Readers may be bemused at the question above but I have to ask it after hearing the case of a young desperate mum who has had no money for seven weeks and doesn't have a clue when she is likely to get any in future.
The 21 year old fell into the poverty trap. Her biggest crime was falling for someone who hasn't got a job - but then she has known him since they were at junior school and you can't tell a 16 year-old that leaving home that early, and then falling pregnant is not the wisest of moves, especially when they are immature enough to think they know it all.
But then some people don't plan their lives, they just live them and then live with the consequences of mistaken decisions. This girl works damn hard in the house and for her daughter and as hard as any one who has to commute to work for a couple of hours before even doing a day in the office. She loses sleep, she worries how on earth the next bill is going to be paid, and fears that tomorrow may be just the day when she isn't able to feed her child. That's when she isn't sitting in the dark without electric or in the cold without gas. She's currently hiding from the baliff. Tolerant Britain is looking to evict her from her council hovel because different departments dealing with different benefits don't actually talk to each other - even thought their offices are next door to each other at the local council!
Her partner was on incapacity benefit and the family was on income support. He came off incapacity and the state stopped all of the family's money. A new claim was submitted, and lost by the department. Another claim, two crisis loans, a small amount of spare cash from family members was given over to bridge the gap -- but still nothing from the state. Today the girl has gone for yet another crisis loan and when, or if, her money does sort itself out, then she will be on reduced benefit and starting from a backward point.
Worse, she has a car but cannot afford to use it. She has been paying her insurance from direct debit but cancelled it as the car is off road. She then found out at the worst possible time, that her insurance company ignored her and still took it out of her bank leaving her £70 overdrawn and absolutely no way of paying it back. She had to threaten them with legal action if they didn't put the money they stole back in her account pronto! They did, but the bank decided it had the right to steal even more from her because they won't clear the refunded money for 10 days and she will be charged £5 every day in bank charges. Legal theft, you might call it. I certainly do!
So please don't tell me that people on benefits live the good life while those "decent" people who go to work everyday don't. It simply isn't true. Life on benefit is the worst kind of sub-existence possible and most people don't do it to avoid going to work. They do it because they have to, or because they made a wrong choice somewhere back in their lives and the system is such now that it doesn't allow you to crawl out of it.
Of course, not so long ago, we had a scheme called Family Credit. It was great. It decided that families needed a certain amount of money for a decent standard of living and it made up the difference if wages were low. It encouraged the lazy back to work and gave the unskilled hope that they could get a job and have enough to honour all of their financial commitments as well.
NuLab destroyed that system, made it cumbersome and inaccessible and so confusing that it doesn't help anyone - least of all those that really need it.
The girl I am talking about desperately wants a job but can't find one anywhere that will pay enough for child care - despite the cumbersome child care package that really doesn't help anyone unless they are well off already. Her partner has got himself a part time job for a few hours a week and that buys at least some food. But his employer will not allow him to work "on the books" so he is in a catch 22 situation.
Basically, nowadays, when you fall onto the wrong side of the tracks, you're stuffed and the righteous ramblings about the state of welfare Britain, and the "scroungers" who screw the decent working classes who pay their taxes, are not helpful. We need unity in this country despite years of divide and rule by first Thatcher and now Loony Gordon Brown and his chums in the Stalinist Party.