British Expats

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-   -   A cautionary tale. (https://britishexpats.com/forum/spain-75/cautionary-tale-665404/)

jojojojojo Apr 24th 2010 9:29 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 
Surely when she went to Spain she knew she wouldnt get any social assistance, but she went anyway and managed to survive for 20+ years. She's just doing the same in reverse now and should know how to succeed without social assistance?

Jo xx

manamama Apr 24th 2010 9:39 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by goaty (Post 8519136)
Typically your tongue is hovering around the Rugby retard.


She has been looking for work and applied for jobs.



But's she's only applied for 40 jobs since January :blink:

I'm sure she'll find one eventually but she needs to put in more effort than that !

manamama Apr 24th 2010 9:43 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by pete_l (Post 8518835)
But paying into the system is not a requirement for a lot of benefits - just being british is often sufficient.
Although I haven't read the article, did this person have a house or something in Spain? If so she probably fell foul of the rules about the maximum value of assets you're allowed and still claim.
(Obviously, having a house in the UK is exempt, but a house in another country that you're demonstrably not living in, since you've moved back to Briitain? Hmmmm)

She inherited a house from her parents after they died...but she sold it because she had debts and her parents left debts.

I think that her claim will go through but will take time because the authorities check what assets you have before you're given anything.

HBG Apr 24th 2010 9:48 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by jojojojojo (Post 8519194)
Surely when she went to Spain she knew she wouldnt get any social assistance, but she went anyway and managed to survive for 20+ years. She's just doing the same in reverse now and should know how to succeed without social assistance?

Jo xx

She came to Spain with her husband and young child. The husband was in work and they bought a house. The husband died and she couldn’t pay the silly Spanish inheritance tax.

Having lost her house, she went back to the UK because she had no other choice.

Jo, I don’t know much about you, but are you that far removed from the poor woman in the article?

rugbymatt Apr 24th 2010 11:28 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by HBG (Post 8519027)
Sadly, this reply is much the same as the majority of the replies by the Daily Mail readership. Sadly, it’s also a timely reminder that when any of us expats get into trouble in Spain, often through no fault of our own, there will not be much of a welcome for us back in the UK.

I feel sorry for the daughter, brought to Spain at a young age where she had her schooling and worked for most of the time, and her son who was born in Spain.

I’ve witnessed it at close hand, even from my own family, possibly because of jealousy at our supposedly grand lifestyle in the sun, that when trouble strikes, we are not welcome back in our land of birth.

The grandmother in question, obviously a troubled woman, made a mistake in approaching a Tory run council, who don’t know the meaning of compassion, and telling the truth. Telling the truth does not appear to be an option if us expats get into trouble and have to return home.

Luckily there is information available to help us, but not from Matt..


Who cares? Seriously, who cares?


Originally Posted by goaty (Post 8519136)
Typically your tongue is hovering around the Rugby retard.


She has been looking for work and applied for jobs.


elspeth sinclair Apr 25th 2010 3:04 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by manamama (Post 8518803)
Dare I read...it is the daily mail after all ..:rofl:

Now I read it .... not quite sure that returning Brits should expect benefits if they have been away for so long...how much has she actually paid into the UK system?

Poor UK just gets used and abused..even by Brits.

I have always understood that returning Brits have had to wait six months before claiming benefits. I don't remember reading that she had paid into the Spanish system although she had worked here. Since no one stamps your passport why did she bother to say that she had been out of the country. My husband has paid his voluntary stamp since he left the UK so as to avoid this poor lady's problem

jdr Apr 25th 2010 3:09 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by elspeth sinclair (Post 8520277)
I have always understood that returning Brits have had to wait six months before claiming benefits. I don't remember reading that she had paid into the Spanish system although she had worked here. Since no one stamps your passport why did she bother to say that she had been out of the country. My husband has paid his voluntary stamp since he left the UK so as to avoid this poor lady's problem

You only have to prove residency in the UK to obtain benefits, look through some of DWPinSpains posts, the only extra that your husband would recieve is towards his pension, which by the way is now about 15 years less credits needed than before.

savateur Apr 25th 2010 3:15 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 
This beg's the question, of why, if it is the case, did she not pay into the Spanish system ? Someone in the family must have, at some point, so why not claim benefits in Spain ?

If it is the case, that she, or her husband, didn't pay into the system in Spain, and therefore is entitled to nothing, it's her own fault.

