Britain's broken welfare system is leaving our community on the brink
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- The Guardian has been working with a group of community reporters in Rochdale who turned the lens on a broken benefits system which they had seen first hand unfairly penalising vulnerable people in their community. The team of reporters met friends, family and others in the community trying to navigate the system while also trying to advocate for change in greater Manchester and across the country. This film was made as part of a collaborative video series called Made in Britain.
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#MadeInBritain #UK #Benefits #Welfare #Politics #News
The Elephant's Trail are community reporters based in Rochdale, working on a series of collaborative videos with the Guardian. Their first film was on the constituency's 2024 by-election: czcams.com/video/h4vYG1gPPgg/video.html
Why is the closed captioning so erratic, is only what‘s been closed captioned important. And Yt’s auto-generated CCs turns what people are saying into gibberish! It’s exclusionary, not just for the deaf and heard of hearing, for all your viewers who have a bit of trouble with understanding the accents. For a publication that does pretty decent job covering, and including those who are excluded, not making it easier for your audience to understand what the speakers are saying, is a ridiculous, fully solvable fail.
Suprised the guardian isn't blaming this on putin like everything else to be honest lol
I was jobless first time in 10 years. Unpleasant experience ever
Where are you located? How did it work out?
Me too I worked for twelve years had a bit of a mental breakdown the women I have been great as she's also been threw it,but jobs wise in my area it's terrible trying to get on a few courses to get a few tickets for better prospects
It's almost like over a decade of austerity & privatization was a terrible idea. Who knew.
It wasn’t a terrible idea for the rich
Sean is captain obvious
I have a learning disabilitie and employers don't want to give us a chance
@@TheRealBlueValhalla thanks for that dickhead
To protect Britain(its wealthy) and stop the developing countries from getting developed, UK did this
I see people go through treatment like this, with my own eyes.
Bureaucracy gone seriously wrong.
The most horrible part is that that horror, maladministrated, bureaucracy is itself eating up funds allocated for helping people.
Thank you Guardian. This is independent journalism at it's noblest.
As a former recipient of the DWP, I fully endorse this film. 👍
This society is hurtling towards disintegration. People like this are worth their weight in gold trying to build and keep communities together, the very best of us. Great people being brutally let down by this cruel and callous system.
The thing with his sister angered me. The people doing these assessments claiming people are fit to work, they are not fit to asses. They need to be better medically trained and improper assessments need to be investigated.
I broke one of my assessors.
"If you give people encouragement, not coercion, they have more of a chance to succeed" powerful words, thanks for sharing all of your stories, inspires me to see how you're all persevering in the face of adversity.
My disability advisor at the dwp in a village in Scotland gave me encouragement. Because of her, I ended up having a successful interview and a job After two years. Encouragement shouldn’t just come from the person helping you, You need to put effort in yourself. Nobody gonna give you a spoon and feed you. You need to do it yourself
This is more about mental health than anything else. We need to support people to have lives. Making mental health affected people work in mainstream jobs is like them being made to go through mainstream schooling and expecting success.
I work in disability support as supervisor and it is incredible how people flourish when given the right support and understanding.
Rubbish, I've been sectioned 3 times, treatment including 20 rounds of ECT , medication including amitriptyline seraquel lithium , at the Alfred hospital pysch ward , Melbourne, Australia, I got out and got a job at age 55 ,a job where I walked over 3 miles a day to and from the station to get there , the manager now picks me up from the station and sends an uber if he needs me to work on the weekend, keep promoting that victim mentality 😂😂😂
@Jimmy009-st8mm you're an exception, and it's great that you've got that stability and that you're proud of it. But I'm sure you wouldn't want everyone to go through what you have to be able to feel safe and happy.
P.S. It's interesting that you use miles when you live in Australia, don't you use Kms?
Thanks for your reply, 2:5. Kilometers each way,I used miles because this is a british story , you claim you are a mental health professional so you should be aware that there are number of freeloaders trying to scam the system, hate to disappoint you but if you want me to have sympathy for the workshy you probably need to harden up😂😂😂😂😂
Thank you for your compassion.
