benefits cash card

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  • whitecliffewhitecliffe Posts: 12,006
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    Eve_Dyer wrote: »
    I have been asked this before and I find it a strange question. My children grew up knowing a lifestyle that meant they couldn't have all the things their friends had although they knew I did my utmost for them. That left them with a lasting memory that they have to work to earn their income - they are often too proud to ask for help (especially my son who works in the building trade and his job is often on and off). I would see neither of them hungry or have no heating/lighting or warm clothes but with a couple of exceptions in their adult lives, that has rarely happened. They are the other side of the coin and see claiming benefits as something to avoid - both of them have done very menial work rather than claim benefits (my daughter, who weights about 8 and half stone, worked at a coal yard bagging coal). Because of their work ethic and viewpoint on handouts, I couldn't be more proud of them. I am there if they need me and they know that.

    You have a right to be proud of them.

    I do think for a lot of people claiming unemployment benefits is really the last resort but there are a small minority who take the piss - for them I would be delighted to hand to them their benefits card.
  • tim59tim59 Posts: 47,188
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    What the next stage, goverment run shops, people dont need money for food they all go down the the goverment run soup kitchern,
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,519
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    Your rhetoric suggests that people on benefits can easily get a TV through their benefits whilst the worker struggles. I am merely demonstrating that there are many ways that anyone can get a plasma TV today on credit or through a win, or may even have owned or saved up for one before being made redundant.

    It was me who said that. If I could name names, trust me, I would. My daughter became so enraged by some of her neighbours that she contacted the DHSS to ask why, for example, X car is being paid for; she was told that as they have 6 young children, it's unreasonable to expect them to take that many children on the bus. Then another neighbour, who has had a bad back for nearly ten years, gets a people carrier, tax and insurance also paid for - he uses this to do his window cleaning round whilst still claiming disability. This is how a lot of them do it.
  • tim59tim59 Posts: 47,188
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    shhhhh wrote: »
    Good!!!!! Benefits are for food and clothing, they are not to spend on cigarettes, booze and expensive holidays.

    Were do you get this idea that people on benefits sit at home doing nothing but drinking and smoking and haveing a good time. Have you looked at what money people get or do you just get brainwashed by goverment and some newspapers. Because the information is out there for you to find very easy on how much people on benefits get paid
  • shhhhhshhhhh Posts: 3,752
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    About 5 years ago when I mentioned on another forum that there would eventually be a system like this introduced, I was laughed at.

    But the only people who laughed at me were the people on benefits.:rolleyes:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,519
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    You have a right to be proud of them.

    Thank you, I am very proud of them and more pleasantly surprising is that my two granddaughtes are following the same path.
    I do think for a lot of people claiming unemployment benefits is really the last resort but there are a small minority who take the piss - for them I would be delighted to hand to them their benefits card.

    I couldn't agree more which is why I have stated, several times, that it is the long-term habitual claimants that I get annoyed about and if they have to be given a card, so be it.
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    ...there are a small minority who take the piss - for them I would be delighted to hand to them their benefits card.

    On that note...

    I find it rather worrying that many people (myself included) seem to think of this as a "punitive" system.
    That seems like a rather dubious basis for creating any such system when there's actually an opportunity to do something genuinely useful.

    I mean, if I go into a shop and buy a widget it might cost me £10.
    If I enquire about the possibility of buying 1,000 widgets I'll probably be able to get them for £7 each.

    Surely the government has the buying power to go to places like Tesco and Asda and say "If we guarantee that 2 million benefits claimants will shop with you every week, will you give us a 25% discount on the cost?"?

    It actually creates the opportunity to do something that WILL be a benefit to the exchequer AND be a benefit to claimants too (cos they'll be able to buy more stuff at the special rates) rather than simply being used as a kind of "punishment".

