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Off the sofa! UK gets tough on welfare

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Good.

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Sarge - WHAT? You now appear to be supporting Big Government intrusion into peoples' lives!!??

I thought you were against Socialism and Gig Government? Why do you now support it?

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Getting tough on welfare is hardly supporting Big Government and socialism.

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Off the sofa, and look sharp about it !

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About time, partly. I totally agree with getting those capable of work off their arse and into a job. Why should taxpayers subsidise people who dont want to work. But there are people such as those with new born babies who see a drastic fall in wages and big increase in expenses due to one parent being out of work, they need this money. Also it should be impossible to make more money on benefits than with a job, this is something the govt. needs to address by increasing the minimum wage. The govt. has to be careful otherwise people are going to start askingwhy are we paying such high taxes, what are we getting for our money`.

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This will noy work against those that are the main target, those with a load of kids who are better off on benefits. I recently saw a programme with a family with 7 kids who were getting 30,000 GBP a year in benefits not including free school dinners and having to pay no council tax.

These epople will not have drastic action as the child would suffer and the Government will not allow that.The amount paid in beenfits for each extra kid after the first must be cut. It should not be profitable to have kids to subsidise your standard of living.

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I thought you were against Socialism and Gig Government? Why do you now support it?

Your logic is a little convoluted. It would actually make sense for someone against social welfare to want increasingly high requirements placed on those who receive it. If you want to be useless you can still be useless...the government just won't pay you to do it anymore.

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No work or input into the community no Benifit, get the bludgers participating or contributing to the community. Even doing gardening for the elderly, cleaning public spaces anything, but paying the lazy ones to do nothing is ridiculus. Many have made a living out of being on the dole having multiple children and getting the benifit, this has to stop - and not just in the UK either countries like Australia and NZ also have this problem.

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“There is a fatal flaw at the heart of these proposals—without work, they won’t work,”

A little sanity at the end of the article.

In a perfect world, I would have no problem with these proposals. I spent time after university on the dole, and consider it a mistake. Obviously a de-motivating factor.

But the UK's problems are not caused by the lazy parasites at the bottom. They are caused by the lazy parasites at the top. Shut down the "finance" sector and make the scum go out and get real, productive jobs. Then a lot of the problems at the bottom will just go away.

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All able bodied welfare recipients should be filling government jobs like passing out towels at the base gyms, cooking and cleaning at the Sanno. replace all of the current gov workers, slash that gov pay... If found to not having to really be in need, they should pay back... I've setup orgs and given to charity partly as a pay back for the three years after my dad died and my mom was incapable of working much less standing.

Didn't know the UK's in worse shape than the US.

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I am a Socialist and I love this. I'm all for government jobs programs;how about training and putting all the people on the dole in schools to serve as teaching assistance or in nursing homes as care attendants or finally providing some affordable daycare. No more free rides a la' American liberalism. Great job Britain! Maybe there is a silver lining to this Recession/Depression.

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samwaters: "I'm all for government jobs programs" I wouldn't be against them if they didn't cost so much. Oh, I sell to the gov and I've seen my fair share of programs and what you have to watch out for is a lot of taking advantage of the system and once locked in, its locked in. I say you are correct, get them in school as a second chance (you think they should have already gone to school?) and if they fail, they are on their own. Put more into the military, make them work with sanitation departments, etc... And replace them with Embassy staff who take off untold amounts of time.

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I`m sure most people would work if there were jobs available and not the 5-6 dollar an hour jobs. Jobs that you can actually survive on and live a comfortable life.

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"Off the sofa!" would make a good slogan for the entire populace actually.

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won't work unless there is a minimum wage that equals a livable wage, which was noted in the article. Why not take the particularly salient advice of the people on it? It's not about the system, it's about the prospects. If the prospects don't change, this isn't going to make a wit of difference on a dramatic scale since the logic is knowingly flawed.

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Get off the chesterfield works for me

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welfare money should not be free, make them earn it doing the dirtiest hardest most disgusting jobs possible. if they don't like, then they can go find another job.

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How about "off the settee" or "off the loveseat"? Do they work too?

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New Slogan: "Don't be an Andy Kapp". ;)

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Corecction: Andy Capp.

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fds; Being unemployed is not a crime.

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The paradise called the United Kingdom seems not to be that great of a kingdom as those from there think. Filled with freeloaders of the State it now only attracts the gypsies and those wanting handouts from the rest of Europe. Socialist programs are ok but if there are no checks and balances then it gets abused and the populace gets fat and lazy. And then when the government tries to do something about it things happen like students protest. Lets hope the UK can clean itself up. Good Luck!

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Yes, but do these measures also apply to the so-called refugees and illegal immigrants? If they aren't picking up dog poop in the park alongside the native Brit, this measure will not work.

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About time Brits. Britain and other Euro nations have been a lazy man's paradise since America bailed them out in W.W.II with money, troops and tanks. Since then, these countries have been able to save massive amounts not paying for their own defense and leaving it all up to the U.S. to do (as usual), while handing out healthcare, pensions and welfare as if there was a magic pot of money. Now the chickens are coming home to roost!

