Rant time: Jobs/Benefits [long post]
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I've gotta vent somewhere, just getting so fed up now. Here's the situation: Me and my girlfriend have been privately renting toegether since moving out here (a snip outside the M25 NW) 2 and a half years ago, it was mainly for the sake of my career (a decent graduate role), her job was just to help with income. Obviously, I was very grateful to her for this. Ever since, we've both been plodding along fine, aside from all pay reviews and bonuses being scrapped shortly after I started (I've had none of either since I started). That was until 3 weeks she was made redundant. As you can expect in this area, rent is pretty high, and things have quickly become pretty miserable, though for now it's managable. I tried to see how understanding my employers would be, not very it turns out. Absolute refusal (my boss was supportive, his bosses were not) to let me work from home and move to somewhere cheaper back home in the midlands. So I thought I'd hint to my boss if he'd agree I'm due a pay review, he certainly agreed I was worth considerably more now than what I started on (remember I've had no reviews at all). He passed it on upwards, and was shot down. So as it stands, I'm desperately looking for work elsewhere (as my girlfriend has been obviously, and it's very difficult out there) whilst I continue to work here, my employers obviously aren't aware of this. As I said, getting tough to pay the bills. So my girlfriend disregards whatever was left of her dignity and heads off to sign on. She described the place to me as a pit full of wasters, more the type who clearly don't wan't to work. The staff were totally patronising, treating her like a complete idiot, catering to the lowest common demoninator I guess. You may have heard that to claim jobseekers, you must provide proof that you've been looking for work. Well this "proof" they want amounts to a shit stained piece of paper. Basically, they give an official form with a grid and spaces to fill in, and every time you do so much as look in a shop window you write it down, (no exaggeration here, looking in a shop window counts!), checked the local paper for a couple of minutes? Write it down! All for this effort, she's provided with £50 every fortnight. That £50 helps with feeding us, that's pretty much it. I'm left to cover all bills, rent, council tax on my own. Consider the opposite side of the coin however, the absolute wasters who don't want to work, popping out babies one after the other, are provided with free housing, no council tax, bills cov
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I've gotta vent somewhere, just getting so fed up now. Here's the situation: Me and my girlfriend have been privately renting toegether since moving out here (a snip outside the M25 NW) 2 and a half years ago, it was mainly for the sake of my career (a decent graduate role), her job was just to help with income. Obviously, I was very grateful to her for this. Ever since, we've both been plodding along fine, aside from all pay reviews and bonuses being scrapped shortly after I started (I've had none of either since I started). That was until 3 weeks she was made redundant. As you can expect in this area, rent is pretty high, and things have quickly become pretty miserable, though for now it's managable. I tried to see how understanding my employers would be, not very it turns out. Absolute refusal (my boss was supportive, his bosses were not) to let me work from home and move to somewhere cheaper back home in the midlands. So I thought I'd hint to my boss if he'd agree I'm due a pay review, he certainly agreed I was worth considerably more now than what I started on (remember I've had no reviews at all). He passed it on upwards, and was shot down. So as it stands, I'm desperately looking for work elsewhere (as my girlfriend has been obviously, and it's very difficult out there) whilst I continue to work here, my employers obviously aren't aware of this. As I said, getting tough to pay the bills. So my girlfriend disregards whatever was left of her dignity and heads off to sign on. She described the place to me as a pit full of wasters, more the type who clearly don't wan't to work. The staff were totally patronising, treating her like a complete idiot, catering to the lowest common demoninator I guess. You may have heard that to claim jobseekers, you must provide proof that you've been looking for work. Well this "proof" they want amounts to a shit stained piece of paper. Basically, they give an official form with a grid and spaces to fill in, and every time you do so much as look in a shop window you write it down, (no exaggeration here, looking in a shop window counts!), checked the local paper for a couple of minutes? Write it down! All for this effort, she's provided with £50 every fortnight. That £50 helps with feeding us, that's pretty much it. I'm left to cover all bills, rent, council tax on my own. Consider the opposite side of the coin however, the absolute wasters who don't want to work, popping out babies one after the other, are provided with free housing, no council tax, bills cov
First I hope things improve for you. Here in the states we have the same type of people. I have seen cases where someone did not go back to work as it would mean a drop in standard of living. (Note that this was a few years ago). I once meet a man on disability, at the time he was under his car doing repairs. There are "freeloaders" everywhere. Then there are people like yourself (and me) that cannot understand why? Again, Good Luck, djj
