Should Those On Benefits Be Offered Cut-Price Computers And Broadband?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338744/Computers-25-help-11-million-disadvantaged-Brits-benefits-online.html

[B00]

"Supporters of the offer say it could help get Britain booming as at least 75 per cent of jobs now require online applications."

Don't job centres have computers?

Simple answer from me- no.

[EcclesCake]

Yes.

Access to the www should not be a luxury. Increasingly it is a necessity for educational research, children who do not have easy access are deprived in my option.

[leahbee]

No they should'nt. I agree with aog, most job centres have computers. In fact I bet there,s not many unemployed who don't have one.

[ummmm]

Yes.

I was looking at a job yesterday that you could only apply for on line. They didn't accept CV's.

If the job centre do have computers then how long do you think someone would have to wait before they got their turn?

[Baldric]

No, where's the incentive to work if everything working people pay full price for is being offered at a subsidised bargain price to those on benefits.

[jim360]

Two reasons why I'd say yes:

"It will also help the Government in their push to see 80 per cent of submissions for universal credit to happen online."

"The initiative ... sets out to provide computers to help 800,000 British schoolchildren who lack home internet access."

I'm not particularly a fan of putting benefit systems on-line, certainly not exclusively, but if you are going to do it you may as well make it so that those most likely to need to use the system are actually able to do so. Meanwhile with homework tasks becoming increasingly dependent on online activities those children without easy internet access are disadvantaged.

So it's a conditional yes from me. If the government is cutting back [funding for] library services and switching benefits systems to online access, then it has to provide this support. But it shouldn't really be doing either of those two things anyway.

[flump1]

Maybe on a loan ( free for a few months basis ) ?

[AB Editor]

No, kids should though - maybe knock VAT off if purchased through some kind of gov scheme?

If, say, you did it for 14 year olds about to do their GCSE's that would be an appropriate time?

[AB Editor]

Although, broadband subsidies would be welcome.... or even better, they could actually attempt to bring the whole country up to speed. It's one way to help close the inequality between rural and urban spaces.

[friedgreentomato]

Ab Editor, there was a scheme 2 years ago that those on low incomes and on child benefit could claim free laptops for their children they came with restricted access.

It was very popular.

[pastafreak]

I'd say yes also. Job centres may have computers-but what of those people who live outside city centres,or in villages. They need to come up with bus fare just to get to those computers...maybe on a daily basis.

[DJHawkes]

it all depends on where they live, if someone lives in a village without a job centre or library (where there is free internet access) it might cost them £5 or more a day to travel in to a town with a free internet access location. Most jobs are advertised online these days which automatically means they are inaccessible by anyone without easy access to the internet. In our village owever we have a small library that is open 2 half days and 2 full days a week and they have 6 internet linked computers that are free to use and so there is no need to worry about being cut off from the internet. The only issue is that after schools finish for the day the computers are booked by kids who have no internet at home and spend an hour or so after school in the library on the internet .

[FredPuli43]

Yes, if microsoft are paying for it. It's true that some employers only offer and accept applications online; a postie told me that the her employers had started that. And nowadays a degree of computer awareness and skill is almost as much a part of the essentials of everyday life as writing is; that's why our national curriculum has children on computers from such an early age.

[anotheoldgit]

ummmm

/// If the job centre do have computers then how long do you think someone would have to wait before they got their turn? ///

Well they have plenty of time on their hands, apart from the fact that they also have computers in public libraries.

[loulou111]

It depends on why they are on benefits. People who have disabilities through no fault of their own, and maybe housebound, it may be their only link to the outside world. In cases like that i think yes.

[aelmpvw]

another alternative is 'job club' where people who qualify can have access to computers and free postage for applications

[anotheoldgit]

Well if my observations are correct, there are not many who are on benefits, that do not own a smart phone, because I see them using them outside the post-office on a Monday morning, after they have collected their benefits.

So I am sure they must also own computers, along side their large flat screen TVs etc.

[anotheoldgit]

loulou111

Agree with you on that one.

[B00]

if those computers are to be used to apply for jobs online loulou, I fail to see how they'd be of use to a person who's housebound.