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

That was to whitewave btw?

‘Ere we go, ‘ere we go, ‘ere we go....

maryeliza54 Later than the 30s. In 1950 my grandfather was home and in bed for 14 months with terminal lung cancer. My grandmother applied for asistance. A woman visited, looked around the lvingroom, and told her that she didn't need two armchairs as her husband was never going to be up and sitting in one, so she should sell one.

I am surprised some bright spark in the Tory Party hasn’t come up with the idea of reopening workhouses

So we have people that are destitute in the U.K. and food banks are likely to run out of food at Christmas.

This thread ought to be included in the ashamed to be British thread.

I often think none of us apreciate just how lucky we all are to live in the UK in the 20th & 21st centuries.

In the late 60's and early 70's claimants could still be given clothing grants, to supplement their dole.
It's much harsher now. It's not the case that in the 1980's people had to sell furniture before they were given benefits.
In the 1920's/30's when the mills were closed or on short time, my grandparents were told they'd to chop up their only piece of furniture to burn before they could be given poor relief. My grandfather told me in the 1970's, he'd never apply for anything ever again after that humiliation.

The Supplementary Benefit system remained in place all through the 1970s and most of the 80s until Income Suppprt was introduced in 1988. The selling of other than basic requirements last occurred I believe during the 30s

harrigran I did use to make home visits to claimants, back in the 70s, but I don't recall that anyone was told that they had to sell any of their belongings in order to be eligible to claim. Of course benefits were means tested to a nationwide scale but that was based solely on income and financial assets, not possessions. Possibly it had changed by the 1980s?

I also worked with CAB for the most of the 1980s and people were not having to sell other than basic furniture before getting SB

My grandmother was in receipt of supplementary benefit ( in addition to her OAP) in the early 80# and didn’t have to sell everything but basic furniture - I can’t imagine what that would mean,

I agree pp. She may have just started work and be waiting for her first salary, she may be temping or working part time.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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

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.

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.

? to Iam64!!

"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.