Allotments 4 All

did you see the programme last night (cannot remember its correct name) i ended up screaming at the telly is was so ashamed of some of the british people on there. a 25 year old on benefits of £60 per week said he wanted to work, spent all day playing computer games and facebook, was given the opportunity to work and did not turn up, i think his benefits should be cut, i think that anyone who has the opportunity to work and does not should have their benefits cut or at least reduced, i was ahamed that nearly 50% of the british people on this programme came out with lame excuses not to turn up for work on the first day, some did not even turn up for work on time on the first day, and some treated work like a school playground, are we really that lazy or has the programme gone out to find the most feckless and wasteful people in the country, is this what we have become a nation of lazy wingers.

I know that we are not all like this, but i think that our benefits system must change to encourage people to get back to work and not sit there and expect to have an easy job at an inflated wage, we are in a recession and we cannot afford a nation of scroungers, i am sorry i am ranting, but i am so shocked at what i witnessed last night.  >:(

 >:(

I watched it and was as angry as you. It just confirmed lots of stereotypes and I don't think it added anything to the debate.

I could weep.

I was fuming as an ex fraud officer. I think that they should be paid a visit and benefits reduced.

Personally I think that a year on benefits is sufficient before you have your benefits cut and be made to do unpaid work to benefit the country.
Dont think that the layabouts would be as keen as not to get off their backside and do a hard days graft then.

Didn't see the program but I know the problem - it really irks me!

I've spent quite a bit of time in Argentina recently - it's a great country. Interestingly, they don't have much of a benefits system over there so, if you want ANY money, you have to earn it! People there do all sorts of crappy jobs that the British wouldn't dream of doing. They also have a very strong belief that you should only have children if you can bring them up well and have the financial means to do so. Few people we met had more than one child.

It is the way to go I think! Good for the planet too - lots of the unpalatable jobs revolved around litter collecting / recycling - less people can only be a good thing too!

Our benefits system is way too soft, thats why so many people from other countries want to come here. That and the NHS.

Thing is we havent enough money here to cover our own.

I agree if you havent got enough money coming in to support your kids dont have any more!

My Husband has just been made redundant but if he doesnt get a job soon then I will go back to work on temp contracts to eek out his redundancy money so that we dont put pressure on the state. It only takes one of us to look after the kids and it doesnt have to be me, and I was a very capable secretary before I had the boys

I have to say that my husband has no intention, despite getting a redundancy package,  of sitting on his backside and doing nothing. If nothing else the lottie needs digging to provide food for us for the coming year.

Roll on the good weather.

The benefits system of this country is totally ridiculous.
Best example is income support.
If you end up on income support, you get so much basic money plus you get your mortgage/rent, council tax paid, and other bonus things like free prescriptions.

You can do a little part time work, and earn up to £20 a week without affecting your benefits, OK, no problem there.

You can work a bit more, earn more than £20, but for each £1 you earn, you lose £1 from your benefits, so why bother.

The real problem is when you get a job that is just more than your income support, your income support goes to zero, no problem, you are earning that, but then you have to start paying your rent, council tax, your prescriptions, which means you can't afford to work :P

OK, there are tax credits, and other benefits to help you if you are in a low paid job, but they are complicated, and depending on your circumstances, can be of little use.

I agree that the benefits system makes it less likely that the unemployed will commit to seasonal work. And I've never met an Eastern European agricultural worker who didn't seem highly-motivated, friendly and knowledgeable, with a real respect for his/her work.

I think it's sad that the poorest in the country often have little understanding of the value of fruit and vegetables (not always, I know - some have allotments!). We've seen a food revolution in recent years, but how long before that translates to people taking pride in the hard physical effort of producing food? It's a pity there isn't a burgeoning market in dreaming up excuses, otherwise we'd lead the world!

I watched the programme and I wondered whether anybody else noticed that one of the older unemployed guys became more fatherly and responsible-sounding when talking to the younger one who had not turned up for work. Could this be the key to getting the long-term unemployed to take responsibility - by setting a good example to the next generation?

What struck me was how quickly people go into "rage" mode.

I've just watched it.I wasn't surprised.
Why don't they bother ?Because they don't have to !
Society has spent years telling people they don't have to work, that those who will work will feed and clothe THEIR children.
They were moaning about migrant workers but THEY are paying taxes which are funding their unemployment benefit  >:(
I don't think we should be importing labour but I wholeheartedly respect folk leaving their own country and coming here to work,didn't many of our building workers do the same in Germany years ago.

I think that people should be expected to work for benefits.  It is totally wrong that people on benefits get so many fringe benefits.  Cold Weather payments, in some areas transport, college fees. Dental charges.   

Someone has suggested that carers should be entitled to a measly week off every year, and yet we have all these people sitting down doing nothing having a week off every week.

Quote from: InfraDig on February 25, 2010, 15:59:05
What struck me was how quickly people go into "rage" mode.

Yeah, I noticed that too, esp the waiter chap in the Indian restaurant.

Mebbe they often had things 'handed' to them and are not familiar with making an effort and don't realise that life isn't fair.

