Paidtoplease

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

cosmoclaire

Its this sort of thing that makes me so angry I am glad to have left the country.If I wrote what I wanted to write I would be thrown off the site....signing off.:curse:

W10

Annual benefit fraud in the UK is more than 2bn pounds per year.

Paidtoplease

But jesus do we need to let other countries take it too ???

jvr20

First story - not really a story... unless I've read it totally wrongly, there's nothing 'new' about CB being paid to EU citizens, it was ever thus...

Second story - nondoms not paying tax, yes that's true. Businessmen who have their own reasons for choosing to live in London but make the bulk of their money in FSU, ME, South America, wherever... so effectively not paying tax in the UK. I find it distasteful but hardly illegal. Same with corporations.

Re pensioners, yes that is sad - state pension means less and less these days. Cost of fuel going up because we all use too much of it... too much single occupation... mismanagement of public pension funds. The sad thing is they may be better off (at least they have a pension at all and need not work until they drop) than people in their mid-20s now who may hardly have a retirement thanks to the loss in pensions by the time they get to that age.

Thanks for the links p2p - some of the comments on the DM site are priceless! I particularly like those from "Chris, SW England", "Joy, Bristol" and "Craig, Warrington". Some totally miss the point that while the Poles, for example, are working in the UK, they are mostly paying taxes back. It's not a rocket science to present how much these workers (yes workers, unlike many indiginous scroungers/fraudsters) pay in taxes, and compare that with what they take back as their entitlement (according to law) - but presenting both sides would be too much to expect from the Mail - far easier to show one side and open the doors for a xenophobic rant

Inselaffen

but its not a question of it being paid to EU citizens.
They are complaining about it being paid where the kids are not even or never have been in the UK.

as for Poles paying tax in the UK that is certainly true . there was a very interesting Panorama on this a few months ago. Poles in the UK are in general well educated and hard working. It found however that some other immigrant groups such as Somali's and Portugese were in gerneral very work shy and a large drain on the system.

Paidtoplease

The sad thing is that we need these workers as more often than not UK unemployed won't get out of bed to do the work required !!!!

nottmbantam

Hmmm, very true. I saw the Panorama programme too, quite interesting. THe Polish migrant workers are certainly putting in the hours to earn not that much money, and seem to be the hardest working, and yes, we do need them just as much as they need us!

Doesn't seem right though that folk can claim Child Benefit for kids that live in another country.

I did read a different tale a few weeks ago - probably in the sensationally curtain twitching Daily Mail again - that a scam had sprung up, where the UK government were paying illegal immigrants up to a couple of grand each, to go back home. Of course, they cottoned onto this, invited all their family and friends over here, who would then be paid £2k each to go home again.Brilliant.

shiva

i love this bit

"Ministers predicted that around 13,000 workers would arrive in Britain each year. In reality more than 700,000 have arrived, more than half from Poland.

Polish newspapers regularly run features explaining exactly how to claim benefits in the UK.
"