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@skipthesong. I agree that government waste is a problem. @pointofview. I agree, I would love to see a raise in the minimum wage.

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Being unemployed is not a crime.

It should be if they are taking money for not doing anything, it is a kind of theft aint it?

And trulymadlyfukai Britain has actually repaid eveything to the U.S. for the support during the war, the last installment was paid this year. And UK has not left everything upto the USA.

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trulymadlyfukai at 12:04 PM JST - 12th November

About time Brits. Britain and other Euro nations have been a lazy man's paradise since America bailed them out in W.W.II with money, troops and tanks. Since then, these countries have been able to save massive amounts not paying for their own defense and leaving it all up to the U.S. to do (as usual), while handing out healthcare, pensions and welfare as if there was a magic pot of money. Now the chickens are coming home to roost!

You really have no idea what you are talking about do you?

The UK has repaid eveything it cost the USA to save it during the war, their last installment was paid this year coincidently.

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Off the sofa! UK gets tough on welfare

AGREE! TIME FOR Britain and similar countries to get tough on long-time welfare recipients! Time to get tough on tax avoidance as well! ALL THEY'RE DOING IN THE PAST is encourage people to snub modest jobs in favor of an easy life through gov't handouts. THIS AIN'T COOL NO MORE!

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“For too long, the success of our welfare system has been judged by the number of people who are on benefits,” said Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. “Our welfare system should be judged by the number of people who are off benefits and into work.”

I wish Democrats would see this.

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"Under the new plan, many of the 5 million people who claim jobless benefits in Britain will be ordered to regularly do four weeks of unpaid community work to remain eligible for their 65 pounds ($105) weekly welfare payment. The stints could include manual labor tasks like removing graffiti or gardening in public parks."

Mr David Cameron, doing the Birtish people right! Give em a little bit of Ol Maggie Thatcher. Tough love, that is what 'Broken Britain' needs about now. Make the duffers earn their handouts.

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Will that also apply to the welfare recipients that live in spain, etc and cash their cheques there?

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Just too damn easy to get the peasants to blame their fellow peasants and fight among themselves ain't it.

Britain doesn't have financial and economic problems because people are on welfare. Britain has financial and economic problems because of the anti-capitalist, parasitic corporate welfare state that PM Camera-on and his crew blatantly represent and support. Any politician who doesn't make dismantling that corporate welfare state his first and only priority, and instead wastes his time going after the unemployed, has ZERO credibility. Same goes for anybody who supports that politician's policies. Until the UK returns to a sane economic system, including a complete Sweden style shutdown of the banking system, all this is about is hypocrites getting tough on welfare bums and/or economic victims on the bottom while they suck on it themselves at the top.

But that sanity will not return until the turkeys stop voting for Thanksgiving. But I think it is clear by now that in any country, the turkeys ALWAYS vote for Thanksgiving. Actually, the choices are only for which style of Thanksgiving dinner you want to have. Cranberries or gravy???

It's going to be a long, slow ride down everywhere, not just in the UK.....if we are lucky. If we are not lucky it will be a very fast ride down.

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I highly doubt all of these individuals are on the dole because they dont want to work. They should however be providing proof that they are actively looking for work. But like I said earlier, increase the wages. It is corruption that has destroyed many good jobs. The government and business elite have destroyed the economy not the majority of workers. But the little guy cant do anything because if they fight back too hard they`ll be tasered, beaten or thrown in jail.

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pointofview:

" I highly doubt all of these individuals are on the dole because they dont want to work. "

Of course there are all sorts of people. What it comes down to is a numbers game. A system can afford a couple of freeloaders, but there is a a limit. In the immigrant sections of European towns you now find entires streets where nobody is working. The working population carries them.

What it boils down to is: You can have a luxurious welfare system, or open borders. Not both.

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WilliB,

True. But it`s the governments that have supported immigration. They bit off more than they can chew.

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On the whole, I support their ideas.

I was on the dole myself for a couple of years, no available jobs after leaving school. It's really too easy to just get into the habit of drifting about doing very little all day. Listening to music, wafting down the job centre, down the off-license, then move on to the tv. It's not easy to actually DO a job properly when you're in that mind-set, and it's not for lack of trying either. It takes a good few weeks before you can get home after work without having to go straight to bed, but sometimes your lack of energy will get you fired before then.

I really like the notion of giving people the chance to do jobs to keep their payments, I don't think the idea of forcing people should even come into it, they know it's better to get off their butts and experience the world of work so they damn well ought to be grateful. Those that aren't don't want to work, and shouldn't get benefits anyway. Enough said.

The main problem I see is with the single mothers. How can you expect a woman with one or more pre-school age kids to find a job with sensible hours? They say people whose youngest kid is one or more will have to make themselves available for work, and look for it. Are they nuts? I hope they're making plans to help with the childcare costs for such people, because I don't know how else they expect people to manage it. Even with school age kids it's a huge problem with low-paying jobs unless you can land a job IN a school so you get the school holidays off. (And never forget that in Britain it's actually illegal to look after someone else's children unless you're a registered childminder if you are paid or if it's a returned favour, which they consider the same as being paid. ie. 'you mind my kids today, I'll mind yours tomorrow.' So letting granny or the neighbour mind the kids on the cheap could turn out far more expensive if Big Brother finds out.)

