Benefits Britain Breadline Scousers

In Merseyside, one in seven adults claim unemployment

benefits

that are 50 per cent higher than the national average, but what is life really like for people who live here and are forced to rely on this status for the most part? weather? it's like because I really know what we're doing I really don't know what I'm going to do in love you're in the middle of the road tonight meet the couple waiting to be rehoused after not being able to shower For three years I would feel more independent because I can wash myself . The single mother who is struggling to raise her three young children alone if my children need anything and I don't have money. these go and the player who says he can't work because of his religious views never gets a job during the Sabbath, I never will, they are all out of work and struggling to survive on

benefits

the number of times I have sitting here and crying because I think I'm not going to make ends meet.

Merseyside is reported to be home to six of the ten highest benefit outlay areas in the country. Jimmy, 57, has lived in the area almost all his life, he put two pounds, five to two and ten to eleven, so we'll get about 14 pounds, but it's like a morning of survival after a period of homelessness . He's just moved into a bedroom in New Brighton on the Wirral and he's furnishing it with things he found on the street, half the things we have like the telly, I found it, that coffee machine he found that and I found them yesterday, lamps, I can play once, but that won't come soon.

Yes, Jimmy hasn't worked since he was fired from his job at a pie factory four years ago. I was like standing in a factory, 12 hour shifts, something rare on a stupid Internet and you know it, as soon as you leave there. You're spending all my money to flip your kites like you know, so you can de-stress. I wasn't happy, you know, I wanted things to change and then I got fired, but it was a blessing. disguised being fired after being fired from his factory job, Jimmy says he was unfit for work due to depression, but recently says he was re-evaluated as fit for work and now has to look for work again, the type of job What else do I do?

He's probably going to get cleaner like Stockholm, where does it benefit them that I walk around with a mop? You know what I mean? But Jimmy doesn't want any old work and would like to make a career out of his art. that influence that's my mom and I painted it like that from a little fake passport size 30 that one with the tiger I never finished it, I was going to do like a crazy background but because of the homeless thing it ended up in someone's outside shed, jimmy made money selling some of his paintings before being so proud of them that he keeps the photos on his phone, he sold them for £250 that photo, just like me, life has been tame since then, like he feels like having to look for work is suffocating your creativity, it's the time when you know you like it and stress increases creativity, as you know, where I'm too busy worrying about this damn seventy pounds a week and trying to overcome all the obstacles. what they like, you know you have to apply for so many jobs, do this, do that for jimmy, getting out of the house is another way to destress, this is a lisa, sure you come here every week, but you need to do things like this to destress like Call it what you know, because they don't give me enough money for the Thai massage parlor.

Jimmy may have lived in Merseyside for years, but he spent his childhood in Norfolk. My mother died when I was a child with a thrombosis from taking the new birth control pill, so I grew up going to visit a grave, you really know I was 18 months old when she died, but my grandfather and my grandfather made sure we stayed together like family. They would just be brothers and sisters and they properly taught us how to be decent people that way despite their current situation. Jimmy hasn't given up hope of making a profit. I think at some point you should wait a minute.

What he is saying is correct, your best chance of trying is to paint the pitches of him. You know it beats filling out forms and painting a picture just down the Mersey from New Brighton. It's Birkenhead, the home of Nicola, 33, and her three. sons, cj, age five, bricklayer, age two, and dayton, age six, who's the man of the house me, oh yeah, yeah, why because that's not him, so I'm the man of the house, Nicholas claims around £1,500 a month. on benefits including child benefit she says she is struggling with the cost of raising her children yesterday I spent £279 this is the killer this takes a lot of my money with milk on £10 nappies for two little ones yesterday it came to 112 pounds before I had done the cupboard and I sat there and thought my shopping was going to be 300 pounds today on a budget.

Nicholas always makes sure to put the children first. How many times have I sat here and cried because I think to myself that I'm not going to make ends meet if it's anything like I'd like and purchases reach a certain amount, I take things away so they're cheaper and the kids get what they want Nicola is originally from the Midlands but She moved to Merseyside two years ago to live with her husband, they separated a year ago but have joint custody of their children, we both have three and a half days each and it works well for both of us, I still think sometimes.

