benefits

i have worked since the age of 15. even when i went to college i worked. when i had my first son at the age of 17 i worked and when i had my other son at the age of 20 i was back at work after only a few days! i didnt work every day as obviously i wanted to be aroud my children too but my point is theres no excuse for being on benefits unless of course you are ill or lose your job. i would not like to be on benefits for a long time but when i became redundent i had to go on benefits for a few weeks as i also had too when i had an operation but i didnt like it. i enjoy spending my hard earned money knowing just that..... it was hard earned.

I claim income support and i get 43pound a week i have 2 kids aged 5 and 11 and are both in full time education.I have to go to a work focus interview every 3 months they work out how much better off i would be if i went back to work and after paying all my bills and rent council tax dinner money etc i would be £10.50 a week better off well am sorry i wouldnt get out of bed for that what could i possibly do with £10.50 buy 20 fags and thats my lot

I have no problem with people claiming benefits when it is needed, such as due to illness or children etc, what i do find really annoying when people cannot be bothered to get out of bed to work because its easier to claim benefits! I work full time and after paying living cost i have no money however i know that all of the money i have earnt is what i have worked for! There are some people who would love to work but cant and then there are those who cannot be bothered! this really frustrates me!!

This woman absolutly disgusts me to be honest. She sits at home all day doing nothing but housework which was her decision in the first place. I can't even get a job which ive now been out of work for 3 years and im not entitled to claim any benefits at all which i think is unreasonable. How am i supposed to support my self. And she is sitting there and getting £18,000 a year for doing bugger all. To be frank if she cant support her children without claiming benefits then she shouldnt have had them in the first place. And as for her being a full time mum, her kids are at school from 8:30 in the morning to 3:15 at night, what is full time about that. My parent works a full time job 40+ hours a week and she doesnt even get that much money in a year for working her butt off just so she can help support me. You make me sick.

I AM CURRENTLY ON DISABILITY BENEFIT DUE TO INJURIES I SUSTAINED IN A BAD CAR ACCIDENT SO MY CHOICE TO WORK WAS TAKEN FROM ME BUT UNTIL THE ACCIDENT I WORKED AND LOVED IT BUT WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS HOW ANYONE CAN AFFORD LUXURIES, TREATS AND HOLIDAYS WHILE ON BENEFITS. AFTER I PAY MY BILLS AND GROCERIES I'VE NOT MUCH LEFT. I HAVE TO START PUTTING BY FOR CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER AFTER I'VE SORTED SCHOOL UNIFORM. YES MY SON HAS HIS XBOX CONSOLE BUT ONLY BECAUSE MY PARENTS BOUGHT IT FOR HIM AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT SO I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW HOW IT'S DONE. FAIR PLAY TO THOSE THAT CAN BUT AN ARROGANT, SPONGING ATTITUDE DOES NOTHING TO HELP THOSE IN GENUINE NEED OR HAVE NO CHOICE TO BE IN THE SITUATION THEY FIND THEMSELVES

My husband was made redundant last year in May. He was unemployed for 6 months got a job and after 5 weeks they paid him off. I have been a stay at home mum since I had my children. They are now 22, 20 and 17 but our youngest has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome or it can be called ME. We get no help for him and the benefits they gave us was a disgrace although my husband has always worked and I worked until I had our children. We are lucky my husband has now got a job, but I still cannot go out to work because of my son as some one with chronic fatigue can be well one day and confined to bed the next day. The system needs looked at so that when people lose there jobs through no fault of their own the help and benefits they need at that time are there for them and do not penalise them.

