Bleeding us dry

SO now it's official—90 per cent of people on benefits are scroungers.

I'm not against people in genuine need of aid, but those who fake sickness leech off the rest of us. Most people are forced to hand over at least one day's wages a week to the taxman. A big chunk of that pays for spongers.

The government must STOP dishing out our cash so readily.

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Comments

[cg]

After reading the headline ITS US WHO PAY in notw 10 feb i have come to the conclusion that our goverment and this country has failed and will keep on failing. How can a goverment pay out millions to scroungers on benefits and cant pay out the money needed to our soldiers for flights home(feb 10 OUTRAGE OF WAR HEROS FLIGHT BILL ARTICLE). These soldiers are the ones fighting for our country and its FREEDOM as it has been for generations before, FOR WHAT I ASK? I see these scroungers line up at the postoffice before 8.30am to get their money and have seen the same people with beer in their hands after nine. This is what the goverment is paying them for to keep them in beer and nice clothes laughing at the hard working people of this country paying into the system. My husband is self employed working long hard days in the steel industry fighting to keep his business and his family together. We don't claim benefits and have to struggle every day. If some are on £19,000 a year Jobseekers allowance I say let them pay their own Council Tax (£1,000 per year) and not the taxpayers. Let them take it out of their beer and cigs money and not our pockets. They find ways around not getting a job and I think they should be given a set time to find one and if not stop their money OR enlist them like they did years ago. We as a country need to be hard on doll people WHO CAN WORK AND WON'T. There are a lot of jobs out there and the unemployed people of this country are the ones letting it down by giving the jobs away to these immigrants coming into this country and then moaning about immigrants living in our areas.If you want to help stop the immigrants getting into the system then get off your backside and help build this country up by getting a job. OUR GOVERMENT SHOULD MAKE IT HARD TO BE ON THE DOLE AND NOT EASY AS IT IS. STOP COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT, "IF ONE PAYS ALL SHOULD PAY". START AN ANTI-SROUNGING CAMPAIGN AND SEE THE RESPONSE YOU GET FROM HARD WORKING PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.

[dolfrog]

I was made redundant, 3 years ago, it was my way out of 6 years of Disability Discrimination by a leading UK retail chain. Initially I recieved Incapacity Benefit to help me over a minor breakdown as the years of discrimination induced stress came pouring out.
My disability, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), has only recently been officially recognised in the UK and I am one of the first adults in the UK to be clinically diagnosed as having APD. APD is one of the major causes of the dyslexic symptoms and has many other symptoms as well.
To help cope with my disability I need a set routine that a job can provide, so I quickly reverted to Job Seeker Allowance, and hoped that with the help of the Job Centre Disability Adviser I would soon be able to find a new job.

Despite all of the efforts of my disability adviser I can not even get on any of the basic back to work programs, and one of the Government funded agencies who are supposed to help the disabled find work; took 11 and an half months out of a 12 month contract just to create a new CV for me. I did have a CV before I was introduced to this organisation.

From my experience employers do not like to employ those who have a disability because they may have to make some accommodations that change their set in stone working practices, which they claim to be based on efficiency.

The employers organisations do not encourage their members to employ disabled people, but prefer to recommend that they move to a third world labour market to exploit a less well educated and informed population.

[Mr L Hutchings]

Stop blaming the victims!! This is in answer to Bill O’Reily’s post.

We live on an ex-council estate (not by choice) I don’t see any victims on my estate just spongers who can afford holidays, satellite TV, nice cars, buy their numerous kids the latest clothes, drink, smoke, etc etc. I work full time, the only help we get is carers allowance for my wife who looks after her mother full time who is disabled and lives with us, we have three children (12, 13, and 21) two who still living at home, the eldest left home at 17, she never signed on or claimed any benefit, she lived in a crap bed-sit over a pub earning minimum wage doing shifts in the pub below and other pubs around the town, she did all this while do a Hairdressing and Barbers course at the local collage, and yes we paid for the course, she could of got it paid for if she signed on, but she’s not like that.

