MSE News: 'I'm on benefits but I'm no scrounger'

A question about : MSE News: 'I'm on benefits but I'm no scrounger'

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

Headlines about benefits claimants being scroungers are common. Here, one recipient with a rare tumour hits back ...

Read the full story:
'I'm on benefits but I'm no scrounger'


IMPORTANT NOTE FROM MARTIN 20/2/201

There are many views on benefits. This is just one tale. It is about a man who has felt degraded and belittled by the process of claiming benefits. He was asked to write to show what that feels like.

Many people have harsh views - I would ask you to not add to the process of degradation. Remember this is a real man, with a wife and children.

If you have issue with his piece, please keep them neutral to the invidivual.

For those already engaged in the dicussion please read this

Best answers:

• I have to agree I'm sure u don't want any pity but I really feel for ur family's position, my husband is very ill and after working from leaving school and paying high taxes for years we are now in the position of living on benefits after losing our house that we'd paid a mortgage on for 9 yrs after my hubby was told he may never work again so his employers laid him off. I hate taking from the state but we have no other choice as my children simply wouldn't eat. Our rent is now double what our mortgage was but we didn't qualify for help at the time. These people who like to benefit bash need to get a grip, not every1 is a lazy scrounger who has never worked. I wish u and ur family all the best as in this day and age it seems that people just want to see the less fortunate in the gutter.
• The article says
  Quote:
• It didn't say he got dla did it? I read ,people shouldn't judge those on dla or benefits. I know my hubby doesn't qualify for dla even though I care for him over 8 hours a day.
• I agree with that as it makes a huge difference, and I presumed that meant the person had to pay housing from that. The facts are not totally clear in some respects.
• Mustn't have took that in , I do apologise that makes a huge difference , the housing fact isn't made clear, they may well still have mortgage payments. Sorry.
• As he's on incapacity benefit I'm presuming he hasn't been through the ESA hoops so may have more hardship upon him.
• This thread is a long time coming, the MSE forum has developed a culture of bashing benefit claimants.
  No-one wants to subsidise fraudsters, or fully able people who refuse to help themselves through taxation, especially when times are so financially difficult. Let's just remember that the system was created to support those genuinely in need, such as the subject of this thread.
• I agree that there is a lot left out in the statement. If it was Ј11,000 to pay everything then that's hard but I felt it was more about how he was judged not just the money he was receiving. If however it was Ј11,000 left after rent then that's different.
• He seems to have a lot of skills.Hope someone gives him a start/Job.
• I don't think people who work are just angry at people who are fraudulantly claiming, if they are anything like me they are also getting sick and tired of genuine benefit claimaints - especially those claiming sickness benefits - moaning at how little they recieve and how they "struggle to make ends meet".
  I'm a 24 year old single father who has shared care of his daughter.
  I do not receive any tax credits. I do not receive child benefit.
  I pay for my own council tax, I pay for my own rent.
  I earn around 12k per year after tax and work 40 hour weeks. People can "earn" the same amount as me without lifting a finger or doing any work at all. I refuse to believe that most people on disability benefit cannot perform some sort of work such as office work.
  And there are people out there who are on even lower incomes than I am.
  Why should people on benefit be able to afford to smoke, go on foreign holidays and have Sky TV, at the expense of the state, when those who work for minimum wage struggle to put food on the table.
• I expect the main problem with the man in the article is the one we see so many times on these boards. People tend to only count the money they get in their hand and forget about the rent and council tax they don't have to pay.
  Also forgotten will be the free school dinners, free prescriptions etc.
  Assuming he has his rent and council tax paid then he has Ј1000 a month to live on, which is well doable.
• Blimey. I thought this was going to be a thread against benefit bashing.
  how wrong was I.
  Poor bloke, I feel for him and his family. His calculations might be wrong but he is no scrounger.
• What a wasted opportunity of showing a sympathetic story about someone claiming and deserving benefits should be spoiled by inaccurate information which just makes the whole story more controversial. What a shame that MSE sjould publish this without checking the facts involved.