Work and Welfare

The debate over welfare benefits is often derailed by talk of skivers and scroungers - with those on the 'no change' side of the argument claiming that no one - in their right mind - chooses to live off the state.

So I was taken aback when I read an article about a young couple from Portsmouth - Danny Creamer (21) and Gina Allen (18) - who appeared on ITV's This Morning programme recently to defend their publicly funded lifestyle.

Apparently Danny and Gina receive £17,680 (net) in various state benefits - and live in a nice two-bedroom flat with their four month old daughter, Talulah Rose.

On prime time TV the couple's view was that unless they could get jobs that paid them £18,000 a year or more - there was no point in working because they were already receiving £17,680 in welfare payments.

In the report that I read, Danny and Gina hit back at those who describe them as scroungers - because their their hard-working parents paid taxes all their lives.

And so - in their view - the young couple were now 'entitled' to claim some of this money back.

Now I'm not familiar with Danny and Gina's employment (or unemployment) histories - though it does seem irresponsible to me that the young couple seem to have no compunction about bringing a young child into the world - which they must clearly struggle to support.

And of course the child's health and education are both costly items - funded through general taxation - but to work fairly and properly this requires people to be paying into the system in the first place.

Which Danny and Gina don't - of course - or at least they don't at the moment.  

I wonder what their attitude would be if one of them really were to be offered a job earning £18,000 a year - would the job be snatched-up without hesitation or would it be regarded as something of a nuisance - as having to get out of bed for only an extra few hundred pounds a year?     

So while I don't think it helps to call anyone names - I do find this laid-back attitude to work pretty depressing - along with the sense of entitlement on welfare benefits.