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I've gotta vent somewhere, just getting so fed up now. Here's the situation: Me and my girlfriend have been privately renting toegether since moving out here (a snip outside the M25 NW) 2 and a half years ago, it was mainly for the sake of my career (a decent graduate role), her job was just to help with income. Obviously, I was very grateful to her for this. Ever since, we've both been plodding along fine, aside from all pay reviews and bonuses being scrapped shortly after I started (I've had none of either since I started). That was until 3 weeks she was made redundant. As you can expect in this area, rent is pretty high, and things have quickly become pretty miserable, though for now it's managable. I tried to see how understanding my employers would be, not very it turns out. Absolute refusal (my boss was supportive, his bosses were not) to let me work from home and move to somewhere cheaper back home in the midlands. So I thought I'd hint to my boss if he'd agree I'm due a pay review, he certainly agreed I was worth considerably more now than what I started on (remember I've had no reviews at all). He passed it on upwards, and was shot down. So as it stands, I'm desperately looking for work elsewhere (as my girlfriend has been obviously, and it's very difficult out there) whilst I continue to work here, my employers obviously aren't aware of this. As I said, getting tough to pay the bills. So my girlfriend disregards whatever was left of her dignity and heads off to sign on. She described the place to me as a pit full of wasters, more the type who clearly don't wan't to work. The staff were totally patronising, treating her like a complete idiot, catering to the lowest common demoninator I guess. You may have heard that to claim jobseekers, you must provide proof that you've been looking for work. Well this "proof" they want amounts to a shit stained piece of paper. Basically, they give an official form with a grid and spaces to fill in, and every time you do so much as look in a shop window you write it down, (no exaggeration here, looking in a shop window counts!), checked the local paper for a couple of minutes? Write it down! All for this effort, she's provided with £50 every fortnight. That £50 helps with feeding us, that's pretty much it. I'm left to cover all bills, rent, council tax on my own. Consider the opposite side of the coin however, the absolute wasters who don't want to work, popping out babies one after the other, are provided with free housing, no council tax, bills cov
The Jobcentre or whatever they call it now is a soul destroying place. If you intend to spend a lot of time out of work or know people who never work it's easy to get loads of money out of them by claiming a range of benefits. If, however, you would rather spend your time looking for work than working out how to game the system and your friends are all pretty much the same as you and have never learnt the ways of the Department of stealth and obscurity then it's next to impossible to find out even what the government intends you should get, let alone what you could claim for if you fancied working to the letter rather than the spirit of the law. The system appears to rely on people who are entitled to benefits but fundamentally honest feeling that they are somehow demeaning themselves by asking for money - this is BS, you've paid NI for exactly this reason and you're claiming your Insurance payout on a policy that I'm sure you've paid into substantially.
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The Jobcentre or whatever they call it now is a soul destroying place. If you intend to spend a lot of time out of work or know people who never work it's easy to get loads of money out of them by claiming a range of benefits. If, however, you would rather spend your time looking for work than working out how to game the system and your friends are all pretty much the same as you and have never learnt the ways of the Department of stealth and obscurity then it's next to impossible to find out even what the government intends you should get, let alone what you could claim for if you fancied working to the letter rather than the spirit of the law. The system appears to rely on people who are entitled to benefits but fundamentally honest feeling that they are somehow demeaning themselves by asking for money - this is BS, you've paid NI for exactly this reason and you're claiming your Insurance payout on a policy that I'm sure you've paid into substantially.
Russell Jones wrote:
you've paid NI for exactly this reason and you're claiming your Insurance payout on a policy that I'm sure you've paid into substantially
Exactly, we have no problems in claiming, as we've both paid in. However the problem is, short of her miniscule jobseekers, we're not entitled to anything.
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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First I hope things improve for you. Here in the states we have the same type of people. I have seen cases where someone did not go back to work as it would mean a drop in standard of living. (Note that this was a few years ago). I once meet a man on disability, at the time he was under his car doing repairs. There are "freeloaders" everywhere. Then there are people like yourself (and me) that cannot understand why? Again, Good Luck, djj
djj55 wrote:
Here in the states we have the same type of people. I have seen cases where someone did not go back to work as it would mean a drop in standard of living. (Note that this was a few years ago).
That's the current state here, and I'm not just regurgitating common myths, it's pure fact. Cheers for your words of support though!
