Benefits Britain On the Yorkshire Dole

yorkshire once filled with mines and mills the engine room of the world's coal and textile industries but all that changed the region now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country one minute you're working next week you're not next minute picks it up next minute this year from yorkshire's largest city leads doesn't matter where you look hospitals garages building trade a lot of workforces and migrants across the 11 miles to bradford a lot of people are obese because they just go to takeaways and get a burger and chips for a pound and down the a1 to doncaster i didn't do mo stuff that you're supposed to do in school the most i've done is like a teacher and a cupboard and left in there welcome to yorkshire welcome to dole in the dales [Music] half a million people live in bradford in west yorkshire and over 54 000 are claiming some type of benefits one of them is 42 year old adele she's lived in yorkshire all her life and been on benefits for most of it too close to two-thirds of people in yorkshire are overweight and adele's one of them she's just out of hospital after having nhs weight loss surgery the gp said to me you're getting very obese and i said that's a bit cheeky and he said the reason why you've got so bad arthritis is because he away and he said what about a gastric band i had alkyl surgery which is there i've got like one scar here i've got one scar there and then i've got another two scars there well look at me there i'm 30 stone there now look at me now i'm 23. look at the face difference adele claims nearly a thousand pounds a month in benefits even though her weights caused her health issues she never saw it as a problem it was only state-funded surgery that persuaded her to take action and i didn't lose weight because i was happy with my weight it didn't bother me i didn't do it get a boyfriend or look good i did it for health reasons because i have severe arthritis in my knees and in my shoulder adele's dropped 10 dress sizes but says she misses her carefree lifestyle i miss going out with my friends i miss going like to chinese buffets what i cheat what you can pay like six pounds for a sit down meal eat all you can because people benefit better like that and can afford that when they're on benefit right so now i'm just making me dinner adele's operation was supposed to change her life for the better but a few months after having it done she's not happy she's had to ditch her old eating habits for a strict liquid diet you know it's like now in the freezer i've got like things what i can eat like soft cauliflower i've got like roast potatoes because you can eat them with my gravy it's all like sloppy food you see these mccain wedgies what i do with them is i put them in the blender and i blend them all and put gravy with it i get these eggs which idea when i want to eat like scrambled egg because i keep trying to eat even though kathy i try and push myself to eat but i'm always bloody sick and that's it happy days just a few miles from bradford is leeds where over 250 000 claimants are picking up dole money including 59 year old steve i'm steve turpin i've lived here seven years steve moved to yorkshire from newcastle but he's discovered the grass isn't any greener in god's own county this is a bed area cooking area to your left as you come through the door shower and toilet through there this is basically the living area some of the places i've had 100 times better than this even when i was living in a caravan long way better than this tidier cleaner mind you it's my fault for letting it get like this he spends most of his time in the 110 pound a week flat paid for by housing benefit get up on him on sit and watch jeremy kyle flip it over watch bargain or whatever's on basically i just mostly diamond here or taking my head out sit down boom box okay that's jake duff dead if he wasn't here i'd end up going stare crazy because it's true what people say dogs do become part of your family steve gets 144 pounds in benefits every two weeks every penny counts i spend 20 pound minimum a fortnight on the electric roughly 15 pound a week on food costs about 20 21 22 pound for dog food 23 pounds 50 ish on me tobacco what bit i've got left i'll have an afternoon or i'll have a day out down the pub but you can't live only you get off the benefit all you can do is survive get by day [Music] in doncaster a quarter of people claiming benefits are under the age of 24. claire's a new mom who's recently moved into a two-bedroom house after being homeless since her daughter was born seven months ago we had nowhere to go they showed me a few houses and i had to view that one and then i got the keys the same day i live on my own with my little lady i won't change it for the world her smiles just want to die for in the morning this is my everyday thing washing bottles sterilizing bottles changing bums claire's never worked and never lived anywhere but yorkshire how can we describe our friendship she receives more than 300 pounds a month in benefits and her rents also paid but she says life on benefits isn't easy for a young mom i get like pound every fortnight then i get kiera's money as well i find it hard because there's always something that she needs and if she hasn't got it then you know i'm made out to be a bad mom [Music] [Applause] claire spends most of her time with best mate danielle what are you doing you don't rinse the jars