Universal Credit

[kidley 48]

The benefit system in this country is to live on, not to have luxuries, you have to work for those. has some people got the idea that being on benefits you should have luxuries like a mobile phone having a few pints in the pub etc .

 The days when you are better off on the dole than working, are slowly coming to a end.

 The benefits are for necessities to live on, not for add ons.

   that is the governments approach to benefits, irrespective of what anybody els thinks.       

[Robin-H 11]

37 minutes ago, Halibut said:

Is a modern mobile phone really a 'cash treat' or is it a necessary tool for modern life and work?

 

Why I do I get the feeling you think the poor should be dressed in rags and living in the gutter?

There is a big different between thinking 'the poor' should be dressed in rags and living in the gutter, and taking umbrage at people using tax payers money to buy themselves treats. 

 

I think having a mobile these days is a pretty necessary tool, but there is a huge spectrum for the types and costs of phones. Without knowing which phone was bought it not possible to judge whether it was waste of money. 

[Guest makapaka]

1 hour ago, Robin-H said:

There is a big different between thinking 'the poor' should be dressed in rags and living in the gutter, and taking umbrage at people using tax payers money to buy themselves treats. 

 

I think having a mobile these days is a pretty necessary tool, but there is a huge spectrum for the types and costs of phones. Without knowing which phone was bought it not possible to judge whether it was waste of money. 

I agree there has to be a balance - you have to keep people incentivised to work and if you are able to get on benefits what someone else has to work 40hrs a week for you're not gonna get that.

 

that said- there are certain things now which people need that may once have been seen as a "nice to have" which are now necessary - a mobile phone being one of them.

[nightrider 13]

2 hours ago, Halibut said:

Is a modern mobile phone really a 'cash treat' or is it a necessary tool for modern life and work?

 

 

I know several people who manage without them - everything you "have to do"  can still be done without a smart phone.

[alchresearch 208]

1 hour ago, Robin-H said:

I think having a mobile these days is a pretty necessary tool, but there is a huge spectrum for the types and costs of phones.

 

Without knowing which phone was bought it not possible to judge whether it was waste of money. 

4 mins 10 seconds in .  It looks remarkably like an iphone 11 - cut out section at the top of the screen, no visible buttons on the bottom - RRP  £729 at Argos.

[Robin-H 11]

26 minutes ago, makapaka said:

I agree there has to be a balance - you have to keep people incentivised to work and if you are able to get on benefits what someone else has to work 40hrs a week for you're not gonna get that.

 

that said- there are certain things now which people need that may once have been seen as a "nice to have" which are now necessary - a mobile phone being one of them.

A mobile phone yes, but I think it does matter what type of mobile. It's possible to buy mobile phones for way under £100 that have all the necessary functionality. I haven't watched the programme, so can't corroborate alchresearch's suggestion that it is an iPhone 11, although if it has a cut out section at the top of the screen it sure does sound like one... Buying top of the range stuff like that with other people's money is problematic. 

[*_ash_* 88]

7 hours ago, alchresearch said:

This woman wound me up.  I thought benefits were some kind of safety net.  Not free cash to buy treats like modern mobile phones because her old on was "like a brick" and getting her hair done.

 

"i do think its right that we treat ourselves" she says.

 

Yeah, not with taxpayers money though.

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-51389481/universal-credit-i-went-wild-and-it-hit-me-like-a-ton-of-bricks

Almost everything in the programme fell into the bracket of what I consider the problem with it, as I posted before.

 

Too slow, monthly payments or the rent money issue.

 

-

 

The latter 2 of these 3 things should be looked at altering, IMO.

 

The slowness was explained, and we know the system has faults and these are already being looked at. The last 2 will still be there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RiffRaff 10]

Doesn't the reason she's never worked because "It's more fear that I'm gonna do wrong and they're going to get rid of me" bother anybody else?!

 

[catmiss 12]

The 5 week wait for initial payment forces most people into needing ‘advanced payments’ which is then recovered via instalments (much higher than social fund loan repayments) from subsequent monthly payments. I can appreciate paying HB in the payment mimics the responsibility of a wage earner but can be a big ask for long term claimants who are used to rent/council tax benefits being paid direct. When people have had weekly benefits with housing costs paid at source the move to UC can be a minefield. I don’t think the benefits agency staff ‘holistic approach’ portrayed in the programme is available widespread 

[melthebell 862]

8 hours ago, RiffRaff said:

Doesn't the reason she's never worked because "It's more fear that I'm gonna do wrong and they're going to get rid of me" bother anybody else?!

 

Not really, people are different, some have anxiety issues, I have anxiety, worse than some, not as bad as others, a mate is on the sick with his, some times he can't leave the house for weeks, Mi dad suffered from it, he had aggophobia for more than 30 years, barely left the house or he'd faint/blackout

[Car Boot 10]

On 07/02/2020 at 12:32, nightrider said:

I know several people who manage without them - everything you "have to do"  can still be done without a smart phone.

A mobile is pretty much essential for job seekers. Employers will not contact anybody without a telephone number these days.

 

A mobile phone is essential to get a job. Landlines have gone the way of the VHS recorder.

[taxman 12]

On 08/02/2020 at 00:26, catmiss said:

The 5 week wait for initial payment forces most people into needing ‘advanced payments’

This is the worst, most deliberate and most egregious aspect of Tax Credits..it's almost as if they designed it so people had to go to food banks.