Universal Credits- a new nightmare

I had a friend whose husband was a manager at a Job Centre until he became too ill to work. Even though he'd been 'one of them' suddenly he found himself to be a claimant and was amazed at how badly he was treated. All the time he'd worked there he'd had no idea what it was like to be on the other side of the counter at the mercy of the whims of the target focussed staff. Of course by that time it was too late.

Quizqueen, your remarks are very offensive.

As bikergran described, the incompetence of DWP offices and their staff can be stunning.
It's hard to believe that it is not deliberate, with the intention of avoiding payment of benefits to those who need them.

Perhaps quizqueen missed the news reports in past years of whole industries closing down and putting thousands of people out of work.
Those jobs have not been replaced by other types of work.

Was going to make a post castigating QQ, but you have all made clear you feel exactly as I did on reading that callous post.

Well, I think that quizqueen owes a lot of people on here an apology. Your wild, unfounded and offensive allegations are unwelcome, even with the freedom to post whatever we wish there are certain restraints such as the truth you know. I hope that all is well in your smug self satisfied little life and that nobody in your family has the misfortune to become ill, suffer a bereavement, lose their job, work on zero hours........

Sadly jen it's the world that this current government is fully in favour of

Quiz queens comments made me very angry! I work full time in a paid management/specialist role for a legal advice charity. I have seen first hand the utter misery of poverty and debt on families and can safely say that in my 20 years in the job I can count on one hand the number of potential fraudsters! In addition as an income tax payer I have absolutely no problem with a portion of my salary going directly to help people claiming benefits! What sort of a world is it where we judge people for hitting hard times!

Quizqueen ...... speaks as a proud UKipper.

From the Paul Nuttall (PhD, Hillsborough survivor, Tranmere Rovers player) school of facts

Well some posters don't like the facts to get in the way of a good story

OH! drat...and before I informed "Quizqueen" that my (and others) Jobseekers/ Bereavmnet allowance is and was a "taxable benefit".

Well quizqueen seems to have posted and run

Some years ago, after a previous change in the way benefits were calculated my daughter was left for nearly three months with no benefits at all. The response of the official in the JobCentre was "surely you must have some savings".

The statistics for unclaimed benefits seem to range between 10 billion and 12.4 billion .

For benefit fraud 3.3 billion,
after a quick google search.

Benefits are there to protect the most vulnerable in society, not the ones who we randomly think of as the deserving, and then just let the others rot.
It is accepted that only 0.3% of those on benefits (that's 3 in every 1000 benefit recipients) are cheating the system. No statistics exist for those people entitled to benefits but who are unable to claim them for whatever reason, but I would think it's many times that number.

Absolutely ILC. We seen enough of setting one group against another.

I'm glad you said taxes of one sort or another Ilove - I get thoroughly fed up with tax being equated with income tax. No one can avoid VAT at all - we pay it 24/7 and that's before thinking about eating, drinking, flying, paying insurance etc etc

The system is simply getting worse. The rate of homelessness continues to increase and UC will make that so much worse. Pay the rent or buy food and electricity anyone .
Quizqueen, I'm joining the posters who express distaste for you comments. Benefit fraud happens, it's tiny in comparison with tax fraud.
The increase in mental health problems, including drug and alcohol dependence is linked to homelessness and to the austerity programme. Talk about making things worse for those in need. Shocking.

Also, "the taxpayer" is not a separate group from "the benefit claimant". We all pay taxes of one sort or another.

Well said vampirequeen. We are not a different species. Those who pay in also take out - that is the whole point.

Quizqueen's personal differentiation between deserving and undeserving did not make me thing of the word category, sadly it made me think of the word selection. When will we learn?

Exactly Ilove - why do some posters think that they can just post lies? I expect they believe the mantra that 'everyone is entitled to their opinion' well not if it's a tissue of lies they are not. There is no entitlement to lie. Whatsoever.

"there are many more who play the system. "
Really! what are the statistics?

Well said vampirequeen - you and biker are speaking from experience but I doubt that will give you any credibility at all with some posters. You both deserve apologies but again, you won't get them I expect.

Quizqueen...I find your post offensive. I was a tax payer. I paid my dues for decades but then I became ill. I continued to work and continued to pay taxes. Then I became too ill to work and now claim benefits. However, because when I was working and paying tax I paid into a pension which paid out early due to my ill health, I am still a taxpayer.

Not only do you differentiate between the deserving (those born with disabilities) and the underserving (those who in your opinion made bad choices), you then question those you first classed as deserving by talking about Olympic champions.

What category do you put me in? Am I deserving or undeserving? I have never taken drugs, don't drink, my illness is not linked to obesity, I didn't get pregnant to some ne'er do well and I paid attention in school. What part of my life choices led me to developing a life changing illness that will never improve?

And * quizqueen* how do you feel about the people who work full time for poverty wages because their employers exploit them and have to claim benefits because of that? In other words the sainted tax payers subsidise employers