"People on benefits are people too."
Inspired by his Radio 4 series 'Tom Mayhew is Benefit Scum', comedian Tom Mayhew sticks two fingers up at the stigma faced by people on benefits and asks whether the pandemic has changed the way we view those who use the welfare system.
"My name is Tom Mayhew. In January 2020, I was a professional stand-up comedian, performing a show inspired by my experiences of the benefit system to a sold-out West End Theatre audience. Two months later, I found myself back signing on. I went from an unprecedented run of exciting paid gigs to an unprecedented run of evenings in playing Call of Duty (and yes, I am bloody sick of that word, too. Some would say its usage over the last 12 months has been…you know where I’m going with this).
But I wasn’t alone in suddenly finding myself out of work. A Financial Times article reported that 477,000 people claimed benefits within a nine day period last March, shortly after the first lockdown was announced. Could it be that Vicky Pollard’s many children had all turned 18 and signed on? Or could it be that the stereotype perpetuated by the likes of the Little Britain character – the idea that people on benefits are lazy, ignorant, and selfish – is an unfair one?
I grew up with that stereotype all over our TV screens and our media, because that has always been the stereotype of benefit claimants. However, my experience has taught me to put two fingers up to the stigma – which won’t help me shake the ASBO stereotype.
When I first signed on in 2010, it was in the aftermath of a recession. Tons of young people left school, and were greeted by a black hole of unemployment, with redundancies outpacing the job openings that were popping up (getting a bit of déjà vu now…). I will never forget the pain of applying for hundreds of jobs, desperately wanting some work and to feel useful to the world, but still having some people at family gatherings saying I was unemployed because I was “just lazy”. If that were the case – if I really didn’t want a job – then I would argue that sending out over 250 job applications is, at best, sending out mixed signals.
Maybe they thought “you just want money for nothing”, but the reality from my experience is that most working-class people have been raised being taught the importance of hard work. Take comedian Darren Harriott, for example. In my Radio 4 series, 'Tom Mayhew is Benefit Scum', Darren reveals that he still worked as a security guard until the day that he recorded 大象传媒’s Live at the Apollo - performing on stage to thousands of people, with millions watching at home – because he wanted to have a safety net in case his comedy career didn’t go to plan. And that’s exactly what benefits are: a safety net, for when life doesn’t go to plan. For every Darren where it works out, there is someone who might need that safety net, and I think it’s the sign of a decent society that we should have that available to people.
Let’s not forget that there are other types of benefits, too. In my series, I also talk to Francesca Martinez - a comedian with cerebral palsy. She has been on state benefits for years, something that would make some people go red with rage at the mere thought. But, as she explains: “I bet my life that no-one would choose to receive £100 a week if it meant they couldn’t leave the house on their own, go to the toilet on their own, or make their own food”. It’s not a situation that she – or any other disabled person on benefits – has chosen. But her getting that help enables her to live her life. So why should the idea of someone being on benefits be loaded with so much stigma, when the reality is that without them many people would struggle to get by? Benefits for many people are survival money. Not an additional bonus – as the phrase “benefit” implies – but money that keeps them alive. More people should consider that.
Most people who claim unemployment benefit simply find themselves out of work due to a reason that is out of their control; maybe something like, oh, I don鈥檛 know鈥 global pandemic?
In 2019, I wrote my show ‘I, Tom Mayhew’ about my experiences of signing-on. I wanted to smash the stereotypes, to stand up and say that most benefit claimants aren’t lazy, and they are not just “people who have decided they don’t want to work”, despite what some elements of the media would try to have you believe. Most people who claim unemployment benefit simply find themselves out of work due to a reason that is out of their control; maybe something like, oh, I don’t know…a global pandemic?
Has that pandemic affected the way people who use the welfare system are viewed? I think in some ways, yes. There are far more people who have experience of losing their incomes, of needing that help, so that must make a few people more empathetic. But we saw earlier this year that some people still have the idea that poor people deserve…well, nothing. This was epitomised by how some people reacted to food parcels given to people struggling to feed their families last year. As comedian Fatiha-El Ghorri said on my show: “People were like, ‘why is there chocolate and biscuits in there?’ Are we supposed to live like savages because we’re suffering? We’re already suffering, and you want us to suffer more?”
I genuinely think there are some people out there who think that poor people should eat dust, drink rainwater, be entertained by counting the stars and stop complaining.
"It's difficult when you realise the piece of paper your A-levels are on is worth less than your Pok茅mon cards..."
Comedian Tom Mayhew reflects on unemployment, from Radio 4's 'Tom Mayhew is Benefit Scum'
Well I think we deserve more. We deserve not just to survive, we deserve to live – and our employment status, or how much help we need, should not affect that. I have been on benefits for four years across my life, and now I am hosting my own Radio 4 show. I worked my arse off trying to get a job back when I signed on, and I worked my arse off performing comedy to get to this stage of my career. I also don’t know what will be happening with my industry, so who knows - I could go from claiming benefits, to my own 大象传媒 Radio 4 series, to claiming benefits again. But that should have no impact on how much respect I am shown.
People on benefits are exactly that: people. We deserve to be treated like it."