out why i do i don't you're weird i'm not danielle's been sent on work placements but they haven't led to a job i've done placements and work experience and stuff like that but they've never like took me on afterwards now claire left school without any qualifications i didn't get my gcses so obviously when it comes to a job they asked for what gcses you've got and i you know there's nothing i could say all i can say is i ain't got none they're not going to take somebody on who's not got no jcss they came out and said to my mom that was too thick to do it so i just didn't go back i just left school and didn't go back i didn't do my english i didn't do my math i didn't do i didn't do mo stuff that you're supposed to do in school the most i've done is like a teacher and i covered and left him there and i got excluded for that and i just didn't go back after that cup of tea burn me you've just beat me thank you very much yeah i'm sure you did 22 year old danielle gets 230 pounds a month she lives with her mom rent free it means she can afford to spend her benefits on the odd holiday soaking up the sun we've just come back from spain in august so but we'll go into yeah i'm going again next year it's quite it was quite nice actually i think i got i had one proper piss up danielle's already planning her next trip abroad i'm going to tell him next year so that'll be coming out my jsa as well i mean it's costing me 604 pounds to build me after for it 10 so 10 days all-inclusive though i paid 50 pounds a fortnight when i get paid i've worked it all out i should be paid by may june and then start saving up for my spending money when we'll go in august but claire hasn't left yorkshire in 13 years the last time i went on all day i was 10 years old i've never been an honorary since 21 miles from doncaster selby was once known for its shipbuilding and coal mining as the industries closed down and work dried up more and more people ended up on benefits including 54 year old john iphone benefits in yorkshire is one minute you're working next week you're not next minute picks it up next minute to show mining's gone industries is shutting a lot of shops are shutting because they can't afford the rent on them not like it were years ago you could walk out of a job and walk into another one straight away john's had work on and off but he says the changing face of yorkshire hasn't helped him i used to work for a sugar place doing sugar containers and that that's moved and houses are built on that now then he used to work on the boats that's got houses on it he also spent 16 years looking after his mom claiming carer's allowance just used to go around tied in mum's house up cut her grass cook her dinners go shopping all that sort of stuff and then you didn't have to sign on you see serving government loads of money because they have to pay for someone to go in we had to do like 30 i think it was 36 hours a week that was all right i suppose it all sort of changed i need to sign back home john's mum died four years ago right now he collects pounds in benefits every fortnight and gets his rent paid he says landing his dream job feels like a million miles away for me to go to work i want a decent decent wedge people go to work they want decent money so why should i have decent money why can't i live like i want to be living coming up adele's dreading going back to hospital it cost a bomb stay in hospital when you've got to pay for tv cad i can't afford to put that money in televisions it should be free claire's sorting out her spending priorities right so baby milk gas electric some baby food still loses 55 pounds really and for john job hunting feels like a lot of hard work it's very easy on benefits if you want to go look for a job you'll look for a job and i'm looking for a job or failing at the moment [Music] leeds is set below the dales in yorkshire where over 126 000 of those claiming benefits are signed off sick 59 year old steve thinks he should be one of them i've got a cyst on the knock of me thumb but i'm going to go and get taken out i've got nerve damage to me right lower forearm that's resulting from an old break i've got chest complaint which nobody knows where it is yet because i am getting me results from the x-rays i've got three cuts on my stomach wall which i'm going to be on medication for for the rest of my life on the dole steve has to prove he's looking for work he insists it's too much of a challenge with all his health problems i was on psa for nearly a year went for another medical he did me fit for work again so i've had to go back on the job seekers i've been on job seekers now for the last three four weeks the medical people so-called medical professional professionals think i'm fit for work and me myself i don't think i am the first step in proving he's too sick to work is getting a temporary doctor's certificate i was supposed to have gone up the doctors today to get another sick get a sick note to cover me for this fortnight which i forgot all about i was sitting in earlier on i'm thinking i've got to do something i've got to go somewhere today and could i echoes remember what it was [Music] he manages to get another appointment but this isn't the first time steve's benefits have been at risk i've had one or two sanctions before because i felt that i wasn't getting taught anything the dole sanctioned me i swearing at a tutor so they kicked me off the course and lost my dog for a