Ugh. I know. Those pesky people with no limbs or those annoying folk with mental health issues... I mean, how dare they.
I really hope that they steer clear of the mental health issues and don't say "well take your meds and you'll get better!" because the truth can be a lot different than they'd believe.
If you've got someone with mild depression (and no, I'm not saying that mild depression is anything to be laughed at), they take some fluoxetine and hopefully everything starts to sort itself out. If you've got someone with a personality disorder, then it's a different kettle of fish. Some of the drugs they give you for that can mean that you would be a danger to yourself and others in a workplace, due to their effects and side effects.
My wife works in the mental health sector and there is one client she sees once a month. The client will then call her the next day apologising for missing the appointment, when they'd actually turned up, but had no memory of what happened less than 24 hours earlier courtesy of the meds they're taking.
I do admit that a small number of people do milk the system by getting signed off with 'stress', when all they really want is an excuse not to work, but anyone with a genuine mental illness will probably tell you that they'd love to be able to work, but they genuinely can't.
As usual, it's another example of the government attempting to win votes by clamping down on anyone on benefits (for legitimate reasons or otherwise), and showing how out of touch they are by coming up with stupid ideas.
Assuming these reforms do get through and they do start taking effect, I doubt I'll get a tax cut anyway so I won't be holding my breath for that.
Its not just 70 a week though, its also housing benefit. Many people who work fulltime dont have 70 pounds income each week after the mortgage and council tax has been paid for.
A large chunk of housing benefit goes to people who do work in low paid jobs. Maybe something should be done to ensure that people who work don't need to claim any sort of benefit?
Its not just 70 a week though, its also housing benefit. Many people who work fulltime dont have 70 pounds income each week after the mortgage and council tax has been paid for.
People with a mortgage don't get housing benefit.
Not all council tax is paid either, it's usually either 25% or 50% reduction.
As above many housing benefit claimants are working. This highlights two issues, the lack of full time employment and decent pay and that the rental market is out of control. Rents are that high, even on the smalleest of places, that people cannot afford them without help from the government. Around here even the smallest flat above a chip shop in the worst area will cost in excess of £400 a month and in an ok area a small two bed mid terrace house around £600.
People who rent don't get all their rent paid for either and dependends on your age, circumstances and area you live, depending on how much you get. there is always a shorts fall. You pay pay the short fall with the £71 a week JSA. Out of that £71 you also pay your gas and electric, water, food and travel for when searching for jobs (handing out CVs etc) and for job interviews.
If you think being unemployed with no savings is a fun life to lead, then try it yourself. Ofcourse if you do give up work you will not be able to claim anny benefits for 26 weeks, as you have left employment voluntarily.
So many generalisations that the gullible are believing and it's what that governement want as it diverts attentions from them, tax avoiders and evaders, bankers and their bonuses, MP expenses etc.
And it worked. Yesterday, a bill was introduced to repeal/substitute the Human Rights Act! An excellent day to bury bad news.
A large chunk of housing benefit goes to people who do work in low paid jobs. Maybe something should be done to ensure that people who work don't need to claim any sort of benefit?
Correct. Only 1 in 8 housing benefit claimants is out of work and 93% of all new claims of housing benefit between 2010 and 2011 were from households with at least one person in work.
Any suggestion of housing benefit going to lazy scroungers is both a fallacy and offensive to low paid workers.
Do you have anything to say about the ever increasing divide between the rich and poor, or hasn't the Daily Mail told you what to think about this issue?
I've never read the Mail in my life and was responding to another post.
What has the divide between rich and poor have to do with benefits
Another notable loop hole. If you are on middle rate disability or above then any of your children who then work and receive full wages do not have to pay any rent or council tax for that property.
Therefore you can then have someone claiming benefits with maybe two full wage earners or more residing and not pay a penny.
Do you have any idea it is to get middle-rate care DLA? My daughter gets it, because she requires 24/7 supervision. She doesn't get higher rate because she's not a danger to herself or others while asleep. Seriously. I don't get it, despite needing help to wash and needing someone to cook for me.
