If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
Essential support for under 25s
Essential support for under 25s
Take a look around and enjoy reading the discussions. If you'd like to join in, it's really easy to register and then you'll be able to post. If you'd like to learn what this place is all about, head here.
Comments
I'm 20, I'm on minimum wage, I work shifts, I'm only just just just about well enough to manage working and so spend all my time when I'm not working resting or doing my recovery stuff. I get paid monthly and 2 week in arrears so the gap between when I work and when I get paid is pretty huge. I have to pay for all my prescriptions and all my medical travel costs ( which on 3 trips a week to a hospital 45 mins drive away get pretty hefty). Oh, and I get taxed and pay National Insurance, and I had to pay to requalify.
I'm working because my mental health needs me to be doing something meaningful with my time, and I need to keep my life vaguely on track to go back to uni in October, and because I started the year as a student I count as a student for the rest of the year so am not eligible for most benefits. If I could get them, I'd be far better off overall with them than I am working.
The bigger benefit from working is experience. As an employer given the choice of two candidates I'd go for the one who has work experience, rather than the one who doesn't.
Well my town has the highest number of people claiming disability benefits (so much so that our MP has now been put in charge of Work and Pensions - figure that one out). If I had to guess, it would be something to do with the lack of employment opportunities generally in the town, and as a result, the lack of employment opportunities for someone who might have certain limitations. That, and it has had a lot of industry in the town over the years, so I would suspect that injuries in the workplace would be higher than elsewhere.
But as for people cheating the system, I've heard that a certain gentleman near me wears a neck brace for this exact reason (though, of course that is purely hearsay). I have seen him driving in it (the safety implications of which are mind boggling) so he obviously is able to turn his neck in something which is designed to keep it in place. And if he is genuinely injured, then this act is obviously not assisting his recovery (but again, I'm assuming things based on my lack of knowledge of his situation). I'm not sure what the exact checks are, but I'm sure there are certain injuries that someone can claim, which cannot necessarily be validated by a doctor.
If people genuinely think that benefits are great to live on, or that anyone on benefits is a scrounger, then they need their heads looking at. Sure, some people on benefits are bone-idle scroungers, but hey.
For some maybe. When I look for a proper job, I'll have a MEng and 5 years worth of summer placements, and in the middle of my course I'll have a year off uni to recover from surgery. In my circumstances I will have the work experience I need and this year is my recovery year.
Because human beings aren't perfect?
What do you mean by "dodgy"?
Isn't it fairly self explanatory?
There's a number of council estates in Birmingham I wouldn't want to walk around in, and some of them I used to live on.
Doesn't make all council houses crappy though as they aren't, espcially not nowdays with the decent homes standard.
No, which is why I asked.
It's often down to personal perception.
The council house areas in our town are the dodgiest in our town (although admittedly a lot safer than some cities) where the most serious crimes are ie the gun crimes etc. Also the gangs.
Incapacity Benefit (and / or Income Support due to Incapacity) are based on the idea that someone could not work for medical reasons.
Disability Living Allowance has two components, one for care and one for mobility and can be paid at different rates depending on an individual's needs. It relates to what a person can and can't do and also asks in many of the sections how many days a week on average this affects the person claiming. You don't have to be unable to do whatever it is asking about 7 days a week to qualify as they recognise that many conditions aren't like that (like your mum!). It doesn't directly relate to not working at all as you could claim for getting help with a disability e.g. getting money for mobility issues like having a wheelchair but still be able to work a full-time job.
The disability premiums associated with Income Support are paid to those who qualify for DLA and also meet certain other criteria.
weekly benefit £59 an from this i pay £5.54 rent leaving me £53.48 pocket money
if i was working
example Min wage as its all to be expected in this dump of area 40 hours x £5.35 =£214 this is taxed to £180 i pay me rent £60 an poll tax £12 leaves £108. i then pay £25 CSA leaving me £83. it also cost me £20 bus fares to travel to work leaving me £63.
