[Stanleymad]

Trouble is benefits has become a culture & simply mathematically makes more sence to have some benefit related income than working soley as the expectation was in the generations before. Wages comparable to benefits, means its easier to play on yer playstation all day rather than a hard days graft, unfortunately until the desirable income to work rather than claim, the idea will be flawed in the too pc/everybodies rights etc is balanced. The gov in place promised affordable childcare available to anyone who needs it, mmm not much of that around & requires tax credits to offset the huge costs. Employment needs a overhaul as it doesn't meet the needs to the workforce with families & generally now there is both parents needing to work, flexi time/job share/part time generally is a pain in the butt, as the working tax credits are based on min hours rather than wage, 16hrs is the min requirement but a lot of employers are bypassing this by offering employment upto 15hrs p/w, meaning that if u take the job u cant claim working tax or have to get 2 p/t jobs in order to afford to live or to get the entitlement.

Unfortunatley the price of living & the goverment have effectively made the benefit trap a wider trap for majority of people, gone are the days like my childhood where one goes out to work & managed to upkeep his/her family, mortgage & 1 holiday a year without benefits other than the child benefit which wasn't much. Gone is the open job market where employers were crying out for factory/mill workers that took the unskilled, like walking from 1 job straight to another [what a lucky generation u were hehe], now its about skills, experience, wages, & heavy competition for a job not only with our own workers now its opened to europeans!!

Whether the Thatcherism years have made the generations from it greedier & killing off many labour forces, expetation high, that has gone beyond repair, fine to blame the current government but thatcher cut the grain 1st.