White Dee and the Department for Work and Pensions

BallotBoxUK

White Dee and the Department for Work and Pensions

Benefits Street has sparked the biggest national debate that the UK has seen in the past decade. The program has been widely criticised as a vehicle for us to all look down on the poor, Ballot Box UK investigates whether the program makers gave an accurate description of James Turner Street.

Many believe that Benefits Street has given the wrong impression about life on benefits, giving the impression from the first episode that a life on benefits leads to heavy drug and alcohol abuse. The problem with many programs that try and reflect the state of the Welfare system is that it is hard to reflect the whole of the problems that are involved.

Furthermore, the problem with benefits is that the reasons behind why people find themselves on them are often personal and are not simply a lifestyle choice as many of the newspapers make out. Media commentary on the subject has been detrimental to benefit recipients and has only caused conflict between those that work and those who are on benefits. There are over 13 million people surviving on less than 60% of the average wage in the UK, these people are from working households. There is also a stigma with many people that claim benefits are bad people for claiming money that they are entitled to. As 'White Dee' exclaimed it is not the benefit claimant's fault for claiming the amount that the government says that they are entitled to.

Ballot Box UK agrees with the debate seen on Channel Four  last night that work should pay, and that the benefits bill should be brought down in a responsible way, rather than discriminating and alienating people that find themselves on hard times any further.

One of the ways that journalist and author Owen Jones suggested that the benefits bill can be  reduced is to increase the amount of affordable housing to reduce the need for housing benefits, as housing benefits continue to line the pockets of landlords.

£74.22 billion is spent each on state pensions, many forget when discussing benefits that 47% of the benefits budget is spent on looking after the elderly, many people also forget that the UK currently has more elderly people aged over 65, than young people aged 16-24.

People that claim benefits aren't the people that the media portray, they are normal everyday people who also hold aspirations.

Check out the organisation living wage here: http://www.livingwage.org.uk/