It was in the news today that the Government are launching a new benefit system to get people into work. Anyone who is capable of working, should be working, rather than having an automatic right to benefits. There are exemptions for those that genuinely cannot work for medical reasons, including full time carers, and for mothers with children under seven.
Anyone else that is long term unemployed – for 2 years or more – will have to take part in ‘community service’ type work in return for benefits. Why two years? Why not sooner, as two years out of work may be enough for people to lose the confidence they need to get themselves back into work. In those two years they could have learned skills through training and voluntary work, have something to put on their CV, and be contributing to society in return for their benefits.
When I left university I went on the dole for about 6 weeks until I found a job. It was a temporary solution to being out of work and I took the first job that came along – it wasn’t a graduate job, it wasn’t well paid, but it was a job. For some, (and before you get all worked up, I said ‘some’), receiving benefits is considered a right, and getting a job is just a choice.
And why not, as the current benefit system offers no real incentive to work. If I had left school with no qualifications, no job and nowhere to live (which would have been a certainty as my parents wouldn’t stand for me not working), I would get a rent-paid council house as well as benefits. Granted, the Government paid my tuition fees, so I’m not totally ungrateful, but I would have ‘earned’ far more than that in benefits by now. Instead, I went to university, struggled to pay rent and bills, and buy several hundred pounds worth of text books. And that’s without living the typical ‘student lifestyle’, which I couldn’t afford to do, even with a part time job. People slate students, but at least the majority of students go on to contribute back to society, with higher wages and higher taxes, yet continuing to be in debt. I’m currently paying less per month than the interest added onto my student loan, which means that despite my payments, the total I owe is still increasing.
Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather be working and have an income than rely on benefits, and I know that I’m better off, but I do know some people who are actually worse off working than not. I’m pleased if the Government are finally going to do something about this, but is it a case of too little too late for the generation that have had it engrained into them by family, friends and society that benefits are a life long right?