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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Russell Jones wrote:
you've paid NI for exactly this reason and you're claiming your Insurance payout on a policy that I'm sure you've paid into substantially
Exactly, we have no problems in claiming, as we've both paid in. However the problem is, short of her miniscule jobseekers, we're not entitled to anything.
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
It's a really stupid rule that if your partner is working you get no council tax or housing benefit. It's worth having a good dig round on the web to see if there are any other things she's entitled to, prescription charges, dental appointments, travelling costs for interviews etc. It's not going to make you rich but it will lower your costs. There's an amount you can work without losing benefits too, maybe a couple of nights a week working in a pub / restaurant would help out a bit without losing the benefits?
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It's a really stupid rule that if your partner is working you get no council tax or housing benefit. It's worth having a good dig round on the web to see if there are any other things she's entitled to, prescription charges, dental appointments, travelling costs for interviews etc. It's not going to make you rich but it will lower your costs. There's an amount you can work without losing benefits too, maybe a couple of nights a week working in a pub / restaurant would help out a bit without losing the benefits?
Maybe, a few of the things you mention are sorely needed too. She's currently regularly visiting a dentist and hygenist, with a need (not a want) of getting veneers(sp?), one or 2 may even need replacing, long story short there, some inherited thing, naturally weak teeth, her mouth produced too much of something when younger. A pub/restaurant is what she's suited too, and has managerial experience, it was something she never considered as we'd never see each other, but we can't be picky anymore. Cheers for the advice :thumbsup:
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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I've gotta vent somewhere, just getting so fed up now. Here's the situation: Me and my girlfriend have been privately renting toegether since moving out here (a snip outside the M25 NW) 2 and a half years ago, it was mainly for the sake of my career (a decent graduate role), her job was just to help with income. Obviously, I was very grateful to her for this. Ever since, we've both been plodding along fine, aside from all pay reviews and bonuses being scrapped shortly after I started (I've had none of either since I started). That was until 3 weeks she was made redundant. As you can expect in this area, rent is pretty high, and things have quickly become pretty miserable, though for now it's managable. I tried to see how understanding my employers would be, not very it turns out. Absolute refusal (my boss was supportive, his bosses were not) to let me work from home and move to somewhere cheaper back home in the midlands. So I thought I'd hint to my boss if he'd agree I'm due a pay review, he certainly agreed I was worth considerably more now than what I started on (remember I've had no reviews at all). He passed it on upwards, and was shot down. So as it stands, I'm desperately looking for work elsewhere (as my girlfriend has been obviously, and it's very difficult out there) whilst I continue to work here, my employers obviously aren't aware of this. As I said, getting tough to pay the bills. So my girlfriend disregards whatever was left of her dignity and heads off to sign on. She described the place to me as a pit full of wasters, more the type who clearly don't wan't to work. The staff were totally patronising, treating her like a complete idiot, catering to the lowest common demoninator I guess. You may have heard that to claim jobseekers, you must provide proof that you've been looking for work. Well this "proof" they want amounts to a shit stained piece of paper. Basically, they give an official form with a grid and spaces to fill in, and every time you do so much as look in a shop window you write it down, (no exaggeration here, looking in a shop window counts!), checked the local paper for a couple of minutes? Write it down! All for this effort, she's provided with £50 every fortnight. That £50 helps with feeding us, that's pretty much it. I'm left to cover all bills, rent, council tax on my own. Consider the opposite side of the coin however, the absolute wasters who don't want to work, popping out babies one after the other, are provided with free housing, no council tax, bills cov
Sorry to hear that: you should consider going freelance, even if only for a while. You'd increase your income (though there are other things to consider as well like being a limited company, etc). Also, you mention that you've had no reviews: do you only mean a wage review or an appraisal? I'm pretty sure that they ar elegally obligate to provide at least an annual appraisal if you are a permie. You'd need to check.
Tychotics: take us back to the moon "Life, for ever dying to be born afresh, for ever young and eager, will presently stand upon this earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars." H. G. Wells
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Sorry to hear that: you should consider going freelance, even if only for a while. You'd increase your income (though there are other things to consider as well like being a limited company, etc). Also, you mention that you've had no reviews: do you only mean a wage review or an appraisal? I'm pretty sure that they ar elegally obligate to provide at least an annual appraisal if you are a permie. You'd need to check.
Tychotics: take us back to the moon "Life, for ever dying to be born afresh, for ever young and eager, will presently stand upon this earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars." H. G. Wells
digital man wrote:
you should consider going freelance, even if only for a while. You'd increase your income (though there are other things to consider as well like being a limited company, etc).