She now works as an assistant manager in a barbers and is now looking to set up her own business, she rents a nice house with a friend and is trying to save a deposit for a mortgage, we’re very proud of her, she left school with very few qualifications but she told me she did not want to be like most of the people on the estate or like some of her female friends who popped out a baby and got a Housing Association flat as soon as it was born.

Our daughter is an inspiration to her siblings she knew what she wanted to do and went out and did it, it was hard for her and us as no one likes to see their children struggle, but she was determined and went out and got what she wanted by working hard!

Most long-term unemployed people aren’t victims, they like the situation their in, if they didn’t they’d get of their backsides and change it.

[Sharron Crawford]

I once was on the social with children whilst going to college, guess what the migrants get more help and support than i did and this is my birth country. I had to get a part time job in the end to help me through and never achieved as well as i could.
I'm a disbeliever of any one sitting on their bum cashing in on the social, and to be fair don t know how people manage, i was always missing bills to get through.
Our homes, jobs and NHS is all dedicated to the migrants it's no longer our country.
Sack the prime minister i say, we should be more like the Australia goverment/embassy stricted rules for entrying the country.

[TD]

My younger sister in the North West and other family members have been scrounging in benefits and co-habiting for 24 years
An ex-girlfriend also never worked in 20 years yet lives in a 100,000 semi
Another woman I knew,.never worked in 40 years.
Another woman from Birkenhead, gets a free Mobility car ass her daughter has Leukemia ,..and lends this FREE car out to her working ex-husband who was a Chef-Manager ,/Chief Cook making 400 quid a week!!!
Guys I know from my local pub also never worked for 40 years
All living in Council property
Yet they all have a big, bullying, loudmouth dictating to taxpayers like myself and others what WE should or should not do to work,..and what they have as "their rights"

[Ian Davies]

Not everyone on benefits has chosen to be there but the help to get off is very limited, most of the help is aimed at incentives for employers to take on employees that are on benefits.
I have been on incapacity for around ten years because the NHS has failed to treat the condition they diagnosed, it has since become chronic and triggered Fibromyalgia. To treat the original condition would have cost a few thousand and I would have been back to work within a matter of months, being on incapacity has cost over £60,000 to the taxpayer.
I want to work and have done voluntary work so that I can judge what I can cope with, the incapacity medicals are done by a private company with no accountability for their opinions. How can professionals give opinions and not be responsible for them? I have asked that they intervene and get me the treatment I need but to no avail.
I have also asked for help to get an idea to market that is helping thousands of elderly and disabled in Lancashire and could help over 20 million elderly and disabled in the UK, with the right help it could lead to me getting off benefits and saving £150,000 plus for the government. The idea is helping make homes safer and reduce energy wasteage at the same time.
Too often we judge the majority by focusing on the minority.
I will do everything I can to reduce my need for benefits and if I can help others at the same time that will be a bonus.
The benefit system should be part of the NHS because not treating me saves the NHS money but costs the taxpayer a huge sum of money, if incapacity and disability benefits were the NHS's responsibility they would nip problems in the bud.
Ian Davies.

[Mike stubborn]

the family we wrote about last week has just been out to Avonmouth paid for 15 people to attend and be wined and dined at the anniversary bash for the couple who are fiddling all disability and carers benefits, they have just received their order number to collect the brand new vauxhall peoples carrier in 2 weeks

it is now 2 months since the videos have been sent in 1to Preston to the benefit fraud office and 1 to wiltshire benefit fraud and nothing has changed,

the housing association has bought the house in the road rented it to these fraudsters claiming everything and we are all working to keep two young people and 3 kids he is more than capable of working lazy devil,watch this space he said they want more kids then they will apply for a extension on the house please remind the government they ask you to report benefitfraud I can assure you I have and it has not stopped in fact it has got worse she has had more adaptions since my last email

[steven]

Isnt there a common thread here that the inform on a benefit cheat system isnt working ?

How hard is it for the government to chase up on those queries that people have given them of people working for cash etc. It seems even high profile instances - like those wife swap couple who claimed benefit whilst working seem to not get investigated.

Surely the newspapers can request from the government how many alerts have been given and how many investigations have been intiated. And how many of them lead to successful claw back of the money. Without a proper detereent why would people not defraud benefits !