fortnight again and this week he's got a new reason for needing a sick note over the weekend i took her tumbling off a ladder and the hipster again then tries to get me to see a doctor all right thanks a lot a few minutes later he's got it but it will only sign him off for two weeks not permanently everything made an okay one no brilliant results i'm not like some blocks who try to pull the wool over the doll's eyes i've always tried to be honest where i can the only time i've hit any little white lies when i've been caught it's easy to get a signal but it's hard actually staying on the dsh fingers crossed everything should be okay when i go down the door john's lived in selby his whole life he's one of 16 000 people over the age of 50 signing on in yorkshire he says his age makes it even harder to find work it's very easy on benefits if you want to go look for a job you'll look for a job and i'm looking for a job but failing at the moment you had this thing about being on benefits you can't go socializing as much you just gotta take a back seat and don't know really well everyone else is going out of the weekend and having a good time but john insists he won't just take anything that comes up i want to go to work but i want to work local in selby but it's quite hard to find a job in selby and this is to get there you have to catch a bus and you've got to start early so you've got to be quite picky and choosy where you're working so if you're working in selby it's good but if you're working somewhere else out with the sound you've had it if you've got your own transport it's all right i've only got a push bike so i can just pedal somewhere that's it and there are more reasons why he says finding a job is hard work i can't look for a job because i've got no internet and i've got no laptop i've applied for loads a couple of hundred and i've never had no replies for any of them i don't even bother ringing you back i'll send you a letter so if you fit i don't know if it's like the old days in it if your face fits and you know someone you'll get a job if you don't know him you won't get a job i could probably find a job but what's the point of me coming off benefits to earn about 500 pounds i want to be working for less money that i'm getting now born and bred in bradford adele says despite surgery and a huge weight loss her poor health means she still can't work i can't work because i've got severe arthritis in both of my knees i've got it in my left shoulder i can't walk very far i get out of breath my walking is severely impaired and i'm on too much medication as well and i get out of breath and i can't walk so what sort of job am i capable of really at the moment to be honest we are without swearing i'm f u c k e d after having weight loss surgery adele's lost six and a half stone but her new life isn't what she hoped it would be i want a biggie i were more of a bingy as to say if there was like a sausage roll in the fridge i'd warm that up and eat that with a bit of ketchup or if there were a pot pie at eat a pot pie or you know just little things like a bit of cheese on toast you know stuff like that and she reckons living on benefits doesn't help a healthy lifestyle some people think i can just eat salad and lose weight it's not always the case because it's not cheap you know like if you've got a wee healthy food with a balanced diet you're talking like prophylight what do you call them special care cereals you're talking about yogurts that are like vitality yogurts or the yoghurt drinks how can people afford that that are just on a minimum amount of money on the benefit the don't make it easy so this is why a lot of people in the society and the community are obese because they just go to takeaways and get a burger and chips for a pound adele's been told to quit smoking but claims she can't smoking for me at moments cheaper than actually eating and i don't eat my gp tells me all the time stop smoking i can get you on the smoking thing you know my smoking is my luxury it's like you can't change someone can you doesn't see the issues with their actions i'd love to go back to work i'd go back to work tomorrow if i could but i can't because i'm too medically unfit the most i can stand up is around five minutes i couldn't stand up in a factory packing i'd love to do that but i just can't [Music] back in selby john's not happy he lives alone in a three-bedroom house but he's now been asked to pay the new bedroom tax for the extra space it's 30 quid a month out of his 288 pounds of monthly benefits but john doesn't think it's fair i've got three bedrooms one bathroom and this is a double bedroom this is what i pay my bedroom tax for for an empty bedroom i've had a three bedroom dash for 20 years so why should they take money out of my benefits to pay for this the council have asked him to move so a family can have the house why should i move i don't want to move i ain't gonna move it's just a stupid idea someone's been in an office and just said oh well do bedroom tax that's it just made up yeah i've got a lot of clothes on gear so i can put it anywhere i want i can understand families wanting a three-bedroom house and now i've got a three-bedroom downs i can understand that totally agree at the end of the day build more houses and then everyone can have an out it's a simple solution to the problem he feels he's being unfairly targeted because he lives on his own and says for families it's easy