Seems Starmer wants to continue the “blame the sick” culture so loved by the Tories.
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In my twenties I was intermittently ill, it was like having six months of glandular fever.
None of the doctors could find out what was wrong, but the Hammersmith did say there
was something puzzling in my blood test.
I had to go back home.
My medical record was so poor that I could not get a full time job. I used to sell on commission and take temp secretarial jobs when I was well enough.
I really did try to work when I could, but if I needed surgery to enable me to go back to work I would be in the same position as all those on the waiting lists.
Starmer needs to address the fact that people with poor health records are not employable and trying to get British people to accept seasonal agricultural jobs is a non starter.
How can you pay your mortgage or rent when you are only employed for half the year?
Also the people who do these jobs are really hard and fast workers and are paid on a piece rate.
Think again .
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There are people who are better off on benefits than they are in low paid work.
Its such a multi factorial issue no statement could possibly ever cover the complexities. Poor people eat the worst food because they have to so will never get better as medicine cannot counter all the problems. The workplace has changed somewhat post covid and a large number of jobs can be done working from home which does open up oportunities but some people feel broken so do not look for new oportunities. The staff in the benefits/employment offices could also do a lot to change their attitudes. Some are just arrogant and vile. Their aim is pressumably to put people off claiming. There is no interview that could ever cover the complexities but Starmer kind of leaves himself open by a short statement.
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Say hello to the New Boss, same as the Old Boss.
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If you actually read the words, I don’t think it sounds that bad given that it talks of offering support following long term illness to overcome anxiety about returning to the workplace. What’s wrong with that? As ever, the first paragraph is quite contentious and the detail that follows is a lot more reasonable
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Subject to editorial fiddling also.
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Nope and very doubtful, “surving on £53 per week is easy” Ian Ducan Smith… Total twat.
Could you please justify that with facts? This is an endlessly repeated myth in the tabloid press. Since Universal Credit came in, plus the Benefit Cap for all but the most disabled, I find it hard to believe.
The minimum wage is just over the level of Universal Credit for a single person, and for a couple if both are in minimum wage jobs they would be significantly better off that the level of UC for a couple.
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Some people are better off on benefits than they are in low paid jobs. That’s fact. And more power to them.
That’s a low pay issue not a benefits issue.
In addition being on certain benefits opens doors to other aid, financial and non-financial, that may not otherwise be available.
People on benefits are not the problem in the UK. Long-term bad management of the economy and the country’s finances are the problem. Has there ever been an oil and gas producing country so steeped in debt and energy dependent?
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Agreed, it is impossible to give facts as every case is different, and as you say @Ally benefits open doors to other monies.
The UK economy seems to have been mismanaged for at least 20 years. Shame as the power of the UK and what it could do for its people still remains if the will was there from the government to harness it.
I am neither left nor right leaning, nor indeed centrist as I take little interest in politics these days but the youtube video of Big Ange and Starmer with him as the straw man singing ‘if I only had a brain’ made me laugh when it cropped up the other day.
I am considering going onto benefits so I can get a free air source heat pump and external building insulation, not bad for starters but having never joined thise ranks I bet they would find a way to prevent me, seasoned applicants of course know just what to say and how to say it to be effective.
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If you’re entitled or if you think you may be, apply. If you don’t or if you do and fail that won’t be the fault of another claimant. Well maybe that Romanian with the 53 inch telly but we’re all familiar with that story I’m sure. I’m not having a pop but there are a lot of myths circulating regarding this issue and the need to be exposed.
I wasnt picking on other nations, plenty of the UK born where I live seem to be getting their homes upgraded. Companies that contact me say I need to be on some benefit. Never ever been on benefits so no nothing of how it works but seems a good idea to examine the process.
On the other hand I may go back to work and just pay for the things I would like.
Is it really a fact? Especially since the Benefit Cap came in. Which I hope you have taken into account as it has affected this balance quite significantly
The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit you can get and includes
- Universal Credit
- Bereavement Allowance
- Child Benefit
- Child Tax Credit
- Employment and Support Allowance
- Housing Benefit
- Incapacity Benefit
- Income Support
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Maternity Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Widowed Parent’s Allowance
For a couple it is £400 a week, which is the equivalent of one person in the couple on a minimum wage job and the other not working at all. Not sure how you can describe that as better off. If both of them are on minimum income jobs working is better financially.
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Yes. For some people it is fact. I know that. I know too that for others it isn’t. I’ve nothing to gain from saying so.
In fact if you consider my state pension a benefit, I could include myself. In reality I have in mind a young woman, company orientated, who did her best to remain in employment but who was eventually beaten by her malady. Financial better off. Wellbeing infinitely better. Sadly she’ll never be the person she was before. She’s by no means unique.
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It is quite staggering how many benefits are available in the UK, the ‘benefits cap’ is £1835 to £2110.25 per month depending on if you are outside of London and whether you are a single parent or a couple.
One of our tenants is a single mum and doesn’t want to work more than 16 hours per week otherwise her benefits will be cut, she can do more hours as her daughter is nearly 16 so is more than capable of fending for herself but the tenant (aged 40) would rather sit at home watching tv than work.
On a recent visit to do some repairs the amount of gadgets on display was incredible and way more than we have but here’s the thing - other than a few expensive possessions she has nothing and never will have given her age and reliance on benefits. So, in reality whilst people can easily survive on benefits financially that is all they can do.
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That will change when you become an OAP!
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Hahaha, the feckin goal post keeps moving on that one,
Disagree, with younger ones, it’s often because their parent/s didn’t know how to shop for fresh food, nor how to prepare it, so were unable to pass this valuable knowledge on to their sprogs.
My mother was widowed when I was eight years old. No widow’s pension in those days, so she taught me how to shop and cook while she went back to work. It was a great foundation for student life and beyond.
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