The number of people able to exploit such a loophole must be tiny.
Its not just 70 a week though, its also housing benefit. Many people who work fulltime dont have 70 pounds income each week after the mortgage and council tax has been paid for.
That isn't the fault of the unemployed person, though. How much less do you think they should be given? All that shows is there's a problem in this country with the cost of housing, particularity the private rental sector or someone's bought a house they couldn't afford. Lowering already low benefits isn't the answer.
Its not just 70 a week though, its also housing benefit. Many people who work fulltime dont have 70 pounds income each week after the mortgage and council tax has been paid for.
that`s 70 quid to pay all bills [except rent and council tax] food, power and water cost the same for everyone, as do clothes and travel.
there are jobs here in the north of england where you are doing long hours in manual jobs for £6.20 an hour, its not a great deal when you think how everything has gone up in price including public transport and overpriced train travel, once you pay your bills, rent, council tax etc it doesnt leave an awful lot left to improve your life greatly
its sad when you think that the whole world can be run fairer and not for the benefit of shareholders in the way it is now
There are genuine sick and disabled people who are going to lose benefits, my partner who is disabled and 60 should be getting her pension now, she has been told she must wait two more years, she has now been told she must attend an ATOS medical who because they are using fraudilant means will find her fit for work and she hasnt a hope in hell of finding a job.
ATOS use none medical staff to carry out medicals using a computer programme developed in the states as revealed by the Gardian newspaper a couple of years ago.
The system has been abused by a minority.Now theres a crackdown so they are trying to find a way to stop people just coasting along on benefits for year upon year.I think the benefit cap should be lower to stop fiddling and for fairness to workers.But single people need more help and shouldnt be targeted.Also there is more fiddling at the top and this is usually called expenses.
That isn't the fault of the unemployed person, though. How much less do you think they should be given? All that shows is there's a problem in this country with the cost of housing, particularity the private rental sector or someone's bought a house they couldn't afford. Lowering already low benefits isn't the answer.
Pay it to people with a mortgage when they struggle, mortgages are cheaper than rent anyway.
If you are fit to work then you should, and people need to stop being so picky about the jobs they apply for(if immigrants are happy to do cleaning jobs then why aren't some of the unemployed) and they should have a system where if a person on benefits refuses to apply for available jobs they should lose their benefits. It really annoys me when I hear people saying what they get in benefits and they then go out and splash out on tv's, nights out, drugs, booze etc. I work full-time, have a mortgage and the last time I went out was May. I know someone who works just under the required amount so that she can still claim benefits (but she can still do overtime on top) and she is out once sometimes twice a month.
Most of the measures seem like common sense to me. Long-term dependence on the state is surely a bad thing?
Of course, you also need to create more jobs – which isn't easy in the current economic climate. It seems there's no easy fix and it will take decades to solve the problem – if there's the political will to do so.
If you are fit to work then you should, and people need to stop being so picky about the jobs they apply for(if immigrants are happy to do cleaning jobs then why aren't some of the unemployed) and they should have a system where if a person on benefits refuses to apply for available jobs they should lose their benefits. It really annoys me when I hear people saying what they get in benefits and they then go out and splash out on tv's, nights out, drugs, booze etc. I work full-time, have a mortgage and the last time I went out was May. I know someone who works just under the required amount so that she can still claim benefits (but she can still do overtime on top) and she is out once sometimes twice a month.
Maybe we should look at society as a whole and have a system where we can pay people more than £6 an hour
Pay it to people with a mortgage when they struggle, mortgages are cheaper than rent anyway.
I wish I could get a mortgage! No bank will touch me with a ten foot barge pole! And I am sure many people will be in the same credit trap. I and many others have no option but to rent.
It really annoys me when I hear people saying what they get in benefits and they then go out and splash out on tv's, nights out, drugs, booze etc.
Mythbusting:
Ways people can afford these things whilst being on the dole:
- Overdraft;
- Getting credit from credit unions or money lenders;
- Pawnbrokers;
- Shops offering expensive goods on credit in weekly instalments - the last two tend to place shops in poorer areas with higher unemployment, why might that be..?