Please as a campaigning newspaper lets see how good the benefit investigation system is. We all pay for it. Lets see how they are spending our money. If its just a campaign driven upon fear then they are never going to stop those who work and claim. Lets see how they tackle those places where people get paid in cash and seem to get away with it !

[brian cox]

i cannot believe this is'nt headline news .hearing this makes my blood boil.if the government knows all this why dont they do something about it,like not paying these spongers anything till they get a job.

these people offer nothing ad should be shamed publicly.there seems to be less and less insentive to work for a living in this country.how about the NOTW starting a campaign to force the government into action.there must be many jobs out there for them because of all immigrants coming across here to do them.

[John]

I got my neighbours who are scroungers.They get rent paid on there property although it belongs to them, but its in her brothers name, they get disability benefit. As well as all this they run a mobile disco company together, which they advertise on the net, thompson and yellow pages.

I have phone the dss on numerous occasions and given them all the details but they seem to get away with it. I even e-mailed them with all the info they require but still nothing. I think it is about time this goverment stops talking about it and do something. Oh and those froud lines the goverment set up they are just a laugh, something else us decent workers have to fork out for.

[Suzanne Young]

At last they've acknowledged what so many of us have known for years !
I have known family members, next door neighbours and others in my locality who blatantly claim benefits as it is preferable to working for a living. Their excuse ? Why should I work when I am only marginally better off than on benfits. It is too easy for people to claim stress, depression and bad backs as well as numerous children by different fathers as an excuse for not working. I do feel for the genuine cases and gladly support them through my taxes but sadly the genuine cases are few and far between and I strongly object to paying towards people who are lazy and workshy. I used to be an employer in London and sadly it was only the immigrants who wanted to work. Local young people did not. I know own a shop and Post Office and am amazed at the number of giros cashed for people who are obviously able to work and what do they spend this tax payers payment on ? namely cigarettes, alcohol, magazines and junk food as well as the latest fashions.
I don't actually blame these people though, they can only get away with it because the government let them - So what are the government going to do about it ? except keep taxing those heavily who are responsible people and work hard to pay their way. The easy target. The goverment needs to change it's guidelines, halt mass immigration to solve the employment problems and force those lazy workshy people back into work refusing to pay benefits to those that are able but choose not to work.

[Mrs Evans]

I have a ex son in law who is 37 and has been claiming the higher rate DLA for years falsely he laughs at the system and knows how to get want he wants and what to say to the doctors for them to write letters all his family mother aunts and uncles do it and get away with it both me and my daughter and other people have phoned continuesly the authorities and said what he is doing and still nothing is done he works cash in hand and also gets income support he doesn.t pay for his children and also abused his step children after leaving them. he left with all the money from the bank account when he walked out nobody listens at the DHSS offfices or the DLA office he is laughing and taking the mick out of hard working peoples pockets. my son is mentally and physiclly disabled and cannot walk speak and incontinent and cant feed himself and this man is getting the same benifits has him do you call that fair. he has also tried to get mobility allowance to get a car for his friends to drive for him.
He knows the system and gets all he can from it he copies other peoples symtoms and then goes to the doctor he gets loads of stuff including patches and tablets to stop smoking and then sells them to his friends.
When are the gowverment going to crack down on these people they only have to follow him to find out that he is capable of doing a job and pay for his children instead of the state.
My daughter has been left with 3 traumertised children and has still tried to get help with college courses to try and get herself into work but she has come up against blocks all the time because she has dyslexia and has learning difficulties no one wants to help her to try and make a better life for herself yet someone like him gets things handed on a plate. where is the justice ?

