Topsy Turvey Britain

[nym_wibbly]

Now don't get me wrong, I've always found my welfare payment generous - because I live with a parent in a home we own, and live thriftily, I do have some spare money left after the bills each week, and that's a luxury that many working folks can't enjoy (and that successive governments seem completely incapable of grasping as a problem with working wages/wealth distribution rather than a problem with welfare payments). I'd vaguely grasped that my annual income was going to rise as a result of moving from the Work Related Activity Group to the Support Group, at least until Universal Credit comes along and shakes the tree, but I just got my first fortnightly payment at the new rate. I'm looking at £19 a week more than I was before. I'd assumed it was because I'd be losing my entitlement to free prescriptions, eye care, dentistry, etc, but no - I still have that. Not that I'm not grateful - not that I can't make good, conscientious use of it to fund a course or bus fare or something that might get me nearer work - but I don't need this money. That hardworking person who's barely making ends meet, and having to choose between buying tampons and giving her kids school dinners needs this money. I think it's some kind of disability premium, assuming that there are extra costs involved in living with a disability. Which is true, especially when it comes to moving around the area while being medically disqualified from driving, but I've become bloody good at dodging these costs. This money is luxury money for me - insure the cat again, maybe take a mobile phone contract, maybe save a little.

I already give groceries to our local food bank, and now I can afford to give a bit more. That's good, but really - a workless woman on disability benefit with enough money to give to a food bank that supports the aforementioned lady in full-time work who can't feed her kids if she buys tampons so she can go to work during her period. The current government's answer to this horror show is to reduce the amount of welfare everyone gets - new claimants are getting less than half of what I'm now living on. It never seems to occur to anyone with the power to make a difference that higher wages for average jobs - the jobs that underpin the whole economy, but get dismissed as "low skilled" - is more important than punishing the weakest in society for the sake of a soundbyte headline about "fairness". I've been on the other side of the equation, getting pittance money for caring for the elderly. I'm better off now than I was then, both financially and (now I'm in the Support Group) in terms of quality of life, and that's wrong.

Comments

[extryn]

I absolutely feel like the welfare system is designed to punish those who need it most. Now, I absolutely don't need a welfare payment, but I receive one for being a full-time student with low income. The day I turned 22 I was considered "independent" from my parents despite still living at home, and now that I'm out of home, my payment has gone up with a rent supplement of about $50 a week.

When I went to apply for my welfare payment, I had a stupidly easy time. I showed up with identity documents, proof of study, and payslips from my employer. I was well-dressed and polite, and essentially was waved through the whole process with a smile. And I swear, I'll never forget the abject misery around me. People suffering from substance abuse, single mothers with five screaming kids, homeless people, recent immigrants who couldn't speak a word of English. And they were all treated with no dignity whatsoever. They were turned away for tiny, dumb mistakes with their paperwork and scrutinised endlessly. Interrogated about their work capacity. The same system barely looked at my documents, rubber-stamped them and told me I'd be paid within the month.

I did not, and still don't need my payment anywhere near as much as a single person in that room. It's just so appalling. I can only conclude that the whole system keeps the privileged rich, and punishes the poor for being poor.

I justify receiving my benefit with the knowledge that in (eek) twelve months time, 46.7% of my income is going to tax and will support others who need that money. Because I'm being paid now, I can afford to work very little and live comfortably, and keep up with the demands of study.

Still - it is so very wrong that I'm being paid, essentially, because I was privileged enough to get to this position to begin with. If I wasn't supported by my mother, I would have to work twice, three times as much just to keep a roof over my head. And if I did that, my income would render me ineligible for government assistance. What a joke.

[nym_wibbly]

An adult lifetime paying 47% tax MORE than entitles you to the support while you train for an indispensable profession! But yes, I've seen the same thing at the Jobcentre when I go for my fortnightly basic hoop-jump. I'm polite, articulate, calm, and (most of the time) unintimidated - I can argue my corner and win, and if it comes right down to it, argue chapter and verse about the welfare rules in front of a judge. I have that privilege. While the staff would be punished for overtly discriminating against anyone (one good thing about the system - equality is written as firmly into the rules as the hoop-jumping), the inbuilt assumption of the system itself is that everyone walking through the door is suffering from a lack of motivation to work full time. You walk in that door, you're viewed as workshy by the entire, tottering edifice of the system. That influences the thinking of even the kindest officer on the desk - and they have power over you of the sort where a mistake, never mind a vindictive action, destroys quality of life.

Students get supported a different way here (far less than they used to, though) and in theory Universal Credit should help with the "work and lose your welfare" part of the problem - albeit a month in arrears, presenting an insurmountable barrier to the poorest.