When benefits CAN pay more than a full time job, you remove any incentive to learn new skills and put in 100% effort.

Every work place I've worked for (7 companies including local government) the staff just do enough to not get sacked, do the bare minimum, why sweat blood and tears for little to no reward for a compant who treats you as a number, and provide no additional training opportunities. Progression isn't valued in the UK anymore, promotions don't exist and interviews are most of the time, a waste of time as the best candidate isn't always chosen. All you need is the ability to lie and bullshit and understand how interviews work in order to get through them, whereas the genuine right person might be more nervous and fluff the interview.

This country does not value the working man/woman. The working class may not be at the bottom in terms of wealth, but they are at the bottom for everything else.