Benefits Crackdown

[Sheets Tabuer]

otolith said:

Cool, we can fire all the street cleaners and rehire them on less than minimum wage!

No street cleaners where I live, it's all old biddies volunteering to clean the hedgerows, I'm sure grey tracksuit wearing, man bag clutching 22 year old could do it better.

[otolith]

Sheets Tabuer said:

No street cleaners where I live, it's all old biddies volunteering to clean the hedgerows, I'm sure grey tracksuit wearing, man bag clutching 22 year old could do it better.

See them fairly often in London. Not so much up north, maybe we don’t have the budget or possibly aren’t animals. Thinking about it, would probably be more cost effective to give them a camera and a notepad than a brush and pan. Fine the littering bds. Could do some parking enforcement while they’re at it. Maybe be trained to operate a speed gun?

[Sheets Tabuer]

otolith said:

Maybe be trained to operate a speed gun?

Now wait a minute.

[Gerradi]

119 said:

Considering many councils are operating at minimum levels, i suspect they would very much appreciate the free help.

You'd think, Wifey volunteers Sundays cleaning Parks, childrens playgrounds. 2 weeks ago her group clearing a much needed riverbank of the Feeder river, council man turns up & upset a lot of people with his brusque manner shouting H&S rules etc. She said he spoke to them like dirt...?

[blueg33]

cptsideways said:

There is no end of litter lining our streets, there is no shortage of those who cant & wont ever find work. There is a very simple solution to both problems.

Community service = benefits.

If someone can’t work, how can they clean the streets? I think I’ll tell my neighbour who has terminal cancer and can’t walk because his bones are disintegrating that instead of taking benefits he should clean the streets.

Folk do spout some complete claptrap that just demonstrates how they don’t have a clue. Just knee jerk reactions.

[crankedup5]

119 said:

otolith said:

cptsideways said:

There is no end of litter lining our streets, there is no shortage of those who cant & wont ever find work. There is a very simple solution to both problems.

Community service = benefits.

Cool, we can fire all the street cleaners and rehire them on less than minimum wage!

Considering many councils are operating at minimum levels, i suspect they would very much appreciate the free help.

Seeking volunteers from the pool of public retired, children is common in my hometown. Litter picking is a favourite request. At the same time Council increases Council tax every year.

[Mark-insert old BMW]

I used to suggest voluntary work to my clients when I was a support worker. It was almost amusing to see their brains grapple with the idea that people could and would work for free. Even after trying to explain that there were far more benefits to working than merely money, such as self worth and self esteem, or even being able to gain a reference for future job applications, I may as well have been speaking Swahili.

[crankedup5]

Mark-insert old BMW said:

I used to suggest voluntary work to my clients when I was a support worker. It was almost amusing to see their brains grapple with the idea that people could and would work for free. Even after trying to explain that there were far more benefits to working than merely money, such as self worth and self esteem, or even being able to gain a reference for future job applications, I may as well have been speaking Swahili.

One of the problems associated with working as a volunteer is, as has been mentioned, volunteers are subject to exactly the same conditions as those working for pay. one of the modern World facts of life is responsibility and accountability which we all should carry in the work place. Volunteers also have to accept that basic premise, which soon put paid to my days working as a volunteer. Sooner enjoy retirement.

[F1GTRUeno]

98elise said:

I would say anyone fit and able that cannot get a job in the current job market. Whats holding them back?

I've had periods of being fit and able of over a year where I've had to survive on benefits because interviews and consistently tweaking your CV and then applying for thousands (yes, thousands) of jobs didn't result in me immediately being snapped up.

It's fking hard to get a job. And by that I mean a job where you can support yourself and not rely on benefits to help (because that's the crux of this thread isn't it?). I wasn't applying to be a rocket scientist either, just a basic admin role or warehouse role would've done me fine. It felt like climbing a mountain. I volunteered throughout that time as well.

This is despite a wealth of experience and all the right GCSE's, A Levels, etc.

Now think of all those that have barely an A level or GCSE between them.

Some people don't realise that.

Edited by F1GTRUeno on Tuesday 21st November 10:52

[crankedup5]

said:

And yet we are constantly informed that migrants come into the U.K. and work very hard in jobs that those people born and bred here don’t want.? Mixed messages

[AdeTuono]

blueg33 said:

cptsideways said:

There is no end of litter lining our streets, there is no shortage of those who cant & wont ever find work. There is a very simple solution to both problems.

Community service = benefits.

If someone can’t work, how can they clean the streets? I think I’ll tell my neighbour who has terminal cancer and can’t walk because his bones are disintegrating that instead of taking benefits he should clean the streets.

Folk do spout some complete claptrap that just demonstrates how they don’t have a clue. Just knee jerk reactions.

The benefits system is for people like your neighbour, who plainly are unable to support themselves. Not everyone on benefits has terminal cancer and disintegrating bones. Some, I'd even suggest most, would be entirely capable of performing public service tasks in exchange for their benefit payments.

[J4CKO]

There is a hotel near where I used to live as a kid, we got married there that now houses immigrants, there is always a few young guys in sportswear hanging about, often having a fag, chatting or messing with a mobile phone.

I do wonder what the long term plan is for these guys, and it is all men between 20 and maybe 35.

They should be tasked with something if they are here costing the country money to be housed, fed, clothed and whatever. No reason why they cant become contributing members of society.

[blueg33]

J4CKO said:

There is a hotel near where I used to live as a kid, we got married there that now houses immigrants, there is always a few young guys in sportswear hanging about, often having a fag, chatting or messing with a mobile phone.

