What do you think to this (benifits in the uk)?

Question

ok so im 18 and i went from school to college to try and get the skills to get a good job when i leave well i finished last week and i was told to apply for job seekers allowence because my husband is on a low wage £750 a month. well i dont like being on benifits but we are struggling with money and i have been told now that i am not able to claim anything as i am married if i was single i would be getting £90 a week. why is it that people who try to do the best thing what we are all told to do like go to college get an education dont get the help they need when they need it? if i had left school aged 15 and pregnant then yeah life would be harder but the goverment would have helped with money. i dont think the government should pay for me to live and i am trying so hard to find a job and i have not got the money to set up my own business but i cant see why by doing what they say is the right thing when you need help because you are generally struggling it is not provided.

Answer 1

As long as I care to remember the government have been giving to those who don't want to work and want to work the system, and those of us that want a short term helping hand, get ignored and told to get on with it.

I can tell you that this obviously encourages more dole scroungers, and those like you and me are left to struggle ourselves, this I think is a deliberate ploy by the government to keep people in poverty and therefore under control. It's all due to politics not fairness. Sorry, but you are trying to get a job, and you can hold your head up like me when you have done it all yourself with no handouts from them. Good luck, and well done for the future.

Answer 2

your husband can claim tax credits on top of his wage because he is on a low wage and supporting you. im surprised they did not tell you this at the benefits office http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/

i might be wrong but have a read through it might help

Answer 3

To the reply about tax credits - your husband can only claim if he is 25 or older.

And yep, the system sucks. If your young and childless, then you get no help at all because apparently we don't need it....

Answer 4

sadly that's how it goes because you are married your husband is meant to keep you. It would be the same if you had a job and he didn't you would be expected to keep him. Make sure you are getting all the money you are both entitled to -i think there is a top up benifit people on low wage  can get

Answer 5

Life is Hard. It doesn't get easier but it gets better do not give up.

Answer 6

That's the reason that there are so many single teenage mums they are positively encouraged to go down this route.You wouldn't get £90 p/w it's a fortnight,anyway you should be able to get help with housing/council tax benefit.You could always play the system by telling them you are no longer living as man and wife and you are renting the spare room as you have no where to go

Answer 7

I think benefits are big problems in UK. It's to easy for some people to get them. I watch few weeks ago some program in TV where reporter went to local job centre somewhere in west midlands. There where 3 guys about 18-20yo with can of Carling. He ask them about life (they said that they never work in their life and tehy have ob seekers allowence ), what they doing and what they think why they haven't got a job. So one of them said that he hasn't job because of f*****g foreigners, coz they are taking his job, they are stilling his money, they are getting benefits and they shouldn't do it. So this journalist told him that he has a job from now for him L7.50/h 8h, 2 x20min breaks, and free transport. This bloke said yeah ok, whats the job... he told him it's picking veges, that bloke said NO WAY I NOT GONNA F****G DO IT foreigners can do it.

This journalist told asked him why u r saying that.. i have a job for you, good wages why u don't wanna it??

I will only add that workers from new EU countries e.g. Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Czech republic, have to work for one year to get job seekers allowance.

My point is: it's to easy for some people to get benefits ... government should do something with it e.g if they will offer you job 3 times and you r refusing to take it u r loosing your benefits

I think you deserve to get one.

I hope you don't think that me answer is offence for you, but it's true, the benefit system in UK it's over sized

Answer 8

I think the logic of it is that if your husband wasn't working and was on JSA benefit you would only be getting £92.80 a week total for both of you as a couple, which is about £370 a month, and as his wage is above this level there's no extra help for you yourself from the government.  I'm sorry though that someone misinformed you about this and told you to apply for it.

But, and I’m not sure about this, so you’d have to check on it, you might be able to apply for working tax credit again when you get a job.  If you were working over 30 hours you might qualify, or if they assess your hours jointly, which I don’t know about.  I also don’t know if you both have to be over 25, or the one working 30 hours, (or even if your husband is over 25), but everything is worth looking into.

And of course, if you haven't done so already, you can try for help with council tax and housing benefit/local housing allowance.