[maxine hayes]

I am 62 years old my husband 65 now retired ,bought up 4 children who are all settled with families have 10 grandchildren,we have all worked hard AND STRUGGLED,BUT ALL BY HONEST MEANS for what we have.

the main thing being a HOME only to find ougrandchildren dont stand a chance in hell of getting on the property ladder,grandaughter and partner live in rented acommadation flat with the bear basics .secondhand at that,while her friend has 2 bed flat paid for by social security as she has a child ,costs 600 hundred pound a month and she says shes never been so well off ,your angry ,im seething .

i could go on for ever about this subject ,et the scroungers out there working for there money ie cleaning ditches helping in the community ,that would soon change their minds ,mrs angry

[Dave Smith]

i have not worked for nearly 3 years but i am not a scrounger i have severe arthritis in both knees which means i have a job to walk bend kneel or lift heavy objects but i cannot claim any benefits e g jobseekers allowance incapacity benefit council tax benefit or housing benefit because i was 1 year behind in my national insurance contributitions which i had paid continuesly for 40yrs previous

also my wife works as a nurse which means we have to live on her wages if i was an immigrant i would have been given everything mentioned without paying a penny into the system so o imay not be working but iam also not claiming anything which means not all those not working are scroungers

[barbara davie]

i couldnt agree with you more mr.angry but i am even angrier with the government who advertise for you to inform on benefit cheats. the reason for my anger is the fact that in the last 13 months i have reported the same person 3 times and nothing has been done to stop this scrounger from claiming rent, council tax and incapacity benefit.

this person claims over 12 thousand pounds a year in benefits and also works full time earning around £500 per week tax free of course. he owns a car, a utility vehicle and 2 motor bikes. he holidays in spain and quite openly boasts about his income.

i gave the fraud line his name,address phone number, national insurance number, vehicle reg. nos and places of work. i even have written proof and photographic evidence of this man working.

i feel that by ignoring my information and continuing to let this person scrounge the government is laughing at all of us who pay our taxes and work hard for our money. maybe the news of the world can do more to curb this drain on our society.

please contact me if you feel that you can investigate and would like my assistance. i feel that i am just being fobbed off and ignored by the people that should be implementing stiff penalties for this kind of theft.

[fredrick osborne]

The whole benefits system is loaded against those who wish to work rather than scrounge off this charter for the workshy! There will be no job-shortages if this stupid system was more thoroughly policed! As for those whose resposibility for looking after the sick,lame,and lazy like the article with 18 kids,just had the snip because it was thought prudent to do so! All these idle bastards are being looked after by those officials who want to hang on to their cushy life-styles and pick-up their fat salaries and the perks of the job like early retirement and fat inflation proof pensions! Until this racket is seen for what it is,dailight robbery,we aint got a chance in hell! Top rewards for those who can stop this £ devaluing one-sided injustice continuing,will earn the gratitude of law abiding and hard-working citizens!

i was married to one of these scroungers, before i was with her she had her benefit stopped after a dhss doctor found her to be fit, so she got a wheelchair out and got on meridian tv lamenting she could do absolutely nothing for herself and her benefit was restored, (so was her health!) i got married to her and after a short time she had her benefit stopped again, so out come her wheelchair and off she went to an organisation that filled her forms in and fought her appeal for her, the man who did this used to work for the dhss!!! and knew what to put on the forms, this was done behind my back and i have proof of this as they were corresponding to each other using my computer! so when i found this out i threw her out and sent all of the letters and my wedding video to the dhss in preston and after a year in which i am getting hammered in court by her divorce lawyers because the courts aren't interested in benefit fraud and legal aid is available to her and i can't get legal aid because i work i find out that nothing was done about her benefit other than she is now getting incapacity benefit on top of the highest rate for invalidity she is even getting money for someone washing her for gods sake!!! if the news of the world want this video of a miracle happening before your eyes of not one person who can suddenly walk and get up and down with ease but also her father who is dancing a jig like he has just recieved a rise in his incapacity cheque which must be due as he has been loyal to the dhss for years claiming his £180 pounds a week and all his fringe benefits, so mr angry if you want to really do something drop me a line back and i make sure you get this video and any other information you can use, the dhss seem to only want to look after there regular customers so someone please!! do something.

[mandy c]

i am on benefits at the moment but for the last 6 months i have been applying for jobs at the rate of 20-30 a week and out of all the jobs i have applied i had 2 letters refusing me all the others have not even bothered to reply. i have not been picky about what type of job i have as long as i have one, i have applied for all sorts of job's. They all want expierence how are you suppose to gain the expierence if they won't let you have the job?? there are probably many many people in the same boat as me. so instead of turning people against each other because they claim benefits try asking the employers to give us a chance or just a reply would be nice.

