At least some people can be bothered...

[oafc0000]

I agree, but sadly it isn't ever going to change.

WHat I find odd about her current situation is that the job centre aren't paying any attention to her previous circumstances. She was a team leader in the payroll department, not fantastically paid, but doing ok. SHe's looking to try and find a similar position paying at a similar level. Having been looking for 2 months she's now been effectively told if she can't find anything in the next month, she'll either have to take a job on much less money than she was previously on (as I said equating to a wage of -£4k a year) or lose her benefits. Now I fully understand that the government can't go on paying benefits forever while people go on looking for their ideal job, but I'm struggling to see why they aren't giving her more encouragement to get a job that would help generate more tax revenue.

What will be will be of course and we'll get by somehow.

[lost]

WHat I find odd about her current situation is that the job centre aren't paying any attention to her previous circumstances. She was a team leader in the payroll department, not fantastically paid, but doing ok. SHe's looking to try and find a similar position paying at a similar level.

[rachbon]

Any of the jobhunters out there noticed the ridiculously high amount of bullshit ads there are out there now that claim to offer work but are all mostly bogus or...dont shout at me...another feckin call centre masked behind uplifting but bullshit wording about marketing and events and terms like 'Executive'? Pfffft!

Yes its work I know but as someone who just hates even calling people she knows on the phone let alone a grumpy stranger who has been forced to rise from their comfy sofa from watching Midsomer Murders only to be asked some crap about Double Glazed windows and unsurprisingly slams the phone down on you...no thanks.

[llcoolphil]

i.e. that girl I know who's pregnant again , when she already has a 1year old kid at 20..I doubt she'll ever work? maybe i'm wrong

[Pogues Mcgogues]

Call me crazy guys and I know this idea is wayyy out there and all, but surely a full days work deserves a full days wage? f**k slave labour!

[markeee]

I suppose it comes down to a fundamental position of whether you think it's right that there is a huge gap between those who have more than enough, and those who don't have anything. I realise that that there is a huge group of shareholders who sit in the middle who have enough - by virtue of having a private pension plan in the main. I'd like to think that this gap can be and should be narrowed to spread the wealth around a bit more, because we all get one shot at this life, and it' not right that those who have money by a quirk of nature and their environment have a skill or ability, and it's certainly not right that those who have money because they inherited it, should be able to make huge amounts of more money off those who weren't so lucky.

With regards to employers providing employment ; well, that might be right in truth, but the real reason people are employed is because they provide a service of employment that is required by wider society. And I don't buy any of the claims that an increase in minimum wage would see all the investors clearing off elsewhere. That argument was used over and over before we had a minimum wage, and the minimum wage made hardly any difference.

[markeee]

They'd happily take benefits away - welcome to austerity Britain. If you don't take a job offer then as far as they're concerned you no longer have to be paid benefits.

Yeah we'd get some tax credits, but the long and short of it is it'll cost us around £1000-1200 a month in childcare. It means she needs a salary of around £18k just to break even. It's nuts really how expensive childcare is and how much it stops people going back to work. Sadly in the long run we can't afford for her not to go back to work as I don't earn enough to pay all our bills and our savings won't last long enough.

[dakyras]

I'm currently on JSA. Just finished an internship at a top50 company, got a job in China starting September, but f**ked if I'm going to get a job for the next 2 months. Going to sit back on my weekly benefits and live the dream.

[Pogues Mcgogues]

I'm currently on JSA. Just finished an internship at a top50 company, got a job in China starting September, but f**ked if I'm going to get a job for the next 2 months. Going to sit back on my weekly benefits and live the dream.

[bunique]

as to having a child, I can't say I understand as I have no children/commitments, but then didn't you have savings in case money got tight? I'd have thought that would be a prudent move

[markeee]

Sorry, but...

[bunique]

whys that funny? Should always save for a rainy day!

[markeee]

Save what exactly? My priority (as it should be) has been clearing debts, and as of November I will be entirely debt free. How much do you suggest one has in a savings accounts before one has a baby? Not to mention when they (like ours) come along by surprise! Sensible, yes, but not always doable.

Edited July 28, 2010 by markeee

[pink_triangle]

How do benefits represent a fair days pay for a fair days work? They represent a minimal level of existence living.

[markeee]

1. Im not proposing people work 5 days a week for their benefits. A few hours a week would still work out as a reasonable money per hour ratio. OK its comminty work not voluntary work but why shouldnt we expect people to give somthing back.

2. Im sorry but benefits do not always represent the minimum level of existence. As part of my job I see many on long term benefits who are having a decent standard of living and enough money to buy what i consider luxury items eg (football matches, gadgets, holidays). Some even boast about it. I also see people who are trying hard but struggling and would make far better use of the extra money that others get. The most disgraceful thing however is some parents of children with learning disabilities using their childrens benefits to buy luxury items for themselves but thats a different story.

