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Stardom for mums who won the benefits battle
THREE unemployed mums whose battle to come off benefits is highlighted on TV tonight are all still working one year on.
Cameras followed Dawn Schofield, 26, from Conisbrough, Yvette Brown, 36, from Wood-lands and 36-year-old Jacqueline Marshall, from Cantley, as they took part in the six-week Elevate course to build up their confidence and get them back to work.
Yvette Brown, who has four children and had never had a job, said: "I get too much on benefits and this is giving me an easy life. It should be harder for people like me to stay where they are. Earning money gives you back your self-respect."
Yvette landed a shop job after a successful work trial, but her weekly take-home pay is less than she got in benefits.
Dawn Schofield found her compulsive spending on her daughter had run up a 75,000 debt - and a a life-long repayment schedule with a credit agency.
She now hold down two jobs, working full-time in a retail outlet and DJing in a local pub one night a week.
The scheme also helped graduate Jacqueline Marshall channel her desire to give back the same care and compassion she received on the course.
The result was that the graphic designer has found her vocation working with the elderly.
She said: "I soaked up everything I could from the Elevate programme. I realised I wanted to do something worthwhile for people.
"I now realise I am much better suited to helping elderly people find what they need to get out of life than graphic design."
The mums were part of a group of seven women on the course led by Hayley Taylor of A4e, an organisation which aims to achieve social change and is helping to tackle the Government's target of getting 70 per cent of lone parents into paid work by 2010.
Filmed ten months ago for Channel 4 series 'Benefit Busters' all seven women featured on the show found work and are still in employment today.
Hayley said: "This is not about what I do. I give people the tools to help them look at themselves.
"This can be very a cruel wake-up call but for many it is also a turning point. I feel very privileged to have a job that allows me to be able to share in the transformation of other people's lives."
* Benefit Busters can be seen tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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