Hear hear ❤
Really great stuff - between this and Anywhere But Westminster, you guys are doing awesome work bringing light to what most of the journos in Westminster don’t bother with
Aren't cigarettes expensive?
Also family support seems non existent. How did he not know his sisters situation. He should be helping her
When I was in UK. I saw empty boarded up streets under a constant grey sky, litter everywhere.
Homeless people sleeping in doorways. A women with cat whiskers makeup casually walking into Tesco with her pajamas. Opioid addicts out of their mind and women so drunk they urinated on the streets.
It's a sad declined country.
Lazy country.
@@Jimmy009-st8mm Yeah, course, some 68 million people are lazy. That's right. They don't want to work they are happy living on the breadline. Cushty life isn't it? /s
Not where I live 😂
I saw this exact same comment on a different video BOT
You didn’t say where in the UK you visited, yet people come here to settle in the droves from other countries,surely every country has its problems and poverty!
It wasn’t in 2008 when you punished the poor for the sins of bankers?
Want a banker work for living wage of £11.40 hour gone up by a £1.00
This is brilliant. Working class stories, told by working class filmmakers. More of this please!
The long term unemployed are not working class, they are actually precariat class
We need an actual real living wage, and to properly tax the millionaires and billionaires!!
They can just move and you get nothing
@@garyb455Other countries have wealth taxes and they haven't all moved.
Not if you do it right.
@@garyb455 all their money is tied up in assets so no, they can't just move. If they do, they need to sell the assets to someone who will pay so either way we get the tax paid.
We did it to the Russian rich when the Ukraine war started and we can do it to the rest of the wealthy as well.
@@willsetchell4222 You literally confiscated their assets. That's just outright theft.
this stuff has been going on for decades and not nuch has been changed for the better. the countries economy was declining and there simply was never a chance for everyone to find fair employment. some people are always left out and get told that its theyre own fault while cutting them off from support or pushing them towards directions they dont want to go. this system is picking on the weakest.
In the face of continuing dehumanization, the individuals we meet in the video are doing everything they can to re-humanize themselves and their communities. No matter what the politicians and managers say, it starts with humans and ends with humans, and dehumanizing the system is a lose-lose situation that, at best, gets you some quick results but never works out in the long run.
Perhaps it works out for their careers, though, I do suppose.
Learning about this system is devastating but those in this video battling it to succeed are inspiring. I can't think of anywhere else that you can get this sort of insight. More of this please @The Guardian. Well done all involved.
From India. It is not your social security system that is broken, it is families. How can you have so many single parents and then complain.
It used to be the case that when going to the job centre, they actually used to help you. Youd see a job on a board, talk to staff about it, theyd phone the employer for you and, In a few of my instances, was having an interview and start later that day. Now YOU have to do all the chasing!
Yeah I signed on for a few weeks. They were perfectly nice to me but they're just making sure you are doing stuff they don't help at all. I had a compulsory work fair landed on me!
Like everything else that's been ruined... immigration.
I'm retired now thank goodness worked in the mines, The unions of my day would not have allowed zero hr contracts its totally disgusting its just to keep people down.
@@tonyrobinson362 Yes, you are exactly right.
Universal basic income now. The state should celebrate volunteers, value unpaid carers.
What level of UBI do you think there should be? I've read the head of the IFSs book and he makes a great point why a UBI can't work. Either it's lower than current benefits or we have to massively raise taxation.
How would you make a UBI work?
A wealth tax would be a good start.
UBI would be a good option, but I'd also settle for a much more forgiving benefits system than the one we've currently got. Either way the people in this video should not be treated in this way in such a supposedly rich country
But don't do any of that otherwise developing countries could get rich, we won't want that including BBC
Bishbosh. The head of the IFS is a plum. Taxes don't pay for benefits.
@@Samuel-hd3cp "taxes don't pay for benefits" could you elaborate on this?
DWP no use to man or dog.
Sign off then
Am honestly speechless...
