egafd.com

"....but was it any different under Margaret Thatcher when people went to sign on in a similar situation?"

Of course it wasn't David, you're missing the point, it's Labour, think about the word, "Labour" ie "Work", "Workers", who were supposed to look after "Workers", not scroungers. We all know Margaret Thatcher was a corrupt, evil, warmongering witch, the only people she looked after were the very rich and the greedy working class, who she fed the crumbs from all the utilities she sold off for bugger all.

I know in Holland, France and Germany, people like your mate are well looked after. Again it's the evil of Political Correctness that has created a situation where sections of society who wish to sponge off the rest, are considered a "Victim group" and so are treated more favorably than the man in the streets who works his fingers to the bone.

We live in a crazed world where an unemployed man or woman, must walk into the DSS in shame and beg for money, whilst a malingering, lazy bunch of chav scroungers, can barge past and demand anything they want, heads held high!

It's MADNESS!

Do it yourself.

In the absence of anybody coming up with some figures, I did a search and came across this website which provides a benefits checker.

https://www.turn2us.entitledto.co.uk/de ... id=13&cid=

Tried banging in some figures and here are some sample results:

Single person, no savings, paying ?1000 council tax and ?100 a week rent got total entitlements of ?184.62 a week including ?65.45 a week which is for the everyday living expenses e.g. clothes, food etc etc.

If you were in a similar situation as above but you had a mortgage instead of renting, you may get some help with the interest after a waiting period but the everyday living expenses component is the same as far as I can see i.e. bugger all.

Unemployed couple with 2 kids, no savings, ?1000 council tax and renting at ?125 a week. Including for example child tax credits, child benefit and the everyday living expenses component you would get about ?240 a week. But given that is for 4 people, 2 adults and potentially kids of 14 years age, ?240 doesn't strike me as a fortune. Obviously the rent and council tax would be added to that to produce a figure of about ?20K.

In addition there may be extras that all the above MIGHT get such as help if the cooker blows up with money from the Social Fund.

So what do I interprete from that:

1. Anybody who seems to think you can have the life of reilly on the dole without committing fraud is delusional. ?65 a week for all your living expenses is a pittance. ?240 a week for two adults and two kids doesn't strike me as a fortune either.
2. For an unemployed couple with two kids, they would have to have both of them working on minimum wage type jobs to get as much as they get being unemployed.
3. For some families, being unemployed is a struggle but slightly less of a struggle than having two people working on minimum wage doing a shit job.

CHeers
D

No. But the Benefits police have been watching your house for quite some time apparently.

Did the Labour government let down unemployed workers?

Yes they did. I agree with you.

But as far as I can see there is only an incentive for people not to work when they have a couple of kids and they can pull about as much as two people working on minimum wage jobs.

This seems as much a reflection on companies that pay a pittance and at the same time rake in a huge profit e.g supermarkets, fast food chains, high street stores etc etc.

Cheers
D

Nip outside your house and ask them. It's three strikes and yer out remember!

Mr Cameron said an "uncompromising" crackdown on benefit cheats would be unveiled in the autumn and credit rating agencies could be recruited to help to identify false claims.

Tougher penalties, more prosecutions, measures to encourage others to shop cheats and greater efforts to recover "stolen" payments would also be included.

I'm single and it costs me about ?40-45 a week just for food (that's if I don't eat out). So if I was on the dole I'd have about ?20 spare to pay for gas, electric, water, tv-licence, travel expenses, phone and internet. No one could live on that long-term unless you live like an animal.

It's the mega-rich that cost the country the most, not the poor.

David, many people are on Sickness Benefit and use it as a form of dole. It is much more secure and harder for them to kick you off and you are most likely entitled to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) aswell, and once you get that you are then entitled to a third Benefit, which is called something like Sereve Disablement Benefit (or is called something similar) even if you are not 'severe' as such - you can just get it if you get DLA.

All three together come to about ?200 a week in your back pocket, add to that your rent of anything from ?100-250 a week, your Council Tax, Service Charge, and National Insurance and you could be on ?400-500 a week. You may have to earn about ?30,000 a year or more, pre-tax, to be left with that much.

I have personally worked all my life, since I was 18, but I knew someone who was on these Benefits and she told me all about it. There was nothing really wrong with her, she exageratted to them that she still had a pain from a minor accident she had years earlier. I disapproved of what she was doing.

There are something like ?2.6 million people in Britain 'on the sick', many are genuine and deserve it, but a lot are freeloaders using it like dole and get serious money. To get what is the equivilant of ?30,000-?35,000 a year before tax, when you barely have the skills to get a job paying ?12,000 a year, aint bad. Lots of late mornings, trips to the Bookies and the pub. Not a bad life for those who have no conscience.