Don't know how well I'd manage that, we're only young (23), and I'm still relatively inexperienced, been looking for a kind of "stepping stone" role from junior->regular, keeping with winforms but looking towards WPF kinda thing.
digital man wrote:
Also, you mention that you've had no reviews: do you only mean a wage review or an appraisal? I'm pretty sure that they ar elegally obligate to provide at least an annual appraisal if you are a permie. You'd need to check.
I've had 2 appraisals as it were, where in the past here, these things were discussed. In both it was a case of "you're doing great, but we can't give you anything".
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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Maybe, a few of the things you mention are sorely needed too. She's currently regularly visiting a dentist and hygenist, with a need (not a want) of getting veneers(sp?), one or 2 may even need replacing, long story short there, some inherited thing, naturally weak teeth, her mouth produced too much of something when younger. A pub/restaurant is what she's suited too, and has managerial experience, it was something she never considered as we'd never see each other, but we can't be picky anymore. Cheers for the advice :thumbsup:
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa/benefit_information/a-z_of_benefits/jobseekers_allowance_gbi/jobseekers_allowance_general_info.htm[^] Seems that after the first £5 of income which you're allowed to keep money is deducted 1p for 1p but you can't offset travel to work costs. :wtf: I guess the government prefers people on the dole to work cash in hand ;-) Find out what benefits she gets towards dental work and get as much done as possible while she's out of work. Some catering places, especially in student areas, are overrun with potential workers in the evenings and weekends but not so much in the daytime
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http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa/benefit_information/a-z_of_benefits/jobseekers_allowance_gbi/jobseekers_allowance_general_info.htm[^] Seems that after the first £5 of income which you're allowed to keep money is deducted 1p for 1p but you can't offset travel to work costs. :wtf: I guess the government prefers people on the dole to work cash in hand ;-) Find out what benefits she gets towards dental work and get as much done as possible while she's out of work. Some catering places, especially in student areas, are overrun with potential workers in the evenings and weekends but not so much in the daytime
That's a pretty handy site! Seems to mention she may be due help in relation to dentistry, opticians etc., even I might be as we've been living together so long, I believe she'd be classified as "my partner" under common law.
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa/benefit_information/a-z_of_benefits/jobseekers_allowance_gbi/jobseekers_allowance_general_info.htm[^] Seems that after the first £5 of income which you're allowed to keep money is deducted 1p for 1p but you can't offset travel to work costs. :wtf: I guess the government prefers people on the dole to work cash in hand ;-) Find out what benefits she gets towards dental work and get as much done as possible while she's out of work. Some catering places, especially in student areas, are overrun with potential workers in the evenings and weekends but not so much in the daytime
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I've gotta vent somewhere, just getting so fed up now. Here's the situation: Me and my girlfriend have been privately renting toegether since moving out here (a snip outside the M25 NW) 2 and a half years ago, it was mainly for the sake of my career (a decent graduate role), her job was just to help with income. Obviously, I was very grateful to her for this. Ever since, we've both been plodding along fine, aside from all pay reviews and bonuses being scrapped shortly after I started (I've had none of either since I started). That was until 3 weeks she was made redundant. As you can expect in this area, rent is pretty high, and things have quickly become pretty miserable, though for now it's managable. I tried to see how understanding my employers would be, not very it turns out. Absolute refusal (my boss was supportive, his bosses were not) to let me work from home and move to somewhere cheaper back home in the midlands. So I thought I'd hint to my boss if he'd agree I'm due a pay review, he certainly agreed I was worth considerably more now than what I started on (remember I've had no reviews at all). He passed it on upwards, and was shot down. So as it stands, I'm desperately looking for work elsewhere (as my girlfriend has been obviously, and it's very difficult out there) whilst I continue to work here, my employers obviously aren't aware of this. As I said, getting tough to pay the bills. So my girlfriend disregards whatever was left of her dignity and heads off to sign on. She described the place to me as a pit full of wasters, more the type who clearly don't wan't to work. The staff were totally patronising, treating her like a complete idiot, catering to the lowest common demoninator I guess. You may have heard that to claim jobseekers, you must provide proof that you've been looking for work. Well this "proof" they want amounts to a shit stained piece of paper. Basically, they give an official form with a grid and spaces to fill in, and every time you do so much as look in a shop window you write it down, (no exaggeration here, looking in a shop window counts!), checked the local paper for a couple of minutes? Write it down! All for this effort, she's provided with £50 every fortnight. That £50 helps with feeding us, that's pretty much it. I'm left to cover all bills, rent, council tax on my own. Consider the opposite side of the coin however, the absolute wasters who don't want to work, popping out babies one after the other, are provided with free housing, no council tax, bills cov
Having been in the same positions (yours and your girlfriend's) in the past I have every sympathy. The JobCentre is as you describe, and the only thing to do is go in, sign the papers, smile sweetly, take the money, and get out as soon as possible. As to job searching I found the most promising opportunities (i.e got a telephone interview at least) came from direct approaches rather than agencies. It's worth registering with a few agencies but you also need to scan the papers, tech journals as well. Unfortunately there are no easy answers, but at least you have the benefit of knowing that everyone on CodeProject wishes you well.
