General Chat

Just remembered a hilarious situation he was in.
Certain clients (including my friend) were ordered into the Benefits office, as they had jobs for them.
About 20 of them were sat in a room. They were told to apply for jobs at the 2012 Olympics! (Just shows how much chance they had of getting jobs in the next year!)
One of the clients asked if they would get the train fare back.
Apparently,there was a possibility,but the office weren't sure.
So says Mr 'Scrounger,we spend a weeks money on train fare (It's £60 from here) with a 'possibility of a job?
'No' was the response- not all of it'.
'Oh no'. says Mr Scrounger, we can buy a cup of coffeewith our 'spare' 7 quid in London while we wait!!'

Even if they did get a job - no doubt on minimum wage - how much would they have left after a £60 daily train fare?
I'm sorry , but the government/benefit agency are taking the p*ss - all thanks to the Daily friggin' Mail!!

AND, the office have suggested my friend gets himself a computer!!!
OOOH YEA

I have a friend aged 60, who has been unemployed for 2 years.
He's a carpenter who learnt his trade through work - so no bits of paper to say he's done this or that.
He has a car, because one day he hopes to work again and needs to transport his tools.
Also, the nearest town is 5 miles away.
He keeps it running by:
1) cashing in a pension he had for a major service- which led to his being deducted £25 a week jobseekers allowance - despite the agency telling him it would make no difference to his benefit.
So much for being honest.
2) His sister has paid for an MOT on the car, and 2 telephone bills (as far as I know)
3) I give him petrol money
4) His sister, my sister and I feed him whenever we can - just to take the monotony out of his rice/pasta based diet

He hopes to work again., having worked non-stop since he was 17.............

....but of course he's now just a 'scrounger'!!!

I have a young relative who constantly would have a go about those on benefits who were getting this that & the other instead of being made to get out there & find a job!
That was until she found herself pregnant with her 2nd baby,& her husband losing a nice clean,well paid computing office job! she soon changed her tune when she discovered that the grass was NOT greener being a benefits claimant!

And newspaper stories citing those benefit claiming couples with loads of children,getting loads of money & other such perks etc, do nothing to help the normal regular benefit claimant, because too many people start to think & believe that ALL benefit claimants must get the same!.

Joan.

Exactly Joan, and that is my argument all the way through, each case is different, each 'poor' family may have become so through different circumstances.

We all know people who have 'played the system'...but they are the minority and the ones that make the news!

How do they arrive at figures such as £352 per week for two adults and 2 kids.

Single person who has worked for over 36 years and now unemployed get £65 per week to survive on. Surely then that is below the poverty line ?

You should see the parents when they collect their kids from school - straight into the newsagents and buy the kids made up bottle of squash.

My local council converted a pair of semis into one house for a large family and they a people carrier as their vehicle.

My hubby had always been in work prior to having a serious Heart attack,& at the time he took ill he had been a Postie for 25 yrs.
Some would have thought that WE had rather a lot of children (5) when my husband became sick & out of work,& probably thought we were getting this that & the other in benefits because of having 4 of them still in school,unfortunately for us this was not the case.

We cannot judge all those out of work,sick etc who are receiving benefits, most are not playing the sysem & do not get a lot of money or other perks for not having a job.
Until one has been in the postiton of having to claim benefits they really do not know what it is all about!

Joan.

However you read it Rita, that is not what I said!

If you want my actual opinion on 'how many children ' is too many...I'd personally say 'more than 2' lol.

Certainly I don't think that child benefit should be paid after the first two..if you want more then you should be able to finance it.

That can't of course apply retrospectively but it is definitely something i would like to see a government introduce for the future , as a 'deterrent' if you like.

Rita?? I don't see anywhere where I said "I approve" !!

I 'disapprove' of the journalistic 'slant'which turns " disability entitlement" into "handout" ..whether I approve of anyone ( jobless or otherwise) who has 14 children they can't..or indeed CAN...afford is a whole different ball game!

