The unemployed

Burly · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:45

singist said:
Regarding happily accepting dole/benefits etc ....... I have to say that paying kids money to stay at school is not my idea of an introduction to the work ethic ...... quite the opposite.

Its not suppose to be an 'introduction to the work ethic' its supposed to get more teens staying on to higher education. It doesnt pay a lot only to help you out if your family is on a low income. If you perform well you will get paid its quite a good work ethic come to think of it.

Robdav · 17 Aug 2006 at 15:56

peter_hutson said:
From what you have said you are exactly the sort of person the system was put in place to try and help. There is no way you should feel embarassed on any level. The problem is that for every person that deserves help, there is a lazy little scrounger waiting behind shouting "me too, money for me please".

I just don't know what can be done to fix the system. It seems that the professional scroungers know how to roger the system. Making the system more strict will get rid of some, but it will also hurt the genuine claimants. For me it comes down to a question of how many "deserving" people you are prepared to hurt in order to punish the "scroungers".

I have a suspicion that the welfare state needs completely scraped and a completely new system put in place. I don't know what this "new system" is, but the current on is certainly not working and is dragging the country down.

Thank you.

I was at the job centre today, and as always there were the scroungers hanging around swearing at people going in and out. The security had their hands full. Anyway I mentioned to the women I see about thinking of starting my own business and all she had to say was that there was an information pack about it. said pack is two pages long, and dosn't actually tell you anything. Perhaps they aren't geared up to actually deal with genuine people looking for a way out.

ElectroBlaster · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:08

Robdav said:
Thank you.

I was at the job centre today, and as always there were the scroungers hanging around swearing at people going in and out. The security had their hands full. Anyway I mentioned to the women I see about thinking of starting my own business and all she had to say was that there was an information pack about it. said pack is two pages long, and dosn't actually tell you anything. Perhaps they aren't geared up to actually deal with genuine people looking for a way out.

I know exactly what you mean regarding the abusive people you seem to get hanging about, our local jobcentre has them. They shout and cuss and will hang about 24/7 expecting money and I bet they waste it on drugs and alcohol.

I was in there the other day looking at the job point computer things and this couple were shouting and kicking off and generally being difficult because nobody would bother to see them, the security gaurds ended up showing the way out the building to which this guy decided he would threaten to lamp him one. Not exactly the way to go about things is it

big_white_dog84 · 17 Aug 2006 at 17:42

There was an interesting scene in 'Pramface' during the week. One of the single mothers had just got her first job and was asked how much extra money she would have coming in compared to living on benefits.
For a full time job she was only going to be £40 a week better off - £1 per hour! Would you give up spending time with your young children and go out to a dead-end job for £1 per hour?

dirtydog · 17 Aug 2006 at 17:45

big_white_dog84 said:
There was an interesting scene in 'Pramface' during the week. One of the single mothers had just got her first job and was asked how much extra money she would have coming in compared to living on benefits.
For a full time job she was only going to be £40 a week better off - £1 per hour! Would you give up spending time with your young children and go out to a dead-end job for £1 per hour?

£40 a week isn't too bad considering. A lot of people end up NO better off whatsoever by working full time, and sometimes will actually be worse off due to travelling costs etc.

Lopéz · 17 Aug 2006 at 19:36

dirtydog said:
If you are fit and healthy and have no physical or mental disabilities then unless you live in the middle of nowhere, I refuse to accept that someone could not find ANY job in 18 months Even if it is a part time job like cleaning. Or agency work. You might not even earn more than you do on the dole, but you are off the dole and are in more of a position of strength when looking for a 'proper' job - because employers prefer to employ people who haven't been on the dole for a long time.

I'm inclined to agree with you.