He could help a little more. He has people to turn to. I don't. Nicola has two older children from a previous relationship when she was a teenager. They now live with her parents in the Midlands. I'm coming. Coming, my mom and dad have struggled and it makes me feel guilty because they took care of my other two children and I felt guilty for years that they raised my two children and then I had other children but I couldn't. I will not stop my ex-husband from having children. Nicola has not spoken to the children or her parents for months.

I am open to my two oldest children one day forgiving me. I love them with all my heart. I love my five children. I just wish I had been a better mother. I wish I had put them first like I do now, but I have a second chance at life and I said I would never waste it on Wallacy. In the world Joe, 54, and his partner Angela, 44, have been together for the past 15 years and have received benefits for most of them in love, you're in the middle of the road Joe has been married twice and met I met Angela at the local pub and their relationship developed quickly and then a couple of weeks later I started meeting Joe's children.

I said something. I'm on a kids show when he says, oh God, ten and about ten kids, which I'll put on too. Not a blue, most of Joe's ten children also receive benefits, so there are always a lot of people coming and going in his one-bedroom housing association flat. I have six children for my first wife, three children for my second wife and when I was 17 years old. I had a daughter I had never seen. It's something that happens every day, people come and we just socialize. Former security guard Joe has been out of work for more than 15 years after a problem with his leg turned out to be a tumor on his spine.

One day he was going out to work and my leg was dragging on the sidewalks and Angela told me that she didn't seem to think that was okay even though they removed the malignant tumor. Joe now suffers from a long list of health problems. I have had two complete hip replacements. I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea. I have severe COPD. I had another spinal tumor removed nine years ago and had a recurrence about a year and a half ago. Two years and nothing has happened. Since then, Joe says his health problems mean he cannot work, so he and Angela claim around £1,400 a month in benefits.

Dla Andrew gets all there is for me, but he doesn't get very far, but you spend your lack of your Water TV License, but while Angela has been claiming sickness benefits due to her learning difficulties, they say that recently the benefits stopped her payments after deciding that she is fit to work and they are a pound and eight pence on that one, a pound 36 on that one, so I have no chance with that one with her bank accounts empty. Angela has to break the news to Joe. Hello. None of them. That's invincible. Yes, I don't know.

Luckily, Joe's sister Kaz is around to help with money for essentials. She said yes, you let me fight to get some cigarettes, otherwise she probably won't go out until tomorrow. Joe's health problems mean he can't stay awake. He just worries me that he is family. Worry about him too. Jimmy turns to God to keep his vices in check is to keep his Sabbath shoes up where you fall on each other like cobblestones on other people's wives and Nicholas regrets being reckless with money I asked my mom for my account card of savings and I just spent five thousand dollars on nothing wallacey on the wirral joe and angela have been relying on state aid for the last 15 years joe has a long list of serious health problems and they are affecting his relationship with angela i sleep here because joe can't sleep here because um it's full of damp joe and i haven't slept together for three years his lack of mobility means he can't use a toilet or shower so every day the local authorities provide him with a carer to Wash your hands, which is the hottest water line.

There's no shower in his one-bedroom housing association flat, so Joe and Angela are on the waiting list for a specially adapted property, but the wait could end soon. I have been struggling for the past two years due to my disability. to try to get another place and now we are in the process of moving, hopefully, I think this new place will bring out a lot and take away a lot of angst, a lot of pressure on both of us. I would feel more independent because I can wash on my own whenever and wherever I want because it is difficult for Joe to leave the house if he wants to see his family they have to come to him okay Kitty how are you?

Hello Ange, Hello, John, love. my life today joe's dad john, age 74, is visiting awesome ok buddy on top of all his other medical problems joe suffers from sleep apnea, a disorder that causes sufferers to stop breathing While they sleep, go ahead, joe, no, I'm just resting my fingers. Although it's just for you, not us, Joe is prone to falling asleep mid-conversation. On February 3rd, your appointment for child support will be. He looked 109 years old. Well, I fall asleep, but unexpectedly I don't know what's going on. I could be in the middle of a conversation with someone, uh, watching TV and all of a sudden I fall asleep, I don't know what I've done, if you're just wearing Angela on the screams, Jerry falls down, let Joey fall asleep or someone else does it.

