How do the "Have Nots" get on in life?

Yes whitewave, I wouldn't report tax dodgers because I wouldn't report benefit cheats

I do understand your anger Anniebach, especially after you have helped out with furniture and stuff, but sadly, there are people who take advantage of decent people like you who help. This is an indicator of their moral compass and not of yours. Let karma take care of them, maybe they will get food poisoning and have a rotten holiday!

surely they have to be referred to the foodbank anniebach?You cant just turn up and collect food anytime you want .

Gill, exactly why I have made my decision never to report, I just blew a fuse when I heard today, I apologise but I see no wrong in speaking of it, if a nurse allegedly uses a food bank and this can be brought up in just about every speech why not bring up benefit cheats . They exist , just as tax dodgers exist. It's the way the world wags

I do know that .paddyann

I haven’t reported anyone annie I’m trying to understand why you don’t? You know all the facts so they are clearly breaking the law and you are colluding with this. They must be getting a fortune - DLA/PIP //ESA/HB/CTB/ cash in hand jobs/ fraudulent use of food bank,/free furniture What’s not to let them get away with? I’m sure the decent people who donate and help out at your local food bank/ would be delighted to kniw that such well of cheats were depriving genuine people of help.

Re the nurses - how is this the same as the systemic theft and cheating you are not prepared to do anything about?

Yet another thread knocking the young, the 'entitled' generation, the snowflakes.
I am fed up of being lumped into the same group as the elderly moaners, the grumpy old folks, the over-60's who must have voted for brexit and are inevitably tories.
Thank goodness my own children and grandchildren know I do not fit into that dismal demographic.
Clearly lots of GN posters do so I 'll leave you inveterate grumbles to get on with your groans!!
Wonder when the DM might pick up this thread and edit it to suit their purpose!

I could understand not reporting a single mum who earned s few pounds cash in hand cleaning but not systemic cheating eg living with wotking partner whilst pretending to be single

I reckon this thread might be a little "highbrow" for the Daily Mail mcem!

Can we have a 'wave' emoticon? I'd wave to mcem who is another of us who dislikes this simplistic denigrating of young people. I'll stop because I've already had my say (but did want to wave and say hello to mcem)

Maryeliza, you are so into questioning, and of things which are not your business

"Earn was the operative word. Nobody expected something for nothing, and benefits were unheard of."

Was I the only one to work in a benefits office in the 60s?
DHSS? Benefits were not unheard of.

? to Iam64!!

So maryeliza, you are of the - they are of the only a little bit pregnant brigade . I am not, cheating is cheating, lying is lying, I will not report anyone because I do not know what causes them to cheat.

When I was a gal I remember a nice person who did some cheating, she was reported, fined , then took her own life .

You report, I will not so accept it.

I too worked in the DHSS in the 1970s and we most definitely had young single mothers; ex convicts; those who had been on benefits for most of their adult lives; those who had always worked but had suddenly lost jobs through redundancy and the short working week which was prevalent at that time. We also had a whole department (FCD) that dealt with "fraudulent claims" but benefits were not stopped until absolute proof of deception was confirmed. The only difference then, compared to now, was that if a claimant was in urgent need of money, we could immediately give them food vouchers for the supermarket or a cash payment if clothing or shoes were needed. It was a discretionary payment but I cannot recall anyone being denied it. The current benefits system is much harsher and less humane.

mawbroon I don’t have to type my post because you’ve done it for me!

It is much harsher now Chewbacca, I have worked for charities for more years than I care to remember but have never felt the despair I feel now and I did at times feel despair .

Exactly, chewbacca, the system was much more humane.
Why couldn't they decide just to combine the benefits in pairs to start with, then when they knew the system worked, combine more over time?
At the moment the system is so messed up that people are dying waiting for benefits.
There have been lots of changes to the system over the last fifty years, but only piecemeal, not a wholesale change as is happening now.
There is very little cheating the system compared with people being cheated by the system.

I know dj. Somehow that makes it harder when you hear about cheats. So many people in need, systems not working etc. No easy answers.

Workhouses were purposely horrible to deter people from wanting to use them. Anyone who did have to use them was looked down on.
The benefits "system" is moving in that direction.

Another u-turn for the DWP.

www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/victory-blind-hazel-macrae-wins-13747840
It's wrong that it should take a newspaper petition to get them to see sense.

I think that the stresses and difficulties today are so different than they used to be. We found it very hard when we were young. My husband went to work in the day and I went out when he got home.
We didn't have zero hour contracts but I shouldn't think we had much protection if our employers had wanted to get rid of us! If I'd wanted to leave my husband I can't think I would have got any help from the govt.
We didn't have much but no one else did either so we weren't reminded every day that we were deprived. I think today that there is so much anxiety and stress because so many people don't feel that things will ever get better and they have no feelings of security. They can't buy or even rent a house if they haven't got a regular wage.
So much to say but the bottom line is that if you are in a difficult situation today is no better than yesterday. If you are successful today then your lifestyle is probably better today than it used to be.

Why do people assume that a nurse who uses a Foodbank is a cheat. I can only speak for Trussell Trust Foodbanks, but the criteria for a voucher is that a person is in a crisis. Could be a car failing MOT, unexpected large bill. Could be anyone. Not just people on benefits.

If you worked for the DHSS in the 60s then you will also know that claimants did not just get sent a cheque, to receive benefits inspectors went to the home and checked to see what people had in the way of property. Even at the end of the 80s a relative had to sell everything other than basic furniture before he was given assistance