I have been affected by the benefits trap. I finished my education and couldn't get a job. This made me feel very bad and I also live in a deprived area so I felt very "detached" from everything. I learnt about regeneration activity and became part of it to see whether I could improve my situation. At first I started in a voluntary capacity, but I wasn't improving my standard of living at all. This was worrying at my age because I am over 40.
The problem we have here is that if people get engaged in part time work they don't get enough income to pay their bills and this can be made worse if they end up losing their benefits. If they can't earn enough then they can’t see the point of trying to get a job.
The majority of work done in the community remains voluntary. If you want to change the situation of the community there is no financial incentive to do so and this leads to disillusion.
Most of the work I do is still on a voluntary basis and I don't know how things will work out for me.