I fell asleep earlier and there were half a dozen people in the house and I didn't even know you had been there. Someone broke up two hours later. Yes, I feel a little stuck. A bit. She said this could too. It has to do with my diabetes. I haven't eaten anything yet this morning. How about six cups of tea? You need to bring something here because she said, Well, whatever with all of Joe's health problems, Angela is terrified of what the future holds. I'm fighting Kay to lose it because she's had um, as you know, she's had the most, she's had two tumors and she's had two hip replacements.

Sorry, I'm just worried, his family also worries about them and their friends, Cynthia Joe, down the road in New. brighton from beyond the rivers of ethiopia my supplements jimmy, 57, has been unemployed for four years since he was laid off from his factory job, he will rest in his love and enjoy singing, see what I mean, he would be happy from watching I used to be a Christian as you know, but now I realized that's the wrong thing to do. They were wrong. Jimmy has always believed in God and four years ago he began following the teachings of a little-known religion called the Way. and so I say he was a follower of the way because if you read the book of acts, they were called followers of the way when saul was chasing them then this soul is gone if you can't defeat him, join them, kind of attitude and but fact of his own religion and then left Barnabas for Tarsus Jimmy's religious beliefs mean that he cannot work on Fridays and Saturdays, but putting this on a job search form means that it is becoming difficult for him to find a job.

I just want to restrict my availability due to religious reasons, as I don't want to work on Saturday, which is Friday and Saturday, Friday is your preparation for Saturday, where you get everything you need so you don't have to go shopping, you don't have than forcing anyone. If not, he works because he says you even give the best to your animals, so he wasn't betting on the horses on Saturday. Today he is going to see his brother Richard, who is also a follower of the way Richard has been out of work and on benefits for the last five years.

Don't consider me an auto-Christian. We both have the same opinion.we said we like that you know we can't both go crazy at the same time you know the brothers say I had a difficult upbringing, well I've always believed in God since I was little, we were raised by my grandfather and you know, if it weren't for him , we couldn't do it, we still wouldn't have each other. Now they follow the path to receive guidance. Keeping the Ten Commandments, including keeping the Sabbath, helps you find out where your faults are if you don't do them. If you can't find the mouth, it's keeping it, the Sabbath appears, we fall on the other one, on the pavement on the right , on other people's women, you do it, which is difficult to stop, despite his religious convictions, the brothers indulge in the occasional vice if its benefits will extend to him, as if I couldn't afford to buy marijuana all the time , as you know, obviously it's a, you know, not even he wins on horses and that gives us more leeway to celebrate.

You know, a lot of times you have to tighten your belt and move on, like when Jimmy and Richard struggle to find employment because of their religious beliefs in Birkenhead. Nicola, 33, has not worked for six years while she raises her three children. My sons when I was a kid I worked in a cake factory and put chocolate in profiteroles and for a 17 year old boy making £250 a week was a lot of money back then and I was saving £50 every week and I think I saved about five grand when We conceived it, I asked my mom for my savings account card and I wasted five grand on nothing, I'm really sorry.

I think back now when I think about what you could have done with those big five that you could have created yourself. for life, although her youngest son is only six months old, Nicola is already thinking about the future and about going back to work. I always said I wanted to be a receptionist in a hotel. Now I'm terrified about when the children start working full time. What school will I have? difficulties finding a job, but I want to work, I don't want to be unemployed and, in the meantime, I don't want to receive benefits for the rest of my life instead of putting money saved in the bank Nicholas found an alternative way to save I wear a lot of jewelry my jewelry is to support my children if my children need something and I don't have money one of these goes with little money living off the benefits that Nicola has Become an expert in using the Internet to get a bargain.

These were discounted by £89 on eBay new and then these were new with the tags on and I bought them for 2.99. I bought them from a friend on Facebook. They were new. They're for summer, so I haven't had them on yet. I bought a new account. The simple fact is that it is black. I have lived and died in it. I feel a little like Little Red Riding Hood right now because of Nicola the. Bargain hunting can become addictive and the house is starting to fill up. I'm always checking out eBay. Well, I have five minutes. If it's like 99p and there are no offers, I'll make an offer.