I AND MY HUSBAND HAVE WORKED HARD FOR ALL OUR WORKING LIFE,BUT 3 YEARS AGO WE TOOK A YAER OFF TO TRAVEL ON RETURNING TO THE uK WE FIRST HAD TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW TO SEE IF WE HAD A RIGHT TO WORK IN OUR OWN COUNTRY! MY HUSBAND THEN GOT EMPLOYMENT ON A BUILDING SITE BUT HAD A SERIOUS ACCIDENT THAT MEANS HE CAN NO LONGER WORK AS A PLUMBER HE IS 62 HAS DYLEXIA AND IS NOW SUFFERING FROM DEPRESSION,BUT BECAUSE WE HAD NOT PAID A FULL YEAR OF STAMPS AND HAVE A VERY SMALL PRIVATE INCOME(LESS THAN BENIFITS)WE ARE NOT ENTITLED TO ANYTHING AT ALL OTHER THAT £25 A WEEK,SO YES IF WE HAD EVEN A CHANCE TO DRAW BENIFITS IN A COUNTRY THAT WE HAVE WORKED IN AND PAID TAX IN FOR OVER 40 YEARS WE WOULD TAKE WHATEVER WE COULD BECAUSE UNLIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE WE HAVE MORE THAN CONTIBUTED OUR SHARE AND IT CERTAINLY WASN'T FOR PEOPLE THAT CHOSE TO BECOME UNMARRIED MOTHERS OR FOR THE THOUSANDS OF IMMIGRANTS WHO COME HERE PURELY TO TAKE FROM THE STATE. aS FOR MYSELF I USED TO WORK CLEANING BUT BECAUSE OF ALL THE EASTERN EUROPEONS ETC WAS SOON OUT OF CUSTOMERS BECAUSE THEY ARE PREPARED TO WORK FOR LESS THAT THE BASIC RATE PUTTING EVEN MORE HONEST HARD WORKING PEOPLE OUT OF EMPLOYMENT

it angers me that women think that being on benefit some how is better for there child, and use the excuse that they want to be a stay at home mum to spend more time with there children but you also find that there children are of school age so they can easily return to work 9 till 3, i was a single mother and had the option to stay on benefits but i chose to go back to work as soon as my child went to nursery, it is also go for you to have a life outside of the house, i think people are forgetting that we are meant to be role models to our children what kind of work ethic are we instilling in our children theses day

The question is would you be happy to live on benefits if you could. Obviously this was not your choice but a necessary entitlement. In too many cases people have no respect for themselves and are happy to sit back and do nothing to help themselves. However, they seem quite happy to milk the system and grab everything they see that most people cannot afford. The government is too soft on this issue, and should do more to stop the "my country owes me!" attitude.

The lot of you who think that being on benefit is a doddle and the easy way to go are joking. I cant imagine a worse way to live, I have been ill and forced to live on a pittance through no fault of my own and had people looking down their noses at me who regularly waste their so-called 'hard earned money' on c**p while I eke mine out just trying to pay bills and eat! That old tart in the mag is clearly NOT just coping on benefits if she says she is living the good life - there must be extra money from somewhere that she is not telling us about. I would like to also ask if the people who are so self-righteous and venomous against the welfare state are republicans or royalists cos that lot in buckingham palace and their other country estates are the biggest scroungers at all and so are the politicians who line their own pockets while 'firing up' middle england to attack those on sickness pay!

I have 2 children aged 4 and 2, I had to give up work after my second child was born as childcare would have cost me £1200 per month. What disgusts me is because I am married I get absolutely no help from the government. I get child benefit and tax credits this has to be used to pay all the household bills as my husbands wage is taken up by mortgate payments. I get no help with school meals, school uniforms, prescriptions etc. Single parents all got extra money towards their fuel bills when the weather was really cold, my gas costs £50 per month and I get no help towards that at all yet I still have to heat my home. I feel let down by the government, they support single parents and hand them everything on a plate but dont provide affordable childcare for those parents who would like to work. I hope to get a job when my youngest starts school but again I will struggle to find an employer willing to take me on a term time only basis

ive lived off benefits when both my daughters were young. I looked after them until they were school age because it was my choice to have children and i feel you should be given the chance to stay at home with them. However i returned to work as soon as they were school age as they no longer need looking after in the day. My partner works full time and i work part time. I am always there for my children when they finish school. That is why Pams story angered me. If your kids are in full time school then why cant she get a part time job. I love being at work as it gives me my own independance. I pay some bills and have my own money which i have earned and worked hard to earn. I dont have to rely on benefits or my partner to give me money. And although i haven't much spare money i couldn't be at home all day doing nothing. I feel my kids will grow up better for it. They know the value of money and they have to help me to earn their treats. Only little jobs but it all helps and now they dont take anything for granted.

I have been reading about Pam who is proud to be living a life of luxury on benefits. I must admit that the fact that i have to work two jobs to stay afloat angers me that a chunk of my wages pays for people like her. It is wrong and unfair to the people who need benefits. I just don't understand how the goverment allow such a bad attitude to work. I have known people who grew up in this type of household and her children will end up doing the same thing because it has been so easy for her. My own mother went out to work every day and it never affected my childhood or the time she spent with me one bit. It's because of my parents both working hard that has instilled the same ethics in me and my brothers. She should be ashamed at her selfish behaviour and do something about it quickly.