Jobs are hard to get. Companies will employ the least amount of people they can. Decent retail and service jobs have vanished. Try contacting any government department or private company and you are flung onto a merry go round of options and horrendous wait times. Everything requires internet and smart phones and computer. Those in work are not valued and paid little yet there are people sitting on their ass earning ridiculous amounts of money for doing a lousy job. I will never understand this world.
Excellent film- people’s struggles needed to be highlighted like this.
DWP THE department of wearing people down until they throw themselves under a bus. Hundreds have died!
Thousands.
@@amandag5072 577 million
It's over 100,000.
@@RPKGameVids Shortage of underclass whiners at that rate !
Well done my good friend Paddy 👏 much love ❤️ and respect 🙏 going out to you mate 👍🏻 keep it up my friend, God Bless you and all around you 👍🏻
All by design.
The sad part is, the government don't care.
This is heartbreaking. Watching this from Manhattan NY USA. The UK Goverment is a disgrace. Where is their compassion? There will always be people who take advantage of the welfare system. These people are not those people. For the love of god help them!!
abolish the monarchy
I know a polish girl, has a partner but officially she is alone woth one kid.
Claiming house, benefits and...bragging about it 😢
This is an amazing piece and excellent to see authentic, grassroots voices leading the narrative. Great stuff!
The US system is a mess. You move one inch to try to become independent the best one can, especially if you’re disabled, one can only make so little, otherwise you’ll lose needed benefits. And, once you are eager to live above the poverty line, you’re no longer seen as disabled. Many disabled can and want to find something they are capable of doing. Now, we people who are falling far behind are starting to find themselves homeless. Housing is basically non-existent; no counsel housing. 8-12 year waits to get to the top of a housing list. And, that’s expensive for anyone of a fixed budget.
I know how difficult it is for people over in the US because my mom used to live and work over there. One of my Auntie's lost her husband and due to the welfare system she wasn't entitled to a penny. She was still having to work right the way through into her her mid 70's. One of my cousins lost her job in 2008 when the financial crash took place. She managed to find a couple of jobs after months of applying for different vacancies but sadly, what she got paid was nowhere near enough to keep her home. She ended up having her house re-possessed. If it hadn't have been for my Auntie, my cousin would have been on the streets.
The whole system wrong! Even getting a low paid job still means people struggle! That’s even if you can get full time! Most low skilled works part time. The systems design by people that don’t understand other people’s struggles.
People should experience the way the system treats people approaching retirement, It's disgusting the hoops elderly people are expected to jump through, I opted out of the benefits system because of this. I have a bit less than a year before I can claim my state pension, people shouldn't be treated in this way no matter what their age.
You mean its costing the country a mint and its not getting to the real people who need it here in ireland the dole is about £190 a week basic
Rochdale voted 3:2 in favour of Brexit. There are literally millions of unfilled vacancies across the country , especially since the end of EU freedom of movement. Can they not just applied for the vacancies left by EU workers?
I really hope the tories who voted for this come to use the system they created.
I agree with you. But we both know those sh*ts well never have to. These souls in this documentary just get punished further and further.
'Sis' has hardly any money to live on, yet smoking tailor made cigs! Does not ring true 😔
Oh they can always afford cigarettes, despite being on the breadline. Weird
Absolutely amazing tells emotional stories and how hard life is getting really enjoyed making this and meeting new people we will change the 1 step at a time❤
What was the reason Pete lost his job? I'm gutted for him 😢
Warehouse picking work is quite difficult to sustainable unless It's the busy time of the year. Effectivelly, they use agencies to max labour when its busy and as soon as there isnt quite enough work they start sending people hope. You basically have to be very, very fast and hard working to keep getting shifts. Not the easiest of work especially if you are older and maybe not that fit.
@@Andrei-hq9jd Wow. This actually happened to me. I worked in a warehouse through an agency for only one and a half days. I was gutted. I loved the job. I wouldn't have minded so much if they tried me out for a week but letting me go after one and a half days? It left a sour taste in my mouth.