I put in a lot of offers. of things on a watch list and then it notifies me that this item will be ending soon and if there are no bids, I'm a bit stuck in none out of ten times I win it. Sometimes I get a little carried away, Nicola no. I'm so sure of their latest sale purchases that I actually don't know if I like them or not because they look dirty, what do you think of these clubs? Oh friends, look at these wow, look at them. Hey, Joe really leaves the house because of his health.

Trouble but today niece Paisley and her son Johnny are taking you to their local park we have a bit of a separate area there they will be spread out mums the ashes of the brothers when they passed away recently and we go up a couple of times a year normally in their anniversaries or birthdays uh, we don't pay our respects, we sit in the park for about 10 minutes and say a couple little prayers. The park has become a special place for Joe and his family. Isabella Paisley's father's ashes have infected me, brother. and we spread them out here and we're moms around all the trees, all the apple trees and there's a plaque on the wall for my brother and we always like these little tree lights, if we can, when we go out.

Joe's mom and brother died of cancer. Mom passed away a year ago and Joe's brother died when he was only 40 years old. That was an emotional moment. Every time we come here, I always think about myself, what would happen to my brother? Every time we come, when you lose your brother, who is like 10 years old. younger than you, you don't expect it, um, mom remember that never, even though mom is the best person in the family, she was leveling, suddenly they canceled her and she passed away, that makes me worry about my own health. At that point that's why I want to try to quit smoking and drinking because I want to see my grandchildren grow up like all parents.

Do you want to see your children and grandchildren grow up? Losing his family has caused Joe to consider his own harmful habits. You may not change your lifestyle, I will die, the doctor said, which I know, I have already been told that we have never worked, it would be difficult to distinguish that shadow behind, you should not be around, that should not smoke, about 20. Everything this has been going on for 35 years, unless you can find a situation where you can stop it. I will continue cutting and following. Joe is getting supplies before Saturday, getting what we can, beers, pulling weeds, after years. waiting list there's finally a move in the cards for joe and angela so now the heart below sits because we have the keys to move in but and single mom nicola is on the edge i just want to think my life is getting more easy and then It gets harder and harder Liverpool, home of the Beatles, the Cavern Club and the iconic Royal Liver building across the Mersey in New Brighton, it's Friday and Jimmy is getting ready for Saturday, only I've paid, Here's the other one, we have 40 pounds left.

So I'm going to take ten quid for Saturday. Jimmy is a devotee of a religion called the Way, but this means he can't work a full week. If I was supposed to get a job, I would have to do it. Being free on Friday and Saturday, that would be my weekend, you see, because I have to prepare for Saturday and then do Saturday and then I wrote it down in me. The job search arrangements in your world just left me unemployed, but since not for me, you know I can paint pictures for myself, you know what I'm saying, Saturday officially starts at sundown on Friday, but Jimmy says he can't work during the day because he needs to get supplies to get what we can, beers instead of uh, marijuana food on everything so we don't have to go out again.

You don't have a noisy house on a Saturday. You can go for a two-mile walk, I think, and there are other strict rules that Jimmy must follow. I don't have sex on Saturday, but you can have sex on a Saturday night. He had my landlord come over on Saturday, asked him about events and told him he would do deep business on Saturday. Jimmy's brother, Richard. share your religious beliefs I have done all my shopping I don't need to buy anything everything is organized all we have to do is relax relax and as the sun sets over the Mersey Saturday begins Exodus 20 verse 8 remember the Sabbath to keep it holy it will set sacred linen robes and took Jesus to the high priest as the night progresses.

Jimmy and Richard make sure to obey the rules. Why it's shocking because you're not making anyone work like that. If I bet a horse before the Sabbath to run on the Sabbath, I think it will be better to use the title, you know, because you have to let your animals rest, as well as your man's servants and your maids, that also saved animals. I always Let my servants rest on Saturday in Wallacy and Angela have received good news after a three-year wait. The housing association has finally found them a specially adapted bungalow. The keys are already there to collect.

