Unfortunately I don t see a mention of what these benefits are in this article although it s mentioned at the end that with extra earnings they do earn more than the "living" wage

But why would someone earning a minimum wage need to claim benefits?

A minimum legal wage should be such that you don t have to turn to the state for financial help. But it should also be set at a higher amount than what is paid out should you be unemployed in order to discourage people from sitting on their butt all day and wasting other people s hard earned money

The system is broken because government doesn t do what it should be doing. They do just enough to keep the people from rioting and cream off what they can for themselves and their buddies whilst wasting money on pointless and illegal wars

It's simply enabling businesses to mistreat their employees instead of taking proper care of them.

There's no excuse good enough for anyone with a job to require additional government welfare assistance.

Businesses should be obligated to pay their workers a living wage, and penalized if they don't.

If they can't compete in the free market under such conditions, they have no business being in business.

That sort of deadwood needs to be chopped down and cleared out for proper businesses ready, willing and able to earn customer trust and employee loyalty.

The so-called Free Market is supposed to be survival of the fittest, not a pack of sneaky weasels forcing workers to endure the degradation and humiliation of needing government aid just so their employers can maximize profit margins.

A living wage is the only decent way to go but also, more money should be invested in local production and less on imports, this would not only create more jobs but bring down the cost of produce. Currently most new money created by the banks is spent on housing and speculation and very little on local business, i also believe the EU give farmers Money to 'not' produce stuff, although admittedly i don't know too much about that i cannot fathom why that would be a good idea.

It's a sign of an unhealthy economy when the government has to top up low wages. I dislike the tax credit system (generous to married couples and parents, but if you're a single man on a low wage, you're screwed). If rents and travel costs were lower, we wouldn't need these subsidies at all. Whoever is voted in next month needs to make housing a high-priority issue; in other words, more homes need to be built and rent controls need to be put in place.

if minimum wage goes up -- the supermarkets will increase their prices

they have shareholders to answer to & ain't going to lose a bit of profit that easily so unless you want to put controls on supermarket prices as well, there ain't much you can do about it other than telling them all to work 2 jobs or get a better paying job.

the fact we've let in millions of migrants doesn't help either. you don't need to be an economist to work out that more "labour" there is on the market, the more wages will be depressed ( & the taxpayer is topping them lot up as well ). supply & demand, and all that.

They wouldn't need to claim benefits if they were paid a living wage.

But if everyone was paid a living wage inflation would rocket and the differential between rich and poor would remain the same.

The current system has evolved within the market as the most viable option and also helps to prevent revolution and riots which would cost the rich very dearly indeed.

You could argue that ALL low pay employers are therefore being subsidised. Why single out just supermarkets?

It just so happens that I work for a firm sub-contracted to Tesco and ALL my colleagues have cars, go on holiday abroad, have a telly in every room, internet, mobile phones, laptops ...

50 years ago half the country didn't even have a fridge ...

If people's expectations had remained in line with wages, there woukdn't be a need to subsidise wages.

Advocates of a far higher min wage should bear in mind that in Germany the min wage didn't even exist before Jan 2015 and it's still a very cautious £ 6.90ph.

And when it comes to running a successful economy the Germans do tend to know what they're doing!

What about Mike Ashley and his Sports Direct company.He employs 15,000 people and they are all on zero hours contracts.Is that not abuse of the person and using the welfare system to put more money in his pocket.

We certainly do. The minimum wage should be at least £10 per hour (£12 per hour in London)r for the over 21s and no tax should be payable on it. While we are at it let us also double check Supermarket chains and other large retailers are paying their corporation tax

Quite simply if they are getting the minimum wage then they shouldn't be allowed to claim any benefits. I know people on minimum wage claiming tax credits etc etc and they have 2 cars, plasma TVs , every electrical gadget known to man and their kids have all the latest tablets, ipads etc. They go on holiday, drink and smoke and muggins here is paying for all that.

It's time these people stood on their own 2 feet instead of scrounging off the rest of us.