I know Pete ver well he is a top lad and trys his best . But he has learning difficulties and finds it very hard to perform the duties a job requires in any sort of job or industry. He hasn't got the skills required unfortunately...
But the system lets him down over and over again when you have jobsworths deciding who is fit to work and who isn't.
Pete has to get by with little or no money on job seekers when he should be on some sort of benefits because of his capabilities.
With the job covered in this video he would of not been capable of doing what the company requires.
For instance if it was a picking job where he has to go and pick certain items with petes learning difficulties he would unfortunately make mistake after mistake.
That's just one example.
There is a difference between living and surviving. One is sufficient and the other is not.
I spent 30 years working around the world, many of the countries I visited had no welfare system in place. How would people manage here in the UK without welfare?
Not much, probably will go back to Victorian days.
prostitution and crime as its always been
This is what I’m wondering. In the USA, we don’t offer a fraction of what the uk provides to its people as a social service and all the people in the uk do is complain. 90% of the people in this world don’t have a fraction of what you have and it’s not enough?!? Well, you can go get a job. The problem is that most of these people are unemployable even under the best of circumstances- but they expect the same standard of living as people that work. I don’t think this is at all realistic
They’d have to work
I don't understand. Brexit promised more work because of no immigrants (many documentaries show many businesses struggle because they have no workers). You have 350 million pound a week now pumped into NHS. How come the people complain about not affordable healthcare and no work to find.
almost like they were lying dogs about it the entire time.
This is heartbreaking. To see honest decent people being treated like this is a scandal.
Do the Brits have any idea when they’re going to stop leaning on Australia to pay their pensions? The lies they tell to avoid paying are scaling Russian type heights of absurdity.
Not to mention that volunteering can lead to a paid position. It's happened to me twice in my life !
Its not the DWP, its the policy framework they're handed by the Tories.
This was incredibly well done. Bravo to Elephants Trail and the participants in this video. You’re putting a real face on a very important issue. ❤😊
People with long term jobs also get punished, zero access to anything if your a single working man, it keeps you a few weeks away from this type of life if your out of work,
Imagine one of these guys get a job and they can do weekend so they work 7 days a week then look at the 300 quid thats missing every week in tax, its a joke on both sides ,we want the money back directly in the communities
Yes it's so fucked up this country. Me personally don't have the best paying job it's better than minimum wage but let's be honest the price of renting a property council tax etc most people in these low paid jobs are probably thinking work all week in a dead end job just to live and pay the bills and survive.. what's the fuckin g point ? I can sit at home get free housing and a small benefit payment and not be much worse off.
It's ridiculous how the way of life has become for many people everyone who works should be able to live an enjoyable life have no housing problems no food problems afford to have children and not worry. It's the total opposite at the moment.
The guy running the boxing club is an entrepreneur - if he’d come from a privileged background, with an economics degree maybe, he’d know how to siphon money out of the health or social services budget. He’s in the wrong place, with the wrong accent, that’s all.
Worldwide problem. I don’t see it getting any better.
How come those foodbank users can afford cigarettes, tattoos and iPhones? If only the spent more time applying for jobs and less time getting tacky tattoos!!
These lazy people should get nothing.
So why do you all keep voting?
I'm sure Galway will help improve things
Fair play to the guy who got a job, the Jobcentre should be paying his travel to work expenses, at least until his first pay day.
As an American, these accents are wild
A world exists outside America, wow 😮
@@Sean-xy4hk I think their point was that there is massive differences in regional accents in the UK relative to america. Someone from 50 miles away in the UK can sound completely different whereas in the US 50 miles is the distance to the next town. No need to be snarky just because it's fashionable to make the 'americans are stupid and self obsessed' joke.
Im English and struggle with many Scottish and N Ireland accents 😂
there so dumb @@Sean-xy4hk
As an American these accents really aren't that wild.
We would rather give money to the EU, to Ukraine to fight wars, to other countries for dubious aid programs, to illegal and legal immigrants than to help our own people. This is what the Guardian supports as do the Tories and Labour. It's no use pretending you care Guardian, just like all the rest of the establishment, British people are right at the bottom of your list of priorities.