[hugh lansbury]

It's not just the cheats who are claiming that they cannot work, it's also the cheats who claim that they cannot walk or what ever and claim mobility allowance, I have reported one person 3 times for this over the past 3-4 years or so but nothing is ever done, she was told how to complete the questions by her daughter in-law who works at the DSS, telling them that she can't walk far etc, she has now had both knee joints successfully replaced and can walk as well as anyone but they still get a new car every 3 years and the partner has claimed unemployment/incapacity benefit for about 10-15years and still works for CASH ONLY on the side. All this has been reported AND NOTHING IS EVER DONE.

[lisa]

last year i was diagnosed with kidney faliure at 17 years old, i was told i was too weak to work and should claim benefits, i was told i was entitled to incapacity benefits at about £60.00 every two weeks. two months later i was told i was no longer entitled incapcity benefits even though my GP was giving me sick notes to prove i was too ill to work. almost a year on i have not recived a penny since and i've had to resort to scrounging off my perants for money. i have just got myself a job for just a few hours a day to bring in some money.

[Christopher Neil Brown]

The answer is simple. Withold taxes in any way you can as if you hand the money over, the Government will just waste it. Take a good look at "The Taxpayers Alliance" - it is a strong and growing movement.

[bee newton]

I agree with almost all of previous comments.

Someone has got to change the system so that it pays to work and benefits should only provide the means to survive between jobs.

Like another poster here, I worked for 49 years, never ever claimed benefits, didnt have well paid jobs, but I saved for a pension. Can anybody tell me why as most of it goes in tax. I would be better off on pension credit, then my council tax, glasses, dentist would all be free. I am subsidising idle people from a pension. The world is vastly unfair, only wish I could afford to escape this country forever.

[ted]

I am 38 and worked since 16. I work for a major bank and deal with over seeing lending. Most of my assessments are for people, british and foreign, who are claiming Tax credits and other benefits and earning more than me on top. How do they get it ? I feel the Bank should not lend to people on benefits as i assumed they only give enough for your basic living necessities but this definately not the case.

[Mrs Anon]

I object to paying my hard earned money for these people. I was always taught if you want a quality of life you earn it. People are allowed to work the bare minimum so that earn the maximum in tax credit and get dental and persciptions free. An awful lot of people get at least £2,ooo to £2,500 a month for sitting on their backsides. These people should be made to clean the streets, graffiti, paint parks and clean hospitals. I have a proven back problem backed up by a visble MRI scan but I still work because it does not stop my hands legs or brain stop working.

[Leesie Lou]

Im a 37 year old single woman who has worked from the age of 15 and STILL live with my parents.Wheres the help for hard working single women? I know a couple with three children who have never worked. The woman on her own gets at least £1000 a month benefits, free rent and milk for her baby. Thats not including the money her husband gets. I blame the government for making it so easy for them.

[Jacqueline Anon.]

Your article on page 13.I couldn't agree more, our immediate neighbours who at the momment are away on their annual foreign holidays fit your description to the letter, large family, heavy smokers, no one working for at least the last 10 years yet never appear to be short of money. The medical proffesion seem to have their hands tied for fear of litigation if they speak out against these malingerers. Something must be done! Friends and relatives of these people pass the word round on how to beat the system and they do.

[mr angry]

i worked with benefit cheats i reported them to the department went down to see them twice at my own expense made statetements giving my real name dates times addresses they even got taped voice recordings admiting benefit fraud and in one case a written letter admiting fraud what did the dss do nothing dont blame the cheats blame the government departments who deal with them they dont care

[elaine greener]

I totally agree with you, i'm 40 years old and have worked full time since the day i left school 24 years with the same employer, everything i own i have paid for myself through having to work for it, and every day i have watched a next door neighbour get 4 holidays abroad every year, a brand new car every 3 years, a lie in every day, somehow bought the council house he lives in whilst on benefits paid for by cash, can somebody please tell me where i'm going wrong.This man is now a pensioner of 78 years of age whose just aquired a £15,00 car through invalidity, this man can run marathons, where is the justice.since becoming pensionable age he no longer has any need for the neck brace that used to come out every time he was due to go in front of the medical board it makes by blood boil.