I do wonder what the long term plan is for these guys, and it is all men between 20 and maybe 35.

They should be tasked with something if they are here costing the country money to be housed, fed, clothed and whatever. No reason why they cant become contributing members of society.

Unlike other countries, we don't allow them to work!

[Harry H]

blueg33 said:

cptsideways said:

There is no end of litter lining our streets, there is no shortage of those who cant & wont ever find work. There is a very simple solution to both problems.

Community service = benefits.

If someone can’t work, how can they clean the streets? I think I’ll tell my neighbour who has terminal cancer and can’t walk because his bones are disintegrating that instead of taking benefits he should clean the streets.

Folk do spout some complete claptrap that just demonstrates how they don’t have a clue. Just knee jerk reactions.

You're the one with the knee jerk reactions. No one on here (I hope) would suggest your neighbour is not suitably looked after by the state. We're not talking about genuine cases like that. It's the ones who can work but choose not to that are the issue

[blueg33]

Harry H said:

blueg33 said:

cptsideways said:

There is no end of litter lining our streets, there is no shortage of those who cant & wont ever find work. There is a very simple solution to both problems.

Community service = benefits.

If someone can’t work, how can they clean the streets? I think I’ll tell my neighbour who has terminal cancer and can’t walk because his bones are disintegrating that instead of taking benefits he should clean the streets.

Folk do spout some complete claptrap that just demonstrates how they don’t have a clue. Just knee jerk reactions.

You're the one with the knee jerk reactions. No one on here (I hope) would suggest your neighbour is not suitably looked after by the state. We're not talking about genuine cases like that. It's the ones who can work but choose not to that are the issue

Read the post I quoted - he specifically refers to those who "can't" work

[2xChevrons]

J4CKO said:

There is a hotel near where I used to live as a kid, we got married there that now houses immigrants, there is always a few young guys in sportswear hanging about, often having a fag, chatting or messing with a mobile phone.

I do wonder what the long term plan is for these guys, and it is all men between 20 and maybe 35.

They should be tasked with something if they are here costing the country money to be housed, fed, clothed and whatever. No reason why they cant become contributing members of society.

These guys aren't immigrants - they are asylum seekers who are waiting on having their claims processed. Since 2002 asylum seekers are no longer allowed to perform either paid labour or voluntary work (it used to be that they could if their claim had been in the works for more than six months and they received permission). The last two governments have overseen a huge reduction in administrative capacity (both absolute and relative to the load on the system), so the average time for an asylum claim to be processed is now something like 20 months and increasing.

In a perfect encapsulation of the push me/pull you mess the recent governments have got itself into with migration (wanting to appear very tough about it while being unable/unwilling to do anything to actually reduce it), the 2026 Immigration Act allowed for the work permits for long-term claims to work (paid or voluntary) but no actual policy making use of this has been implemented because the Home Office was/is worried that it would act as a 'pull factor' since it could be seen as "get to the UK, claim asylum, get room and board and get a guaranteed job."

AdeTuono said:

The benefits system is for people like your neighbour, who plainly are unable to support themselves. Not everyone on benefits has terminal cancer and disintegrating bones. Some, I'd even suggest most, would be entirely capable of performing public service tasks in exchange for their benefit payments.

Then why not just pay them? If streets need sweeping, roads need repairing, flowerbeds need planting, graffiti needs cleaning, fences need painting, council houses need refurbishing, trolleys need pulling from rivers and drains need clearing then why not just train and/or pay people a job to do these? Otherwise you're turning the welfare system into a cheap labour pool.

I remember a few years ago a bearded man in a red tie who was seeking election said some things about a job guarantee and a National Work Service but that was all dismissed as either idealist nonsense or Stalinist over-reach. The tune seems to have changed.

But that's very on-brand for PH, which tends to favour "libertarianism for me, interventionism for thee". See also: "central digital currency is an affront to personal liberty and freedom...but benefits claimants should be given ration books."

[F1GTRUeno]

cptsideways said:

There is no end of litter lining our streets, there is no shortage of those who cant & wont ever find work. There is a very simple solution to both problems.

Community service = benefits.

Are you going to pay them enough so that they don't need benefits?

[P-Jay]

This is nothing but a tired old Dog Whistle from the Conservatives, "look at this - we'll take money from those scroungers© on benefits and use it to cut taxes for Hard Working Families©" It's Policy by the Sun and Daily Mail.

[F1GTRUeno]

P-Jay said:

This is nothing but a tired old Dog Whistle from the Conservatives, "look at this - we'll take money from those scroungers© on benefits and use it to cut taxes for Hard Working Families©" It's Policy by the Sun and Daily Mail.

Sadly there are too many conservative dogs.

[anonymous-user]

crankedup5 said:

One of the problems associated with working as a volunteer is, as has been mentioned, volunteers are subject to exactly the same conditions as those working for pay. one of the modern World facts of life is responsibility and accountability which we all should carry in the work place. Volunteers also have to accept that basic premise, which soon put paid to my days working as a volunteer. Sooner enjoy retirement.

Spot on, as someone who hates the responsibility, stress and Woke bullst that goes with working these days I cannot see why anybody who voluntarily do it for free.

The second I have enough cash I am done and I am never going to get out of bed before midday again if I can help it.

There always seems to be a lot of volunteers at National Trust places but I assume to these people it is more like a chance to have a chat with other similarly minded people? Still not doing it though.