    To me it seems like they're finding an excuse to force claimants to wear shoes that are a size too small when, in reality, it's being done purely out of spite.
  • franciefrancie Posts: 31,089
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    tim59 wrote: »
    Were do you get this idea that people on benefits sit at home doing nothing but drinking and smoking and haveing a good time. Have you looked at what money people get or do you just get brainwashed by goverment and some newspapers. Because the information is out there for you to find very easy on how much people on benefits get paid

    Easier to blame the great "unwashed" for the country's problems, now what does that remind me of :rolleyes:
  • QuackersQuackers Posts: 4,830
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    Benefits are a safetynet, and some people are treating it as a lifestyle.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,519
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    tim59 wrote: »
    Were do you get this idea that people on benefits sit at home doing nothing but drinking and smoking and haveing a good time. Have you looked at what money people get or do you just get brainwashed by goverment and some newspapers. Because the information is out there for you to find very easy on how much people on benefits get paid

    Try walking past some of the pubs in Co Durham on a sunny weekday afternoon - lots of them standing outside and drinking, laughing and having a good time. I used to see them day after day after day, week in and week out during the summer - and then think of the poor shmucks working their rear ends off to pay for those drinks and relaxed lifestyle. I'm equally sure that happens in many, many areas. So where does their money come from to support their 'ladies and gentlemen of leisure' lifestyle?
  • Bedsit BobBedsit Bob Posts: 24,344
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    now everybody has to know you're claiming when you buy food or clothes.

    How will everyone know :confused:

    The till operative will probably know, and the person immediately behind you (if they are nosy, and know what a benefit card looks like), but why would anyone else know?
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Eve_Dyer wrote: »
    Try walking past some of the pubs in Co Durham on a sunny weekday afternoon - lots of them standing outside and drinking, laughing and having a good time. I used to see them day after day after day, week in and week out during the summer - and then think of the poor shmucks working their rear ends off to pay for those drinks and relaxed lifestyle. I'm equally sure that happens in many, many areas. So where does their money come from to support their 'ladies and gentlemen of leisure' lifestyle?

    I can only speak from personal experience but I suspect that most of those people are earning money working cash-in-hand as well as claiming benefits.
  • franciefrancie Posts: 31,089
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    Eve_Dyer wrote: »
    Try walking past some of the pubs in Co Durham on a sunny weekday afternoon - lots of them standing outside and drinking, laughing and having a good time. I used to see them day after day after day, week in and week out during the summer - and then think of the poor shmucks working their rear ends off to pay for those drinks and relaxed lifestyle. I'm equally sure that happens in many, many areas. So where does their money come from to support their 'ladies and gentlemen of leisure' lifestyle?

    With all due respect think yourself lucky that taxpayers have helped put you where you and your children are today. Your education was paid by someone working their butts off and your children received "income supplement", they were supported by taxpayers also.
  • JB3JB3 Posts: 9,308
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    Let's either make them wear bells around their necks or tattoo their foreheads with 'claimant'
  • Jane Doh!Jane Doh! Posts: 43,307
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    Eve_Dyer wrote: »
    That is because they do exist - I would imagine the amount paid will vary from one area to the next.



    As I have already said: I was a genuine claimant and lived on benefits for around 5 years whilst studying but I did supplement my income by house cleaning. During that time, I managed to buy a colour tv, took my children on holiday and had days out at the weekend all over the UK but I didn't waste money on ready meals, booze, computer games etc.

    I think you are another that has misread my posts (or maybe I forgot to add it in the first and that's as far as you got) but I have stated that those who are genuinely, for health reasons (or age discrimination), unable to be employed or for those on short-term unemployment should be treated with respect; those on long-term unemployment do not, imo, deserve any respect with how their money is paid to them - they should be grateful they are getting it, not whingeing about how it is paid.

    My point was that even long term claimants don't get huge amounts of money.
  • Pisces CloudPisces Cloud Posts: 30,239
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    francie wrote: »
    The real scroungers will find a way to defraud no matter what system is brought into effect. It's the genuine claimants that I feel for.