I believe self-respect and respect for others is the main issue surrounding the claiming of benefits when not morally entitled to do so. Okay, it might be technically legal to claim the benefit but if one is to be true to ones self and ones neighbour in a moral sense, it is shameful to claim benefits which should properly go to those who are really in need of them. Maybe that is old hat nowadays, but that is what I believe is right. I have no objection to benefits being paid to deserving claimants. I do object to benefits being used as a substitute for work by those who can work - and can get work. That is thieving, and reprehensible behaviour.

hi jeanette i too used to be a single parent bringing up 3 boys on my own i have absolutly no idea where you get the fuel payments from as only the elderly get that cos that was stopped years ago also most single parenst have to have pay as u go gas and electric which evidently costs more in the long run as we have to pay a charge each time why shouldnt pam stay at home bringing up her children i am sure like myself didnt ask to be a single parent but defo dont want n e tom dick or harry raising my kids and doing god knows what to them thanks as happens even in registered childminding places i think we should all focus on the fact that if every man paid for there children and not kept having more before paying for there 1st born the goverment wouldnt have to pay so much i saved my benefits a whole year to take my boys to spain for a fortnight and y not they desrve a holiday like n e other child shame the fathers of my children didnt think the same wen they are busy funding someone else's childs life or more of there new brood pam is carefull with her money so y not have luxeries i never drunk smoked or did drugs so my kids could have better things like there mates so just cos were single parents does that mean we got to live in run down scum holes and dress like tramps .... Tracie

i think its wrong for people to run pam down y should she go to work wen her children need her i think a lot of u fail to understand the benefit system cos if she works she needs to find a job term time only then her benefits altered so much that she ends up with same ammount or if she's lucky a fiver more but then what does she do if her child is ill or infact her oh i know loses money that she cant claim back cos it takes 6 weeks to sort out plus 6 weeks holidays xmas week witson easter etc etc who's gonna have the kids then ??? oh a trusting child minde no doubt u know the one's who have been police checked hmmm then abuses the child or one of the other kids in there care hurts them or even the childminders partner why shouldnt she have luxeries all kids desreve them dont they and a lot of u are missing the point about the absent fathers here to pay out oh but they keep having more kids by different women and forgetting to pay for there 1st or they are funding other men's kids instead of there own and as for help wiv bills etc no help is given for heating or electric and only help once for each child for school uniform wen they 1st start senior school i feel a lot of people need to find out the facts if benefits before passing judgement also i was told as a single mum bringing up 3 boys on my own by an actual benefits employer to basically stay at home and look after my boys myself cos if i went to work i would only be about a fiver better of so please bare this in mind before u comment or run down single parents so cos we claim benefits do we need to live like tramps with cheap food clothes etc and live in poor conditions i dont drink smoke or do drugs to give my kids a life that 2 parent kids have is that so wrong ??? also my boys r 22 18 and 16 now eldest and youngest still at home both have applied for jobs to be told sorry not successful why ??? cos they wont work for polish wages but my youngest cant claim a thing till he's 18 so who is paying for him well me off course not his father or goverment how can a job be found wen there are redundancies left right and center also i saved up for a whole year to take my boys to spain for a fortnight on my own full board so is that so wrong ???? hmmmm have the father's of my boys took them oh no off course not dont be silly one is too busy having 4 more kids with 2 different mum's and other one is too busy having another 1 and also paying for her 3 oh now thats why the goverment pay out for our's ....Tracie

How about self-respect for a start!

I'm 26yrs and i have 4 children ranging from 3mths to 5yrs at the moment i'm on materninty leave.But i will be going bck to work the end of June,i was doing 16hrs a week but i plan to decrease my hours by a few.The thing is the money ain't to good but i like working it gives me a sense of satisfaction to know that my children will grow up and realise that you have to work to get anywhere in this life. And isn't that what we all should be teaching our children?

i think thats just pure laziness y should someone else pick up the bill for 2 children u decided 2 have

