Quote:
Originally Posted by Zee
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.
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Its part-time work thats the problem I think. The government (any government) love it because it massages the unemployment figures, but realistically, working 10 hours a week or less is no good. Businesses love it because its cheaper to take on two or more part-time workers than a fulltime one. But the actual workers are screwed.
Its good for single parents, or parents where one works fulltime. But at the moment, every job(especially unskilled ones) seems to be 16 hours or less, or a 0 hour contract. 0 hour contracts are just ridiculous IMO.
Since they changed the rules with working tax credit too from 16 hours to 24..its knacked up a lot of people(many who I know) because the companies wont/cant give them the extra hours they need, yet they cant get any help..so are now worse off than they would be if they were unemployed.