Sow seeds!!!😢😢😢
Broken by foreign freeloaders?
I hope your Sis is doing well. ❤️
We need to change the DWP including up scaling the skills of every person including improving the living wage to offer time and half for bank Holidays Christmas, Boxing and New Years Day.
We need to improve mental health services, build more Council Houses include a energy social tariff. To reward people back into work for the first year no tax or insurance should be paid include remove zero hour contracts.
For years there have been programs on TV about people taking advantage of the welfare system, but not a lot about the greedy corporations avoiding their proper taxes or gouging prices. Exploitation is really only a problem if you are a poor person doing it.
When i served in Afghanistan my mate was badly hurt in an attack now in a wheelchair his wife has to help him eat wash and he has to wear an adult nappy he played rugby loved sport was fit healthy and now its come to this and they are still trying to get pip and help from the care system
Yes there are problems with the benefits system highlighted by some of the stories in this piece. (I imagine also most people get their benefits without issue, which of course this video does not touch on as it does not fit into its narrative.) However I think this misses the wider issue of lack of investment in northern towns like Rochdale and there are simply very few opportunities for the people living in these areas. At the end of the day people who are able to work need jobs, not benefits.
To those who dismiss the people in places like this as lazy, look again. So many areas like Rochdale have people with energy, willingness to work and talent. Decades of deindustrialisation, lack of investment and neglect has demoralised them. Morale is low, but it is encouraging that many have maintained their self respect and dignity.
Vote these torys out in the general election
Vote Reform?
@@exiled2home And get the rejects that are even madder than the ones currently in power!
@@amandag5072 do you think labour has a coherent vision for the UK and if so what is it?
@@exiled2home Their vision is far more coherent than both the Tories and Reform. Reform are just a bunch of loony extremists!
In some countries you know how far its people can be pushed but in England it really is a Mystery.
Stand Up en masse and take your country back !!!
The system is OK when it works .... but mostly does not.
UK does not have primary goods. It does not have enough productive farmland to feed itself. It does not have the breadth of minerals to allow cheap manufacturing. The people do not have the work ethic of Asians, so manufacturing will always be costlier.
Productivity is low. People like to go on the dole as it is the easy way out. Increasing taxes will not work. The middle class will stop working. The rich will move to Dubai.
Time for a government to change things. Make work pay. Decrease benefits. Cut pensions as the old are the richest. They can borrow against their houses and house prices will fall. Rents will fall. People will have more money.
Raise the lower limit tax threshold. Remove jobseekers allowance if unemployed long term. Pay for unemployment based on previous work.
nooo poor people should stay in hotels you tw...
Very interesting idea I like it 👍
Easy way out? At £75 a week and constant harrsment from the DWP! You're ignorance is showing.
true
Yet they all seem to smoke and drink alcohol.
They have money for that.
And iPhone, Sky, Netflix
@@JestersDeadUK And cannabis.
Darren McGarvey , the competition is ON (12:57)!
Hope that doesn't take away from you the niche that you've created for yourself to get yourself & your offspring out of the situation that you found yourself in. 😊
Folk who want to work and are kept poverty-stricken.
Still l ask myself if any political party is worth voting for ?
such nice people though
I WANNA GO BACK TO WORK BUT THEY WONT HELP ME STOP DRINKIN,... I ONLY WANT 1 WEELK ON LIBRIUM
The Disability support pension review in Australia found only 2% fit to work. A similar review in the UK found 80% fit for work. One of these is obviously wrong.
Australia DSP was a gift to the work shy 80% could work govt admitted used to lower u/e stats but now very much harder to get before 65 % claims accepted now 30% successfull
It's the same argument as in the United states, the federal income tax payers are sick and tired of the growing numbers of people coming onto the national welfare system
In the late 80's I was married to a violent, alcoholic drug user.within 2 years I'd divorced and gone to college. In those days, under Major, I received an extra £10 on top of my single parent benefits to motivate people back into training. My childminder fees were paid, college was free and I got a grañt for any books I needed! I did the GCSEs I missed at school and then went on to do my A levels and then I was also doing voluntary work at the probation office leading to me being offered a place to train. On my way I met so many people who were volunteering in the chosen field they were hoping to join, employers all want experience so how can the government, same Tory government,stop people's benefits for doing exactly the right thing to get employed..it beggars belief!
