A New Benefit Law (There ought to be a law about that!)

Member Name: diffyb

Product:	There ought to be a law about that!
Date:	28/03/06 (370 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A more prosperous country, reduce the number of chavs

Disadvantages: We are too soft to pass these laws

I am about to make some statements that will no doubt upset many people reading this review and may come across as being a tad "right wing" however I make no apology for this and in fact this will hopefully spark an interesting debate.

This review concerns the benefits system and the long-term scroungers who abuse the system and how a few new laws would benefit us all.

About 8 years ago I was unfortunate enough to suffer some family issues which forced me to leave a job working away from home and seek employment nearer to my family.

For a period of 4 weeks I had no job and therefore no money, as I had little savings at the time, and so trotted off to the "Dole office" to see if they could help.
After all, I had worked ever since leaving school including a stint in the Army so felt that they would be understanding.
How wrong I was - as I had left my job voluntarily I was entitled to absolutely nothing for a period of 4 weeks apart from a paltry "emergency loan" of £25 to pay for nappies and milk for my baby son as he was then - and I would have to pay that back at some point in the future.
I was devastated - I had paid tax and national insurance for over 10 years so how could this happen ?
I had to rely on handouts from family and friends until I found a temporary job 3 weeks later in an office which, luckily, paid my wages weekly marking an end to 3 brief weeks of stress, upset and shame.

Ever since that episode in my life, I have worked solidly and have always been able to provide for my family but it has made me think about the way this country pays benefits and the criteria used to trigger those payments.

There is a family living opposite my house right now where the man works occasionally, the woman never works and they have 4 children.
They receive a huge sum in Child Tax Credits, have most of their rent paid for them and receive various other "allowances" throughout the year.
So what is the difference between them and me all those years ago (apart from the extra kids) ?

Well, it's simple - the young couple over the road both left school, immediately had their first child and neither of them had a job.
They were given their house by the council as they were "overcrowded" in her mum's house.
The man doesn't and never has earned much more than the minimum wage despite looking fit and able.
He certainly has no problems racing around the sports field on his mini-moto or hammering his car to bits every now and again and as he drinks like a fish and smokes like a trooper I can only assume that he is fit and healthy and that his body can take that kind of sustained abuse.

Now, call me old-fashioned but this seems to me to be a clear case of discrimination by the government agencies; discrimination against people who leave school and actually make an effort to find work.
The message seems to be that those who don't bother to work will have everything given to them, whereas those who show any kind of initiative are left to fend for themselves no matter what situation they find themselves in later in life.

Think about this :-
1) if I need to be cared for in later life, I will have to sell my house to pay for it - matey over the road will get it for free.
2) if the council tax rises then I have to find the extra - the government pay it for matey
3) if I earn more money next year then I will pay more tax - towards matey's lifestyle over the road
4) if I ever need to go to court I will have to pay my own fees - matey gets his for free

It absolutely enfuriates me when I get my P60 and see how much tax I have paid over the past 12 months, knowing that a large proportion is going toward funding the benefit system and the lifestyle of the family over the road.

Now, I realise that there are people who genuinely cannot work and need financial help and I don't have a problem with that - the handicapped,
mentally impaired, physically impaired.
But I DO have a problem with the career scroungers who see no need to work and instead rely on the tax payer to see them through life.

Now then - I have a solution to this :-

We should not give people actual cash benefits to spend (save for a few pounds for miscellaneous items - bus fares, stamps, pens, etc).
We should adopt a voucher system - like Tesco clubcard vouchers - these could be swapped for food, clothes and some luxury services (but not fags and booze).
Anybody found abusing the voucher system should be sent to prison and made to sit through hours of rehabilitation sessions.

NEW LAW NUMBER 2
~~ Limited benefits period ~~
People should have a compulsory medical every 3 months to see if they are fit for work and should be encouraged to apply for all jobs for which they have skills.
There should be a maximum amount of time that these vouchers are payable, after which, the claimants family should be responsible for supporting the adults with the children being taken into care (returnable once thay had found employment).
Harsh - but this is the only way to break the cycle of scrounging parents, popping sprogs, producing scrounging kids who repeat the process.

All this would give a clear message that scrounging is not acceptable and that it isn't a way to get through life.
There would also be a clear incentive for those people to find work.
Very soon, children would learn (at school age) that the more they studied the better prospects life held for them.
With more and more people leaving school and earning their own money straight away, the less people would rely on benefits.
This would allow the government to increase the minimum wage
substantially, therefore raising the country's standard of living.

Longer term, as more people were working, then this (coupled with compulsory pension contributions) would help to ease the pensions burden on the country, freeing up money for the NHS, improving public services and other essential services.

And finally, once all these changes have been adopted, we could introduce a system whereby benefits could be paid based on national insurance contributions.
So as long as you have paid a pre-determined amount of NI then you will be entitled to benefits should you unfortunately lose your job at some time in the future.
This could also be used to determine whether your kids were taken away from you or not.

A few other things that would help solve the benefits crisis :-
1) better career advice in schools
2) better standards of schools and teaching
3) parenting classes imposed on those with wayward children

All this would take to implement is an initial investment now which would start to pay for itself in a very short period of time (15 years I reckon).

So a summary of the new laws that I would propose are :-
1)Benefits to be paid via voucher only - no cash allowed.
2)Benefits payable for a maximum period of 6 months.
3)Benefits only payable if sufficient NI contrinutions have been made.
4)School leavers must find a job or stay at home with their parents.
5)No free council houses for non-working couples.
6)Children would be fostered out if parents were unable to support them.
7)Compulsory payment into a pension scheme.

If we were, by some miracle, able to pass these laws then we would ber able to end this downward spiral of kids leaving school and going straight onto the dole.
Hardworking people would see a better society and our taxes could be better spent.

5 stars for my new laws as they would benefit us all - except for the chavs of course ....

This is my vision for the future of the benefits system - vote for DIFFYB in the next election !!

Summary: A better benfits system for us all with a few new laws.