txtspeak is the realm of 9 year old children, not developers. Christian Graus
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I forwarded her this info, apparently none of it applies because she's not on income based jobseekers?
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
Ah, i forgot that there are different types of JSA, it was a long time ago when I was trying to get some money from the government, the damn thing is a minefield, no wonder people become fulltimers, once you've invested all that effort learning a skill why would you switch to a lower paying career. There probably are things she can claim for, you've just got to find out what they are.
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Having been in the same positions (yours and your girlfriend's) in the past I have every sympathy. The JobCentre is as you describe, and the only thing to do is go in, sign the papers, smile sweetly, take the money, and get out as soon as possible. As to job searching I found the most promising opportunities (i.e got a telephone interview at least) came from direct approaches rather than agencies. It's worth registering with a few agencies but you also need to scan the papers, tech journals as well. Unfortunately there are no easy answers, but at least you have the benefit of knowing that everyone on CodeProject wishes you well.
txtspeak is the realm of 9 year old children, not developers. Christian Graus
Richard MacCutchan wrote:
at least you have the benefit of knowing that everyone on CodeProject wishes you well.
Exactly, this is a fantastic place to come for a little pick-me-up and some advice! Cheers.
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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I've gotta vent somewhere, just getting so fed up now. Here's the situation: Me and my girlfriend have been privately renting toegether since moving out here (a snip outside the M25 NW) 2 and a half years ago, it was mainly for the sake of my career (a decent graduate role), her job was just to help with income. Obviously, I was very grateful to her for this. Ever since, we've both been plodding along fine, aside from all pay reviews and bonuses being scrapped shortly after I started (I've had none of either since I started). That was until 3 weeks she was made redundant. As you can expect in this area, rent is pretty high, and things have quickly become pretty miserable, though for now it's managable. I tried to see how understanding my employers would be, not very it turns out. Absolute refusal (my boss was supportive, his bosses were not) to let me work from home and move to somewhere cheaper back home in the midlands. So I thought I'd hint to my boss if he'd agree I'm due a pay review, he certainly agreed I was worth considerably more now than what I started on (remember I've had no reviews at all). He passed it on upwards, and was shot down. So as it stands, I'm desperately looking for work elsewhere (as my girlfriend has been obviously, and it's very difficult out there) whilst I continue to work here, my employers obviously aren't aware of this. As I said, getting tough to pay the bills. So my girlfriend disregards whatever was left of her dignity and heads off to sign on. She described the place to me as a pit full of wasters, more the type who clearly don't wan't to work. The staff were totally patronising, treating her like a complete idiot, catering to the lowest common demoninator I guess. You may have heard that to claim jobseekers, you must provide proof that you've been looking for work. Well this "proof" they want amounts to a shit stained piece of paper. Basically, they give an official form with a grid and spaces to fill in, and every time you do so much as look in a shop window you write it down, (no exaggeration here, looking in a shop window counts!), checked the local paper for a couple of minutes? Write it down! All for this effort, she's provided with £50 every fortnight. That £50 helps with feeding us, that's pretty much it. I'm left to cover all bills, rent, council tax on my own. Consider the opposite side of the coin however, the absolute wasters who don't want to work, popping out babies one after the other, are provided with free housing, no council tax, bills cov
I hope you don't need to know this, but that £50 is not permanent - since you are working 20 or more hours a week, her benefit will only last 6 months. After that, nadda. Given the current climate, it may be worth factoring that into any job change / relocation plans you may have, before it reduces your income further.
You should never use standby on an elephant. It always crashes when you lift the ears. - Mark Wallace C/C++ (I dont see a huge difference between them, and the 'benefits' of C++ are questionable, who needs inheritance when you have copy and paste) - fat_boy