We can only hope that something new and better will be born from this mess.
I am disabled, 43 years old, been unemployed for 14 years and before that in and out of short term unstable work before I was finally diagnosed. With the governments hostile benefits policy I fully expect to be made homeless at some point. I've bought some cheap camping gear to get ready for it. I don't expect to live long because of my health issues so looking for places I'd like to spend my last days. No point turning to our government for help. They are happy for people to die. More money for their friends. I have no hope and I am tired of fighting to get by. I just want it to stop but it never will until I die. This isn't a life.
the system is ridiculous but if you cant afford child care dont have children.... ffs
I thought brexit would fix everything
The Queen is lucky she left when she did avoiding the awareness of these catastrophes..
Hard to feel sorry for these people when you're travelling up and down the uk working on construction sites and sleeping in hotels
Why did you get into construction then? You made this choice.
once AI takes off, lower skilled jobs will disappear, robots or software don't ask for a wage, sick pay, or pension,we need to get these people skilled up but no one is prepared to p[ay for it.
these employers are ruthless... just literally use & abuse anyone willing to turn up for a shift
This piece was desperately short on data and stats imo
Nearly Everyone in this country are a paycheck away from being ruined and loosing their home
I've got schitzophrenia staying alive is my battle .anyone want schitzophrenia 😮
I lived in Manchester over a decade ago and have been to Oldham few times, right next to Rochdale and I just struggle to believe it's so hard to find a job there. The place is full of warehouses and factories.
Like Pete went through, it's not reliable work. You get a job for a week, go through all the faff with the DWP then you get no more shifts. That's the reality of a lot of factory and warehouse work.
@@Blessed-Beautiful You may disagree with me here, but work isn't always reliable. With so many people vying for the same jobs, zero-hours contracts and the like, job security just isn't a thing that all people can rely on. I don't think anyone in their right mind would subject themselves to the humiliating, degrading, and dehumanising treatment for the pittance that is offered. Universal Credit rates are as follows: If you’re single and under 25 you get £292.11 per month, If you’re single and 25 or over you get £368.74 per month. Tell me on what planet you can find rent for less than £73.02 per week, or even at the upper end less than £92.18 per week, this would literally leave you with nothing for food/bills etc. The basics to sustain life. It's astonishing.
I would like to add that many people on benefits spend that money within their communities, or British businesses - typically the supermarkets, which goes directly back into the economy. I really hope that you do not find yourself in the same situation as these unfortunate people in the video where you require the support of benefits, I really do.
And dodgy takeaways that only employ their own
Some Actual decent reporting from the Guardian im suprised....Keep it up
shes left with hardly anything to live on.... whilst smoking a cig. she cant afford food BUT she finds money for smokes??? cant put the gas on BUT she finds money for smokes??? why should taxpayers contribuate to people like that when they spend the little money they already get on smokes???????????
Ffs allow her SOMETHING. For some that's all they have!🙄
People have some vices in order to live otherwise they would go crazy without it at least. Obviously vices that are normal.
90% if not more of the price of tobacco is tax... so it's going right back to the government anyway
It's not as if smoking isn't addictive is it? I'm not a smoker myself, but I hear people really struggle to quit.
Cigs costs a packet, too. Unless someone gave it to her, I don't know how she can afford to buy
Get your campaign listened to! Lol bro they thinking the opposite way. The system is getting worse, in five years it will be shocking
1:54 Syd Little’s life has really gone downhill hill since Eddie died. 😔
I am Japanese irish
The state of some of these people. All socio-economically caused, result of generations of deprivation and lack of opportunities. Sickening, you don’t get communities left behind to this extent in much of Western Europe. Class system in action
Whah
Think the main Issue is cultural
Of course its broken everything is broken to many people of course its all coming to a head