- Competition wins;
- Gifts from relatives or friends.
Do not assume that every benefit claimants is living the life of Riley at the taxpayers expense.
I wish I could get a mortgage! No bank will touch me with a ten foot barge pole! And I am sure many people will be in the same credit trap. I and many others have no option but to rent.
I know, but for those who already do, there should be some kind of benefit to help them out during hard times. It seems a bit silly to shell out more than need be. If I lost my house, then all the government would be doing would be paying overinflated prices to a 3rd party if I had to go on housing benefit and rent somewhere.
I work full-time, have a mortgage and the last time I went out was May. I know someone who works just under the required amount so that she can still claim benefits (but she can still do overtime on top) and she is out once sometimes twice a month.
Bully for you. As I said to another FM, if life on the dole is such good fun then WTF are you doing with a job and a mortgage? Go on! Leave your job and go on the dole and then you too can sit around doing nothing except drinking, smoking and "splashing out" on TVs.
Bully for you. As I said to another FM, if life on the dole is such good fun then WTF are you doing with a job and a mortgage? Go on! Leave your job and go on the dole and then you too can sit around doing nothing except drinking, smoking and "splashing out" on TVs.
Some people prefer to work, even if they are more hard up as a result. Personally I earn a pretty decent wage, but if it were a case of working for minimum wage in a job I hated or being on the dole, I would deffo choose the latter.
Some people prefer to work, even if they are more hard up as a result. Personally I earn a pretty decent wage, but if it were a case of working for minimum wage in a job I hated or being on the dole, I would deffo choose the latter.
It seems you're the exception and most people would in fact prefer to be on the dole and heading down the pub all day (or buying flatscreen TVs).
It seems you're the exception and most people would in fact prefer to be on the dole and heading down the pub all day (or buying flatscreen TVs).
No I said I would rather be on benefits, over being stuck in a minimum wage job I hated. I wouldn't be in the pub all day though if I were. Fortunately I am in an okish paid job which I love.
No I said I would rather be on benefits, over being stuck in a minimum wage job I hated. I wouldn't be in the pub all day though if I were. Fortunately I am in an okish paid job which I love.
Do you think you'd be able to go to the pub every day, anyway, if you were trying to live off just £70 a week?
Also, I personally think that if the government took the courage and started to place caps on housing rents then that would do a great deal in bringing the Housing Benefit bill down, as well as encouraging more people off the dole and into lower paid work.
They're doing what they did in the 80s; create massive unemployment and then demonise the unemployed. I thought it was despicable then. Get the money that's legitimately owed by the rich and use it to create an economy that provides employment and increasing prosperity for all - rather than giving it to the banks to gamble and piss away.
No I said I would rather be on benefits, over being stuck in a minimum wage job I hated. I wouldn't be in the pub all day though if I were. Fortunately I am in an okish paid job which I love.
Comments
If you've got someone with mild depression (and no, I'm not saying that mild depression is anything to be laughed at), they take some fluoxetine and hopefully everything starts to sort itself out. If you've got someone with a personality disorder, then it's a different kettle of fish. Some of the drugs they give you for that can mean that you would be a danger to yourself and others in a workplace, due to their effects and side effects.
My wife works in the mental health sector and there is one client she sees once a month. The client will then call her the next day apologising for missing the appointment, when they'd actually turned up, but had no memory of what happened less than 24 hours earlier courtesy of the meds they're taking.
I do admit that a small number of people do milk the system by getting signed off with 'stress', when all they really want is an excuse not to work, but anyone with a genuine mental illness will probably tell you that they'd love to be able to work, but they genuinely can't.
As usual, it's another example of the government attempting to win votes by clamping down on anyone on benefits (for legitimate reasons or otherwise), and showing how out of touch they are by coming up with stupid ideas.
Assuming these reforms do get through and they do start taking effect, I doubt I'll get a tax cut anyway so I won't be holding my breath for that.
A large chunk of housing benefit goes to people who do work in low paid jobs. Maybe something should be done to ensure that people who work don't need to claim any sort of benefit?
