Better Off On Benefits
Re-posted from April 2010..
‘I’m better off on benefits than working’
That’s what I heard someone say, and not for the first time, how often do you hear people say this? How can the working person be worse off than the person in the same situation that CHOOSES not to work and claim benefits? Now lets not be nieve about this, many people do CHOOSE not to work, they understand the system, how to work it how to get the most out of it….this is not about finding yourself in difficult circumstances, being forced into unemployment or any such thing, but about the morality of the situation, the choices we make and the way some people can actually feel cheated for going to work!
Putting aside the moralistic aspect for the time being, do the numbers really stack up? For the purpose of this I’ll use the example of an unskilled worker, (being that someone with qualifications or skills to earn a high salary would probably not CHOOSE to claim benefits over working)……Starting at the bottom of the pay scale, lets say the average unskilled worker works a 35 hour week on minimum wage, £5.80 for over 22′s, that’s a gross pay of £203.00 – tax/NI that’s around £158.00 per week take home. Now, that’s not a lot of money for working a 35 hour week in my opinion, but for not working at all, well, I’d be fairly happy with that! Free money wouldn’t you say? Well wouldn’t you?
So, are the government really giving out £158.00 minimum in benefit per week, per person? If so, where’s the incentive for an unskilled person to go to work? Who’s to blame here? If you give a person a choice to work or not work for the same money, can you blame them for not working?
Don’t take this as a dig at the average unemployed person, this is about the system we have in place that forces people to make this choice, its about the incentive to change and progress, the effect and degradation on social society, belief structures and the view of work and the benefits system as a whole. We want to hear your views, especially if you find yourself in this situation.
For those who do, guess what, its not all about money, it may be today, but what about tomorrow? If you find yourself in this position, take these quoted words of advice….
If you carry on doing what you are doing, expect nothing more from your life than what you have, don’t expect change, change takes action.
A couple more inspiring quotes:
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. (Thomas Jefferson)
Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all. (Sam Ewing)
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. (Andy Warhol)
Do you believe you are better off on benefits than working? Some financial examples would be welcomed, you can do it all anonymously, we really would like to know and discuss. What’s your opinion on the situation? Should people have this option? What effect does this have on everyone else?
Comments below please…
Excellent topic, here’s some figures (accurate to +/- £5 per week)
Taking the above example, if the person was unemployed, in Torbay, the Local Housing Allowance (housing benefit) will pay up to £99.00 per week for a one bedroomed flat (if claimant is aged over 25), plus the council tax is covered in full. After this, on JSA/Income Support/ESA, the claimant will have £65 per week to spend on gas/electric/water/food etc.
If working then the following calculation shows how benefits would be affected:
£158.00 per week – wages
£6.00 per week – working tax credit entitlement
£37.00 per week – Local Housing Allowance/Housing benefit
= £201.00 per week Total Income
Less…
£100.00 Rent
£20.00 Council Tax
——–
= £81.00 per week – disposable income (water/gas/electric/food/etc)
…yes, you are better off working in this situation, but by only £15-£20 per week, and if you have travel to work costs then you will be worse off.
Thats probably why so many people don’t want a minimum wage job, why bust you’re balls when you can stay in bed or watch Jeramy Kyle for about the same amount of cash.
…oh, and to clarify, I’ve been out of work for about 6 months in total of a 20 year working life so far. I’d rather be busy even in any dirty job (and I’ve done many!) I’m actually in the welfare game and see many people who I love to help each day, but many more demanding people who’ve never paid into the system who I wish I didnt have to help.
GIRLS! Get a job/education and expect more from your life than just being a single parent, an accident once maybe, but twice & 3+ times, who’re you kidding?!
BOYS! Get a job/education and wear a condom (don’t believe her if she says she’s on the pill) …I’m personally sick of paying for other peoples kids!
…just my 2 pence worth lol
@TQ2Tone – Thanks for your contribution, your 2 pence worth is very welcome here! Great to see some facts and figures.
Confirming that actually you could be better off on benefits than working a minimum wage job! Frankly shocking. And I so agree that if you were not better off but the difference was as minimal as £15-£20pw, that’s essentially what you would be doing your working week for, who in their right mind is going to take that option? And this is without even approaching the ‘cash in hand’ scenario, being that you would be available for work!
