From the doorway of her Birmingham terrace, pensioner Doris Peynado didn’t hesitate to sum up her frustrations.
“People these days are taking liberties,” she said plainly.
“They are lazy. And they’re a nuisance.”
Her verdict came barely a day after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a Budget carrying the heaviest tax burden since the war, largely to fund expanded welfare support.
Doris, who once worked at a hotel on Hagley Road, didn’t hide how that landed with her.
“I’ve never been to the benefits office, never claimed the dole.
I worked all my life,” she said.
But she feels she can’t say the same for some next-door.
The Dream That Became Something Else
Doris arrived in Britain from Jamaica when she was 17, full of hopes about what lay ahead.
Decades later, as she looks across James Turner Street, those hopes feel dimmed.
Rubbish rises in heaps outside her home: a collapsing TV, bin bags, broken garden clutter, toys, even a baby swing.
Walk a little further and the scene repeats—piles of waste lining a street already worn down.
With Birmingham’s refuse collectors still striking, plenty of neighbourhoods look rough right now.
But this isn’t just any street.
It’s Benefits Street—the same 1,000-foot strip that became a national talking point after Channel 4’s 2014 documentary spotlighted residents living off benefits, sometimes supplemented with petty crime.
A New Budget, and a New Flashpoint
As Reeves confirmed plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap and raise taxes for working households, the political reaction was swift.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch branded it a “Benefits Street Budget.”
Commentator Andrew Neil called it “a massive redistribution of money from working people and savers to people living on benefits.”
But what do the people who live on that symbolic street think?
A Neighbourhood Transformed
James Turner Street today is almost unrecognisable from the one that appeared on television more than a decade ago.
Colourful figures like “White Dee” have moved away, and James “Fungi” Clarke has since died.
But the street hasn’t become dull—many residents are recent arrivals to the UK, and the community is constantly shifting.
“I’m Working Hard While They Get More”
One of the most outspoken voices was a mother of four—Elise (not her real name)—who didn’t hold back.
“I don’t think it’s fair for working people like myself who are having to pay more tax while all these foreign nationals get more money for popping out kids like there’s f***ing no tomorrow,” she said. “It’s disgraceful.”
She told us that “about half” the street is employed, the other half not.
“There’s a crowd over there—about 12 or 13 in one house.
And the woman is just popping out kids. We have to pay to keep them going.”
Elise works as a housekeeper caring for people with dementia.
Some nights she is so exhausted she “can’t even stand up.”
Her partner also works shifts up to 12 hours.
After leaving Ireland for London in 2002, then relocating to Birmingham to escape soaring rents, she still struggles—so much so that she recently relied on a community trust fund to address mould in her home.
Meanwhile, her landlord has raised the rent.
Her view of politics is bleak.
“It’s gone downhill,” she sighed, calling PM Keir Starmer an “idiot.”
“The Tories are the same. Whoever gets in next makes promises they can’t keep.”
“It’s Not Just Immigrants”
Not everyone believes migration is the core of the problem.
Irene Renzeta, a 48-year-old carer from Sudan, has lived here five years.
“When I first came to this area I was very shocked because it’s very dirty and a lot of people don’t want to work—especially white British people,” she said.
Despite her initial reluctance, she also argued benefits shouldn’t be raised:
“The government should be encouraging people to work. Too many don’t want to make anything of their lives.”
A Lifelong Resident’s Verdict
Matthew Stennett, 38, grew up on James Turner Street and even appeared unintentionally in background shots of the 2014 series.
He works in software and has never been unemployed.
His response to the Budget was blunt:
“It’s a bad thing. Some people don’t want to work—they just want to sit on benefits and push out loads of kids.”
He believes scrapping the two-child cap will reward the wrong behaviour.
“Some people have nine or ten kids now. They’ll get loads of money.”
For him, the show didn’t change anything.
“I was working. It didn’t bother me. People complained but I’d think, ‘You’re not working—go get a job.’”
Pensioners Who Feel Punished
Longtime residents Hyacinth Rattray, 83, and her 96-year-old husband couldn’t hide their frustration.
“They are subtracting from us to give to other people,” Hyacinth said, with her carer Pauline at her side.
“The more you get as a mother and father, the less you want to contribute. Some people do this for the welfare benefits.
What about the people who are working and worse off than those not in work?”
For Some, It’s a Windfall
Others heard Reeves’s Budget and felt nothing but relief.
Ikram Hassan, a mother of three originally from Somalia, has lived in Britain since 2008 after a stint in Sweden.
“For families on low incomes, this is good news,” she said. “It helps them survive during the week.”
Then there’s Angelina Fosu, who moved from Ghana and has spent nine years on Benefits Street without realising its fame.
With four children, she stands to gain an extra £1,800 a year.
“If the Government will give us more money, that is good news,” she smiled.
Angelina receives Universal Credit and is currently out of work while caring for her youngest two, though she says she wants an evening job.
Blame the Rubbish on the Reputation
A quietly spoken elderly woman, who asked not to be named due to the backlash faced by those in the 2014 documentary, told us that the street’s state has become a magnet for fly-tippers.
“People drive over from elsewhere at night and dump their rubbish—fridges, mattresses—because they know our reputation. Now the place is rampant with mice.”
She insists the documentary misrepresented the area, ignoring the many who were employed.
She also thinks the Budget fails those who genuinely need help.
“What they give in benefits now helps a little, but by the time you pay rent and bills, it’s finished,” she said.
“Big families need more support. Reeves was talking foolishness.”
The Street That Became a Mirror
When Channel 4 filmed here, James Turner Street stood out because of its high number of welfare claimants.
Today, it’s no longer an exception—it’s a picture of Britain’s broader divide:
a nation split not by class or ethnicity, but by those working and those relying on welfare.
And whether residents cheer or condemn it, one thing is clear:
Rachel Reeves has chosen to side with welfare claimants—and the bill for that choice will be paid by everyone else for years to come.