David Cameron's new Benefits

What do we reckon to Mr Camerons new idea on benefits?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18575453

I only caught a bit of it, but two things stood out.

Firstly, no housing benefits for 'young people' (I think i heard 25 suggested as the lower age limit).

Also, reduced benefits for long term unemployed.

Ian Duncan Smith was on this morning telling the people (which includes me) that its what we want. Apparently its because I find it unfair that I have to work hard for what I get while some people don't. That's what I'm told I believe, but I'm not sure its true.

Seems to me, that if worst case scenario I found myself out of work, and try as I might I couldn't find another job, I'd hope that my national insurance that I've been paying since leaving school would count for something.

On the housing benefits for young people front, it seems to me that if someone is 18 and has found themselves homeless, I'd rather live in a society where we at least try to help them rather than just leaving them to become feral on the streets. Lets say I drop dead just after I post this, I'd like to think that the state would reward me for my contribution of taxes and NI by not declaring my wife and son to be below contempt just because they'd lost their bread winner.

But then, maybe I'm just a liberalist beardo. I don't know.

 

There is already a grey area for young people with regard to benefit/housing. Willow has now officially left school. She's 15 so can't claim anything, too young to get a propper job. My boy is 17, living with his girlfriend in the middle of nowhere, he can't claim jsa because there is no way of getting anywhere to get a job till he can afford a car, which he can't afford till he gets a job.

 

Must admit to not reading it all at this time.

I do think something needs to be done about those that just dont intend working, or those that have loads of kids, two sometimes three families and just leave the tax payer to take the bill.

Like all things common sense needs to be applied.
I've know mates who have worked 40 yrs, but cant get a decent benefit when made redundant.

At the same time I see families where no one intends getting a job, spend all day cluttering up the street with wrecks of motors, which they then put on the nearest roundabout with a for sale sign on.

We need a flexible system.
At the moment its one size fits all.

 

It's a tricky one. I must admit to getting annoyed at those that treat benefits as a right/career choice. As far as I'm concerned, benefits are there for when folks fall on hard times, whenever that may be.

 

I think this is a very difficult one. I'm with you, Clueless, in that I'd much rather people who really need help are looked after than left to rot. On the other hand, I don't think there should be an automatic assumption that the state will always pay no matter what. Given the way things are, I think we'll have to go back to the idea that children are at home for longer and we once again have extended families living under one roof. It makes sense in financial terms, because you can share money around and see each other through lean times, rather than the state having to step in.

The problem, it seems to me, is that the welfare state was set up with the very laudable aim of being a safety net for the truly needy, but is now paying out in a way that was never envisaged. To give you one small example, I have Polish neighbours - delightful, educated young professionals in their early twenties who will no doubt end up doing rather well for themselves. A young relative now lives in their spare room. She came over for a holiday, but has decided to stay in the UK, because it makes sense for all of them to 'pool their resources'. The sister isn't working, so I assume that her 'resources' are obtained courtesy of the British taxpayer. This is just utter and complete madness. I like my neighbours and I suppose I can't blame them for playing a rubbish system. But it just has to stop, before we're all living in Tent City.

 

Seems to me that it would be good to spend money on creating jobs by restoring some of our manufacturing and stop buying all our goods from abroad. Young people need to see a future that isn't just benefits.

 

I agree with the part about children .... If you are 25 years old, you and your wife has never worked, and you have never worked for the past 3 years, why do you have 5 children, and why is your wife pregnant again? (I know of such a case .... they get free council housing in a 4 bed house, drink cider everynight, box each other, smoke ready made cigarettes, and eat better food than me, even though I work hard 7 days a week

the part about young kids starting off in life .... help them to find work ... many want to work, and times are tough .... they need financial support to get going .... it's tough out there .... in cambride, rents are high, and many young people who want to be independant, find it hard, as to rent a room in shared accomodation here, costs more than £100 a week .... you need to work many hrs on minimum wage just to pay rent

another part that needs addressing in the long term unemployed .... if they are healthy, and they are not working, they are lazy ....

if you cannot find a job in your chosen career for 3 years or more, change professions and do something else .... even if it means that become a cleaner and clean homes (cleaners here in Cambridge earn over £15 per hour) .... or mow lawns, or pick strawerries .... if you are not working after 3 years of unemployment,and are healthy, ..... then you are lazy

 

Free world trade knocked that one on the head.

Import duty of a few percent on cheap imports about 20yrs ago might have saved us the problems we are now in.

We also need to stop importing labour to do the jobs at knock down wages.

We have destroyed our manufacturing, and are now importing labour to do the jobs we cant send abroad.
We are in self destruct mode and have been for years.

 

I'm pleased to see that it seems I'm not alone. So far, everything everyone here has said makes perfect sense to me. Its just a shame its not people like us that get to decide.

I agree that perpetual scroungers should have their benefits cut. Those that play the system should be stopped.

The bit I have a problem with is some posh geezer who has never experienced reality, trying to decide what's fair for all.

Lets say there's the perfect family. Loving parent(s) have worked their backsides off to build a safe and secure home to raise their kid(s) in. That kid gets to 18 and can't find a job yet. The parent(s) say he/she is welcome to stay at home for a few more years yet until they work they've managed to build themselves a career. Great, and I have absolutely no doubt that there are families like this. However I also have no doubt that there are families that are nothing like this at all.

One size fits all doesn't work.

 

another thing that was wrong, was scrapping the student's EMA ....

it was not a lot of money (£30 per week) and really helped them

 

Too many people have kids with less thought than they give to buying a car or indeed a pet hamster. I see it all around me. Girls have babies as soon as they can, knowing they'll be given somewhere to live. They soon get fed up with things when they realise a child isn't a doll, but by then it's too late for the poor kid. Perhaps we need a new campaign: A kid is for life, not just for a free home and beer money.

 

I know these people exist. For a couple of years I lived next door to a family that bred like rabbits, and openly admitted they did it for the benefits. When the eldest lad turned 16 and therefore wasn't fetching any family allowance, they threw him out.

Those people aren't the norm though. Those are the ones that in my opinion shouldn't just lose their benefits, they should be locked up.

 

I like that Clare, you get them made up and we can all put them in our cars

 

There will be all sorts of exemptions to this ('families', etc., perhaps including amongst others, EU citizens (just look at what's happening in Scotland - free Uni fees for Scots + any other EU citizens other than English, and under 25 Asylum Seekers are able to claim National Assistance to pay their rent.

So it will probably be only the young, single, unemployed who need to re-locate to find a job in these hard times who will be affected by these proposals, as so much new legislation is ill thought out, knee jerk, sound bites these days.

 

But then we still end up paying their bills, we need to deter these from the outset.
One kid, money stops.