I imagine the programme makers chose people to accentuate the point and picked and chose the encounters.

those artichoke pickers were a miserable incompetent lot, if I may say so...

And can afford cigarettes too!

These sort of topics get on my nerves.

Some programme maker searches hard for the worst example of people on benefits

and trys to shock you .

Many people on benefits work hard at trying to find jobs and don't need all the patronising remarks that have been made on here >:(

How long is it since you had to look for a job??

Den I've just been laid in the bath thinking about my earlier post and I think there are two sides to most things.Sadly while you're absolutely right, I think we've bred a whole group in society who think they should get everything for nothing.
Have you ever watched Jeremy Kyle ?
I've got two branches of family one side works hard ,obeys the law ,parents well and the other side.................................... :o

I thought the English people in the programme just about summed up the state of the UK today when it comes to working for a living, to easy staying in doors with your playstation collecting your handout, I turned sixty two years ago having worked away from home  for the past forty years I thought I would now have it easy for a change so I just packed to the surprise of my boss, I now work  a thirtyseven hour week doing a job I enjoy and did not struggle to find work, and a word of encouragement to anyone out there who think they are past it 'Bo---cks',  there are plenty of employers  looking for experience people, a friend of mine who has a plumbing business had a guy knock on his door last week looking for a job, he was a a time served plumber and because of his age served a proper apprenticeship and was an expert in working in Lead, my mate does a lot of work on old buildings and set the guy on doing all his roof flashing work this chap was fiftyfive get out there and start looking :)   

"I think that people should be expected to work for benefits.  It is totally wrong that people on benefits get so many fringe benefits. " "Our benefits system is way too soft" Quotes

I wish... Having had to quit work last April (after 25years) I was put on ESA (the old incapacity... which is ludicrous in itself, but as I was (and still am) signed off by my GP that's where they put me. Not wishing to get something (£63:40pw) for nothing I took on training for which I get a bursary (£5,000 spread over the year) but work 20 hrs a week for £50pw x32 weeks... I am not paid for this "work" as the National Minimum Wage is @£6 ph. Now I am going to be off ESA (as the government want to reduce incapacity)... but no longer eligible for Jobseekers (£63:40pw) as I am not "available" for work... (on a government sponsored training course) as I am married and my wife has a professional job and our children are grown up we are not entitled to any other benefits eg tax credits..  so I will have to carry on with the course with no income, or give it up (which I am not prepared to do...)
It makes "Catch 22" seem quite straightforward...
:-X

They used to have a scheme in the 80's (I think). I was on it, I got my benefit money but I worked for it....full time. It was a brilliant scheme, I have no idea why it was stopped to be honest.

I did my training at Harlow Carr Gardens with this benefit thingy. Harlow Carr got extra labour, I felt I was doing something worthwhile and took pride in not sitting on me backside getting handouts.

Sigh.........where did it all go wrong? ???

Saddad, I think you sum up the situation very well - sorry to hear about your problems.

I thought the most interesting thing about the programme was noticing that attitude to work seemed to be an age thing - the older ones had other issues with the migrant workers, but got on with the job and at the end of the three days was prepared to admit that their initial prejudices were just that.

It was the younger ones that most shocked me (but not surprised)  The waiter lad really did want to succeed but just had no experience of that environment and writing the order quickly exposed his lack of education but he did come back for a second go and asked for help but just gave up when it all got too much.

A big cheer to Ali the restaurant owner, who was amazingly gracious and even offered waiter boy a free lunch, which he had the cheek to accept ::)

Re the asparagus farm - I'm not sure that I could work at that pace all day and feel well rewarded with an average of £40 p.d. and keep coming back day after day.  The farmer is right, people on benefits cannot easily come off benefits for seasonal work and then pick up benefits when the work ends.

Quote from: star on February 25, 2010, 21:44:32
They used to have a scheme in the 80's (I think). I was on it, I got my benefit money but I worked for it....full time. It was a brilliant scheme, I have no idea why it was stopped to be honest.

I did my training at Harlow Carr Gardens with this benefit thingy. Harlow Carr got extra labour, I felt I was doing something worthwhile and took pride in not sitting on me backside getting handouts.

Sigh.........where did it all go wrong? ???

Star your thinking of Youth trainig scheme (YTS) I think they gave up on that.

I can rememebr being unemployed in the 80's and they were desperate to get me on that ahead of me actually being able to even look for a proper job. Fortunately I worked my socks off trying to get a proper job and got seasonal work in a shop for Xmas which gave me experience enough to move on to another proper job when that finisshed, so escaped YTS.

YTS wasn't benefits.  It was a training scheme - part work and part training/exams at college

I also watched it with my husband and I have to say, given the personalities of some that were chosen, it really was no surprise that they didn't turn up.  I like to think that for every lazy scrote who won't get out of bed for anything less than the prime minister's job, there's also a hard working person trying very hard to do the opposite.

As for the YTS, I was on one of those and it was great!  I did my on the job training at the BP head office and gained a lot of experience in my line of work and on the college days I gained three RSA qualifications so it was a winner for me and unlike many people today, that £25 per week did me just fine!