I hope the hardworking building labourer (Letters, February 13), who was struggling to survive in the expensive South-East on £6 per hour, gets a well-deserved pay rise.

He said he receives £40 per week in housing benefit to top-up his low pay. He is luckier than some people on a low income.

I was turned down by my local council for Housing Benefit, even though I was earning the minimum wage of £5.05 per hour.

My rent for a grotty private-landlord bedsit is £85 week. I hate my job and am also worse off than the poorest pensioners on the minimum-income guarantee.

-B Doon, Worthing