I actually did both at one point: I was earning so little at my 30+ hours a week job that I qualified. One of my friends was STILL earning so little at his retail job last year (at the age of 28) that he was getting housing benefit, despite often working a 6 day week.
I was over the moon when the minimum wage came in, as you can imagine.
My point was not to gain some kind of spurious prestige by mentioning that I and most of the people I know have been on benefits at some point - I'm not expecting a pat on the back - but to point out that it's actually pretty damn ordinary, and it's very likely that a *large* number of people in this country are or have been relying on benefits at some point. Including many people who are not typically regarded as benefit claimant material.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 11:31 pm (UTC)I was over the moon when the minimum wage came in, as you can imagine.
My point was not to gain some kind of spurious prestige by mentioning that I and most of the people I know have been on benefits at some point - I'm not expecting a pat on the back - but to point out that it's actually pretty damn ordinary, and it's very likely that a *large* number of people in this country are or have been relying on benefits at some point. Including many people who are not typically regarded as benefit claimant material.