Benefits: 'Me a scrounger? Fair enough, I am.'

[chops]

At least he's honest.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Some of you speak about getting a job as if it's just a matter of applying for one and it's given to you without any problems........I WISHED!!!!

Let me give you my scenario, I got made redundant from my job 2.5 years ago, pretty much all my life I have worked in the private housing sector, I was a senior site manager for many years, then for the last 12 years was Operations Manager (Project manager with a different name basically) when I got made redundant in September 2008 i was not the least bit worried I honestly thought I would walk straight back into a job, Oh how wrong I was!!

I clearly never thought about certain problems at the time, firstly there is a world recession and the housing sector is all but dead at the moment, and will be for a few more years until banks etc sort out lending etc, I am 56 in a few weeks time, ageism should not exist, reality is, it does!! My CV reads very well, for a job within my remit, outside of the private building sector no employer takes my applications seriously, I have applied for well over 400 hundred jobs, i have had a handful of interviews, I am willing to go abroad, anywhere in this country for work, I was up in Wakefield 2 weeks ago for an interview, (I did not get the job) no one, but no one has tried as hard as I have for ANY type of work (that I can do) and I just get knock back after knock back, very demoralising!

I try for driving jobs absolutely anything my brain or body will allow me to do, but as i say potential employers look at my CV and basically dont take me seriously, so in some cases it is just not as easy to get a job as some of you may think, and for those of you that are in employment, look after your job, because believe me it is a hard world out there as far as getting work goes.

Don't get me wrong, if your 25 and adaptable, I'm sure there is some work out there for many, 4/5 years ago I had 2 major back operations and as much as it hurts me to admit it, I cant do manual labour for a living, I have no problems doing it, i was a bricklayer for many years, but my body wont let me do it, I applied to Fords for a job on the production line, whilst they appeared to take my application seriously, they paid nothing but lip service to it, the hard facts are is I am to old and I don’t have any sort of past for working in that industry, and potential employers like Fords, just think I will up and off as soon as something in my field comes up, again I WISH!!

Whilst I appreciate any help anyone can offer, can I say I have tried just about everything, from changing my CV to going through agencies to networking, I am registered with just about every job agency in this country, and some abroad.

I have worked by the way, but all of it has been temporary contracts mostly driving, I am not worried about wages, since being made redundant any work i have done has always been for the minimum wage.

I shall carry on looking for something I can do, and I am sure something will come up, one day!!

So to conclude, it is not always as easy as just applying for a job and accepting it, there can be many varying reasons as to why some people are out of work.

And if anyone does want to employ a hard working reliable, responsible person, PLEASE do contact me.

(The above is not supporting the reason why this thread was started by the way)

PM'd you !

 

[colinz]

I sometimes wonder if I was King of the World, whether it wouldn't be a good thing to restart a Ministry of Public works and get all the long-term unemployed back out there rebuilding the railways that have been torn up over the past fifty years. They get paid more, loads off benefits and a better public transport system.

Unfortunately this is one of the very institutions that became extinct with the advent & obsession with privatisation.
Which I believe has contributed towards structural unemployment, because it was these tax payer funded/ state run utilities that provided the sound apprenticeships for young wannabe tradesmen, who's qualifications were so well recognised & respected, that once they had got their papers, they soon found better paid work in the private sector.

 

[mwrpoole]

I hate the way the left wing somehow gets associated with these idiots. The left set up the welfare state and its a good, noble thing to have. Its built on a notion of fairness and helping others when they are down. The last thing we want to support is people cheating the system.

