Life On Benefits

Now I can't speak for people in the USA but in the UK I can definitely agree that the benefit system is a hard one to deal with. If you're disabled or have children this will be different for you, but for the unemployed single person the benefits you are entitled to are slim, and it's not that much better if you are in a relationship.

On a set date each month you will receive £251.77 to your bank account, and £395.20 if you are on a joint claim with your partner.

The Job center is there to help support you in getting into work, not to find you a job, that part is up to you. That is what you are being paid for, looking for work. Up until the moment you are hired, it is your job to look for work, and they expect you to complete 35 hours of Job searching each week that you can show and prove to them at your weekly or fortnightly adviser meeting.

Some job searching activities include:

• Looking on Job sites
• Applying to jobs
• Updating/writing your CV and Cover letter
• Taking your CV into shops
• Attending courses and meetings that will help you get into work
• Attending job clubs
• Attending job events
• Volunteering part time to gain experience and a reference

If you do not meet the commitments set out and agreed by you then you may get sanctioned and lose some of your pay. I have had personal experiences where I have done everything asked of me and I have still been sanctioned for something I wasn't told to do. These things can happen but you can't let them knock you back, even if they don't pay you they still expect that you will complete your job searches and attend every appointment. It's all a complicated process that I'm still learning about.

I've been struggling for the past 4 months or so as they haven't been giving me my full payment. This includes a housing benefits payment that covers almost all of your rent. Without this, I have struggled to get by and feared eviction from my home as I got over £1000 in rent arrears. Luckily there is support and help for these situations which I will cover more in a future article. I managed to get a hardship fund of over £900 into my rent account and my benefits are now back on track.

It's a scary situation to be in, the fear that you might not have a roof over your head by next week, when you don't know when the next time you are going to eat will be. That's what prompted me to write and share my experiences, along with some advice, tips, and ideas for surviving in this sort of situation which I will be posting each week to my blog in order to help anyone that needs it. Keep an eye out for future articles on the subject and let me know in the comments below about your own experiences and anything you would like to see in future articles.