The Benefits Trap

Wow, second blog and I'm already discussing a fairly controversial topic!

Lots of people like to discuss this, especially those that have never really had to be on benefits.

As I eluded to yesterday, both myself and my wife are on benefits at the moment. Both of us have gone through, or are going through, various forms of education and we spend most of our waking hours looking for work.

Yesterday I applied for a job at my local One Stop, and I'm applying for a positions with Parsons Bakery. I've sent in applications for various jobs with Future Publishing and other publishers and distributors around my area. I can but hope that one of them can offer me, at the very least, an interview.

Here's the thing though, there's lots of Part-Time positions going at the moment, positions that I could apply for alongside all the Full-Time positions I'm looking at. My wife could do the same.

But it's not safe for us, or worth it.

To be able to survive at a basic standard of living at the moment, myself and my wife need to have a combined income of around £16,000 before tax. If we have any less than that, we won't be able to eat, pay rent, pay bills, pay Council Tax, etc. Something would have to be skipped every month, and none of them can be skipped else we end up homeless.

If we were both able to get Part-Time positions, we could just about survive...but there's no guarantee that we'd both get a job at the same time, meaning if one of us gained a Part-Time position and the other didn't, our benefits would be cancelled and, yep, we'd end up in the shitter.

The Benefits trap.

We get just enough money from the government to cover what we need. We can eat 1 (that's one) full meal a day, with snacks as well (cheap snacks mind, like Tesco own brand crisps).



But other than that, if we want to "treat" ourselves to a film, a game, or a trip out to the cinema, we need to plan several months in advance to set aside the money.

If just one of us gets a Part-Time job, our benefits are canceled and we can't even afford to do these simple things (such as eat regularly). All of our money and time goes on to necessities like bills and rent.

In the media, on an almost daily basis, we hear tales of lazy benefits scroungers...and my wife & I get stuffed under this label, no matter what we do or say.

I'm mostly just writing this to say that, believe it or not, there are people that don't want to be on benefits their whole lives...neither of us can figure why anybody would want to live like this forever.

At the moment, we are both just existing...but we don't want that, we actually want to be living. We want 9-5 jobs, no matter what the job is, but there's nothing on offer at the moment.

I'm willing to work weekends, late nights, and any holiday (even Christmas, because it really is just another day), and I'm willing to work hard...but nobody wants me at the moment. I'm either too qualified, or under-qualified.



I started University pretty much just as the recession was hitting the UK, and could do little about it so decided to stick it through.

At times like this, I am honestly wondering why I bothered in the first place. University Degrees are worth very little anymore, what with everyone and their mother having one (David Beckham Studies FTW), but I hoped that maybe the contacts I made over the course of 3 years and during Work Experience placements could put me up top somewhere.

In a sense, this worked...I've got my volunteer work, after all, but it's not paid work.

I guess, ultimately, I just wanted to point out that not everybody on benefits is a scrounger or a cheat. Some of us, more than likely the majority, are actually trying our hardest to get work.