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On benefits versus working for a living

I originally came to the U.K. to do a master's degree and stayed when I was offered a job.  I worked in the IT field at the time and there was a demand. However, I now work in social housing. Not once have I ever been on benefits or even received employment assistance from the Jobcentre when I was briefly unemployed.  In fact, the Jobcentre told me I was overqualified for any jobs they had even though I protested and said I would wait on tables, do cleaning work, etc.

A babies cot

She claims she is a single parent...

Fast forward, to eight years later.  I am now pregnant and live in an area where there is a lot of council housing.  One of my neighbours is 18 years younger than I am and is one month further along in her pregnancy.  I am 39 and she is 21.  She already has a 2 year old son and is in a 2 bedroom council flat.  She claims she is a single parent although both children have the same father.  The father works, but maintains another address and stays with her 3 days out of the week.

She gets full housing and council tax benefit as well as income support and child benefit, plus, when her baby is born she will be given a £500 voucher to invest for her child because she is "poor".  She is so poor that just in the last month alone she bought a 40" TV, new computer and had Sky and broadband installed.  Her children have all the latest toys and an expensive travel system.  And she can apply for a Sure Start maternity grant since she is on benefits.  Both her and the father that supposedly does not exist have been buying expensive toys and clothes for their children.

In contrast, my fiance and I own a 1 bedroom flat.  We cannot afford to move for another two years and definitely will not get council housing since we are home owners.  We are both in full time employment.  Almost all of our baby's clothing has come from charity shops or been given to us since we cannot afford a lot.  Even the baby walker, cot bed and moses basket have been bought second hand.  We cannot afford the travel system our neighbour has and our son will be in our bedroom for a few years until we can move.  We do not own a 40" TV and scrimped and saved for our computer.  We will only be given a £250 voucher from the government to invest for our child because we are not on benefits.

I also checked out working tax credits and will receive around £30 per month although our childcare will cost over £600 when I return to work.  We are not eligible for council tax benefit or the Sure Start maternity grant and although my salary will drop by half now that I am on maternity leave and my fiance's will when he is on paternity leave, we will get no form of help paying the mortgage.

I think it is sick and disgusting that working people get nothing. I am an immigrant, but I have worked hard and have paid taxes all these years.  I never received any form of help from the government and my university education was paid for by me!  When I was briefly unemployed, I was willing to scrub toilets if I had to and last year when I needed some extra money, I took a second job doing barmaid work.  I am 18 years older than my neighbour and worked until I went on leave last month, yet this scum has never lifted a finger and is being handed everything on a plate.

I know people go on about immigrants, but there are immigrants like myself who do not scrounge and assimilate.  Also, I lived in another country before coming here where I had to learn another language.  As soon as I got there I signed up for language classes.  I was also working while learning the language and was tested as nearly fluent within 9 months.  I get fed up when I hear people have lived here for 20 years and never learned a word of English.  It is sheer laziness.

I informed the housing officer that my neighbour is scamming the system.  She needs a kick up the backside along with all the others out there who are doing the same thing.  If I can get to work whilst heavily pregnant and return after my baby is born, she and others like her can do it as well!

By: Soon2bmother

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For whatever reason you originally came here, you were offered a full time job and for that reason offered a chance to live here by the sounds of it! Be greatfull and respectfull to our country or go back!
Whether youve paid taxes or not, regardless of what you could be claiming here- you obviously wouldnt have had the same job and wage in your own country so infact we have done you a favour by giving you employment ie a chance in life.
To show grattitude, you moan about not being able to claim benefits and bubble your neighbour who has young children to support. What a spitefull nasty ungreatfull woman! No wonder there is such prejudice in the world against imigrants! Ike the way our country runs or leave it!

-1

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milly - 22-Jun-11 05:51 

If you are getting working tax credits, and once your baby is born you should also be entitled to child tax credits,,,as well as getting 75 to 80% off your childcare charges. Since you are getting working tax credit that also entitles you to free NHS medicine prescriptions should you need any. If you are your fiance are both in full time employment with no dependents then surely you earn enough between you to pay rent on a one bedroom flat and food and utilties? I would think with two wages coming in and no dependents that you wouldnt be eligible for working tax credit as it is normally paid on behalf of the partner who is not working. You sound like youve done very well for yourself, and are very proud of your acheivements. But in the process you have also become bitter than you are not entitled to our countrys benefits system. That makes you no better than your neighbour!!

+2

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confused? - 18-May-11 19:17 

Bagpuss the thing is the government say she infact is entitled to claim all of that.

-5

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Tinks - 26-Apr-11 06:07 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, how can I agree more. My middle daughter is a microbiolist and her second baby is due at Easter. She works 50 miles away and her husband is a househusband as she has more earning capacity being in management in a brewery. She leaves at 7.30 am and arrives home 12 hours later. She only earns 20K (which is terrible but she hopes that with more experience in managment it will improve). Another young mother nearby has a house paid for her, gets carer's allowance for her mother whom she moved to Wales so that she could claim it. Has managed to get her wayward son ADHD and autistic and gets even more money for that!!! They even got vouchers to go on holiday, (Lack of parenting skills is all that is wrong with him - maybe that is harsh, but hey, when I see how she lets him get away with everything, it makes me feel like that.) She gets everything, and doesn't do any work for a living. So what did I do..... I reported her to the social services for cheating the system and claiming benefits for things she wasn't entitled to. It is about time that some government brought them to book, but I don't think they will. Labour or Condem, makes little difference. They won't tackle people like her.

