UK’s ‘cruel’ benefits system is ‘ruining lives’, Amnesty report finds
UK’s ‘cruel’ benefits system is ‘ruining lives’ and ‘violating human rights’, Amnesty report finds
Posted by mrjohnnymac18
UK’s ‘cruel’ benefits system is ‘ruining lives’, Amnesty report finds
UK’s ‘cruel’ benefits system is ‘ruining lives’ and ‘violating human rights’, Amnesty report finds
Posted by mrjohnnymac18
30 Comments
It is, its needlessly cruel for the sake of being cruel. One quote “it feels like you’re on trial for murder” is very apt, you’re constantly grilled and essentially micro-managed. I dont know how anyone can be comfortable to properly look for work without the constant fear you’re not hitting 35 hours of searching and thus sanctioned, most people would worry themselves so much that they’ll spend more time and energy to making sure they dont get sanctioned instead of actually trying to get a job.
The staff constantly treats you like you’re a chancer, the moment you state you have a valid restriction you’re constantly grilled over it while the staff looks at you and barely listening and processing what you’re saying. And if you’re thrown on restart not only do you have to answer to the job centre and do everything they demand you do you now also have to answer to everything restart and do everything they demand you do. They’re constantly lying as well, its common to have 1 adviser say one thing and the next to say something completely different or contradict what you’ve been told. Another thing is the job centre states they’ll fund your travel for the first month when you have a job but they dont. This happened to my partner it got to the point where we had no money for her to go to her job and no money for me to travel to interviews so the DWP actively hampered our ability to get off benefits.
I work i don’t mind paying tax, because if i lose it all, and it dose happen, i can get back on my feet and continue.
Simultaneously ruinously expensive and too low to work for most people…
It needs to be harsher and we need to stop people from abusing/exploiting it.
There are people that need it, no doubt about that, and those people are fine but far too many able people refuse to work, teenagers who have just turned 18 jump on the system.
People don’t feel the need to do anything when they can sit at home all day and get paid for it, it’s outrageous.
Let’s ask a question, if there were no checks on your activities when you are unemployed and the country paid you a ‘living wage’ anyway, for as long as you wanted, would you try to find work? Tell the truth now. And how many would say, fuck it, I’m not working ever again, I can live on what I’m getting? Crack down on the reality index, what’d really happen? We could of course find a few millionaires and get them to pay a huge tax but they’d leave then it’d be the middle and upper working classes and, since no one is having kids, that’d be a sort term win. No, I’m afraid there are lot of jobs out there no one wants to do and that’s why this cruelty exists.
It’s not like Amnesty UK to take an interest in people in the UK. I wonder what their angle is.
The most wretched thing is, Labour genuinely don’t seem to care if they get demolished at the next election. Their one and only goal seems to be preventing any sort of systemic change.
It’s quite telling how Labour have chosen to victimise a wide-range of what could be called ‘low status’ people. Actually going beyond what the Tories might tend to do.
The general public really don’t care but it’s still the sort of political behavour that will motivate turn-out for a significant percentage, against rather than for. We just saw this in the Tory exit from power, against rather than for.
History repeating itself is a bizarre scenario for Labour so soon after gaining power. I imagine the LibDems will benefit.
When you compare the UK benefits system to EU countries, the UK does a lot more to top up low income and unemployment claimers than most other countries, which is why its always been such a draw for migrants and immigrants. (for example there is no minimum contribution to start receiving benefits in the UK)
Im not sure i would call our welfare system needlessly cruel when the UK has always been mid to upper table in terms of generosity.
Amnesty was a much more effective and credible organisation when it had a clear focus on prisoners of conscience, miscarriages of justice and torture.
It’s now just one of a list of general human rights organisations that seems to exist in large part to fundraise to pay for itself.
It’s a shitty system I guess, also really sucks people who work and save up and then unemployed for no fault of there are own are financially penalised because of the 16k savings rule (gradually cut after 5k). I literally had to destroy my house purchase fund because of that rule I mean sure there’s an arguement that the ‘wealthy’ don’t deserve benefits.
But here’s the catch-home owners aren’t means tested for benefits.. I just didn’t have enough to turn my savings into bricks and mortar. But someone with a house worth 100k, 500k, whatever can get benefits as long as they don’t have too much in cash savings- and if they do all they have to do is pay for improvements to the house (it makes there house more valued so they get richer) and they can claim benefits.
What’s cruel is paying tax so the work shy can live
Benefits should be harder to get but should pay more .
Despite what a lot of people on Reddit believe there are many chancers who are claiming for something they don’t really have , which affects people who do deserve it
I think if we start to implement a minimum input vs output system for immigrants it’ll be a great burden lifted off to help those that actually require it.
Do other countries have better welfare systems than ours? A genuine question as I have no idea how it works in other places – I always assumed ours was better than most.
It’s all part of the Health Work Wellbeing program incepted in 1981 by Peter Lilley (there were 2 so sp on the correct one?) This came about when the final 2 spots on the 5 member Social Security Medical Advisory Committee (steers Gov’t policy) were given to ATOS; thus all 5 positions were now filled by Insurance executives! Can you guess what happened next?