[yvonne selsby]

AS a pensioner of 70 worked most of my life till i was 62 paid into pensions to be independent i now pay £113 a month tax and have to pay for dentist glasses cannot take my dog for free tretment i feel i am being punished for trying to provied for myself in my old age

[Glenn]

I have suffered from depression for years. In the past it was sometimes hard to get out of a chair to put a kettle on as I was frozen with fear. However I still go to work. I drive past a family in the streey every day who have never done a day's work in there lives. They get out of bed when they want, then drink beer in the front garden after a trip to the bookies. I earn £7ph as a Funeral Operative and while the benefits roll in for them, and they have the latest flat screen tv etc, I struggle to make ends meet. But you know whaT, I have something they will never have. Pride. If the Goverment does not crack down soon, it will be time for all the decent living people to stand as one, and revolt. Enough.

[enoof my tether]

please help to stop this benefit fraud I am living in a street to a couple in their late 20s claiming disability he is claiming to be her carer he also gets income support she gets disability at the highest level had loads of lovely adaptions put in to the home all paid for by us they have the nerve to say do you blame us??????? they also have 3 children nothing wrong with her limbs when it comes to playing with them

[Jeff Cox]

May I add one further comment, it doesn't matter how many unemployed there are the government cannot force firms to employ you. Even if the government offered incentives to get the list down for Brits (based on Gordons British jobs for British workers) I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't contravene at least one EU law.

[Johnn Smith]

It amazes me that there are still people who, despite the lies, still believe government statistics.

Never mind the pros and cons of this particular aurgument, can't anyone see that this is just another "divide and rule" tactic of a burnt out dishonest government with no ideas left worth discussing?

[Curlybabe]

I'm 29
I have COPD (I've never smoked but born with un formed lungs) Asthma, broncitus, and rickets - meaning I have the bones of 60 year Old.
I can't walk round a supermarket without coming out crying due to pain or being unable to breath.
I can't go shopping to town with my mates, I can't do anything really
But 1 thing I do, do is work 50 hours per week. Since leaving school i've never really been out of work I've only claimed job seekers allowance when i got made redundent once for 3 weeks.
I get award Mobility but then after a few months get it took off me because I get of my arse and I do, no matter of the pain rather than siting their saying I can't. After 6 years of trying this week I got my Disabled parking badge back - which is a god send as I can do that little bit more.
It make me so upset seeing people with nothing wrong with them getting all these benifits when I have to go out and work. I know people who have minor illnesses who run rings round me and they get money thrown at them because they can act. Oh doctor I can't......... OH doctor the pain....... OH doctor I'm depressed because.......
My Friends mum who has been off work sick for the last 20 years has just come back from 12 week holiday and you should see the photo's of what she's been up to plus the bank balance of the last 12 week back benifits sat there untouched. it make me sick.

[dee cattell]

After reading your article we strongly agree with all your comments. We live next door to someone who is called "fully disabled" he claims to have back problems. He has a wheelchair (never used) sticks (only used when officials call to the house) yet he does his own gardening, lifts a wheeley bin over a 6foot fence climbs on top of his caravan to clean it etc etc. He brags that he gets full disability and we think it is a disgrace he gets away with it, he was reported some time ago but nothing has been done!! Signs of the country we live in ?

[Sharon Jones]

If there are people that are cheating benefits then they should make benifits means tested. If they claim to be unfit to work then they should be made to see a doctor chosn by the DHSS and the amount of benefits they recieve will be based on the independent doctors report. If they are to be found fit to work then they should have benifits cut dramatically forcing them to work. The trouble with some people who do not work is that they are not prepared to just do any job and find living better on benifits. I myself have never been out of work for more tan a week even when I was about 19 yrs old and had been laid off from a temp job at Christams I then took on 3 seperate part time jobs to have a reasonable wage one of these involved cleaning toilets.

[sj]

I recently worked for a local authority sanwell council in housing.I went to oneproperty yo find it was occcupied by 11 children all running wild and the two parents no ashamed to say what benefits they received what surprised me is that the man said he got sick income as he had a bad back yet he was working on his back fixing a loory on his drive with another vehicle with its bonnet up also waiting to be worked on .it makes me sick that i have to work to support these scroungers who dont contribute but just take take take .