Now is getting out bed having some guy dressed in white coat moaning because i went for number 2 in factory bog worth £4 more a week
NO so i quit an went back on dole ..nice 1 labour you really do make it worthwhile for single folk renting homes by themselves the motivation to work,all they ever do is help single parents with kids an forget about singles.
so to the person whom said you are better off working have a rethink ,im sure like this subject starter we arnt the only 1s in this postion.
what really cracks me up the child support agency dont care weather i share rent an pol tax or have to pay rent my self ,they just dontcare an took £25 of my wage leaving me £4 better off working.
even without csa to pay id be £29 better off a week still not going to motivate me into spending my life in a swet shop
You could always get a better job or one closer to home. I don't see how you worked out bus fare to cost you £20 - it would cost me just over that for 2 weeks.
Perhaps if some greedy bastards decided to pay better wages to their employees people would not consider being on the dole instead.
Indeed.
Get a bus pass then?
I don't know. Is having a big gap filled in your CV when you go for an interview for a better job worth getting up every day for a few months?
Which is probably alot more than most people get. (and for the record, I'm entitled to a free bus pass and eye tests but that's due to being partially sighted)
For some people it is borderline to return to work, especially if children are involved, but given the benefit restrictions for under-25s its usually better to work.
well sofie your situation is your own an my situation is mine ..wow my tavel to work expenseses would be £10 more then yours ,you seem to disbelive this is possible .. ok here goes £2 a trip multiplied by 2 trips a day equals £4 multipled by 5 days aweek £20,,that satisfiy ur doubt???
im sorry you cant understand my industrial est or area where most emplyment is situated is actually abit further then your £10 a week traveling expenses.
Also the person who said thers working tax credits for low earners ,yes if you have a family me myself live alone seprated an according to intitledto.co.uk online housing benifit an working tax credits calculator ,if i worked 37 hours for min wage id get a wopping £4.36 ontop of my £197 making me about £3 worser off working then unemplyed.
also if i work 40 hours min wage i dont get any working tax credits been single no kids. As i said in my opening post all the insentives seems to be given to lone parents an they forgot about single people paying full rent alone an poll tax
also i blame local goverment for allowing local business to explot the lack of work in my area ,try it have a look on job search web page under NE62 ..you find jobs that pull £7 hour in newcastle area example been folk lift driver only pays £5.40 in my area ,why because they know thers enough folks desprite to do the work considering lack of opportunity locally.They even refuse to pay shift alloence in my area dispite working a 2 shift sytem making wages even smaller. I see jobs perminent nights which only offers min wage yes i blame local goverment for allowing this to happen in deprived areas . An yes i bame goverment for selling min wage as protection against exploitation when all it has done is set the going rate
an kermitt I know my situation well i have explored every avenue and no im not better off in work the single person element to working tax is £1700 approx £32 week not £50 to 100 an as stated above working 37 hrs min wage gives me £4.36 wtc no housin benefit an actually £3 worser of then on benifits 40 hrs week min wage gives me zilch wtc an zilch housing benefit an £18 better off then on benifits.
now the only way i can see ive gone wrong on here is the wtc however intitledto.co.uk is rather accruate ,as for the offical wtc do I qualify web page,it tells me im intitled to £1700 element as it asks what earnings i had between 2006 an 2007 which is zero..it dont ask what wage id be earning when i start work ,totally confuses me so i use intitledto.co.uk web calculator
Alright, no need to have a go at me.
And why do you think that is?
If you work 35 hours at minimum wage its about £140 per week after tax, but income support for a single person is only about £70 per week. Sure, you get housing benefit and council tax benefit as a given, but that doesn't make £70 per week difference if you're in social housing and living alone.
Tax credits go on your previous year's income unless you're earning £25,000pa more than the previous year, or less in the current year, so your entitlement would be higher at first, although it would decrease as you get older.
I do see people who are better off on benefits, especially if they're on income-based JSA, but most people are better off working. Housing benefit rules for single-person households are fairly strict.
entitledto.co.uk is fairly good, but its only ever as good as the information you put in. You should consider ringing CLS Direct on 0845 345 4345 to have a full benefits check.