But of course,

without work, they won’t work

as we all know. Every single plan for reforming benefits hits the same problem. But the people who take the p**s by having 10 or 20 odd kids on benefits REALLY get my goat, especially if they end up with two two-bedroom council houses knocked into one, so do the people who claim to be disabled in some way and then spend most of their time in Spain or somewhere, flying over to collect their benefits and then flying back to their swimming pool and jacuzzi. Genuine disabled people have to struggle to the door, never mind jetting back and forth several times a year.

It's hard to target these things in a truly accurate way, but I hope they can whittle away at it and get it a bit more practical before it actually comes into practice.

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Cameron will be tough on America too.

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I agree with the above post.

While not british we had similar probs back home and fought them hard.

Recall a bloke that looked after the tennis-courts we played. On the "Dole"(to borrow the term), working part-time(?), raising a 5 member family, drove a beemer and spend 5 weeks with family in Mallorca(every year).

Granted he got booted after goverment reforms(citizens requested), but still too many free-loaders that slip through the cracks and the money is not going where it is needed.

So I support the british incentive.

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I see this approach becoming entrenched and then people being forced into the first job the Job Centre has to offer.

So when it comes to work placement: the unemployed will have NO free will or say in how they earn their living. Can you see that becoming a reality? I do. Not good. It'll be back to WorkHouses and gruel next.

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Granted he got booted after goverment reforms(citizens requested), but still too many free-loaders that slip through the cracks and the money is not going where it is needed. So I support the british incentive.

AGREE, it's time for institutionalized change! It's time to hit people where it hurts!

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"So when it comes to work placement: the unemployed will have NO free will or say in how they earn their living. Can you see that becoming a reality? I do. Not good. It'll be back to WorkHouses and gruel next."

I think that's a bit extreme. There will always be choices, the least not being to just go back to school.

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@Sam. No there won't, but for work this job or get no help. Plus... What jobs? AND pointedly IDS misses the mark, that real sin sees nothing done against bankers and taxdodgers.

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"AND pointedly IDS misses the mark, that real sin sees nothing done against bankers and taxdodgers." I agree with you 100% on this point.

As for workhouses, they're outlawed. As for choices, I think you'll see government offer a variety options as part of a Socialist job-works program.

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@Sam. Have you ever been poor / unemployed BECAUSE surely anyone in their right mind is not going to work for a salary that would be less than a benefit; what's needed is first a job WITH a livable minimum wage. Surely, Shirley, you are not suggesting that the poor are 'not you', are you? What are they to you, the unemployed? Inevitable sacrifices to market, err 'logic' or a bunch of lazy dropouts who need to get on their bikes, in a Tebit-esque way? Maybe you're in the camp of the statist left and see them as passive victims of systematic economic injustice? Personally, for me, I see them, the majority of the poor, as being us; because like all people they are subject to the quirks of fortune, only in their case to a greater degree. The outcome of fortune is a compound of circumstance, inheritance of wealth and talent plus the exercise of effort and virtue. Those who are unfortunate still remain part of us: they are our neighbours, people we see, and so they need to be included within society and I'd stand and shout that means helping them. Helping them in every way possible, both to meet their needs and to develop their ability to help themselves. Do you see Work Houses as ethically viable, after all people got food, a place to sleep and were kept off the streets? People will HAVE to do THE job or not get benefits, it is tantamount to forcing a person to do whatever they are offered. No choice there.

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@YongYang. You make some valid points.

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I know Libs are upset about this -but it really is the best thing that can happen for these people. When you break your chains of Socialism and dependence (slavery) you can finally be free.

It is only fair to free the financial scammers and Gov dependent corporates also. =Less war + less "debt"

I wonder if Obama will send in troops to attack UK now?

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Austerity measures have worked in Germany, to the consternation of "progressives" and Leftists there. Brits need to swallow their pride and get with the program.

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SushiSake3: "Sarge - WHAT?"

Sushi, did you even read the article?

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I think people look at unemployment differently. When I left the Navy, I was unemployed for 9 months. I had a certain level of job that I wanted and a certain payscale that I felt entitled to, but in the end, I took an English teaching job, because my family had to eat. Later on, I was able to get a better job.

A lot of people would rather wait than let their pride suffer. My children's stomachs are more important than my pride.

Taka

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Agree 100%, this should be applied to Australia as well. Work ,work ,work, sweeping the streets, mowing the lawns, trimming trees,repairing fences...unlimited jobs are waiting.

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It's not easy to actually DO a job properly when you're in that mind-set, and it's not for lack of trying either. It takes a good few weeks before you can get home after work without having to go straight to bed, but sometimes your lack of energy will get you fired before then.

Then stop spending your dole on pot. You won't be so tired and get fired for being such a lazy sod.

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Maybe they should rename this policy to "Off your ar*e!".

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Maybe some of you should reach a point where you can see.

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Maybe some of you should reach a point where you can see.

"Comment is free"?

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Have that minted, it'll help the poor.

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