CUK Rant Bait

[The Spartan]

Or that. Although these areas are often cheap because there's no work there which kind of defeats the point.

Well we could at least make room for the workers and cut their commuting costs

[d000hg]

Saw on the news this morning that the housing benefit bill in the UK was £24 Billion!!

Benefits should be for those who can't work (sick/disabled and unemployed looking for work) they should not be for those who decide not to work. Certain benefits should be time related and on a sliding scale...the longer you are on the lower it gets, so you can't simply sit on your @rse watching your big telly!

The problem is, it's not seen as the civilised thing to let people starve even if they're lazy. It's like a parent who threatens to smack their child but never does - hard for a government to do much when pulling the safety net out from people is not a viable option politically.

Another problem is how to genuinely classify someone as lazy rather than unable to get a job. Should the latter be supported by the state or not? A case by case judgement is a big job.

[Robinho]

Well we could at least make room for the workers and cut their commuting costs

It's all just central planning though which is doomed to fail. Ultimately we need to let market forces dictate things again, but that's going to be a difficult process as the gov has made such a hash of the country.

[Sysman]

1. The actual answer is that benefits exceed the bottom end pay for work.
2. It is possible to live moderately on benefits.
3. Whilst receiving benefits you are not expected to exert yourself.


Number 1 is caused by over supply of workers for reduced / changing job market. Be it Eastern etc immigrants or the reduction of manual labour and the increase in service & high end job that the workforce are not prepared for.

Number 2 whilst I have no wish to punish short term claimants or people willing to work I believe helping people along a return to work ladder that shrinks as you progress (you have fewer & fewer options and fewer people can be supported on the higher rungs). So long term claimants are forced to reconsider.

Number 3 - Workfare, there is so much that could be done to make the country and the world a better place by unskilled people. Get them up in the morning and make em work. It would also stop those working illegally off benefits.

This is where it's better in places where you get earnings related dole for a limited time. This gives you a buffer, and more importantly the dosh to get yourself to interviews, do some networking and some training.

[Robinho]

This is where it's better in places where you get earnings related dole for a limited time. This gives you a buffer, and more importantly the dosh to get yourself to interviews, do some networking and some training.

Or you could just save up money when you are earning.

[Sysman]

Ah yes.

The earnings related dole that the Sainted Margaret abolished.

Yes my Dad enjoyed that when he took early retirement. With 40 years of working by the time he was 55 he was quite glad of that.

He managed to pay off the mortgage with his redundancy dosh, and with no mortgage and no commuting/smart suit costs he was only a fiver a month worse off.

And he took delight in driving to the dole office in his Volvo to sign on (I think it was still a weekly signing back then).

[Sysman]

Or you could just save up money when you are earning.

Not when you've been working for a twat who didn't pay you.

BTDT. It wasn't pleasant at all.

I swore then that I would never get a permie job again, and so far, so good.

I did have a solid job offer, but the dole office wouldn't pay me to get to an interview because:

1. the job was abroad
2. it paid more than £20K or so p.a.

After paying tax at the top rate several years before that, I felt the system had completely let me down.