People with a mortgage don't get housing benefit.
Not all council tax is paid either, it's usually either 25% or 50% reduction.
As above many housing benefit claimants are working. This highlights two issues, the lack of full time employment and decent pay and that the rental market is out of control. Rents are that high, even on the smalleest of places, that people cannot afford them without help from the government. Around here even the smallest flat above a chip shop in the worst area will cost in excess of £400 a month and in an ok area a small two bed mid terrace house around £600.
People who rent don't get all their rent paid for either and dependends on your age, circumstances and area you live, depending on how much you get. there is always a shorts fall. You pay pay the short fall with the £71 a week JSA. Out of that £71 you also pay your gas and electric, water, food and travel for when searching for jobs (handing out CVs etc) and for job interviews.
If you think being unemployed with no savings is a fun life to lead, then try it yourself. Ofcourse if you do give up work you will not be able to claim anny benefits for 26 weeks, as you have left employment voluntarily.
Any suggestion of housing benefit going to lazy scroungers is both a fallacy and offensive to low paid workers.
I've never read the Mail in my life and was responding to another post.
What has the divide between rich and poor have to do with benefits
Do you have any idea it is to get middle-rate care DLA? My daughter gets it, because she requires 24/7 supervision. She doesn't get higher rate because she's not a danger to herself or others while asleep. Seriously. I don't get it, despite needing help to wash and needing someone to cook for me.
The number of people able to exploit such a loophole must be tiny.
That isn't the fault of the unemployed person, though. How much less do you think they should be given? All that shows is there's a problem in this country with the cost of housing, particularity the private rental sector or someone's bought a house they couldn't afford. Lowering already low benefits isn't the answer.
that`s 70 quid to pay all bills [except rent and council tax] food, power and water cost the same for everyone, as do clothes and travel.
its sad when you think that the whole world can be run fairer and not for the benefit of shareholders in the way it is now
we are lucky in the uk too
ATOS use none medical staff to carry out medicals using a computer programme developed in the states as revealed by the Gardian newspaper a couple of years ago.
Pay it to people with a mortgage when they struggle, mortgages are cheaper than rent anyway.
Of course, you also need to create more jobs – which isn't easy in the current economic climate. It seems there's no easy fix and it will take decades to solve the problem – if there's the political will to do so.
Maybe we should look at society as a whole and have a system where we can pay people more than £6 an hour
Can you blame that person you know ? I don't
Ways people can afford these things whilst being on the dole:
- Overdraft;
- Getting credit from credit unions or money lenders;
- Pawnbrokers;
- Shops offering expensive goods on credit in weekly instalments - the last two tend to place shops in poorer areas with higher unemployment, why might that be..?
- Competition wins;
- Gifts from relatives or friends.
Do not assume that every benefit claimants is living the life of Riley at the taxpayers expense.
I know, but for those who already do, there should be some kind of benefit to help them out during hard times. It seems a bit silly to shell out more than need be. If I lost my house, then all the government would be doing would be paying overinflated prices to a 3rd party if I had to go on housing benefit and rent somewhere.
Bully for you. As I said to another FM, if life on the dole is such good fun then WTF are you doing with a job and a mortgage? Go on! Leave your job and go on the dole and then you too can sit around doing nothing except drinking, smoking and "splashing out" on TVs.
Some people prefer to work, even if they are more hard up as a result. Personally I earn a pretty decent wage, but if it were a case of working for minimum wage in a job I hated or being on the dole, I would deffo choose the latter.
It seems you're the exception and most people would in fact prefer to be on the dole and heading down the pub all day (or buying flatscreen TVs).
No I said I would rather be on benefits, over being stuck in a minimum wage job I hated. I wouldn't be in the pub all day though if I were. Fortunately I am in an okish paid job which I love.
Do you think you'd be able to go to the pub every day, anyway, if you were trying to live off just £70 a week?
Also, I personally think that if the government took the courage and started to place caps on housing rents then that would do a great deal in bringing the Housing Benefit bill down, as well as encouraging more people off the dole and into lower paid work.
And what would you do all day?