Season One Here

 

More Brits are living off benefits today than at any other time since the establishment of the welfare state.

 

Many claimants have spent longer on benefits than in work. Some have never known what it is to have a job and others have found that work simply does not pay.

This new six-part documentary series lifts the lid on the reality of life on benefits in Britain.

 

 

Episode 1 - Bedroom Tax

How the bedroom tax has affected people living on benefits.

 

Episode 2

In Blackpool, a mother-of-six is banned from the job centre.

 

Episode 3

We meet the immigrants who are claiming UK welfare to send back home.

 

Episode 4 - Christmas

A single mum struggles to find gifts for her eight children.

 

Episode 5 - Jaywick Essex

This episode focuses on Jaywick in Essex, where over half of the community live on benefits.

 

Episode 6

We examine what life on welfare is like for those whose relationship with the benefits system is just starting.

 

Episode 7 - North of The Border

Life on the dole north of the border with a pair of wannabe pop stars, a globetrotter who has invented her own new age Chakra swing, and a woman who is convinced that her weight is stopping her from getting a job.

 

By The Sea – Season 2 Episode 8

Featuring Dave an English Defence League supporter who lives in Margate.

 

Life On The Dole | Season 2 Episode 9

Many people have had their benefits cut or withheld since tougher sanctions began in October 2012, including Terry, whose payments were stopped after his partner clocked up more than 24 hours in one week in her job as a care worker. Other people featured include an aspiring rapper left with £3 a day to live on, a single mother-of-three who blames her jobless state on being overweight, and a former stripper who decides to move to Spain when he is threatened with being reassessed.