Skivers vs Strivers

If you were on Twitter at all yesterday you might have seen the hashtag #povertyforum trending. It was an excellent initiative co-ordinated by BBC Radio York, The Press and other local media outlets to have a live digital conference about the benefits system, government cuts, affordable housing and other issues facing the poorest in society. I thought the event was a huge success. An eclectic mix of people from charities, local government, the media and members of the public were all able weigh in with their own thoughts and opinions derived from different perspectives and experiences. Unlike so many other online forums, it was good natured and constructive. Predictably, the “Skivers vs Strivers” debate reared its head on more than one occasion.

If you’ve glanced at the front page of the Daily Mail whilst queueing for milk at your newsagents over the last couple of years you will be familiar with the debate. It’s the one which suggests that all people who are receiving benefits can be neatly divided into two equal and opposing sub-categories of a) the honest unfortunates who are trying to find work and b) the dishonest scoundrels who are playing us all for mugs, watching our taxes accumulate in their bank accounts and never intend to do an honest day’s work. They all own gargantuan plasma screen TVs too, and are probably in the country illegally. I’ve been doing this job for a while now, working with and encountering dozens of people on benefits. I feel I’m in a pretty good position to make a few informed comments.

I’m not going to pretend for a minute that there aren’t people out there who are playing the system. There are. My sadness at the debate is that we have somehow come up with this false dichotomy when the problem, and the lives of people on benefits, carries so many intricacies and nuances that making such broad brushstrokes does nothing to solve the problem and simply creates a Pariah class villified by the media and the good, honest, hard working people like you and me. The Skivers are out there but the actual statistics suggest they’re in a minority.

The vast majority of people Restore work with aren’t Skivers. Increasingly we see people who are both willing and able to work but in the current climate jobs, especially if you don’t have one, are incredibly hard to come by. The remainder of our tenants are generally people who are willing to work but are simply unable to do so. Even this assessment is criminally simplistic though – people don’t come to us with a label attached to them, they come to us as an individual looking for help. The reasons vary. It could be due to a disability, addiction problems, mental health issues and a whole raft of other issues which mean they need our compassion rather than our condemnation.

The thing with Skivers is that they’re everywhere. They’re not all unemployed. If you’ve ever worked in an office environment then you will have come across them there. They are the kind of people who somehow manage to have a smaller workload than everyone else and leave early every day, even when it’s really busy. Or what about team sports? If you’ve ever sprinted 50 yards towards your own goal to make a last ditch tackle only to get to your feet and see your left back strolling over the half way line you’ll feel the same way. The problem is that some people are lazy and selfish, and if you’re a hard worker then that’s really hard to stomach. This government have tried to convince us that all the lazy and selfish people have got together and are sat on park benches drinking White Lightning. Some lazy people have the skills and wherewithal to hold down decent jobs that pay well.

At Restore we have tried to meet the needs of vulnerable people in our city.  We’re not alone. Over the last few years we’ve seen the launch of several projects in York set up to help people in our city. Many of them have been birthed through Christians and churches responding to God’s call to spend their lives on behalf of the poor. We stand alongside Christians Against Poverty, Foodbank, Reflect, Besom and Family Matters and many others in speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves and defending the rights of the poor and needy. It’s not just Christians who are involved though. We work with wonderful people from charities with no particular religious persuasion who are doing the most amazing work with some of our tenants. Foundation UK are one such charity, as are the Cyrenians who opened Oaktrees Recovery College in York earlier this year. Yesterday they held their first ever graduation as people from our community celebrated a new life being abstinent. That’s proper abstinent, by the way, not being propped up by a Methadone script or other substitute medication, but being completely substance free.

But here’s the rub: we’re not the solution. We never can be the solution when the system continually churns out more and more people living below the poverty line. Earlier this year City of York Council advertised a 2 bed flat for a family. 158 families applied that week alone. Restore, CAP, Besom, Foodbank do wonderful work with the few that they can reach – and more power to them – but the sad fact is that last year for every person we housed I turned another 5 away due to there being no room at the inn. They weren’t all Skivers. Some of them were just like you and me. Don’t look too good nor talk too wise, you’re only a redundancy and a few failed mortgage/rent payments from being in the same predicament. You’d probably be ok though. You probably have the skills to get out of the gutter on your own without resorting to the escapism offered by alcohol, substances and gambling. Not everyone does, though, and as far as I’m concerned they’re welcome to every bit of help society can give them.