Confirmation that we can collect them. and come and sign the agreements and sanders your date starts and next monday week today so now boston art is sitting still because we have the keys to move in but oh yeah joe is excited at the prospect of having his first Showering at home is going to change a lot for us in years. Don't I like my own independence a little more because I'll be able to shower? I don't know what would be new. I'll be at the show every day. For about a month Joe and Angela take a taxi to the housing office to collect the keys to the bungalow, they got the keys, however we are excited, then I take everyone and tell them we are going to go down and see. the property and check what needs to be done.

I really want to see how other people dress pretty. I'm just supervising it turnkey. They take their sons Johnny and Sean to see their new home. I hope the weather is like this when I move. coming in and it's raining, being able to see your new housing association bungalow with the all important walk in shower is a great moment for all the family, it will be the beautiful kitchen that offers me, cooking and cleaning, it's absolutely amazing that I can do. it's new, get some nice furniture for the house and nice furniture for the bedroom, everything we've been waiting on the housing list for about three years to move into because there was nowhere suitable for us, I had a walk-in shower. or a wet room um that was all we wanted was just a place with a wet room instead of a bathroom oh fantastic it's really fantastic do you want me to give you the shower?

I'm looking forward to you, so, so, no I don't think I've ever been happier and as the sun sets things will only get better it can't be that things can only get better he was a great kiss and then back in Birkenhead no mate, I've got time to spoil the bag single Mum Nicola is struggling to survive on her £1,500-a-month benefits and is trying to save money by hunting for bargains. She recently bought a second-hand dryer, oh my goodness, but after just a month it stopped working. Oh, you have to do it. you're kidding, you're slamming the door, it's not going to help, the dryer is tripping, i don't understand why, but i bought it second hand, i didn't need this today, just when i think my life is getting easier and then it's getting more difficult. because I really know what I'm going to do now I really don't know what I'm going to do this time Nicholas bargain hunting has backfired you know I paid £80 for that I paid £80 for a chamber tumble dryer which is now tripping me up electric yeah Greetings friend, please answer the phone Nicola decides to call the person she bought the driver from Hello, I'm Nick who bought the black dryer, can you hear me? oh this really helps, this is my lifesaver, this fall, is it my lifesaver?

I can't keep up with the laundry the weather sucks I can't dry the clothes I have three kids to keep in clothes I'm worried about myself I walk like I don't care so how do I do that? idea let's definitely turn on the electricity because that one isn't on as a last resort nichola call a friend for help hi sorry to call you while you're at work but i have a problem and maybe you can help me with my record tumblr keep tripping me electric good point batman look this is why we're friends i like you it's my tumblr i don't need this today she was straight up in the air while we were here although the electrical outlet seems to be working nicola is going to have to make do without the dryer for the moment.

I feel really bad now that I know it's broken or not working properly. Come on, baby, I know, darling, back in New Brighton with Saturday over, Jimmy can go out and carry on. with your daily life I can do this I can get better with the horses again I'm just going to do whatever I'm doing I haven't made any body or animal work on Saturday but now I can make them work again jimmy He dreams of making a living as an artist, he works the days that suit him and thinks he might have found a place to make his art.

He was talking to this lady about a study. £20 a week. She says she doesn't do it for profit. It's because he likes helping artists, however at the moment Jimmy's religious beliefs mean he could face a life with benefits. I'll never get a job on Saturday. I will never do it again in my life and that's like four years. I've been doing that, that's never going to change and that's my belief and you have to accept that by law Joe and Angela will move and the family will lend a hand in the amount of time it's difficult to get together and move.

I'd already moved the sofa myself, Jimmy's fighting the benefits office for cash, it's only £300 but like it's my money you know, so I'll probably get a bit out of my airways and Nicola's doing everything everything possible to be a mother for the second time. I didn't do a very good job when I was 18 and my other two promised me that I would make sure I did a very good job this time in Wallacy after being on the waiting list for a new home for the last three years, angela and Joe eventually moved out of their flat into a specially adapted housing association bungalow.

