Poll: Benefit cap vote.

What do you think should happen to benefits

  • The Government Proposal of a 1% increase

    Votes: 146 25.5%

  • Labour proposal of increase in line with inflation

    Votes: 195 34.1%

  • A freeze with no rise at all

    Votes: 231 40.4%
  • Total voters
    572
Number_25 said:
Seems only fair that if the cost of living increases - benefits increase on par with inflation.
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Also what happens in 4-5 years time when someone decides benefit levels have fallen way behind the cost of living. Then is it not even more money to catch them back up???
 
Skyfall said:
I vote 0% rise but 1% wouldn't be so bad...

The reason that they should not rise by inflation or more is simple, I work for a living indirectly for the government which has meant I have had no real pay rise in that time, not even close to inflation for the past few years due to the pay freeze put in place by the government.

I'm not by any means saying I am hard done by or skint but raising benfits in such a way is another insult to those who work and are seeing their money buy less and less each month.
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So because you didn't get a raise, screw everyone else.

Bet you earn a massive amount more than people on benefits.

I'm not aiming at you but it makes me laugh how people who claim child tax credits, working tax credits, etc.. which are sometimes as much as someone can earn on Job Seekers Allowance, WHILE they are working, have a go at people who are on JSA.
 
Eeeeeethan said:
So because you didn't get a raise, screw everyone else.

Bet you earn a massive amount more than people on benefits.
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people on benefits don't 'earn' anything - they take from the rest of us.
the country can't afford it any more - actually it never could, we just mortgaged the future to pay for the present.
 
It seems to me that the ones who reject this on here are the ones who are lucky enough to have never been on benefits, get real will you, throwing your toys out of the pram because you didn't get a pay rise.
 
aardvark said:
people on benefits don't 'earn' anything - they take from the rest of us.
the country can't afford it any more - actually it never could, we just mortgaged the future to pay for the present.
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Stop paying people who work extra benefits?

My father got £78 a week in working tax credit and was earning 12k a year (I know its not a lot). Stop giving benefits to immigrants, etc..

You begrudge someone who might have paid into the system for decades because of the stigma attached to it?
 
robj20 said:
No one on benefits should be better off than someone on minimum wage. IMO they should be given vouchers for food and a bus pass so they cant go out buying new tvs and beer.
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This, 1,000,000x this. The is nothing wrong with surviving off the kindness of strangers but you should not be allowed to thrive on it. Benefits should be there to help people down on their luck get by until they can recover, not live better off than those working.
 
aardvark said:
people on benefits don't 'earn' anything - they take from the rest of us.
the country can't afford it any more - actually it never could, we just mortgaged the future to pay for the present.
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What a load of rubbish.

Spook187 said:
It seems to me that the ones who reject this on here are the ones who are lucky enough to have never been on benefits, get real will you, throwing your toys out of the pram because you didn't get a pay rise.
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I've never claimed any benefit. I'm not daft enough to believe people can live on nothing at all, though it appears some here are.
 
ubersonic said:
This, 1,000,000x this. The is nothing wrong with surviving off the kindness of strangers but you should not be allowed to thrive on it. Benefits should be there to help people down on their luck get by until they can recover, not live better off than those working.
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Don't believe everything you read in the paper, show me how someone can afford TV and beer on £70 a week.
 
I see the Government has been successful with their framing of this argument, at least as far as most people on here go. Reading the comments it is apparent that to most when you talk about benefits they instantly think of people who don't work, when actually most are receiving benefits in addition to whatever pay they bring home, a damning indictment on our society that we are effectively subsidising businesses who don't pay enough for their employees to live on.
 
Spook187 said:
Have you ever thought some of these people may have paid taxes for decades then get thrown on the dole through no fault of their own.
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That's very true. Back in 2010/11 I came out of work. Never been out of work in over 30 years of employment. I even checked my state pension contributions to see if I was paid up (which I was). As I'm single with no kids and own my own home I recieved nothing barr the £65odd a week. My net contributions must have been way over £150k Yet I couldn't get any help.. The notion that if you're out of work the state just throws money at you is just wrong (if you're honest)
 
Eeeeeethan said:
if some people choose to buy luxuries instead of essentials that doesn't mean that they are getting too much money.
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Technically, if they can do without the 'essentials', then they weren't that essential!

Of course I do know what you mean. It isn't possible to dictate how people spend their money and just because some people prioritise a tv, or Sky, above new clothes, or decent food, doesn't automatically mean that they're getting too much.

Some people in this thread read way too much Daily Mail. Yes, there are some people on benefits who'll happily do as little as possible and scrounge as much money from the system as possible. But the benefit system is far more important than that. People who have worked for years, can lose their job and still have 2 or 3 kids to feed. People may have to give up a job to help care for a disabled relative. There are many ways in which honest hard-working people can find themselves in need of a 'safety net'.

If being on benefits was really that easy, then more people would make the choice to play the system. The truth is, that for the vast majority of people, being on benefits is not an enjoyable experience.
 
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