Whilst I would say 14 is way too many, i do object to the phrasing in the article "The couple get income support, carers’ allowance, housing and child benefit and a disability handout for one of their brood."...It's a disability entitlement, not a "handout"

"Tom ...... He is also the official carer for Ryan who has diabetes, Addison’s ­disease – which stops his body fighting infections – and thyroid problems that have left him with the bones of an eight-year-old.

The youngster has frequent hospital appointments and needs regular help with medication.

The constant supervision forced Tom to quit his £20,000-a-year job as a postman four years ago.

Meanwhile, Stacy is full-time carer for mum Jackie – partially paralysed after a stroke."

http://www.people.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2011/04/17/meet-britain-s-biggest-family-102039-23066431/

Rita, what you have just posted makes my blood boil, it also gives Joe Bloggs an unbalanced view as to those on benefits as Joan was.

There is absolutely no doubt there are abusers of the benefit system and I have to admit that I have become much more cynical over the last decade concerning claimants.

No offense to Joan ot other genuine claimants who, in my view, are abandoned because they don't play the system.

I receive disability benefits myself and quite frankly couldn't financially survive without.

In many cases people have to have a car regardless of whether they can afford one or not!
In my area many/most people HAVE to manage to run a car even when on the Dole, without a car it would be very difficult for them to get to their workplaces,if & when they did manage to get a job!.
Our local town has nothing in the way of jobs & so many of those looking for work have to travel much further away,buses are irregular & some areas don't have buses at all & the fares don't come cheap!

Some time back when my husband was "requested" to sign on for a job,just 3 months after he had his Triple Bypass,he was on the dole for several months & we HAD to manage to run our old banger of a car on his very little job seekers money & my 15 hr a week cleaning job! we got no other government help.
With a mortgage still to pay for & 4 children still in school it was not easy,robbed Peter to pay Paul many a time.
Living where we live the car was (still is) essential.
Without a car hubby would not have been able to get to his eventual workplace.
I can only hope people didn't say or think that of us, "how can they afford to run a car with him out of work", me & my hubby would go without a meal so as to be able to keep our car running!

Joan.

Well, I'm off out for tea.Taking in-laws out for Fathersday.

Marion

I know somebody who is on benefits,doesnt work but still goes abroad for holidays at least once a year and has a car. :-S

To answer that, I think you first have to know whether the person on the dole with the car is NEWLY on the dole, ie whether the car was bought and taxed etc while the person was employed, if the person on the dole is actually paying for it
( could be a relative contributing)

It is virtually impossible to be considered for many jobs without having your own transport, especially if you live in a rural/semi rural area with no adequate public transport. So keeping that car may be the only way to get out of your current poverty... like a friend of mine who was in that position, she went without a lot of other things ( heating and lighting) in order to do that.

It's easy to generalise, but every 'poor' family's individual circumstance may be very diifferent.

Not a clue Stan :-S

Hi all

Thanks for your input.

I was probably one of these kids who lived in poverty.Going to bed to keep warm and pinching tatties out the fields to eat. Many times it was 'chips chips and more chips for tea lol

Getting back on the food prices.It does pay you to work out the prices of things. I hate it when they tell you ie tomatoes/apples at ??p each,then you have the loose at ??a kilo etc.

Can someone tell me how a person on the dole can afford to run a car :-S

Have to agree Merlin, even if the family are comfortably off there's no excuse for feeding children rubbish.

Prepping fresh food doesn't take long and is a lot cheaper if you choose vegetables in season. Pasta and a veg sauce is complete in 25 mins flat! Good for you and sooooooo cheap :-D :-D

We have a "poor" family in our street, both parents smoke!!!!!!

The person in front of me at the Supermarket yesterday had two children with her and everything she purchased was ready meals or the like to put in Microwaves.not one bit of fresh stuff at all.not very good nutritionally and expensive to boot. Do they not get taught how to cook nowadays? meybe sme Poverty is self induced. :-S **M**