[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

was watching a programme this morning about benefit cheats on the beeb.......2 window cleaners were featured, scamming it...50k worth of fraud.......gives the other honest guys a bad name.......

When is your case up scrimman.
I'm sure most here will give a character ref for you. Don't know if it will help

well, thanks for the character ref there boo, it really helped when you gave evidence against me in court......the only problem was that the judge knew you and he said if he ever saw you again in his court room he would have you locked up........can u get tinternet in Bar L?

[cozy]

186 billion quid spending on benefits last year in the UK. I would shop 'em every chance I got.

[laddermonkee]

The problem is any money saved is just wasted elsewhere, if you think about it most dole cheats spend their money on beer and cigs. and as the tax on beer and cigs is about 80 per cent i think, then they are in fact tax payers at the higher rate.

 

[Niall McAllister]

was watching a programme this morning about benefit cheats on the beeb.......2 window cleaners were featured, scamming it...50k worth of fraud.......gives the other honest guys a bad name.......

When is your case up scrimman.
I'm sure most here will give a character ref for you. Don't know if it will help

well, thanks for the character ref there boo, it really helped when you gave evidence against me in court......the only problem was that the judge knew you and he said if he ever saw you again in his court room he would have you locked up........can u get tinternet in Bar L?

if i don't get internet, then that is infringing on my human rights, anyway i would get out on compassionate
grounds as I'm in Scotland (ooh, political)

[dai]

I had a spell on the dole in the 1970's. I tried a few ways of turning a quid, but the problem was with the benefit agency. If you couldn't make what you were doing pay, you couldn't get back on any benefit without a hell of a lot of trouble. It was a hell of a chance to take.
A genuine guy looking for work faces a dilemma, Christmas comes to benefit recipients too, and their kids
want the same as other kids who have working parents. A good husband and dad wants to be able to provide for his kids. I may have forgotten to declare money received from odd jobs when the kids needed new shoes.
T.O,P,S the government training agency came into being at this time, and it sure as hell rescued me.
six months of intense training at a local skill centre got me a job with British Aerospace in the machine shop, I progressed into NC and then CNC work and then onto setting up and  programming machine centres and lathes. From dole to fully skilled in three years.
Where are those training programs now?
With engineering in decline, I found myself several years later out of work again.
It was the enterprise allowance scheme that got me back into window cleaning, a job I had done as a lad.
That £40 a week, guaranteed for 12 months was all the help I needed.
Whether these guys are benefit cheats or just men doing their best for their family is a hard one to call. I reserve my judgment.
The one thing that I am sure of is that I would rather see tax payers money spent helping people get back into work, than bailing out greedy bankers.

[SteveAllan]

I had a spell on the dole in the 1970's. I tried a few ways of turning a quid, but the problem was with the benefit agency. If you couldn't make what you were doing pay, you couldn't get back on any benefit without a hell of a lot of trouble. It was a hell of a chance to take.
A genuine guy looking for work faces a dilemma, Christmas comes to benefit recipients too, and their kids
want the same as other kids who have working parents. A good husband and dad wants to be able to provide for his kids. I may have forgotten to declare money received from odd jobs when the kids needed new shoes.
T.O,P,S the government training agency came into being at this time, and it sure as hell rescued me.
six months of intense training at a local skill centre got me a job with British Aerospace in the machine shop, I progressed into NC and then CNC work and then onto setting up and  programming machine centres and lathes. From dole to fully skilled in three years.
Where are those training programs now?
With engineering in decline, I found myself several years later out of work again.
It was the enterprise allowance scheme that got me back into window cleaning, a job I had done as a lad.
That £40 a week, guaranteed for 12 months was all the help I needed.
Whether these guys are benefit cheats or just men doing their best for their family is a hard one to call. I reserve my judgment.
The one thing that I am sure of is that I would rather see tax payers money spent helping people get back into work, than bailing out greedy bankers.

At last, a great post. Too many are quick to moan, judge, stick their nose in or whatever you want to call it when they too are shoving the odd cash job in the back pocket, anyone who says they are not are full of it.

[Sean Dyer]

I had a spell on the dole in the 1970's. I tried a few ways of turning a quid, but the problem was with the benefit agency. If you couldn't make what you were doing pay, you couldn't get back on any benefit without a hell of a lot of trouble. It was a hell of a chance to take.
A genuine guy looking for work faces a dilemma, Christmas comes to benefit recipients too, and their kids
want the same as other kids who have working parents. A good husband and dad wants to be able to provide for his kids. I may have forgotten to declare money received from odd jobs when the kids needed new shoes.
T.O,P,S the government training agency came into being at this time, and it sure as hell rescued me.
six months of intense training at a local skill centre got me a job with British Aerospace in the machine shop, I progressed into NC and then CNC work and then onto setting up and  programming machine centres and lathes. From dole to fully skilled in three years.
Where are those training programs now?
With engineering in decline, I found myself several years later out of work again.
It was the enterprise allowance scheme that got me back into window cleaning, a job I had done as a lad.
That £40 a week, guaranteed for 12 months was all the help I needed.
Whether these guys are benefit cheats or just men doing their best for their family is a hard one to call. I reserve my judgment.
The one thing that I am sure of is that I would rather see tax payers money spent helping people get back into work, than bailing out greedy bankers.

That is a goo dpost dai, and im sure no one on here begrudges benefits being used like that its just tat all to many times you see families on benefits (i do ) and wonder why they arent grafting like the rest of us, and it aint the recession only that is a problem as this was going on before then, so the point is why arent the govt making them work etc or as you say training them .. mental , it might cost to train but its cheaper than paying there bills and lifestyle for the rest of their life, and once there in work there paying it back through paye, or they could even do a student loan type thing,

O well, its a problem thaht will always be there i think, some people just wont work

[jonnyald]

i reckon theres half a dozen long term benefitters in every street in the land ,  i wouldnt say they thrive on it as its a pretty empty life , sitting there watching jeremy kyle or downloading the latest dvd ,  heck   at least a third of all my customers are dole wallahs thats how this country is these days .  maybe it should be like some of the other eu countries where you get benefit for 6 months and then it stops !   

[Londoner]

Yes a very good post Dai and I have every sympathy with your point. I don't know where you are in the country bacause that may well have a big bearing on how you see these problems.

Round here its different, there are jobs, OK crap jobs admittedly but never the less there are jobs. My 17 year old son has got himself a job working for the school holidays on a scheme for kids with behavioural problems. He gets £6-8 an hour and when he got the job they asked if he knew of any of his friends that may be interested because they still had vacancies to fill.

Not a quarter of a mile from there is a rough estate where nobody seems to work although all the blokes appear fit and well and manage to make it to the Social Club each day on time for opening.

Minicab companies in London recruit drivers from Eastern Europe to come and work here because they can't get drivers locally. They like them because they are honest, reliable and turn up each day.

The benifits question is part of a bigger social problem.