Universial Credit

She has been ill since 2012 with ME and Fybromyalga yet her youngest child is 22 months old.

I'm sorry, I can't see where the problem is.

Is it the fact that they managed to save £50 a week over the year. Are they not allowed to decide how to spend the benefit?

Or is it that they've spent what they saved on Christmas presents for their children? £500 per child sounds a tad excessive to me but when I recall what children from 'poor' families in the disadvantaged area I worked in had given them for Christmas it is probably somewhere near a norm

Or is it that their benefits shouldn't be such as to allow them to save £50 a week?

What don't people think is 'genuine' about them?

And what was the reason for her appearance on TV?

I will tell you when I reach down to your level lovecheese

Yes, all benefit claimants should be sat in a cold room eating gruel, not wasting taxpayers money on Christmas presents for children, how low can you sink?

No idea Primrose, the woman agreed to a TV interview, no idea why , didn't read it in a paper because I no longer buy newspapers . I would be interested to know what she appeared in the studio and gave the interview.

And what makes you think this claimant wasn't genuine?

I work in children's services, these stories are always rolled out and the government and media has successfully demonised benefit claimants. It is political.
The truth is that many more families are struggling to feed their children and heat their homes. There has been a huge increase in the working poor welfare reform does not only affect those out of work.
It is not families who manage to save who are hurting claimants it is the government with their social policies, the media with their biased reporting and the attitudes of people who know half a story perpetuating the myth.

Are those stories the norm? Or are these both just extremes chosen to illustrate a political point?

Journalists then reported on it - now let’s have a guess - daily mail, express, telegraph. Why did you fan the flames ab rather than post about fellow Christian Frank Fields heartbreaking stories that even reduced a Tory MP to tears?

No journalist wrote the story, the woman was on Morning tv, I saw the link,

I think it was unfortunate she choose this time to talk about it, rather like those benefit claiments on a C5 programme showed off . They are hurting genuine claimants

Yes * Maizie* what about those waiting for their claim to be sorted over the holidays and no one to telephone for an advance. Some of us might think that this was the real scandal.

She gets PIP which doesn’t count towards the cap. My mum used to save from what was then Mobility Allowance. Instead of going out regularly and spending it on taxis, she stayed in more and then had some great holidays instead. But IMO this woman is a prat for going on the show as this backlash was inevitable and only harms the more usual type of benefit recipient but boy does it play to the gallery

I'm sure the scenario the OP describes is absolutely the norm for families in receipt of UB and thus proves that all claimants are totally worthless scum who just want to milk the system and have no sense of the decorum demanded of poor people.

Or, perhaps the journalist who wrote the story worked very hard to find a quite exceptional case so as to work everyone up into a state of righteous indignation over the undeservingness of 'the poor'.

I thought the idea of Universal Credit was to have a maximum amount which could be paid regardless of family size but maybe that is wrong. I thought there was a max. of £23 or26K.

How much benefit would you get for 6 children plus carers allowance. Would you get rent paid if the husband is the carer and not working.
It does seem a lot of money especially to people who are working.

FFS