UK/North economy

[LC]

They briefly grew a set of balls by saying they would tackle it and then removed the 2 child benefit cap. It's an amazing world where working people have to factor costs into deciding how many children they can afford but people lying in the house have no such concerns. The benefits system needs a massive overhaul, but like turning NHS around it seems like an impossible task.

I get it, I really do. But the problem is, its ultimately the kids that suffer, not the (shite) parents.

Not sure what the alternative is. Like going down the line of "if a household has 4 or more kids, never worked and has no income streams outside benefits, then both members of that household should be rendered infertile to stop them having more kids" seems a touch draconian. It stops the kids being the ones suffering and at least stops the problem getting worse - but as said - more than a bit severe!!

Yet what other options are there that don't end up with the kids unduly punished?

But something will have to be done at some point - as actual working families get smaller and the "not-working" families seem to not* - the tax burden will become unsustainable at some point.

*may not be true, could be perception.

Food stamps and which can not be used for alcohol and cigarettes.

Was in an Asda yesterday evening and seen a few customers walking out with 10 glass bottles and 6 packs of beer and nothing else.  Answers on a postcard as whether they were in working clothes / work uniform or a Sports Direct Tracksuit.

[Milltown Row2]

Friday nights shops! I'll have the beer the 25%off wine deals but I'll have some food in there too

[seafoid]

https://equalitytrust.org.uk/evidence-base/billionaire-britain-2025/
By 2023, the top 50 richest families in the UK held more wealth than the poorest half of the population, comprising over 34 million 

[playwiththewind1st]

"Across the UK, 53.3% of people lived in households that were net recipients in FYE 2024. This means that they lived in households that received more in benefits (cash and benefits in kind) than they paid in taxes (direct and indirect)".

That's from the Office of National Statistics & goes some way towards explaining why the UK is, economically speaking, completely fucked.

[DaleCooper]

https://equalitytrust.org.uk/evidence-base/billionaire-britain-2025/
By 2023, the top 50 richest families in the UK held more wealth than the poorest half of the population, comprising over 34 million

The elites actually do pinch themselves wondering why they havent been strung up.

They are organised and the plebs are disorganised, so it will continue.

[Milltown Row2]

So we continue to vote the same people in, we keep getting the same results and still complain about how things are!

Humans are strange

[Throw ball]

Would like to see how much of that is going to people who are in work but are on such shite pay that they need benefits to top up their income to actually live? Definitely plenty of tossers too lazy to work who should be cut off but would guess they're a minority. "Welfare" includes state pension as well?

Think we all know welfare needs a serious looking at but labour hasn't the balls to look at it and cut it

This is a line peddled by many parties to excuse their incompetence/ self service. As Armagh18 says if people work full time and still don't have enough money to live on then their wages level is the problem. Who gains then? Primarily big business owners. In effect in these cases welfare is helping the better off. I also find it hard to consider cutting the pension for those who have worked all their lifes. But something also has to be done about the scroungers. Is it possible that people have to do some public service work to get benefits? Not sure how that would work but it might encourage people into employment. Obviously there also has to be a caveat for the medically unfit.

A big issue in the UK was the austerity from 2010. If you continue to cut costs, ignore infrastructure deficits etc. eventually the problems will worsen and the costs spiral. And this doesn't even consider the problems with Brexit. The Tories and the cheerleading from Farage has a lot to answer for. I'm no fan of Starmer etc but they have been put in a very deep hole without a ladder.

[Milltown Row2]

No party actually wants to tackle the situation as it's a vote loser for them so they'll fob it off instead of dealing with the problem at source..

The nuclear option is no option but it's also not sustainable to continue with the current model

There is work out there, but people don't want to work if they are getting by with what they are used to, then their expectations are too much when they get a job as it doesn't meet their needs or what they think they are worth over the job they actually do

Example, I've tried to get a position filled for the past 18 months, it's in a global company which starts at the ground level. The potential for growth within the role is right to the top (this has happened) or stay at the level you come in or train in other sectors of the company..

So many people have come through and left, various legit reasons mind you that it's actually easier for me just to have a temp as getting a committed employee is very hard to find.

How does the government incentivise people into the workforce and away from benefits, I've no problem with people with physically mental disabilities which would prevent them from working either full time or attending work, but we have moved on so much that working from home is easier than ever, these were massive barriers in the past but less so now.

