

29-11-2009, 12:02	#10
Boyard Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London Posts: 2,541	Fab! Get to lie in every morning, don't have to deal with the stress of work and still have enough money to go out at weekends. I want to stay on it as long as possible, just need to pretend I've been looking for work each week lol.

29-11-2009, 12:03	#12
annette kurten Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Gender: Female Location: dole office. Services: scrounging for england. Posts: 6,723	i get by, rather fortunately as i`m apparently unemployable.

29-11-2009, 12:14	#18
tauran_shammy Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,135	It's ok if you never want to go away on a holiday or have a home to call your own. It's ok if you are better off on the dole than working because the csa will leave you destitute if you get a minimum wage job. It's ok if you enjoy being sneered at by snotty suits at the jobcentre. It's ok if you like to feel your self respect ebbing away each day. It's ok if you refuse to go out socially with working friends because you can't keep up with the way they spend money. It's ok if you occasionally consider suicide.

29-11-2009, 12:22	#21
scriffed Forum Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 244	Anybody lost their jobs over the last few years and had to go on them? Had a mortgage to pay? Or know people that have What ones could you / they could get? And how much roughly for each one ?