November 5, 2011
Prior to my redundancy I had been in consistent employment since leaving University. Therefore, I had no personal experience of our Welfare system or claiming benefits of any kind. I would consider myself relatively left-wing in my political views and I have always felt that the British Welfare System was something to be proud of. I think it’s fair to say that, that is no longer the case. For the majority of my career to date, I paid tax in the highest tax band and had 40% of my bonus taken on several occasions. I can honestly say I have never felt resentful about that. I choose to believe that the majority of those who have no choice but to claim benefits are decent and honest people. I have never subscribed to “Daily Mail” stereotypes about who benefit claimants are.
That said, I was quite apprehensive the first time I had to attend the Job Centre to “sign on”. I was made redundant relatively early on in terms of the recession timescale (in May 2008) and honestly believed that it wouldn’t be long before I found a job. In actual fact I was job hunting for the best part of two years. I can honestly say I have never filled in so many un-necessarily complicated, repetitive and intensive forms. Now I consider myself a competent person, I have a degree in Law for goodness sake but I had to read the forms several times to ensure that I was filling them in correctly.
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