Benefits v Working
Despite many promises and sabre rattling our government are yet to get tough on those who choose a life on benefits. Year after year we get another promise that they are to make being on long term benefits so uncomfortable people will find work.
Yet in yesterdays Daily Mail the headline was Boom Time On Benefits. The story went on to say how 140,000 households are getting more in benefits than the UK average take home wage. These families are living rather nicely on state handouts worth more than £20,000/$29,000!!!
The average salary in the UK is £25,100/$36,427 before tax, but after deductions it shrinks to £19,126/$27,743. In comparison, state benefits are free. If I wanted to bring home more than £20,000/$29,000 I would have to earn £27,000/$39,167. So does that sound fair? No it bloody well doesn't!! half of women in work earn less than £21,424/$35,435. One in ten employed full time earn less then £13,613/$19,744.
The UK benefit system is useless. For years it has been paying people not to work. If you went 'on the sick' , the longer you were unfit for work the more you would receive in benefits. Now does any other country have a benefits/welfare system that does that? Time and time again when my wife would collect our children from school she'd overhear those on benefits saying how much they receive each fortnight. For example one day she heard one woman tell another she gets £400/$579 a fortnight off the sick. It's not bad money but she'd like it every week. A worker on the National Minimum Wage of £5.73/$8.29 would have to work over 35 hours a week to earn £200/$289 a week. What these scroungers forget to mention is that they also get housing benefit/council tax benefit, free school meals/uniform, free NHS prescriptions, glasses, dental treatment.
What I find annoying is that these figures don't just cover the unemployed but working families who qualify for benefits, such as working tax credits. How dare they include working families? This a benefit paid to people who have low income and are means tested. The more you earn the less tax credits you receive. Earn over a certain amount and the free NHS costs help is stopped. As I know to my own cost following my last assessment.
These figures have provoked a row in government between Labour anf the Opposition. Labour have accused the Tories of hypocrisy by refusing to back some of the toughest measure of welfare reform. The Tory work and pensions minister has said 'that they undermine those struggling to earn a living wage. So many households getting such great sums of money from the state creates a shameful situation where people can live a life on benefits.'
He goes on to say 'It's hardly surprising that so many people live a life on benefits when in some cases it's possible to be paid as much money as someone in work on a typical average income.'
Officials suggested that most of these people receiving more than £20,000/$29,000 in benefits were likely to be on handouts to help with severe disabilities. In the majority of cases this will include disability related benefits and premiums.
In some cases it has been seen recently that some families are receiving tens of thousands of pounds in housing benefits alone.
With 2.7million people on long term incapacity, the cost to the taxpayer is £12billion/$17billion a year - or £16billion/$23billion once associated housing and council tax handouts are included.
The report goes on to say that Ministers were inable to calculate how many households are receiving more than £30,000/$43,400 a year in benefits from the state. Previous figures suggested it could be around 20,000, with those being paid £25,000/$36,151-plus at around 70,000.
From 27 October 2008 Employment and Support Allowance replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds for new customers. Existing Incapacity Benefit or Income Support customers will initially continue to receive their existing benefits, so long as they satisfy the entitlement conditions. This is meant ot help people into work rather than stay on benefits for life.
The Government unveiled radical plans to get millions off benefits and into work. These include controversial proposals on lone parents and drug addicts.
For those who refuse to look for work they will have a percentage of their beneifts stopped. This will increase if they still refuse to seek work. And rightly so.
Such a family featured in the report. They family have been branded Britaisn biggest beneficiaries from state handouts.
The couple and their nine children hit the headlines three years ago when it emerged they received £39,000/$56,297 a year in benefits. This amounts to more than £750/$1,083 a week . Yet they say they struggle to pay their rent despite receiving housing benefit. They lie in a three bedroom council house with their nine children aged from 13 years old to 11 months old.
The mother says she 'can't work because she is the full time carer for her daughter who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, while her husband was off work with depression. She says it's hard to make ends meet trying to cook healthy meals, keeping the kids looking presentable. The money just goes on food and clothes. The older children only want the best trainers to avoid being picked on at school. so what can we do?'
Try getting a f**king job!!
In average week she said spent £250/$361 a week on food, £100/$144 on clothes and nappies, £55/$79 on gas and electricity and £150/$216 paying off catalogue bills and a loan. The rest went on cigarettes, mobile phone bills and pocket money for the children.
In all they received Incapacity benefit, carers allowance, child tax credits, child benefit, hosuing and council tax benefit.
So who's the fool here, ne for working or those who milk the system for all it's worth?
I work for the DWP and everyday get calls from people saying they have failed a medical or their oldest child is now 16 years old and been told to claim Jobseekers Allowance. This comes as quite a shock to many, considering how long they have been on benefits, coccooned in the security blanket of their regular state handouts. Many try telling me they can't work and have no intention of getting a job so what am i going to do about it? I just expalin the choice is theirs, make a claim for JSA and they may receive money or do nothing and get nothing. Beleive me amny just can't understand the concept of looking for work.
Now don't get me wrong there are genuine people who will never work due entirley to health problems and the benefits system will still provide money for them and their carers and rightly so. It's the lazy arses who think it's their right to have a life on benefits the changes are aimed at.
Look the choice is yours, comply with the rules and your benefit will continue tro be paid, choosed not to do so and pay the penalty. I have zero sympathy with such people. Afterall I have strict rules and conditions I have to comply to in order to be paid my less than £17,000/£24,595 a year before deductions.
I'll leave it there and just hope the Government has the balls to see these reforms through as promised. But I do have my doubts. Afterall we forget these benefits lifers have Human Rights after all.