to play the system at the end of the day if people haven't been on the benefit system that don't actually understand and know what you can get and what you can't get if you've got children you get anything then you don't have to go to work you can sit at home twiddling your thumbs it's an important day in clare's calendar her benefits have been paid in well today is payday thank god for that we are going to get kiera's baby milk her nappy and wipes and her jars of food and we're going to get our food shop about my food shopping my gas and electric but first things first it's down to the cellar to check the meters you've got five pound thirteen on your electric oh yeah i don't start having ah there's a spider above my head you've got two pound ten on it all right go i need to check what's that electric five pound finish there you can see it i found it in i've just seen the spider yeah i'm going on spiders [Music] gas and electric are among the essentials along with the food shop we'll get shopping delivered because we can't carry it all [Music] with no transport of their own it's a mile long walk into town mom give me my money i don't walk you've got 183 but your available balance is 166. doncaster has a relatively high ratio of women claiming benefits claire needs to make her payments last for two weeks so she's looking for a bargain do you like barbecue sauce yeah it's only a quid anything else what's not liquid yeah i need some more of that white some wash powder all right so that's that one done best mate danielle's taking charge of the benefits budget right so baby milk gas electric some baby food gas electric gravy milk still loses 55 pounds really [Music] we'll have chicken barbecue bacon shopping done the girls decide to spend some of what's left over on a taxi back home hi when's your next sale we'll taxi please come here [Applause] adele is heading back to hospital a few months after her weight loss surgery she's now complaining of gall stones so doctors want to try to find out exactly what's wrong i'm packing now again because i've got to go back to hospital to start these bloody gold stones out through the operation i've got earphones listen uh radio because you don't have earphones in hospital then tell us they cost too much bloody money and i can't afford the bleeding tele she gets 980 pounds a month in benefits and disability allowance but says it's not enough to pay for her trips to hospital it's not fair because like you're on benefit you're there all week anyway it costs a bomb stay in hospital when you've got to pay for tv cards it's what 10 pound for 5 hours of tv i can't afford to put that money in televisions it should be free if patients are probably in hospital and you just laid on the bed you know what you're watching you're not watching no are you you just sat there bored so i'll just take my earphones and listen on my phone because that's all i can afford to do next i'll be charging you bloody hospital water for bloody charging your mobile phones next time water she's signed off sick she doesn't have to prove she's looking for work in order to collect her benefits i don't sign on but you have to let him know that if you are going to be in hospital more than a week you have to let him know because obviously you're not eligible for work i don't like that but i'm not eligible for work anywhere because i'm mainstream sick i think i should get more money really than what i'm on at the moment because it's not fair just sit here my legs are hurting packed and ready to go adele leaves for the hospital but she is hoping to be home in a couple of days [Music] coming up adele comes up with a money-making plan when i go to people's house to go get that he's that he's that danielle is fed up playing by the rules and steve thinks the odds are stacked against him there isn't any jobs out there no more jobs there are i'm not qualified to do [Music] it's estimated 109 000 people in bradford are overweight 23 stone adele's already lost nearly seven stone by having a gastric sleeve she's been back in hospital because of gallstones now she's back home and she wouldn't let the doctors carry out the procedure they put the camera down i couldn't do it they were all filming had to wait right till half past nine till the doctor came back and saw me and i said don't worry we'll do another procedure so then i had to wait again then i ended up coming home because i got pissed off adele says her health issues aren't her fault she's also unhappy with the treatment provided on the nhs i might have to go for another operation because the operation i had first with the gastric sleeve caused me to have gold stones through the operation and i'm a bit upset about it now to be fair they've knackered up my body like a cattle market one minute in one minute out and she's really not pleased with anyone who'd criticize her having the surgery in the first place it's like people admire at me because oh god she's had a gastric band because she wanted to lose weight why couldn't she lose weight naturally but end it dead people at work getting hs free don't they if they have to go in hospital so for now she's sticking to her liquid diet the menu for tonight's dinner sugar and water cup of soup and i'm gonna have a packet of crisps as well because i can eat ready salt started so that's my minestrone that's me a sunday dinner now like reggie reggie sauce manny medic big dinner [Music] a few miles away in selby