Instead of jobseekers (not sure what's it's called now) surely the government could work with these recruitment agencies and provide access to jobs and make it more inviting to work than sitting on your hole all day?

Which countries of similar size is getting better at moving away from the benefit system?

It's a very difficult fix

[playwiththewind1st]

We have the so-called "Holiday Hunger" bill going through Stormont at the minute. That's what the welfare state has descended into....basically feeding people's kids, all the year round. It doesn't seem to matter about considering whether or not you can afford to have kids. Have them anyway & dump all responsibility for them onto the state, while you spend the money saved on mobiles, Netflix, holidays etc. Lift the child benefits cap, pay to feed the kids at school, pay to feed them during the school holidays - all encouraging the dependency culture. I wonder will the "holiday hunger" payments still apply, when they're all away on their state sponsored holidays to Benidorm in the summer? The whole thing's a complete racket & people are only too aware of how to exploit it, to the max.

[seafoid]

https://www.ft.com/content/eb0c2d17-81b5-4741-a9fd-3f1dcbbfc8cc
·       More than one in five Britons of working age are neither in work nor looking for a job.


https://www.ft.com/content/a91ed719-a95a-45ee-aa5a-db8ecb550561

One new problem over the past year has been that the UK now has many more people, especially women, off work and long-term sick. Looking at the data, Michael Saunders, an external member of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee blamed the "side effects of the pandemic, for example long Covid and the rise in NHS waiting lists". This new and UK-specific long-term sickness problem casts a dark shadow over both the government's management of the pandemic and NHS performance,

Is it as bad in the North?

[playwiththewind1st]

You have all these NEETs, who claim to have ADHD, which may as well be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act. This apparently is sufficient to make you eligible for benefits for life, nowadays. You can then sit in your darkened bedroom all day long, gaming & telling the world that nobody understands you.

[Tony Baloney]

We have the so-called "Holiday Hunger" bill going through Stormont at the minute. That's what the welfare state has descended into....basically feeding people's kids, all the year round. It doesn't seem to matter about considering whether or not you can afford to have kids. Have them anyway & dump all responsibility for them onto the state, while you spend the money saved on mobiles, Netflix, holidays etc. Lift the child benefits cap, pay to feed the kids at school, pay to feed them during the school holidays - all encouraging the dependency culture. I wonder will the "holiday hunger" payments still apply, when they're all away on their state sponsored holidays to Benidorm in the summer? The whole thing's a complete racket & people are only too aware of how to exploit it, to the max.

SF are the primary pushers of welfare and feeding wains all year round as it is culturally ingrained in parts of W. Belfast, Derry etc. but they'll still blame Westminster.

Mental health issues are the modern equivalent of a bad back i.e. a condition which pays out but can't be disproved. It's well known that the Great Outdoors helps mental health conditions so claimants who are otherwise physically able should be asked to work outdoors to claim benefits. I'd imagine you'd see a miraculous decrease in mental health claims overnight!

[LC]

We have the so-called "Holiday Hunger" bill going through Stormont at the minute. That's what the welfare state has descended into....basically feeding people's kids, all the year round. It doesn't seem to matter about considering whether or not you can afford to have kids. Have them anyway & dump all responsibility for them onto the state, while you spend the money saved on mobiles, Netflix, holidays etc. Lift the child benefits cap, pay to feed the kids at school, pay to feed them during the school holidays - all encouraging the dependency culture. I wonder will the "holiday hunger" payments still apply, when they're all away on their state sponsored holidays to Benidorm in the summer? The whole thing's a complete racket & people are only too aware of how to exploit it, to the max.

SF are the primary pushers of welfare and feeding wains all year round as it is culturally ingrained in parts of W. Belfast, Derry etc. but they'll still blame Westminster.

Mental health issues are the modern equivalent of a bad back i.e. a condition which pays out but can't be disproved. It's well known that the Great Outdoors helps mental health conditions so claimants who are otherwise physically able should be asked to work outdoors to claim benefits. I'd imagine you'd see a miraculous decrease in mental health claims overnight!

Agree 100%

[playwiththewind1st]

Our revenge will be the laughter of our very well fed children, all paid for by the Brits.

[Milltown Row2]

Our revenge will be the laughter of our very well fed children, all paid for by the Brits.

You spelt fags and beer wrongly