    These tin-pot schemes do seem a bit like taking a sledge hammer to crack a nut. Punishing the majority to get at a small minority will never work, IMO. Also, I've never understood why some people get so worked up if someone wants to live their life just barely scraping by on benefits. Let them, so that jobs can actually go to those who do want to work, and not forced on those who don't.
  • franciefrancie Posts: 31,089
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    Eve_Dyer wrote: »
    Try walking past some of the pubs in Co Durham on a sunny weekday afternoon - lots of them standing outside and drinking, laughing and having a good time. I used to see them day after day after day, week in and week out during the summer - and then think of the poor shmucks working their rear ends off to pay for those drinks and relaxed lifestyle. I'm equally sure that happens in many, many areas. So where does their money come from to support their 'ladies and gentlemen of leisure' lifestyle?

    Unless it's the same person day in day out and you know for a fact that they are claiming how do you know their circumstances?
  • franciefrancie Posts: 31,089
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    JB3 wrote: »
    Let's either make them wear bells around their necks or tattoo their foreheads with 'claimant'

    :D that could well happen.
  • Jane Doh!Jane Doh! Posts: 43,307
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    Eve_Dyer wrote: »
    It was me who said that. If I could name names, trust me, I would. My daughter became so enraged by some of her neighbours that she contacted the DHSS to ask why, for example, X car is being paid for; she was told that as they have 6 young children, it's unreasonable to expect them to take that many children on the bus. Then another neighbour, who has had a bad back for nearly ten years, gets a people carrier, tax and insurance also paid for - he uses this to do his window cleaning round whilst still claiming disability. This is how a lot of them do it.
    They would not discuss anything with your daughter.

    Hell, when I got my dad to call on my behalf when I was really ill, they wouldn't speak to him about it because he wasn't the one receiving the benefit.
  • Bedsit BobBedsit Bob Posts: 24,344
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    Stiggles wrote: »
    That was my first initial thought until i realised it would only really be major shops that took it as in Tesco, etc.

    What makes you think only major shops will take it :confused:

    Presumably, it'll be accepted by the same card paying machines, that accept Credit and Debit Card.

    There aren't many shops that don't have machines to accept Credit and Debit Cards.
  • nanscombenanscombe Posts: 16,588
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    Choose items.
    Go to till.
    Stick card in Chip and PIN reader.

    Yep. It will probably stick out like a sore thumb amongst all the others doing exactly the same.
  • tremetreme Posts: 5,445
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    Also, I've never understood why some people get so worked up if someone wants to live their life just barely scraping by on benefits. Let them, so that jobs can actually go to those who do want to work, and not forced on those who don't.

    There is an argument for that, but the underlying principle that some people ought to be left alone to leech off society whilst those who do want to work can be the ones to prop them up is pretty revolting don't you think?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,519
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    francie wrote: »
    With all due respect think yourself lucky that taxpayers have helped put you where you and your children are today. Your education was paid by someone working their butts off and your children received "income supplement", they were supported by taxpayers also.

    I am equally sure that you noticed I did acknowledge that fact - my gratitude for the safety net in place. I did not, however, see it as an alternative to being employed - no matter how menial the job might be. So those who paid for me benefitted in that I didn't raise children who are workshy and my education enabled me to become an employer - I think I've repaid the support I was given several times over.
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    JB3 wrote: »
    Let's either make them wear bells around their necks or tattoo their foreheads with 'claimant'

    Money could be saved by issuing claimants with orange overalls to wear, like prisoners, rather than giving them money for clothing.

    This would obviously be done for purely economic reasons and in no way an attempt to humiliate or shame claimants. :o
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,519
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    Jane Doh! wrote: »
    My point was that even long term claimants don't get huge amounts of money.

    If they are long-term unemployed by choice, I really don't care if they receive a small amount of money by comparison to those who work.
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