john's escape the pressures of money a lack of work and potentially having to move house to spend time on his allotment it's his own little piece of yorkshire this is my garden at pinball selby i've been here 30 years or more it's better than paradise it's lovely rosemary it's the toilet seat strawberry plants in there bucket [Music] lovely beautiful cheap free the cost of the allotment comes out of john's benefits and keeping it up to scratch is taking a lot out of his resources it costs you about 200 pounds to have a garden this size the time you've got your plants be seeds when you were rotating it dug it costs a lot of money it does take a lot of work you've got to be at all time to keep on top of it if it's raining and that and get more weeds growing and then sun comes it'll the weeds grow up so you know it's hard to keep on top but he thinks putting his green fingers to work in a job isn't an option i wouldn't be happy with the garden center but she'd have to work [Laughter] no i don't think it it won't be it's not mine is it he says he would work on a building site if only he had the right paperwork cib ticket it's to get on building sites and that to say that you're capable of working on the site with other people and you've got it up for your health and safety as well you've got to have that all in one that's about 200 pound i think roughly but he thinks the state should foot that bill the government should give you it it should be there for you to help you if they help me get the tickets well i have to help myself to get them because i've got to study the farm and i've got to do all this filling in and everything like that but if i got them i could go on building sites it's a door to an open and you can get more out of it i could drive shovels i could drive diggers i could drive anything if i got you know got help if i get off the unemployment it's another one of unemployment and i'm not signing on i won't be claiming anything so it'll be beneficial for everybody while john is trying to get the job centre to cough up in doncaster claire's on income support but best mate danielle has to check in with the job centre to get job seekers allowance they're making everyone sign on wheatley now i think it's just a thing that they do engineer for younger one i've got to sign on every week i don't like it i hate it after a quick appointment danielle struggles to see the point of signing on or of the job centre i filled my booking for nothing she didn't even walk in it it was quite embarrassing so i filled it out for nothing they tell you to apply for so many jobs and then when you do they don't even look in your book to see if you've done it or not they'll just sign you yeah go on go done so how's that helping you get a job if they're not booking and trying to persuade you to do more and helping you better you i will do this and do that and do that and but they don't even do anything i think it was a waste of my time to be honest danielle has never had a full-time job but she has been on courses and work placements through the job centre i did two weeks at b m didn't take me out did two weeks at savers didn't take me on i did two weeks for the hesler course to get that job so i just give up training now do you know why should you go like work you asked us to try to do it and go to these and just to get your money before tonight i wish it we needed to get a job i'd love to work enough money coming in and get everything sorted but life is not easy is it if you don't look for so many drugs you get sanctioned yeah which i think is wrong like now i feel a cooler person went in and said oh i don't understand this and i don't understand that i don't understand that doesn't pay straight away her friend new mom claire is also on benefits but doesn't want her daughter to follow in those footsteps i'd like to think in the future like for kara there's going to be plenty of job opportunities out there so when she's old enough and she's got kids and you know she's not going to be like me who's on ben and i don't think too far forward no but it's nice to think like that they're in it to say that there's nothing at the moment for us now i've got a child i'd like to think that there's going to be so much to hear they've both lived in yorkshire all their lives but say the problems aren't confined to their home towns to make this a better country i don't know i don't know either but i know obviously [Music] yeah it's if someone had a chance to make this play like doncaster and obviously the whole united kingdom in that place and would you back don't bother me i live my life however it's my life i'll do it all obviously you've got over based on balls but other than that and claire believes there may be another reason why she wouldn't get a job even if she wasn't on income support did you know that in like immigrants in a day why aren't they sending like three thousand people that was over to their country did that mean with letting people in why aren't they sending people back they should only come for vacations you know we should move i reckon that's what they do you know they they decide whether to come to anyone or not pack a bag and then get an out stamp and say yeah i'm gonna be here i'm not going back [Music] over in bradford adele's found a way of making money in spite of her ill health when i go to people's househog is that he's there he's that that's how i met the money and stuff three items in