The Benefit Trap Revisited

The other day I found out that a man I know, had given up work a couple of decades ago to 'care for his wife'. I was surprised at this information (which came from someone else), as nothing he had ever said, had suggested that he hadn't worked in decades, and as I had seen his wife occasionally walking about, so I had thought that he had only recently 'retired' early, and had a pension etc.

Many People Are Called 'Workshy' ....

 

In fact I might add that he had even encouraged this belief, by implication when talking about 'grafting hard' when in another city in the past. On top of this was the fact that his wife often visits her family, and they go on a holiday abroad to Spain once every year, so this was something of a surprise on a couple of levels.

1) That he was not working (or recently stopped work), and
2) That he could afford a lifestyle that includes the pub at weekends, and a holiday abroad every year, while on welfare benefits.