Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicky.
Indeed.
And I honestly dont think the welfare state needs to be changed much..as the only way to change it(to this government anyway) is to give people less..and what you get on JSA is already a pittance in reality, despite the daily star making out its enough for you to be down the pub all day everyday and such 
If wages will not go up(which is the obvious answer...), then we need to give people more help when working low paid jobs. At the moment I understand you can earn £20 before they take it away from your benefits, pound by pound. That £20 would probably be eaten up in travel costs, plus more. Universal credit sees this to be changed to £70 you can earn before it affects anything, which is a lot more realistic.
Most people out of work are only out of work for short periods..obviously at the moment people are out of work for longer than they would have been years ago as there are not many jobs around.
Some rules need to be changed around JSA too. At the moment you cant really study or anything or you lose all entitlements. The massive majority on long term unemployment benefits, are on them because they have no qualifications to actually get a job (hell even waiting jobs and stuff need GCSES/experience these days) yet they cant do a college course as they would have nothing to live on while doing the course. Thats ridiculous to me. Absolutely ridiculous. If they have next to no chance of getting a job, then surely its better for them to better their chances..than spend day in day out applying for stuff they will surely be rejected for, just to meet their JSA conditions?! |
Yeah there's a poverty trap in the UK and it needs an institutional change to break it. There's a certain point where you can be working an insane number of hours, not be entitled to any supporting benefits and still be earning less than people on maximum benefits which is shocking. Taking money away from people who need it is not the answer. It makes me really angry.