ratford free to good home so if you click on that and then it will just bring stuff up every day i look on this sort of stuff i look at that miller their free standing pine miller but it sold but it would have five and now i could have sold that for 15 quid don't build sale well look at this look three what's that collection from tiger because that's manchester's too far free electric cooker need a clean that's a free cooker and it's not often you see people who wants to give a free cooker away with so much free stuff available she's hatched a plan to top up her benefits i do car boots and what i do is i go on to this site here i just look for like brickaback you know like toys baby things you know that sort of stuff because believe it or not toys and stuff like that don't have to sell and how many kids are at car boots in the morning you know and it just gets the apple of attention done it for a kid to look oh look at that teddy every penny does count what you can make and we can go to morrisons to end it there and get like four pies and flat out for blooming a pound you can get bread it does help me put a bit of food on the table it helps me pay me gas and electric and then obviously then i've got ten pound to play with whatever i want to do so it'll save that tenant for the tax if i need to go anywhere and important she's discovered her inner entrepreneur we have a way to make money but it's a shame that you have to go all this length to do it but i suppose if you want something you'll do it won't you you know me i could fall in a pile of and come out smelling the roses my doll's thoughts me [Laughter] 11 miles away over in leeds steve says the odds of finding work are stacked against him i'm nearly 60 now but how do they expect me to find a job when they learn scale people off it's a government at fault the call fields in england and scotland and wales the government didn't do enough to help them the trouble with the job market in this country is a lot of employers will only employ a foreign workforce because they don't work for a cheaper rate than what we would it doesn't matter where you look hospitals garages building trade a lot of the workforces and migrants [Music] steve reckons being in and out of prison for years lengthens those odds even further first time i got in trouble with the police i was about nine it's too young for anybody to start getting into trouble still breaking arson firearms and fences there's all sorts on my record i'm getting too old to be going into prison there's no clever lads in nick all the clever ones are out here because they haven't been caught a lot of people say oh it's the parents for that the kids are running wild yeah it wasn't my parents but if i did anything wrong i got it i used to get a good belt that's the trouble with the world today not a lot of not allowed to slap your kids anymore but despite believing he's a victim of circumstances he knows some of them are of his own making he used to run with a few lads up in durham we all decided to put stupid tats on i think i was about 15 when i got the first one done you can get suited and booted go for an interview people see your own touch on your hands or any touch on your hands and you just say it right not not bothered not interested because you give the wrong impression despite feeling unemployable steve still has to keep up with the job centre's rules in order to keep his 72 quid a week benefits come on come on the job seekers at the moment you've got me going in every week which i find a bit tedious but uh the bsa your sick note in and that's it they don't bother you i'd rather do without the job center if i could help it but it's just one of them things i've got to fill that in every weekend before i go down what i'll do what i did and any replies i get i think that's myself a waste of time there isn't any jobs out there and what jobs there are i'm not qualified to do coming up a disastrous job interview for john i went in shorts and a t-shirt so i don't know if that made any difference at all steve says he's falling apart my hand me arm we chest me hip if i was a horse you'd have to shoot me adele makes some cash that dog poses i'll tell him that dog pooper and claire decides to make some changes i want to go back to college and i want to do like a hair and beauty and see where i get with that and hopefully if i like it and stick with it then i should get a job out of it [Music] it's early morning in bradford and an early start for adele knackered like but there you go up at seven in the morning not used to early mornings but there you go adele says she struggles to make ends meet on her 980 pounds a month benefits so she's putting her latest money-making scheme into action it's not something i do every week but when you just collect a few items it's good to get rid of some car built stuff loaded with free stuff she's found on the internet she's off to a car boot sale i'm hoping even if i do 20 quid better than a kicking teeth isn't it really [Music] everything ready she takes a break even though i'm calling myself and i've got arthritis i don't care about but i'll have to take a chair with myself and sit down a day adele's on the lookout for any potential customer i start dog posing i'll sell him that dog pooper and the cash soon starts to trickle in how much is it i'll take two pounds for it get you some chairs with thank you i've made 10 20 21 22 23 24 about 25 quid call it third because