Dont get me wrong Im pro benefits but think the system needs tightening up to ensure fairer distribution of the pot and taxpayers value for money. Despite having always voted labour I feel at time they werent always tough enough on sickness or unemplyment benefit and hope the coalition change this. The people who are really in need shouldnt be made to suffer by people who take the piss.

[bunique]

oh right, sorry , didn't realise mate, in an ideal world i guess

[eFestivals]

I’ve a mate in similar circumstances, not with child care but with his mortgage, he’s on the governments scheme where they pay your mortgage when made redundant, the wages in his industry have collapsed and he can’t now afford to take a new job at the lower rates offered and be able to pay his mortgage.

It does seem like the new conlib government is going to try to deflate the system, reducing housing benefit / tax credits / public sector spending is obviously going to have a knock-on deflationary effect on house prices / child care as money is taken out of the system and demand wanes, maybe we’ll get back to the situation we were at in the 90’s where a family could have a comfortable life with a single earner for the next generation, sadly i know a few of my own who have large mortgages which require two wages and i think they will be in trouble.

Hope everything works out ok for you.

those who are finding it tough paying their mortgage now are going to be completely stuffed in the not too distant future, because in the longer term, interest rates are going to be significantly higher than they've been for the last 15 years or so. My guess is that bank base interest rates will be 8% or greater (so add at least 2 extra on that for mortgage payers) no later than 2016.

I suspect that change is going to drag down an awful lot of people - but taking a longer view, those higher interest rates will be a very good thing as we'll start to be less of a country of speculating spivs and might actually have a bit of real working productivity instead.

[Steve P]

Thing is though, if she's starting a new job, perhaps diff industry then yes she may have to start at the bottom , regardless of age, and perhaps not earn as much as you/her would like

as to having a child, I can't say I understand as I have no children/commitments, but then didn't you have savings in case money got tight? I'd have thought that would be a prudent move

[Rufus Gwertigan]

Dear Mr Gwertigan,

We have reached a decision about your claim for JSA and we will pay you £65.45 a week because you are over 25 years of age. However it is now DWP policy to ask for receipts for your expenditure as your benefit should only be to pay for your living expenses and is not to be used for leisure activites or to be saved for luxury items. We feel that as a leech on society you should not be given any distractions from your futile life, and instead spend all of your waking hours reflection on your desperate situation and what a failure you have become.

However we are concerned that the effect of a lack of leisure can have on ones quality of life, mental health and general well being. As such you will have to do unpaid work to fill some of your time. In your area this will be in the form of picking up excrement at your local park, and I hope you are thankful of the resources that society has put in place in the form of paid supervisors, training and protective clothing for you, especially during the present economic climate. To ensure youe dignity you will be given clothing to wear which is in the form of an illuminous orange jacket with the phrase "DWP: DOLESCUM" emblazoned on the back.

If at any time you feel any symptoms of depression, insomnia, stress etc due to the corrosion of your dignity and the lack of distraction from your life, you will be able to approach your GP for a sickness certificate. Once you have this you can attempt to claim Incapacity Benefit and fill in a simple 110 page form, have an emotionally draining and humiliating series of medical interviews to receive this. If accepted it is now government policy for a Benefit Officer to visit you at home, where they will tattoo the phrase "Malingering c**t" across your forehead.

If you need any of this decision explaining please contact the above number and one of our staff will explain to you exactly how you are a pox on society and how you are a drain on our financial resources, and what an utter failure and sponging c**t you are.

You have 14 days from the date of this letter to appeal.

Regards

D. Wangford.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Rufus Gwertigan

[sifi]

well I get what you mean and agree to a point, but I see no reason why I should care about all these single mums I see wandering round Hanley/Stoke pushing prams with 2 kids, aged 20?

[oafc0000]

How do you know they are single mothers?

Edited July 30, 2010 by oafc0000

[bunique]

Its stoke ?

[sifi]

I'd really like to hear a real, honest suggestion as to how he knows they are single mothers. Does he ask them? Are they wearing a t-shirt that says "I'm a single mother"? Or is it, as I suspect, prejudice based on what or how he expects people to be fueled by this belief that the paltry council house allocations are all taken up by single mothers, or immigrants or whatever Daily Mail inspired agenda he's peddling.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

I'd really like to hear a real, honest suggestion as to how he knows they are single mothers. Does he ask them? Are they wearing a t-shirt that says "I'm a single mother"? Or is it, as I suspect, prejudice based on what or how he expects people to be fueled by this belief that the paltry council house allocations are all taken up by single mothers, or immigrants or whatever Daily Mail inspired agenda he's peddling.

[Steve P]

Well said that man

When I first read this thread I was shaking my head at the bollocks that was been said. So a family on the dole can't have Sky, even though it is up to them how they choose to spend their money. People on the dole are not contributing to society? Well outside of paying taxes what is everyone else doing? Maybe pensioners should be forced into labour the scrounging basards.

I have never read so much shite in all my life, and all based around the Daily Mail rather than facts. Total Tory hogwash!!