About The CampaignWhat we are fighting for
Voices for Change
The vision of the campaign is to eliminate the need for cash-in-hand or informal paid work
"participants [of workshops] felt that spokespeople for anti-poverty campaigns should include those who have direct experience of the problem, as they are more likely to be able to explain things better and not accidentially put people off."
Communicating Poverty Report, UKCAP
We want to hear about your story. Tell us how you got to working cash-in-hand, what were the circumstances and what are the traps or barriers that can keep you there?
Sharing experiences will end the fear that pushes people further underground and you can find support to move into formal work and out of poverty.
To read the personal accounts of peoples experiences and motivations for working cash-in-hand click on the names below:
Joe: "I managed to go through university because I had an informal temping job........
I managed to go through university because I had an informal temping job. On benefits alone, it would have been next to impossible. Benefits levels are very low. Sometimes you wonder if those who set the rates for benefits ever tried living on them. They are awfully inadequate. I worked informally throughout the time I spent at university and it was a matter of keeping my head above the water rather than cheating the system. I had to take care of the needs of my children in the best way I could, which in this case was carrying on with temping work, but not declaring it.
The second problem is the administrative nightmare of a service the benefit offices provide. When I started the temping job, I initially informed my local benefits office and coped well on reduced benefit because it was a part-time job. But when I stopped working, they kept me on reduced benefits as if I was in work, despite the fact that I had notified them. It took weeks of telephone calls, visits and letters to rectify that problem. I decided after that incident, I wasn't going to put myself and the kids in that situation again. When I got some more temping work, I never told them about it and for two years I had this £150 bi-weekly income from a temping agency. I was paid by cheque but I never gave my national insurance number.
Joe
Saira: "Until about eight months ago I had no right to work in this country......
Until about eight months ago, I had no right to work in this country although I have lived here for four years. My asylum application had never been decided. I only got leave to remain recently. The money I get in benefits is not enough for me to live on with my son. If I told them about what I earn cash-in-hand, my benefits would be stopped. Some people out there think because you get these benefits you are comfortable; which is not the case. I still struggle to pay my bills. Finding informal work is a struggle for survival. You have to think of ways to get by. The needs are even greater if you have children. I know for a fact that the percentage paid for childcare by government doesn't go far enough. It would not entice me to go into formal work.
The women whose kids I look after are working informally too. One is a hairdresser and the other works as a cleaner, but they can't claim Child Tax Credits because I am not registered. I know that they earn about £150 each because we discussed all these issues before I agreed to look after the kids. There are people who can't do without benefits and the reason for working informally is to top up. There are those who don't even have any benefits either because they aren't entitled or their residence status does not allow them to claim, so they struggle to survive in the informal economy.
I started working informally because of the long wait for papers from the Home Office. Should I have spent four years sitting and waiting? Also I can't be sure that if I took a formal job, an employer would put up with my frequent hospital visits or absence from work. I have a medical condition that means that I have to attend hospital check-ups monthly and sometimes I get unwell because of the medicines I take.
At times I feel well enough to work, but if I got a regular job and then became unwell, it is very difficult to regain benefits, so I decide to keep benefits and work off the books if and when I can. My son and I have needs that are beyond the benefits we get. I look after children for a bit of cash and that helps us. Most parents can't afford registered childminders who charge twice or more of my rate. People use us because we are cheaper, plus they trust us. It's easier to let a friend or neighbour look after your child than a total stranger, don't you think so?
Saira's story
Rasheed: "I am married with one child and I work as cleaner....
I am married with one child and I work as a cleaner. I have lived and worked in Newham for eight years. My daughter is disabled, so my wife can't go to work because she has to care for her full-time. I declare less hours of work to the benefits office, as I would not be eligible for some of the benefits that I get if I declared fully. I earn £100 per week and this is what I declare. This means that I am still entitled to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. But even then, with the extra care needs of my daughter given that my wife doesn't work, I have to do something.
I do some cleaning work and I don't declare this as it's paid cash-in-hand. It's mostly people I know, local businesses and homes. This gives me an extra £150 per week and I have been doing this for four years now. I worry about this situation in case I get caught but I feel I have no alternative but to do it. To be able to look after my family and take care of their needs - I have to continue working in this way unless I win the Lottery.
I get paid £6 per hour in my formal employment. But when I do the same job for cash-in-hand, I get paid £4 per hour but it's cash, no tax. That's why there is a permanent demand for informal workers; you will find work if you have good contacts. In Newham it's easy to find work informally.
Poverty makes people work informally because they are struggling to make ends meet. If you are in extreme need you won't think twice about taking cash-in-hand work. You can't tell needy people to stop working informally because that is the way they survive and look after their families; you have to provide an alternative in order to stop this. The minimum wage should be increased to £8 per hour at least. I also think that people on low pay should be allowed to keep some of their benefits especially Housing Benefit or should not be taxed. Most of the people I know say that they could do without other benefits but not Housing Benefit because rents are high in this area.