FOR HUMPTY DUMPTY AND ALL THE OTHER FOOLS BLINDED BY THE GREAT BRITISH GOVERNMENT THATS JUST WHAT NARROW MINDED HALF BAKED IDIOTS LIKE YOURSELF WOULD THINK1 YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS YOURSELF YOU SOUND LIKE JEREMY KYLE! SO COME ON THEN WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE BILLIONS WASTED IN AFGHANISTAN YEAR AFTER YEAR BY THIS GOVERNMENT ? BILLIONS OF POUNDS PAID 4 BY YOU THE TAX PAYER! WHERES YOUR GRIPE ON THAT? MAY I ALSO ADD ITS A POINTLESS WAR THATS NEVER GOING TO BE WON BUT YET THE STUPID PRIME MINISTER POURS MORE OF YOUR TAXES INTO IT YES THAT DOES FAR OUT WEIGH THE AMOUNT SPENT ON SINGLE PARENTS STRUGGLING TO COPE ON GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS COS THE ABSENT FATHERS HAVE RUN OFF WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH! WHAT ABOUT THE EXPENCES SCANDLES THAT HAVE ROCKED THE GOVERNMENT TO THE CORE BY GREEDY SCROUNGING ROBBING M PS THATS ALL COME OUT OF YOUR TAXES WHERES YOUR ANGER ON THEM? ITS JUST EASIER TO BLAME THE UNEMPLOYED AND THE SINGLE PARENTS FOR THE REASON THAT THE COUNTRYS IN A STATE AND THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT HAVE SUCH A HIGH DEFICIT IN THEIR BORROWING PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE ME SICK LOVE COS IN TRUTH YOUR IGNORANT TO WHERE THE MONEY IN TAXES GOES SIMPLY BY BLAMING THE SICK ELDERLY AND UNEMPLOYED WHEN THE TRUTH OF IT IS WHAT I HAVE SAID SO OPEN YOUR EYES LOVE AND TAKE YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BACKSIDE AND STOP BLAMING US SINGLE MOTHERS THE ELDERLY SICK AND LAME AND UNEMPLOYED FOR SWALLOWING THE MONEY IN THE GOVERNMENT PURSE ITS A TINY FRACTION ON WHAT THEY ARE REALLY SPENDING YOUR TAXES ON AND RIPPING OFF IN THERE EXPENCES FORMS!!! GROW UP"

Have you never heard you get out of life what you put in. Obvioiusly you have no intention of trying to make your life any better. OK you would only be £10.50 a week better of but you would be back working and have you heard about promotion, there are plenty of chances to make life better, but sitting at home just waiting for them to come to you is not the way.

I used to work 60+ hours a week I'm now on maternity leave after having a baby. It annoys me that despite the fact I'm going back to work in July i would be financially better off on the dole. I want to work it's about more than money its about pride and self respect. I think people on the dole should be given no money at all, they should have a hamper of basic food and groceries delivered to their door so it can't go on fags and booze. If they want to earn luxuries they have to get a job and if they genuinely can't get a job they can take up volunteer work to earn luxuries. I have a sister on the dole and she spends over £200 a month in the pub. It feels like a kick in the teeth, I've worked since the age of 14 and she's never worked a day in her life and she's financially better off than me

I used to work 60+ hours a week I'm now on maternity leave after having a baby. It annoys me that despite the fact I'm going back to work in July i would be financially better off on the dole. I want to work it's about more than money its about pride and self respect. I think people on the dole should be given no money at all, they should have a hamper of basic food and groceries delivered to their door so it can't go on fags and booze. If they want to earn luxuries they have to get a job and if they genuinely can't get a job they can take up volunteer work to earn luxuries. I have a sister on the dole and she spends over £200 a month in the pub. It feels like a kick in the teeth, I've worked since the age of 14 and she's never worked a day in her life and she's financially better off than me

im 26 and a single mum im on benefit's, no i didn't choose for my ex to run off with a little slag, if i could work i would my children are 4 and 2... my 2 year old is a very very sick child and i stay at home to look after her she has had 4 operations in 2 years and has another one maybe more coming up, now don't you think id rather my child be well and not go through all this crap if she was a well child id go back to work, so to the people slagging off single mums on benefits or other people on benefits get your facts right first you don't know them so shut up most people have reasons for not working like me.