+2

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Bagpuss - 16-Jan-11 20:10 

Judge, you are forgetting those who are full time carers who are both broke and exhausted. There are no bank holidays for them.

+3

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carer - 24-Dec-10 22:22 

if your only entitled to claim £30 a week you must be earning about 50,000.what are you complaining about.

-3

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delly - 13-Nov-10 23:16 

What are you moaning about? Be thankful you managed to get on the housing ladder. That's more than I've been able to do despite working full time, climbing the career ladder for the past 10 years and doing literally thousands of hours of unpaid overtime for my employers during that time. I will get too old to have children before I can get on the housing ladder. Even if I get to have children should I work full-time it seems I will be expected to line some private landlord's pocket at the expense of providing my children any standard of living.

-5

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Hardworking - 11-Oct-10 10:45 

Message to whippet you are obnoxious and jugemental stop knocking the unemployed and keep your nose in your own troff . employers are there to exploit cheap labour. They have a right to sack you directly or indirectly when they want before 1 year service ie 1 years work for 3 months pay I been in the labour market for 36 years I enjoyed my last job I wasnt allowed to keep it buisness is bad everywhere.I bet youre the type who looks people up and down on the tube dont be suprised if you get your purse snached.Whats your problem are you jelous of unemployed moron.

+3

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pat. - 6-Sep-10 06:42 

I am a bit confused by some of your comments. You should be able to claim 80% of your child care costs from the Child Care Tax Credit, and claim some of the rest from your firm as Child Care Vouchers. If you are entitled to Working Tax Credit then you are probably entitled to the full Child Trust Fund and the Sure Start Maternity Grant, although the coalition gov't are about to abolish both. You have either been badly advised or you are exaggerating for effect. I suggest you check out moneysavingexpert.com for the best advice on all of these.

0

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Fuzzy - 5-Aug-10 11:31 

Child benefit should be paid at the highest rate for the first 2 children and than fall rapidly for every child after that, there are too many people in this world and with automation and other labour saving technology being developed there will be fewer jobs available and a workforce vastly superior in numbers to that of the current level required by the industrial system of work we now enjoy

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Tinkerman - 16-Jul-10 12:33 

Unrestrained breeding should be specifically targetted - child benefit should be stopped after the second kid.

+3

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Ping Pong - 12-Jul-10 21:02 

Soontobemother, I applaud you for being one of the few hardworking and honest people in this country. Your neighbour does indeed sound like scum and I hope she gets taught a lesson, although I doubt it. I feel so sorry for her children though...being brought up by a loser mother like that. I share your frustrations in many ways...my husband and I both got 1st class degrees at university, work full-time, and currently live in a 2 bedroom terrace, whereby our idiot unmarried neighbours who are unemployed, uneducated and drink and smoke all day, while playing loud music all night, have just moved to a luxury new 4 bedroom 'social house' down the road, all pretty much free of charge . The benefits system in this country makes me sick. I just hope Cameron and Clegg can switch the lightbulb on at last by working together.

+2

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whippet 1 - 10-Jul-10 19:38 

Everyone needs to inform the DSS about people who con the system!

Do It Now! I am.

+3

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Henno - 5-Jul-10 00:05 

Smithy, It's because the schools now charge £2-00 per meal, it works out quite a lot of money for three children over a month, as for tables, I wouldn't even think of complaining over a trivial matter like this, the people at the school would have their answers, and lets not forget, they are in charge.

+3

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Gainsborough lad. - 21-May-10 21:06 

Also, I meant to ask why doesn't the school have enough tables so that all the children can eat their meal, cooked or sandwiches , without rushing?

+5

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Smithy - 20-May-10 21:30 

Gainsborough lad.

If you can't afford to pay for school meals why don't you qualify for free meals?

+1

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Smithy - 20-May-10 21:28 

Dinnertime at my kids school, the ones having a free school cooked meal because there parents dont' work, eat first at the twelve tables,

Over half an hour later, the kids whose mums and dads do go to work, finally get the tables and have to rush their sandwiches down as their lessons start soon,

The working mums and dads can't afford school dinners for their kids, because they have to pay for the kids dinners whose mums and dads don't work through extra taxation,

That's how working familys are rewarded in the UK, second class.

+2

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Gainsborough lad. - 20-May-10 20:26 

Like others, I find myself peed off by lazy scroungers living the life of riley whilst we work our backsides off in, usually, unrewarding jobs. My near-neighbours don't work at all, but own 3 high performance cars (Audis x 2, and an Evo), and even a new, big caravan. Yet they still have the nerve to have one of their family members pick their kids up for the school run (about 2 streets away). It gets on my wick so much so see me and my partner and kids struggle each month, whilst they live the high life. I keep going on about it, my partner says, 'oh yeah, they'll be up to their eye balls in debt though' to which I reply ' so are we, but they look like they're actually enjoying it!' Like many others I guess, I no longer recognise the Britain I grew up in.

-5

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Treacle - 20-May-10 17:11 

How I totally agree, I to work hard,have done all my life. Whereas a so called friend, works for cash in hand, doesnt pax tax or NI contributions, owns two horses, 4x4 and trailer and claims all the benefits going. When I tried to explain to her that I am paying for her and daughter's keep, she just laughed and said at least Im english - how pathetic. Hopefully, now Cameron is in, something will be done about this.

-3

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TC - 14-May-10 20:18 

isnt it weird that we live in a country that punishes the hard working and rewards the lazy. well I hope the housing officer does something about that lazy sponger.

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king - 27-Apr-10 20:40 

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