I’m 24, healthy and get £31k benefits – call me a scrounger, it’s more than I’d get to work, I’d be a mug to get a job

LOOKING out the window, enjoying a cup of tea, Juliette Howard smiles.

It’s 8am, but the 24-year-old doesn't have to join the millions across the country starting another day arriving at work.

She’s already dropped her six-year-old son at school and is planning to take her three-year-old to the park for a play.

But Juliette is not on a day off – she is on Universal Credit and a host of other benefits and happily admits she will not be joining the workforce soon.

This is despite neither of her youngsters having disabilities, which would mean they require full-time care, and her youngest starting school in just two years.

Put simply... she can’t be bothered.

No point in going back to work

An unashamedly proud NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), she says: “What’s the point of going back to a minimum wage job where I’ll earn less than I would if I was on benefits? It’s not lazy, just logical. People say, ‘Your kids are older now – get a job’ but I’m only going back to work on my terms.

“I refuse to be labelled ‘lazy' or a ‘layabout. ‘ People throw those words around without thinking.

“If the government offers Universal Credit, I will claim it. I would be crazy to give up almost £31,000 a year in benefits, knowing my kids and I would be worse off with me working. The system’s broken. I am just brave enough to admit how I feel.”;

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, approximately 987,000 young people aged 16 to 24 were NEET in the period from October to December last year.

This is an increase from 877,000 in the fourth quarter of 2023 and marks the highest level since 2013.

Former cleaner and single mum Juliette, from Melton Mowbray, Leics, lives in a three-bedroom council house funded by housing benefit as part of her £1,600 Universal Credit a month, with her children.

She’s been claiming government handouts for five years after leaving work at 19 and having her first child.

She says: “I’d left college after doing an elder care course at 17 and was working as a cleaner. I knew I wanted to have children in my 20s so I could give them all my energy. Contraception wasn't a priority. Older mums don’t have enough energy for their kids and are not as in touch with them because of the age difference.

“Unfortunately, my relationship failed, and I ended up a single mum.”;

Then, at 20 and with a one-month-old, she applied to her local council for housing and got a two-bed house.

“Initially, I worked as a single mum and did casual and part-time work,”; she says. “But eventually I had no choice but to claim Universal Credit. It was the best decision I could've made.”;

In September 2021, Juliette welcomed her second child following a short relationship.

In 2023, Juliette did a council house swap. “An older couple wanted to downgrade, and I was in a bungalow,”; she says. “It worked out well.”;

Sick of being called a ‘scrounger'

Juliette says, with all the benefits she’s entitled to, it’s not worth looking for low-paying jobs that fit around childcare.

“I know I am not alone and am sick to death of people labelling me a scrounger,”; she says. “I worked for two years so contributed just over £2k in tax and National Insurance payments as I was earning £14k a year.

“It makes me laugh when trolls say, ‘I pay your bills’. So what? You don’t get to tell me how to live or spend.

“I am doing the hardest job of all being a single mum and raising two kids. I will not be attacked for that. Mums like me need more benefits, not less. I'd be bonkers to go back to work. I’d be on minimum wage and make less than I get no benefits.”;

Juliette, who left school aged 16, has GCSE qualifications but says: “I couldn’t even get an interview because more qualified people got the job.

“I’d love to do modelling or become a TikTok fashion influencer, but I need to fit it around my kids’ schedules.”;

Two years ago, Juliette went on a job hunt. “I applied for more than 40 casual, part-time, and minimum wage jobs and kept getting rejection letters,”; she says.

“I applied to be a casual cleaner, work behind a bar, dishwasher, and a waitress but no one wanted to hire me because I had kids and was under 25.

“No one wants Gen Z staff, and Gen Z single mums especially never get a look in,”; she says. “After that experience I decided not to go through that again until I'm ready. I want my kids settled in school. It won’t be until I am at least 28.

“I respect cleaners and dishwashers, but it is not for me especially because I got rejected when I did apply. It is demoralising.”;

Juliette’s monthly benefits of almost £1.6k is the equivalent of earning £22,000 a year but topped up with benefits such as free prescriptions and food vouchers it equates to £31,000.

“There’s no way I could find a job paying this much and also be a good mum to my kids,”; she says. “I could not work 40 hours a week because I needed to pick up my kids. I do not have the qualifications. I would need to go back to college and university to even consider applying for jobs like that.

Real life…not moaning

“This is real life, not me moaning. I cannot even manage 30 hours a week because of the kids. They are my most important job, and it would impact my mental health. I must stay fit for the kid.”

A study by the Gingerbread Charity discovered many single parents are motivated to work but face systemic challenges, such as financial disincentives and childcare costs, making employment less viable.

“When I read these studies, I want to yell, ‘I told you so',”; she says. “It’s why I hate the benefit-bashing. I work really hard. I spend hours on social media learning about being a benefits influencer mummy. I reckon I would be good at that. I prioritised having kids, and now I am being punished.”;