> The less cynical take is so many people abuse the system that we have put in anti abuse protection. However the end result is if you can figure out the system you are abusing it as anyone who can figure it out can get a real job and care for themselves

This is even more cynical, and just flat out wrong. Just because you have succesfully navigated the system doesn't matter you can hold down a permanent full time job. Also, "so many people abuse the system" is just nonsense. FullFact [0] estimates that £2bn was lost to benefit fraud in the UK, some of which is reclaimed after the fact. This is about 1% of the benefit budget, or 0.01% of the UK's budget, before any of the reclaimed amounts.

[0] https://fullfact.org/online/comparing-benefit-and-tax-fraud/