Do people not realise that there arn't enough jobs for everyone in the country to be in work? If one of these lazy people decided to get off their arse and try and get a job as you think they should and they managed to get the job it would only mean someone else wouldn't get the job and would be unemployed. There simply arn't enough jobs! And the government and the way the system is run is to blame for that not the unemployed! Do you think unemployment rised during the credit crunch because the country go lazier? NO the economy slowed as there was less money available to lend because the banks were going bust, so less people were spending therefore demand for goods decreased and therfore supply of goods decreased so there were less jobs!! I'm not denying some people don't want to work, but they are a small minority of unemployed as everyone would be better of financially if they were in work(some people don't realise they can still claim most of their benefits e.g. housing benefit if they get a low paid job and this is why many benefits go unclaimed- the media love these people!) Another point i'd like to make is that state handouts are in no way generous (My mum is very ill, so much so that she has to take morphine daily, can barely walk, has anxiety disorders and has two children in full-time education and get just short of 5K a year and she's a very intelligent woman & knows of all the benefits she is entitled to claim)! The media put storys in magazines such as i've never worked a day in my life and I get 30K a year, if you read into these story's their will be something worng, believe me, but ignorant people take these storys at face value. The govenment want you to be angry atthe unemployed/ sick and blame them for high taxes etc. if they didn't recieve benefits we would simply have people living on the street etc becasue there wouldn't magically be more jobs created! What they could do is stop invading countrys and spending billions on weapons etc. millions on royal wedding what the nation seems delighted about??? Oh and none of the cuts would need to be made if the government would bother collecting the billions businesses owe them in tax avoidence etc. or if they kept the banks and made the billions they are currently making in order to get their money back!! But NO they won't do that, they want a system run on capitalism and they see the defecit as a once in a lifetime opportunity to change the way the system is run and destroy as much of the welfare state as they possibly can & the ignorance of most of the British working class are allowing them to do this, but your the ones who come out worst, so stop listening to them feeding you complete bull! and read into things abit more before making your judgements!

Go to a citizens advice beuro, there is no way you would be better off on the dole so you obviously don't know what your entitled to. Secondly JSA for over 25's is only 67.50 a week so I fail to see how your sister manages to spend £200 a month in the pub? Or does she live with no gas and electric and without food and clothes? Or has she some money from somewhere else (a partner, a relative, savings?) Also if your involved in voluntary work not only do you not get luxurys you get nothing, not even the dole as you are not available for work. There are not enough jobs for everyone, so millions have to be unemployed and it's not necessarily their fault. Seriously though, go and talk to someone at citizens advice who can help you to make sure you are claiming everything you are entitled to.

if all those people that can work but choose to claim benefits took the jobs then maybe our older folk who have worked all their lives wouldnt see their pension ages rising and could therefore retire earlier. some of the benefits people are entitled to are measly whilst those faking sickness or drug/alcohol addicts get a whopping amount. the same goes for those people who choose to go private rented and expect the government to pay £500+ a month for them. this country could save a fortune without disadvantaging any people rightly entitled if they do things in the right way but if they dont we will all suffer, things like cutting ema and care to learn. im a single mum to a 3 yr old and i work, and the way the system is i would be 100% better off on benefits but i believe in karma ... those who choose to try and pull the wool and choose to be lazy will one day suffer for it ie when there are no pensions for those that never worked. hard work pays in more ways than money!

Lisa999, It is people like you who make me glad i moved to the US for 20 years. Having worked so hard for that time building up a business from scratch then selling it. You see for the best part in the states if you don't put in you don't take out! I have now come back and retired at age 50. You however are a work shy layabout who thinks that because some poor sod gave you kids the rest of us should pay! Well why not start a business from home, whatever it is, Ironing for people or dog walking, pet care, childminding.YOU NEED TO CONTRIBUTE............it gives you SELF RESPECT!

I have M.S. and would love to be able to work. Instead I volunteer for the MS Society as a course leader giving people the tools to cope with any long term medical condition. It angers me to see people who obviously are playing the system, taking out of a pot they're not entitled to. I'm giving something back to society why won't they. Pure laziness and an I'm all right Jack attidude. They park in Disabled parking bays, they tut when I can't get out of the way quickly enough. My husband took early retirement package and is now my carer. We live off his works pension, my disability benefits and his £50 a week the state gives him to give me full time care. We pay full price for glasses, dental care and council tax. I know people who are better off than me who have never worked. My hubby also helps out with childcare of our granddaughter so my daughter can work (she's a single parent but not through choice). I'v even just done a wee video for MS society to help raise awareness. We should all give something back to society no matter what our limitations. PS Video's on youtube under MapMyMs. I'm Anne Brown, cheers

After being made redundant from my last well-paid job I had to claim benefits for 11 months before being offered a low paid job which I took like a shot because I was so desperate to get off benefits and had been getting pretty depressed. It wasn't only the rejection it was also not being able to go anywhere or do anything. After 11 months I had exhausted all the "free" activities. Now I am studying part time on top of my full time job so hopefully will get a more fullfilling role at some point. I am still struggling to pay the bills but I feel so much better in myself than when I was on benefits because I know that everything I do is investing in my future.