[jay]

i have just left a council job where i had been an agency worker i know with agency work i would probably be out of work for some time. I asked the manager if i could stay on until the vacancy was filled because i would probably have to claim benefit she says that the council had no money to keep me on because they had to save it for the person who had got the job four weeks later i find out the post has still not been filled and i am left to claim income support. I have contacted 10 diffrent agencies who say they have nothing for me i even went to the job centre and was instead of trying to help me look for work i was happily taken to the section to claim benefits i said i dont want any benefit she said wel i will look out for job for you taped in her computer and out of the 6666.000 only one came up. MR ANGRY need to take is anger out on the Councils, Agengies who sign people up with promise you garanteed work but you only get one job offer in a year. The job centre doing more to actually getting these employers to take some one of benefit and with the right skills giving them a job. I have just had a thought Employe me to sort the sorry mess out. Cv can be sent. see how quick i can get in to a job i challenge you (Yours benefit scrounger BEGGING FOR A JOB)

[Kev cawood]

The problem is the longer your out of work the better off you are, after 20 years of employment I was made redundant I was told I couldn't claim because I had money I had worked all my life for while paying taxes. After a year out of the country I tried again and was told they would pay HALF my mortgage but if I was still unemployed after six months they would pay all of it and maybe even pay off any arrears, a great incentive for looking for a job. why don't they give you the help when you are looking for a job instead of helping you after you've decided "hey it's been six months I can stop looking now".Oh by the way I went to the jobcentre to ask advice on becoming a taxi driver only to be told I would be better off asking the drivers down at the nearby rank.

[William]

I am long-term unemployed and in my forties. I have less than 50% kidney function, chronic asthma, a range of alergies, high blood pressure, 60% hearing loss in both ears (I wear hearing aids but they are more a nuisance than a help) oesophagitis and dry sensitive skin disorder all for which I take a coctail of medications and inhalers; some of which cause long-term side effects. I'd love to be working but when I apply for jobs I'm always given a knock-back, mainly because of the stigma towards my health problems - coming off benefits is a two-sided problem.

[kerry Trubee]

I don't mind people receiving benefits if they deserve them, but only for as long as is necessary. I earn a very good wage, but I have to earn it, my basic is reasonable but I need to achieve target to earn 40% of my pay packet. This month I have paid 50% of my earnings in Tax & NI (My tax code is K586). If I got a lesser job, less stress, less hours, I could have an easier life and make up the money in benefits, so why don't I? because I don't want to be like the scrounging scum (most of whom are white English) who are destroying my country helped by politicians, greedy business men, bankers,Tabloid trash and A-Z list celebrity.

[Tony Bonner]

Sir just read your article on scroungers and it makes me so mad ,i am a chef in the merchant navy with 27 years experiance with not a day off sick which i am so proud of while i am away i work long hours ,10 hours a day 7 days a week with pretty reasonable money so i look forward to enjoying my leave ,once all my bills etc, have been paid i limit myself to going out 2 days a week down at my local can't afford any more but it amazes me how many people are out of work and on disability benefits who are in the pub day in day out how can that be possible i am working and they are not surely that can't be right i would love to grass them up as they are so smug about it but it's not in my nature some drastic action needs to be taken sorry to say it but once i retire i am getting out of this joke of a country

[junior]

what a shame!!have been in this country for nine years have never claimed a benefit,i dont even no how to claim it.have been working all my life paying my tax.which i believed should go to elderly people who have worked all there lifes in this country and can not afford it now.to see young people sitting at home who are well fit to go to work claiming benefit makes me sick.lets talk about asylum now.geniune ones like we who go to work, pay our taxes never been in to trouble with the law,never been looked after but the ones who claim benefit are the ones who they wiil give status to, comfortable homes,and even money to furnish there homes.my case have passed throw four home secretary up till now nothing has been done or neither a status as been granted to me. i was given limited leave to stay i went on holiday with my partner and son who are british. on my return i was asked how long have been in the country by an immigration officer when i told him how long have stayed in the country he said you should have got your indefinate stay by now. i said to him how am i going to get it when am working full time and paying tax,if i was leaving on benifit or been a criminal i would have got it.

