7 Comments »

1. What does the Downing Street briefing actually mean by "encouraging" people back into work? Is this policy being promoted positively or is it simply a move to cut benefits arbitrarily since a recent commentary on BBC News highlighted escalation of numbers claiming IB long term?

   Comment by Michael Ryan — 20 Sep 2004 on 11:44 pm | Link

2. How can the government ever hope to win a battle when families can claim 50k a year in benefits under the current system? I know people who have never worked a day since they left school because they know how to work the system! How many of us would work if we could stay home all day and await our spending money.

   Comment by jcarter — 2 Feb 2005 on 10:37 pm | Link

3. How can anything be solved when people insist on believing such nonsense? There may be one family somewhere in country with ten kids who are all disabled who might get \xA350k a year in benefits (if they do exist the Daily Mail has probably done a story on how disgusting they think it is). The 99.9% of other people living on benefits are getting far less than that. jcarter if you think its so easy to live on benefits then why aren\x92t you doing it?

   Comment by Uncarved Block — 3 Feb 2005 on 10:18 pm | Link

4. I can see the principle of what jcarter is saying, and there is at least SOME truth in it. I know of people who left school, have never been for a single interview in their lives and yet somehow are still allowed to continue claiming 20 years later. How’s that work then?!

   Comment by PapaLazzzaru — 4 Feb 2005 on 1:50 am | Link

5. Any system that is designed to help people will end up helping some people who it wasn’t designed for – the free riders. The more you try to exclude the free riders, the more likely you are to exclude the people you are genuinely trying to help.

   Some people complaign that there are too many people getting benefits they shouldn’t, others complaign that there are too many people not getting the benefits they should.

   To be honest the pittance that is paid in benefits is really not worth worrying about in terms of the finances of the country. If you want to volunteer to live on \xA350 a week then thats up to you, I’d rather have a job and a better standard of living. If people are really that concerned about Government finances then they should be complaining about companies and indivuals that get away with not paying millions in tax rather than some slob who can’t be bothered to work and lives on a few thousand worth of benefits.

   Comment by Uncarved Block — 7 Feb 2005 on 9:52 pm | Link

6. I am on Icapacity and have been trying to get back to work for a year, No help from job centre, In fact the only help I have been given was a new scheme called pathway from the goverment and that was some advice on what to were at an interview a SUIT sadly this is the new great scheme

   Comment by John Phillips — 28 Jul 2007 on 6:59 am | Link

7. I am on Icapacity and have been trying to get back to work for a year, No help from job centre, In fact the only help I have been given was a new scheme called pathway from the goverment and that was some advice on what to were at an interview a SUIT sadly this is the new great scheme

   Comment by John Phillips — 28 Jul 2007 on 6:59 am | Link

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