Reply to: Benefits debit card - best idea EVER!

[socialworker]

Ah, ignore me - I'd had a glass or three...

[mudskipper]

Sorry you took it that way. Just statement of fact. I actually dont expect people to know that much because unless you have an elderly relative there is no reason to know. Any more than I expect most people know what an IT contractor does.

Ah, ignore me - I'd had a glass or three...

[petergriffin]

The idea of a benefit card for the unwashed is a terrible idea for 3 bullet points:

1. Abolition cash is ultimately abolition of freedom. Cash is the only real money you can decide what to do with. Once you remove cash from the unwashed, why stop there? Why not abolishing cash for the working class? Why not for the middle class too? And why not confiscate gold and silver? No thanks!
2. This is a gift to the credit/debit card companies that the taxpayer needs not subsidize.
3. The unwashed will be pushed towards these payday loan sharks, which I believe contract a few users on this board.

[darmstadt]

That's ok, very few people know what social workers do, though quite a lot have an opinion about it.

I was allocated a social worked when I was about to leave hospital having spent some months there after a rather serious accident. Her plan was to send me to a rehabilitation centre on the coast near Clacton. It didn't quite fit in with my plans which I thought were much better and I think worked a hell of a lot better. My plan was to leave the hospital and go back to work the next day which is in fact what I did and have never looked back.

I also had a probation officer once as well but we won't talk about her...

[socialworker]

I liked you till you went patronising.

Sorry you took it that way. Just statement of fact. I actually dont expect people to know that much because unless you have an elderly relative there is no reason to know. Any more than I expect most people know what an IT contractor does.

[vetran]

Similar cards are already in use in many parts of the US to deliver benefits to the unemployed. They are known as FSA or EBT cards. Apparently once a week, Wal Mart gets really busy around midnight on the day that the cards get re-charged. Lots of people avoid Wal Mart for the first day or two after EBT day.

Cheers interesting

FSA seems to be an employee card

FSA debit card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


EBT the benefit one

Electronic Benefit Transfer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That looks like the template, it seems to be working.

Welfare Fraud Still Possible With New EBT Card :: WRAL.com

Department of Social Services leaders estimate a 90 percent reduction in welfare fraud

Food Stamp Fraud Using Electronic Benefit Transfer Cards

all that is left is bartering / buy it for me requests or selling your card. all of those are pretty risky.

So possibly the solution is a universal card that covers employees & benefit recipients. Tax discount for employees (can only be spent in UK) so tax stays in UK.

could expand it to healthcare as well. maybe pop a photo on it connect it to your DNA

[Freamon]

Similar cards are already in use in many parts of the US to deliver benefits to the unemployed. They are known as FSA or EBT cards. Apparently once a week, Wal Mart gets really busy around midnight on the day that the cards get re-charged. Lots of people avoid Wal Mart for the first day or two after EBT day.

[mudskipper]

That's ok, very few people know what social workers do, though quite a lot have an opinion about it.

I liked you till you went patronising.

[socialworker]

Ah OK, apologies - I misunderstood adult care.

That's ok, very few people know what social workers do, though quite a lot have an opinion about it.

[EternalOptimist]

You're probably in a better position than most of us to give a ballpark of how many benefits claimants are playing the system.

If I had to guess, (based on 30 year old experience)
I would say - total bums 5%
black marketeer fiddlers 10%
slackers (free money takes the edge off job seeking, temporarily) 15%

[mudskipper]

I dont know why you should think that. Most of the people I deal with are over 85 and severely disabled. That is what adult care social workers do.

Ah OK, apologies - I misunderstood adult care.

[socialworker]

Ah - the old problem of the deserving vs undeserving poor.

You're probably in a better position than most of us to give a ballpark of how many benefits claimants are playing the system.

I dont know why you should think that. Most of the people I deal with are over 85 and severely disabled. That is what adult care social workers do.

[minestrone]

My Father came from the poor east end and got a position in an accountancy firm after leaving school, for 4 years he went to work on the tram at 7, worked his shift, went to night school and got home at 11, then he got conscripted and served in Aiden under Mad Mitch in the crater. He was sure I was not going to have a profit existance as a teenager and I had to work through my uni time, I worked 4 years in a butcher shop before I got my 5 year degree.

[mudskipper]

I dont disagree, actually. But the point remains, why should everyone who has lost their job be infantilised as incapable of budgetting for themselves. Treat people as children and they tend to behave like it.

People who post on here have got marketable skills, yes we all worked hard for them etc. If next financial year there are big cuts in the budgets that currently pay my wages I will just be another disposable 50 something who no one needs. There will be thousands younger who will look better bets for jobs in shops and offices and care homes than me. My dad sold oil in the 70s and 80s. He worked hard and did well, but part of doing well was the demand for oil. We all tend to put our successes down to hard work and our failures down to bad luck.

Ah - the old problem of the deserving vs undeserving poor.

You're probably in a better position than most of us to give a ballpark of how many benefits claimants are playing the system.

[EternalOptimist]

Are they a growing problem? Are there more now than there were in say the 80s?

If being a single parent is a 'lifestyle choice' it's a feckin' hard one, and possibly a reflection of the general hopelessness that is endemic in the less educated girls of today's teenage generation.

It's a growning problem (IMHO) not because of the numbers, but because lack of parenting skills gets passed down. One ill educated and pooly skilled parent produces three or four of the same.
It's just what I have seen, I may be wrong. I hope I am.

The lifestyle choice (again, based on my limited experience) may be tough, but the free accommodation is a big driver