[Ron Knee]

I have to concurr with all the above comments. They say it all for me.

[Lesley baker]

Everyone in this country knows at least one person who is a benefit scrounger. Why not get a campaign going to name and shame them. I know of one woman who has been claiming benefits for twenty years.Even though she is married and he has a well paid full time job, she claims he lives with his parents, who obviously support his story if need be. They live in a detatched house, the rent and council tax are paid for and she has a generous allowance to live on all courtesy of you and me. They never have to touch his money, so have thousands in the bank. They have had several new cars and want for nothing. She has been caught shoplifting several times but because she is " on benefits" she never even gets a fine, and legal costs are paid for. I know that one of her neighbours has reported them but nothing is ever done. They rightfully believe they are untouchable.

[Fed up with being taken for a ride]

New Labour are again blaming everyone and everything for this scandel except themselves. 10 years of the continuation of fiddling the unemployment figures that was started by the Tories are now coning to a head with the incapacity figures being shown for what they are, the unemployed being kept of the dole list. Add to this the mass cheap migrant labour
that pays so little in to the welfare system but takes so much out of it you find yourself in the mess we`re in - heading for total anarchy.
Brown, like Blair before him, will continue to fiddle everything from figures to a musical backdrop whilst the UK burns !

[Jeff Cox]

After reading your comments on Spongers let me tell you of my experiences in trying to get a job.

The 660000 vacancies in job centres, check the web site and see how many of these jobs are posted 2,3,4 times.Same applies to some private agencies websites.
Private Agencies, some will not take you on their books unless you can supply 3 years continuous UK work references,others want 5 years UK work references for temp work (especially for temping in the post office)
If you have been Self employed, working abroad, unemployed forget it they dont want to know.
Ageism still exists if you are like me in the 60 age group no chance.
Apply for jobs on line you are bloody lucky if they bother to reply.
Some agencies advise you of jobs by text, 9 times out of 10 by the time you phone back its beeen given to somebody else or you don't receive the text until days afterwards.
Check the job centre website, most of the jobs are for security guards, chefs,fork lift, care workers or lorry drives all of which need qualifications/certificates that the majority of us do not have. Work in local government don't apply unless you have local government experience.
Job centres dont exactly help you to find employment unless you sign on, all they say is go on line, what happens if you are not computer literate or you do not have a computer.
Not every body wants to be on benefits in fact in my case because I have some money in the bank I doubt if i would get any.
Check the so called wages that are being offered £5.35 to £7.00 per hour not exactly a living wage in London or anywhere else for that matter,its alright for migrant workers living together in rented accomodation but I doubt it will help the majority of brits pay Rent/mortgage,services etc.
If Gordon really wants to reduce the unemployment list I suggest he starts by:
A. Stopping hundreds of thousands of migrants undercutting the wages of the indigenous work force,then there would be more jobs for us.
B. He could tell the civil service to start employing more mature people, because we couldn't make more of a mess of it than it is now.
C. Raise the minimum wage to a living wage level and i dont mean sticking another 17p per hour on.
D. Revises the rules on how much you can earn on benefits, it makes no sense in taking away the bulk of what somebody on benefits earns if they go over the threshold.Or
E. Perhaps it would be better to make people go back to work by topping up their salary rather than give it all to them in benefits.

[Jimmy Richardson]

So the Government have been saying for the last ten years. If they are so certain of their figures then they must know which fifty per cent it is who are cheating the system.
There have been countless boasts of, "We know who you are and we know where to find you.". Ten years later and they are still saying there is the same problem. This sounds very much like "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" and "Education, education, education" along with the never arriving massive improvements in the NHS as just another piece of Spin telling people what they think people want to hear without having a clue what to do about it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

In a low wage, low skill economy what is the incentive for average unemployed person to work? With house prices unaffordable who can blame the millions of "economically inactive" claiming housing/council tax benefits. If New Labour and the business community knowingly flood the UK with cheap foreign workers consequences will follow. Rising crime and social disorder is a consequence of New labours folly, so please stop blaming the victims and sort out the causes not the symptom.