Rasheed
Naomi: "It has been very difficult for me to find work because of the long period I have spent out of work....
It has been very difficult for me to find work because of the long period I have spent out of work. I looked after my children when they were younger and it is now difficult to get into formal employment. I lack experience and confidence because I have not worked formally for 18 years and don't have any new technology skills, for example using a computer.
I am better off on benefits for now. As a full-time mother I wanted to care well for my children and when you are single, children are more demanding. Now that my children are older I am able to study and when I finish my course I will look for a job.
I have been doing cash-in-hand work as a hairdresser cutting and colouring hair for about six years. I work from home. When my husband left I could not manage and the children were young. I claimed benefits but did not have enough money to live on. I never talk about being on benefits as I am embarrassed and I think I would lose my benefits if I declared my small income from hairdressing. My customers have a low income and it helps them to come to me as my charges are much lower than in the salons.
To help them to get into a full-time job, people should have training that is good quality and then get good wages. More advice about making the change from working informally to formally, how will this affect my benefits, will I be able to manage? When you haven't worked for so long it is a big step to go back into formal working and I think there should be more support than available currently.
The benefits are not sufficient and the unmet needs force people to look for alternatives. Flexible working would help women bringing up children. Government should support voluntary and community groups to improve the lives of people living on benefits.
Naomi
Jane: "I am a single mother of four...
I am a single mother of four, the youngest is six, and the eldest is 19 and has just started university. I have been out of work for five years now. I have done various jobs in the past - care assistant, betting shop attendant and waitress. I left school at 16 with no qualifications.
In the last two years I have been working for cash-in-hand. I do four evenings a week at a local betting shop. I ran into debt problems and the only way out was to find some way of earning some money to pay back. I couldn't use my benefits to pay debts, as that's my family's lifeline, and I owed a lot. But a good samaritan who was my former manager offered me this cash-in-hand job.
I work four hours Tuesday to Friday. I get paid £100 cash on Friday evenings. I know what I am doing may be benefit fraud, but I had no choice. I was being threatened by the people I owed money to and had to do something about the situation before it got out of hand. My family was being threatened if I didn't pay up. I borrowed money for urgent problems, but the lenders were loan sharks, it was not a bank. I suspect they are money launderers because they pass themselves off as a business, but they have no physical address. The way they deal with their customers it looks dodgy. When you fail with repayments, they send some big guys round your house to threaten you.
Jane
story and people working cash-in-hand for different reasons and the conditions they work in - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7824291.stm
So many people are of bad eduction and find themselfs fighting to keep things together by means working for cash in hand.The money that they get could be used to pay of their deths.When is found out and the money is taken away from them every thing is lost.Their low self asterem,they dont know who to turn to.Some people turn to lone sharks and put their own lifes in danger as well the ones they love.Your life is not your own any more because they are in deth to the lone sharks. By me
Everyone has worked cash in hand - does that make us all criminals?
Having managed to finish university in 2003 I worked part time, studied and had a great social life however when it came to getting a job after graduating the problems just deteriorated to the point I am unlikely to return to work for sometime to come.
Mental health has become a daily part of my existence which has significant detrimental affect on my financial affairs, living day to day, week to week having no savings to fall back on or indeed any pension provision, there are no benefits living on benefits and by no means allows you to have a comfortable existence, you just survive living a basic life.
Getting a job when you have been out of the job market, don’t have current personal or professional references along with having a poor medical record makes life hard to turn around to secure voluntary or paid assignments.
If you are vulnerable, struggle life can often seem as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel, socially and financially trapped, things cannot turn around where they have gone wrong.
Try and keep things going without getting depressed, upset at the same time as trying to build a better future for yourself, its bloody hard and whoever says you get everything if you have nothing are deluded, try and see what you can get from the state and then comment.
Enclosed is an article I have written on the Job Centre and Benefits system which may help ways to eliminated people from the poverty line into a better quality of life, its not conclusive or exhaustive however presents some ideas from an unemployed persons point of view in the context of dealing with the Job Centre helping those who are in the most financially destitute bracket in our communities.
I hope you find the article of help and wish you all the best in changing your life for the better.
im currently in the prosess of starting my own buisiness in order to mainly support my partner and our 11year old son liam its a plumbing buisiness so im looking for as much support as i can get i dont currently hold a driving licence but have drivers on stand by i am going to support my son no matter what it takes i know there might be evil people out there even with children that seem to laughing about the fact but i know it will work any advice
I with you agree. In it something is. Now all became clear, I thank for the help and I hope to see more such articles.