I've been on benefits at several times in my life, and the problem is clearly at the jobcentres where it is too easy to sign on and not take any old job. I wanted to find work that I wanted to do, so I signed on for up to three months whilst I looked for the right job. But there were other jobs there that I could have done, that paid alright, but no-one forced me to take them. Is that right or wrong, I don't know? Its never black or white. But I do think that after 1 year you should be made to take a job, any job, and I can't understand why that has never been implemented, or at least, enforced

You are right, if you want to its very easy to go to the interviews they set up for you and come across as unemployable. The problem is what to do about it and there lies the problem. If you take peoples benefits away if they refuse to work or don't turn up for interviews, what happens then? They probably become homeless and more of a burden on the state, what about if they have kids? I don't think we have the heart to do this in the UK so the system will remain open to abuse.
IMO everyone on JSA is an employee of the state and should be doing some kind of community work 9-5 a couple of days a week, they'd soon get a job. This idea has been suggested over the last few months but some do gooders moaned it was exploitive and against human rights!

 

[strings]

What a sad, deformed urban pustule. No dreams, no aspirations, no desire to broaden his horizons, to travel, to learn, to develop as a human being. Just a hand-to-mouth lifetime of doing the same humdrum things in the same place with the same people. Thats not living - its existing. He might as well be a cockroach under a rock.

Well said.

I actually feel sorry for him. In spite of the fact that I don't think he should be able to claim the 'free money' as he put it.

 

[BLOCK F]

Put me in the camp that says he's not doing much wrong but what a f***ing sad case he is.

As has been said before, you have to be very careful not to remove benefits from those who need it most when clamping down on the cheats. What I find abhorrant is that we're slashing spending where it's really needed, yet that moron Iain Duncan Smith has decided that now is a good time to spend TWO BILLION POUNDS in an attempt to solve this problem when it is something that has eluded governments for 50 years. f***ing ridiculous popularist bollocks. If you really want to tackle this problem, admit that it is an expensive risk in trying and do it when the economy is in a healthier state.

Good morning Simster.I don't think IDS is as you describe him but I do agree that he will be trying to push water uphill with this one.Not an ideal time,but you have to start somewhere and progress will,I believe, be extremely slow.It will be several years before material differences will be seen.I believe he is very brave to have a go at solving the problem and if he succeeds,the whole country will owe him a huge debt of gratitude......I'm not holding my breath tho'!

 

[User removed 4]

yet that moron Iain Duncan Smith has decided that now is a good time to spend TWO BILLION POUNDS in an attempt to solve this problem when it is something that has eluded governments for 50 years. .

It hasn't eluded governments for years, it's just that none of the have really tried to tackle it.

 

[Simster]

Good morning Simster.I don't think IDS is as you describe him but I do agree that he will be trying to push water uphill with this one.Not an ideal time,but you have to start somewhere and progress will,I believe, be extremely slow.It will be several years before material differences will be seen.I believe he is very brave to have a go at solving the problem and if he succeeds,the whole country will owe him a huge debt of gratitude......I'm not holding my breath tho'!

I've heard too much anecdotal evidence suggesting that he's an absolute nob I'm afraid.

It hasn't eluded governments for years, it's just that none of the have really tried to tackle it.

This may be true although I'd struggle to believe case studies weren't undertaken under Thatcher, Major or Blair. However, there is a reason for that - the reason being that it's a massive risk with an awful lot of public money.

I mean, let's take this example. Here we have an article which is a piece on a very dull bloke happy to live on £50 a week. He's not stealing to make ends meet, he's not going on holidays to Spain at the tax payer's expense, he's simply happy enough living an existence on a pittance and shockingly (and this is what provokes the outrage), doesn't feel guilty about doing so.

So what is the alternative? That we stop all benefits to people who haven't worked for years? Are you really convinced that Iain Duncan Smith is going to create a system where people like him don't receive a penny whereas people with real reasons not to work are not affected? What about people like hitony? It sounds to me like he wants to work and hasn't been able to find work in 2.5 years. Do you suggest we stop his benefits too?

And I'll repeat this - it is going to cost TWO BILLION POUNDS to implement these measures and there is no guarantee of success. Meanwhile 550 people are losing their jobs at St Georges Hospital in Tooting. Sorry BLOCK F, like Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq, there is nothing "brave" about it. It is simply an appalling policy decision.