The full report by Michael Lea can be found here: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1102386/Boom-time-benefits-The-140-000-families-claim-20-000-year-state-handouts.html
Yet in yesterdays Daily Mail the headline was Boom Time On Benefits. The story went on to say how 140,000 households are getting more in benefits than the UK average take home wage. These families are living rather nicely on state handouts worth more than £20,000/$29,000!!!
The average salary in the UK is £25,100/$36,427 before tax, but after deductions it shrinks to £19,126/$27,743. In comparison, state benefits are free. If I wanted to bring home more than £20,000/$29,000 I would have to earn £27,000/$39,167. So does that sound fair? No it bloody well doesn't!! half of women in work earn less than £21,424/$35,435. One in ten employed full time earn less then £13,613/$19,744.
The UK benefit system is useless. For years it has been paying people not to work. If you went 'on the sick' , the longer you were unfit for work the more you would receive in benefits. Now does any other country have a benefits/welfare system that does that? Time and time again when my wife would collect our children from school she'd overhear those on benefits saying how much they receive each fortnight. For example one day she heard one woman tell another she gets £400/$579 a fortnight off the sick. It's not bad money but she'd like it every week. A worker on the National Minimum Wage of £5.73/$8.29 would have to work over 35 hours a week to earn £200/$289 a week. What these scroungers forget to mention is that they also get housing benefit/council tax benefit, free school meals/uniform, free NHS prescriptions, glasses, dental treatment.
What I find annoying is that these figures don't just cover the unemployed but working families who qualify for benefits, such as working tax credits. How dare they include working families? This a benefit paid to people who have low income and are means tested. The more you earn the less tax credits you receive. Earn over a certain amount and the free NHS costs help is stopped. As I know to my own cost following my last assessment.
These figures have provoked a row in government between Labour anf the Opposition. Labour have accused the Tories of hypocrisy by refusing to back some of the toughest measure of welfare reform. The Tory work and pensions minister has said 'that they undermine those struggling to earn a living wage. So many households getting such great sums of money from the state creates a shameful situation where people can live a life on benefits.'
He goes on to say 'It's hardly surprising that so many people live a life on benefits when in some cases it's possible to be paid as much money as someone in work on a typical average income.'
Officials suggested that most of these people receiving more than £20,000/$29,000 in benefits were likely to be on handouts to help with severe disabilities. In the majority of cases this will include disability related benefits and premiums.
In some cases it has been seen recently that some families are receiving tens of thousands of pounds in housing benefits alone.
With 2.7million people on long term incapacity, the cost to the taxpayer is £12billion/$17billion a year - or £16billion/$23billion once associated housing and council tax handouts are included.
The report goes on to say that Ministers were inable to calculate how many households are receiving more than £30,000/$43,400 a year in benefits from the state. Previous figures suggested it could be around 20,000, with those being paid £25,000/$36,151-plus at around 70,000.
From 27 October 2008 Employment and Support Allowance replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on incapacity grounds for new customers. Existing Incapacity Benefit or Income Support customers will initially continue to receive their existing benefits, so long as they satisfy the entitlement conditions. This is meant ot help people into work rather than stay on benefits for life.
The Government unveiled radical plans to get millions off benefits and into work. These include controversial proposals on lone parents and drug addicts.
For those who refuse to look for work they will have a percentage of their beneifts stopped. This will increase if they still refuse to seek work. And rightly so.
Such a family featured in the report. They family have been branded Britaisn biggest beneficiaries from state handouts.
The couple and their nine children hit the headlines three years ago when it emerged they received £39,000/$56,297 a year in benefits. This amounts to more than £750/$1,083 a week . Yet they say they struggle to pay their rent despite receiving housing benefit. They lie in a three bedroom council house with their nine children aged from 13 years old to 11 months old.
The mother says she 'can't work because she is the full time carer for her daughter who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, while her husband was off work with depression. She says it's hard to make ends meet trying to cook healthy meals, keeping the kids looking presentable. The money just goes on food and clothes. The older children only want the best trainers to avoid being picked on at school. so what can we do?'
Try getting a f**king job!!
In average week she said spent £250/$361 a week on food, £100/$144 on clothes and nappies, £55/$79 on gas and electricity and £150/$216 paying off catalogue bills and a loan. The rest went on cigarettes, mobile phone bills and pocket money for the children.
In all they received Incapacity benefit, carers allowance, child tax credits, child benefit, hosuing and council tax benefit.
So who's the fool here, ne for working or those who milk the system for all it's worth?
I work for the DWP and everyday get calls from people saying they have failed a medical or their oldest child is now 16 years old and been told to claim Jobseekers Allowance. This comes as quite a shock to many, considering how long they have been on benefits, coccooned in the security blanket of their regular state handouts. Many try telling me they can't work and have no intention of getting a job so what am i going to do about it? I just expalin the choice is theirs, make a claim for JSA and they may receive money or do nothing and get nothing. Beleive me amny just can't understand the concept of looking for work.
Now don't get me wrong there are genuine people who will never work due entirley to health problems and the benefits system will still provide money for them and their carers and rightly so. It's the lazy arses who think it's their right to have a life on benefits the changes are aimed at.
Look the choice is yours, comply with the rules and your benefit will continue tro be paid, choosed not to do so and pay the penalty. I have zero sympathy with such people. Afterall I have strict rules and conditions I have to comply to in order to be paid my less than £17,000/£24,595 a year before deductions.
I'll leave it there and just hope the Government has the balls to see these reforms through as promised. But I do have my doubts. Afterall we forget these benefits lifers have Human Rights after all.
The full report by Michael Lea can be found here: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1102386/Boom-time-benefits-The-140-000-families-claim-20-000-year-state-handouts.html