Tax payers money being wasted in pubs / casinos / other

[Richie]

Do you think people should be restricted to what they can spend their weekly welfare on?

For example, in some countries a 'top up card' is available, we are meant to be introducing them over here. The only thing the card can be used for is food / bills. I'd imagine in the UK it's also quite bad, maybe not as bad as over here but an awful lot of the tax payers money here seems to go into pubs, betting shops and other unnecessary 'luxuries' if you want to call it that. Due to welfare rates being so high in Ireland, the highest in Europe (I believe) people have that little be extra to piss away in the pub or gamble away. Realistically you have to think of it like this, that money being used wastefully, is coming from the tax payers pockets, I can see why people would be angry.

Are you angry that you may be working your socks off to pay for someones beer? Should a new system like this be introduced to stop those abusing the system?

[Hannah]

While I'm all for people having free will and what not with their money - if you're on JSA and spending it on tattoos, cigarettes, drugs and what-not (as seems to be popular here), then yes - their money should be controlled to food/bills/necessities. After all, it's not really their money.

Also, child benefits - money should be spent on the children and necessities - not luxuries like cigarettes and such. My sister is guilty of this. :|

We have a fair few people round here are proud to not have jobs and don't actually try to get them either.

I once actually had a chavvy guy come up to me at work, brag about how I'm paying for him and he doesn't have to work, before turning around and saying: 'I bet you don't go for guys like me, I bet you go for the duckheads with no teeth'.

Ugh.