Comments on: Surviving on a shoestring? Stuck in the benefits trap? Why not share your experiences with the world.

By: Barbara Dearnley

Barbara Dearnley — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:14:41 +0000

I am 57 years old and disabled, I have had to live off benefits for the last 10 years through no fault of my own as I cannot get a job because of my disability. Now the new government are going to review benefits which means I could end up with even less money to live off. As it is I struggle each month to make ends meet, I cannot get a ‘loan’ or a ‘credit card’ from anywhere as my benefits are not deemed to be ‘reliable’. When I had to give up work I has a small amount of savings but overthe years this has now been used up and I am dreading this comming winter when I know I will have to turn my heating up.

I know there are some people who mis-use the system but there are plenty of people who like myself NEED help to survive on a daily basis. I know some people in politics have
’survived’ for a week on benifits, but it might be easy for a week or fortnight they want to try to survive for a year or more then they might understand the problems some off us face on a daily basis.

By: Paulina

Paulina — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:54:53 +0000

I was made redundant after being in the company for 8 years, I went on to Jobseekers allowance. I had a mortgage and protection but the company that held my unemployment protection went bust therefore could not claim the money I had been paying out. I was left in a situation where I could not claim housing benefit as I owned my flat, could not pay the mortgage, my service charge and other expenses on what I got from jobseekers. I ended up in arrears and after 3 months managed to get a part time job. This made the situation worse as it was 20 hours a week, 5 hours more than I could work if I was to continue getting help. I was now earning so little money that I felt I was drowning.
I defaulted in some cards as could not afford the payments as all I was thinking was keep paying the mortgage as you have to keep a roof over your head. I am now working full time and still strugling to clear the arrears I have no money left over to live, each month is a struggle to make ends meet, I cant remember the last time I actually went out, ate meat, or even bought clothes and it does not even look like it is getting better.

By: Doctor in Distress

Doctor in Distress — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:51:36 +0000

I am a professional, with a doctorate in Physics and a masters degree in Electronics Engineering. I have a work record spanning over two decades. I have worked in academia and in the industrial, commercial and
military sectors. My knowledge, and experience, of IT and the high-tech world is state-of-the-art. Now, in my early fifties, I find myself long-term unemployed and living in serious poverty.

Benefits payments are woefully inadequate (as has been well documented on this site). I can feed myself, but only just! The prospect of enduring yet another long cold winter fills me with nausea. Adequate heating is a dream, not a reality. Much of a winter day is spent in the local library (thank goodness I like books) to keep warm. Most evenings are ‘early-to-bed’, wrapped in a double-layer duvet,so as to save on electricity and gas. I live a life of social exclusion, unable to network in a way that is healthy and appropriate. Most of all, I am anguished to be denied opportunity to use my talents, skills and experience in the workplace.

Now, George Osborne intends to punish me for my misfortune – my housing benefit to be slashed by 10%. Job Seekers Allowance will not cover the deficit. Homelessness is a real possibility.

The sad truth is that it is all so unnecessary. In its collective wisdom, the G20 group of nations – in their
recent Toronto Communique – advocate a middle-road approach of halving national deficits in a space of three years – a much lower rate of deficit-reduction than the coalition government is aiming for.

With regard to employment, there are officially two-and-a-half million job seekers chasing half a million jobs; a ratio of 5 job seekers to every job (a more realistic ratio is around 10:1 if the number of people
classified as ‘economically inactive’,yet would like to work, are taken into account). Simply stated, there are not enough jobs to go around. The stereo-typed picture of the idle benefits scrounger, so often portrayed
by the media and much of the political class, needs to be challenged. Rather than using cheap sound-bytes for electoral gain, politicians should engage in finding real solutions to the problem of poverty and
unemployment in our twenty first century economy – that, after all, is why we pay them so handsomely.

In this spirit, the welfare reforms proposed by Iain Duncan Smith (and the Centre for Social Justice), are an important step in the right direction. I hope that the Treasury will treat them with the seriousness they deserve.

Oxfam’s initiative on this blog site, to educate both the public and politicians about the real struggles of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, is to be commended.

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Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:51:16 +0000

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