Steve
Kudos to you for doing something nice.
As for the welfare system, it is screwed up. It is set up to keep one on the roles and if you try to better yourself you find yourself screwed.
If you do manage to get off of it you have to watch your back as an investigation may follow and then they decide you got too much while you were on it and you have to pay a good deal back.
I know this first hand.