Well it’s a slowly slowly ever so slowly destruction of everything we were given in 1951 (NHS/Council/Benefits etc etc etc) to a point that you either have insurance or you can join that massive line with your cap in hand for some scraps. Social/Old age care gone, Council Housing gone, Dentistry gone. Mental Health care gone… just be thankful GP’s have held out against a prolonged 20 year assault by Central Government – they really don’t like GPs!
Cons enacted it, Nu Labour continued it, Camerons’ Cons almost blew it and Starmers’ Nu Nu (Thatcherite in all but name) Labour is still driving the wagon.
The most amazing part is that the 2010 Cons cut so deep n so fast of the bat in 2010 that people actually noticed we’d lost a whole raft of services by 2014 and they had to partly refund them. When D’Cam stood there and said the NHS free at point of contact he really did mean that! And it was that specific! A kiosk with leaflets telling you where to purchase and how to pay for your treatment is technically free at point of 1st contact!
Neil Kinnock saw the writing on the wall and told the British electorate in his “I warn you!” pre 84 election speech! He basically got what was and is still happening to this day spot on!
What a load of tosh. The welfare bill is absolutely out of hand
It’s hard to get pip. 26 page booklet to fill out and a huge load of evidence. If my benifits get cut I will end up on about £100 per week to pay all bills, part rent, food. I don’t drink or smoke. My phone is 98p and my internet is £12. I am scrimping already but wanting to live and not be in poverty all the time is too much for th4 gov.
im made to feel like im a scammer when im not.
if I’m forced into work I will get fired. Then I will be sanctioned by universal credit For loosing a job I couldn’t hope to keep.
im already loosing money being forced to move to universal credit. i Feel like they are hoping I will off myself so they then they don’t have to pay for myself.
im usualy level headed but the push will send me down. I dont know how im meant to live if i loose pip.
The UK’s problems started a long time ago when it decided to specialize in financial services, which creates a lot of wealth and added value but employs less people and is less redistribitutive than the economic model followed by countries like Germany or France (which have their own issues but produce less inequality relatively speaking).
The state of the people in the job centre tells me it’s the people.
Devils advocate here, it was this grilling and micro managing that landed me a job 12 years ago…
What is wrong with expecting people who claim benefits doing some community work for that money?
> No one would want political choices in this country to deliberately diminish dignity and perpetuate poverty.
Actually I think they would. Everything they do and everything they say is guaranteed to cause poverty. Beyond a certain point they can’t not know that.
They only time they’re generous is when they’re scared of us – like when after the Pandemic they gave every doley £900.
People need to wise up, it’s not immigrants or trans women who are the enemy – it’s our very own government! Crazy though that sounds…
Which one? Pip fair enough but I think personally UC is relatively fair as someone who is on it (I get the lowest payment)
So I’m open to be educated here.
A lot of these posts seem to be focused on people cheating the system / not really being unwell enough to work. I think most rational people would agree that’s probably a fact, but identifying how much is never going to be achieved.
For me the fundamental issue is the percentage of the population that contribute (Tax revenue) less than they consume in services. Last time I looked, it was something like 50%.. The issue I see is that the demands of the country are increasing linearly as the population increases, but the funding isn’t.
Immigration is rightly touted as required for our country to function, but its sad to say that most migrant jobs we are talking about here are minimum wage, which while necessary – end up creating another individual who will consume more in services than they contribute in taxes in their life.
…. it feels like this issue is never really addressed, often because its guised under some sort of racist / moronic undertones. Would be good to get people’s thoughts on this though
**Edit for clarity of post
I was a carer for 5 years (had to leave work to commit to it)
The moment that person passed (my mother) I was told to be at the jobcentre the next day to have a
“back to work assessment”
And my advisor simply said “these things happen ” then wanted me to go on a 2 week course and couldn’t understand why I couldn’t attend because “booking a funeral isn’t difficult” 3 week sanction after that
We had Lizzie Kendall and Mickey Portillo cosying up on Andy Neil’s sofa pretending everything was just a matter of debate.
But I heard everyone on universal credit and PIP were scrounging living it up with luxury phones and cars courtesy of the hard working tax payer???
What I don’t understand is Labour’s goal is to get people back into work, especially the mentally ill, and have zero actual plan aside from ‘The NHS will help you lot!’
That’s funny, because I had my first consultation regarding therapy with the NHS this week, and they told me that my needs were outright ‘too much’ for the NHS and my only option would be to pay privately.
So not only have I been told by the NHS there’s nothing they can do about my severe chronic pain that affects my daily life, but now they have told me there’s nothing they can do about my mental health either because it’s that bad and they don’t have the resources to handle that either.
What the fuck does the government want from me if the healthcare system tells me to find money I won’t have if my benefits are gone? I won’t be able to magically start working out of nowhere.
I have to wonder if it even matters if there is fraud, say someone gets £30,000 in benefits somehow when the max is £10,000, that audi they buy, the petrol they fuel with it and the food and concil tax they pay ultimately lands back into the government purse throw VAT and other taxes, so should we just let people decide if they want to work or not? If ricky doesnt want to do a job i dont want him to be on it as he’ll not do as a good a job as micky who does want to do the job and wants it done well, so instead of paying ricky to do the job badly and then micky to do it right why dont we just pay ricky to be a man of leisure whilst mikey gets on with it, and ultimately saves money through increased efficiency