So what’s the solution? It seems to me that if you find yourself in this situation, your decision has been made for you, your unskilled and being offered a full time wage to and I quote ‘stay in bed or watch Jeremy Kyle’!…
My offerings can only be this: Make yourself worth more than minimum wage!
Education + motivation + ambition = change.
Cheers Nick,
It is a real tricky one though, especially for single people trying to meet the high costs of rented accommodation in the bay.
If you’re sharing a place with a friend or partner then the situation is much more “do-able” and both parties can afford the rent and still have a life – even on minimum wage. I’ve shared a few times in life, just for this reason, say when I’ve foolishly left employment before lining something else up and then having to take any dirty agency jobs on offer to fill the gap.
It’s not all about money though for me. Going to work takes 8 hours of the day when we’re not spending money, if the job is physical then its like being paid to go to the gym, and it also gives a chance of interaction with other people (their stories, laughs, and comradery moaning about the job etc)
I’ve always chosen the “any rubbish job” option when I’ve had to, as it usually leads to other work in that unskilled world of “networking”…if people see you work hard then your more likely to be offered work if its available, or get a good reference for your CV.
I don’t know the solution, but whilst Housing Benefit rules continue to take 65p of every pound you earn above JSA/Income Support/ESA rates from your rent entitlement, people will continue to work cash in hand and not declare it. A bigger disregard of the earnings and therefore a bigger incentive to work would certainly help people motivate themselves into chasing work “on the books”.
…whatever the answer, its a national issue, with central government responsible for setting tax rates and benefit disregard rules. Sadly though, it seems the national parties are mainly chasing middle income voters, so I don’t expect much effort being made to change this situation for the folks struggling further down the financial line.
I recently found myself out of work,applied for jobs,very surprised that no one answered any cv. Did the next step went down the job centre and signed on.Waited over a week for them to decide that i was not entitled to any money, when I asked why – because i have always worked & never recieved money from them, i was told because two years ago i took a year out of work and didnt have enough stamps to claim anything. Fair enough i took the year out to look after my first grandchild my money situation was different two years ago so i didnt need to claim anything. Now all has changed and this time i needed some help until i found a job. My point is how the hell do some people stay out of work for years, claim, and get every benefit going.If i left my partner went into rented accommadaton i would be entitled to some money its all wrong.People who have worked hard all ther lives invested in buying there own house standing on there own two feet just what the goverment want are always on the wrong side of any goverment help makes you wonder why.
We need to talk about individual cases as we can easily fall into Daily Mail stereotypes.
As we have noted, the difference in a low-age ecomomy such as Torbay betweeen working full-time and not working at all can be pretty much menaingless. Paid Care Workers, for example, often don’t get paid their travel time between clients, so they could be on less than the minimum wage.
While single people could take the attitude that any paid work is better than benefits, those with dependent children may not have that option. If they take up that job, then their children will suffer.
This is the Benefits Trap.
It’s also worth recognising that some people on benefits dedicate many hours to the voluntary sector and their communities.
The benefits system disguises worklessness. Torbay has real unemployment levels of around 20%. If we want to reach full employment in our three towns, we would need to create around 12,000 jobs.
38% of Torbay’s working population is employed in the public services. The number of these jobs may well fall over the next few years. Following the line that those on welfare are lazy scroungers will be increasingly untenable as we see our hardworking friends and neighbours lose their jobs.
Benefits have always had two main functions. The first is to alleviate poverty, and the second is to act as a social sedative. If we remove benefits, we will rapidly experience the social breakdown that we see in American inner cities.
Yes its very easy to look at these things from one perspective and make judgement. I guess I originally wrote the post about a specific predicament, but more importantly was really aimed at behaviour and attitude of work as a whole. The benefits trap is an awful place to find yourself, having dependants as well is a whole new level of trap. The truth is we are all very lucky to have it in place.
Despite engineering qualifications, I’m only working a couple of part-time minimum wage jobs. I have plenty of time off – I could sweat my ass off all week, and after losing housing and council tax benefit I’d be just a few pounds better off. It’s just not worth it.
The problem is not overly generous benefits, but a miserly minimum wage which keeps the low paid dependent on state help, and offers no great reward between working a part-time job while sucking up benefits or working full-time.