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The Caithness Business Index has posted the following article:
Impact Of Welfare Cuts
[IMG][/IMG] Households renting in the private and social sector have been severely affected by UK Government welfare policies, a new report shows. The Impact of UK Welfare Policy on Housing report highlights the negative effect of Universal Credit on both tenants and landlords, due to the major increase in rent arrears. [Read Full Article]
From the report;
By 2020/21, a lone parent bringing up three children, including one born after April 2016, is estimated to lose more than £4,000 per year. This is compared with what they could have been entitled to without policies including the two child limit and benefit freeze.
A couple with two children, with one parent working 16 hours a week, is estimated to be £1,500 per year worse off by 2020/21 when they make a new claim to universal credit. This family would be affected by cuts to work allowances in universal credit, benefit freeze and the removal of the family element for new claims. Their income falls despite the introduction of the National Living Wage.
A couple with four children, where one partner works 20 hours a week and the other 12, is estimated to lose £1,130 per year by 2020/21.
There are some good lessons in here;
1. Don't have kids if you can't afford them
2. You're not going to get by if you dont work, or at most, work a mere 16 hours per week per person.
There are a myriad of reasons why a parent can find themselves on their own looking after their children, widowhood being just one. A widow/widower with a young family might not be able to work because of their caring responsibilities.Quote:
Originally Posted by orkneycadian
Often easier said than done.Quote:
Originally Posted by orkneycadian
Whilst both the above reasons might be true in a very small minority of cases, over 'is side o' 'e watter, theres an every increasing army of folk who "simply cannot work because of my condition". Now, if this condition involved being permanently wired up to some kind of life support machine, I could see their point. But despite this debilitation, they still seem to have no problems with;
- Running writing workshops for lost poets, especially ones whose poems don't rhyme
- Leading wildlife excursions looking for birds
- Attending meditative yoga classes
- Participating in painting and pottery workshops
- To name but a few - All of which place take place during normal working hours, where they can get get together with their similarly affliced, non working buddies.
What gets me is that they can sit at a computer all day and "blog" about their lives, their affliction or the best place to buy cannabis to ease their condition, but yet, cannot sit at a computer all day long and telework a proper job. Even HMRC have "Made Tax Digital", so you can pretty much carry out most office jobs from home these days - "Oh but the broadband - Its much too slow for that, and I couldn't possibly drive to an office, not with my condition". But yet, they will blog that the broadband in their place is so bad at just 10 Mbps - Hardly good enough to watched Netflix - Yet, you can telework on less than a Mb.
There one local lady in Kirkwall who bucks that trend. Used to work on the till at Tesco whilst in her wheelchair. One of the best they had - Cheery and efficient. Now works from her wheelchair on the reception desk of an office up the town. The rest of them have cottoned on that as long as they harp on about their condition enough, then they will get paid to follow their hobbies. Maybe if all these benefits were a bit less attractive, there would be more like her.
So... Since you are so well informed could you please share just where to find this plentiful supply of employment?Quote:
Originally Posted by orkneycadian
Well, the same places that those that choose to work get them would be a good starting point. The other week, there were more than 50 jobs advertised in an edition of The Orcadian . Whilst not so relevant for Caithnessians, It makes me wonder why the non workers over here choose to avoid them. But I suspect a similar situation exists in Caithness.
A few weeks ago, I was at a talk where a housing officer described Orkney has having 2.7% unemployment. As that falls below a threshold, I think he said 3%, then they consider that to be full employment. Hello? This appears to mean that the local council consider that nothing needs to be done to get that 2.7% into work, as all their boxes are ticked. This means we have several hundred folk who are happy to be carried by the rest, providing they can keep ensuring their benefits come in to fund their recreational lifestyle.
I know of employers who are forced to provided accessible work premises, at significant cost. But yet, all that accessibility goes unused. Similarly, technology now means you can run the government of a small country from a living room of a house on Mama Westray. Instead, that technology is used for watching Jeremy Kyle on demand. :roll:
Well... I've tried searching for teleworking jobs & all that I can find is either highly qualified jobs & get rich schemes.Quote:
Originally Posted by orkneycadian
So you want 0% unemployment?Quote:
Originally Posted by orkneycadian
That's called Communism, is that what you really want?
Ask any economist worth their salt & they will tell you that you will never have 0% unemployment.
Without unemployment you have no flexability, without flexability you have a stiffled economy.
They just don't like to admit that as that means they would have to respect the unemployed more than they do & not treat them like scum.
Of course, if there was 0% unemployment I suppose that flexibility could be provided by increasing imigration, but that idea doesn't seem very popular at the moment.
I am not sure what flexibility Orkney has, or needs, by having a small army of poets, writers, potters, artists, yogaists and birdwatchers all on standby at the expense of the government. I suspect we would be altogether more flexible if the money being spent on welfare was released for uses that benefit a greater slice of the population, rather than funding yoga classes and writing workshops.
0% unemployment would not, in my opinion lead to a lack of flexibility, especially when many of our 2.7% don't want to work anyway. To them, it wouldn't matter if the rate was 0% or 100%, their desire would still be to live on handouts.