I will miss this place, but since joe can't get in and out of the bathroom,Now we have a shower and that's what I'm going to do a little later and everything's settled, take a good shower and buy some new pajamas, see you soon honey, I love you, Joe's son Sean is helping them move your belongings the 500 meters up the street to your new home to save. cash, he's using his push bike, I'll do it tonight, I just like it, I just don't mess with life, I just need it when I'm moving on, that's all, there are other people who prefer to hire a van, they pay like 40 50 pound dog to move a couple pieces when I can just throw him in my arm on my back and carrier and the amount of time it took me to get a truck and move, I had already moved the trainer by myself.

I want and save some money not for me for my parents with his family doing everything they can to help angela wants to show that she appreciates their efforts shawn is big and strong abby has no idea but he has been helpful and the two girls so I I'm going to get two, a couple of thank you cards and two bouquets of flowers for the girls and I'll be short and sick, we have it all. Family and friends give us and move all the things, it's smaller than the last place Four, there's something meaningful there, so it's big enough for us, with the hard work out of the way, Angela and Joe can start making their new house a home. it's going to be wonderful um I'm pretty happy yeah I'm more than happy when it started yeah better because we'd be relaxing in the pools other than that yeah I couldn't imagine us moving away from here we'll stay here for about as long as you can imagine and there is only one last thing to do, toast your new home.

Well, anyway, greetings everyone. Happy home, happy holidays. A few miles away, Nicola is returning from school pickup. We are in Birkenhead. In the park I thought about inviting the children. I run as tired as a crowd, it's not like Mason needs it anymore because he hasn't slept all day, so she'll be out cold around five after years of the benefits she seeks. free ways to entertain kids i like the fact that their faces light up because it's something different nine times out of ten when we leave school it's straight home but the weather has been very cold but i told cj that if it is a good kid at school what mom will take to the park one day after school.

Today she came out with two stickers for helping. this is very useful. child. I think sometimes I feel like I live with a 15 year old Nicholas determined to give him three younger children. the opportunities that their older kids never had, you know, I would sell the shirt if it meant my kids could eat, I didn't do a very good job when I was 18 and had my other two, but I promised myself that I would make sure I have done a very good job this time and I don't think I am doing a bad job to be fair, they are happy, they are clean, they are clothed, they are loved and well fed.

Thank you very kindly, in New Brighton, I got Jamie Oliver's beans. Have you asked yourself? Jimmy hasn't worked for four years and is in debt to the benefits office for crisis loans he took out. He says his profits have been reduced while he pays them back. They've just been automatically taking it away from me. Money. Can't. I have no control over it. Plus now I have to spend money to be able to register every week, which is another eight quid, you know? so there's not much left at the end of the last eight pounds for jimmy the debts are increasing and he's struggling with the payments we've decided that now you should start paying the 40 pounds 53 euros that 76 pounds that you owe us that 48 pounds 23 that you owe us you owe that's a pound 91 that you owe us 60 pounds that you owe us no, I don't remember borrowing anything, I found that phone, right, they said, uh, if you have any questions about it, I found this number and I found the number and I said : Can you send me some kind of breakdown of what these debts are? and they told me you certainly can do it.

They sent me an empty envelope. Jimmy says that because he hasn't received the clarification he wants. he has given an ultimatum to the benefits office, they say I am writing regarding a series of debt reference numbers. I am formally requesting details and proof of these debts. If I do not receive this information within 14 days of this letter, I will be forced to take this matter to the independent case examiner. Honestly, blah blah, Jimmy thinks he's out of pocket and he has a plan. If he gets any money back, it's only £300, but it's like it's my money, you know, so I'll probably take a bit off.

I like it and then use a little bit to try to advance even further. It's hard. I risk a few quid when I get paid to play. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I'm pretty good. I wouldn't recommend to other people what it is. Like I've studied horses for years, as you know, even I've been lost at times, but his debts haven't deterred Jimmy from having a flutter, just go to the buckets, place a bet, and get on with the rest of the day. and then check it later if it's one of the best guaranteed odds come back, get something to eat and go up to the uh, write this nasty letter to the masses.

All Jimmy can do now is wait and see if his horse shows up brand new on the next channel. 5 A family discovers that an Englishman's house may really be a castle, but will it be surrounded by a moat of happiness after a rich house, a poor house, the scary side of online dating, internet murder investigates the Nasty motivations of some so-called daters, that's new in 10.