i had to pay a five pound for my store so it's not been bad it's being quiet but i think next week i'm going to go to a bigger one [Music] while adele's quids in there's some potentially good news for john in selby too he's been asked to go to the job centre as soon as possible about a vacancy i'm going to the dole office to get an application from for a job so that's where i've got to go now [Music] the job was right up his street i was interviewing for different jobs it was a driver's mate which i've done sort of things before like that and it was every you know moving boxes heavy lifting so i've done all that sort of stuff but there's a problem john thought he was simply going for a chat at the job centre instead it was a full-on interview with his potential employers the thing is i went in shorts on a t-shirt so i don't know if that made any difference oh what can you say the number set out so i didn't know what to didn't know what to say to them really covered in paint you had been painting on us so it was a bit embarrassing really but i didn't know i was getting interviewed so they said oh yeah it was an interview i said well i didn't when you when you phoned me up you didn't actually explain that to me so i just thought it was just going to sound fine fill some forms in for jobs so i didn't i didn't know but it's a learning curve in it while john still claims to be learning in leeds steve's been trying to get off job seekers and permanently signed on the sick finally his luck might be changing it's not good news brilliant news you closed me job seekers down yesterday it's been a long battle for steve to prove he's medically unfit to work to me this is a victory for people to start actually coming at the stage where they actually realizing there is something genuinely wrong with me instead of saying oh there's another blogger who's just trying to pull the wool over our eyes there's nothing worse than getting battered from pillow deposit in this system he says it'll also help to take the pressure off him having to look for work in order to get his benefit payouts the women's health is i kind of actually look for work behind me arm the chest me hip but if i was a horse you'd have to shoot me he now doesn't have to look for work and there is no threat of his benefits being pulled the only part i found successful was having to trail down here every fortnight and produce evidence of what work you were looking for you kept putting pressure on i mean saying oh but if you're not looking for work we can sanction yeah but that's not the stressful side of it is the stressful side is when you lose your benefit you also lose your council tax allowance your housing benefit you've got nothing to live on unless you unless you've got that you go for handouts things are starting to go my way for the change instead of going for the system it's actually starting to pay out for me in doncaster claire and danielle are off out have you made a fact to work with no it's your turn so don't even start that they're off to the park with claire's seven-month-old daughter don't look there's park claire's sick of struggling it is hard living on benefits and looking after a child at the same time to be honest it's hard living on benefits and not having the kid though at the same time and tired of making ends meet as a young mum yeah but if you think about it you've got you've got your money to yourself whereas i have to put my money towards what she needs yeah but it's still buying myself stuff like if any shoes coats obviously my but she's determined to make some changes that child has changed my life entirely i didn't realize that a child could change her life but she has i want to go back to college and i want to do like a hair and beauty and see where i get with that and hopefully if i like it and stick with it then i should get a job out of it and that's what i want to do i do want to work i really do instead of being sat at home doing nothing all day no i'm sweating she's tired me out that's what babies do they tire you out tricky john's still looking for work when he's not at the allotment i can't get no better than this i don't need money to be happy do you adele is still trying to keep the weight off i'm going to look like that valve me ten years time slim and slick after struggling to get signed off steve has some words of wisdom for the younger generation i had to go sit somebody down now it was getting a little bit out of hand i turn around and say look join the army join the navy join the air force whichever learn a trade do something with your life don't end up like me and claire is still determined to change her life round and make yorkshire a happy home for her daughter i want to be different i want to be not like everybody else but stand out for me and my daughter and make sure she knows that having a job is the only way to get your money instead of sat on your ass doing nothing i wanted to learn and see that next five star is hanging out with some rather large families whose only source of income is state handouts benefits 26 kids and claiming in a couple of minutes over there out here on channel 5 we step inside holloway the sometimes brutal prison that changed lives far beyond its walls [Music] you

Channel: Galactic Defender

Views: 601,535

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Id: hS8wXMlE42M

Length: 44min 54sec (2694 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022