Governemntal Hypocrisy.

The government provides Healthy Start vouchers to the tune of £5 per week for the purchase of fruit and vegetables for my baby (or me and my baby when I am breastfeeding, which I still partly am because he's only six months old.) These vouchers are for anyone who is in receipt of Child Tax Credit only, and is on Jobseekers Allowance or Income Support and has an income of less than £15,000 per year.

I have an income of considerably less than £15,000 per year, but because I work and so receive nominal Working Tax Credit I am apparently not entitled to these vouchers.

If I gave up trying to provide my own income I would suddenly become eligible for the vouchers, even though I currently have a lower income than I would if I was not working.

How can this be ok? I asked the woman on the phone why and she said that the government probably thinks you have an income of more than £15,000 if you're on working tax credit.

Well I wish.

I'm so pissed off. The government spends it's whole time saying it wants people off benefit and then it penalises those who are on the lowest income of all - people like me, part time workers trying to bring up a family on an income of very low wages and working tax credit. I'd be better off on benefit; and I wonder how many millions of us are saying that on a regular basis?

I think I feel a letter coming on.