Anyway if she has been classified as a "foreigner", she will be entitled to Income Support, as the rules state that: income Support is payable to vulnerable people, who have been in the country less than a year, with no NIC record.

Obviously this isn't verbatim, its what a friend told me who is an adjudicator for the DSS.

As a final note. This should serve as a cautionary tale as the UK benefit system is no where near as generous anymore, as is often made out in these pages.

elspeth sinclair Apr 25th 2010 3:39 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by jdr (Post 8520284)
You only have to prove residency in the UK to obtain benefits, look through some of DWPinSpains posts, the only extra that your husband would recieve is towards his pension, which by the way is now about 15 years less credits needed than before.

My husband has paid his stamp for 41 years to the UK to make sure he gets his pension in 5 years time and he has now been told he needn't pay anymore. What extras are you talking about? I'm sure this lady is being well looked after in the UK and is playing her grandson card. However I wish her well she had her dream which went sour and I think the hints of her drinking and smoking are irrelevant .

HBG Apr 25th 2010 4:24 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 
My surprise on reading the comments to the story in the Mail is at the sheer venom of many people in the UK towards returning expats. I’ve noticed it on other occasions, elsewhere and I’ve heard personal stories about it.

Why should a sane, ordinary person living in the UK show such hatred for a fellow citizen who returns from living abroad? I can understand them complaining about the volume of immigrants in recent years, or the foreign ghettoes in British towns, but this is a British family returning home, albeit with a young boy born in Spain.

The grandmother and daughter are actively seeking jobs and the boy is going to a local school and the only thing they’ve received from the state is temporary accommodation in a grim hostel.

Why this wave of hatred from UK citizens?

rugbymatt Apr 25th 2010 4:27 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 
She has lived in Spain for over 20 years... thats 20 years she hasn't contributed to the NHS etc... yet now the chips are down she wants to use that self same benefit system to help her back on her feet.... I have no trouble saying that I have no sympathy for her. I know plenty of people from all over Europe who work hard and contribute to the UK.... She hasn't for over 20 years.... tough titty.

elspeth sinclair Apr 25th 2010 5:00 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by HBG (Post 8520413)
My surprise on reading the comments to the story in the Mail is at the sheer venom of many people in the UK towards returning expats. I’ve noticed it on other occasions, elsewhere and I’ve heard personal stories about it.

Why should a sane, ordinary person living in the UK show such hatred for a fellow citizen who returns from living abroad? I can understand them complaining about the volume of immigrants in recent years, or the foreign ghettoes in British towns, but this is a British family returning home, albeit with a young boy born in Spain.

The grandmother and daughter are actively seeking jobs and the boy is going to a local school and the only thing they’ve received from the state is temporary accommodation in a grim hostel.

Why this wave of hatred from UK citizens?


I can't understand your surprise at the venom in this lady's case as practically every thread in this forum no matter how innocuous is full of venom and it really shocks me how many sad ,lonely ,bitter and twisted people out there are hiding behind very strange names and use this forum for slanging matches or to put people down. I use to love the BBC forums which were strictly monitored and people used their own names. I enjoy wit and a bit of leg pulling but I'm not into blood sports

jdr Apr 25th 2010 5:09 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by elspeth sinclair (Post 8520338)
My husband has paid his stamp for 41 years to the UK to make sure he gets his pension in 5 years time and he has now been told he needn't pay anymore. What extras are you talking about? I'm sure this lady is being well looked after in the UK and is playing her grandson card. However I wish her well she had her dream which went sour and I think the hints of her drinking and smoking are irrelevant .

I was meaning the only extra you get is your credit too the pension.
I retired at the wrong time, i was told that you only need 40 years credit and left the UK when I was 60, but if you leave the UK you do not get your free five years credits to make it up to full pension.
It now appears that everybody like your husband who has paid extra have now been stuffed, he would only need 30 years credits to get a full pension now so has overpaid 11 years. :eek:

HBG Apr 25th 2010 6:31 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 

Originally Posted by rugbymatt (Post 8520418)
She has lived in Spain for over 20 years... thats 20 years she hasn't contributed to the NHS etc... yet now the chips are down she wants to use that self same benefit system to help her back on her feet.... I have no trouble saying that I have no sympathy for her. I know plenty of people from all over Europe who work hard and contribute to the UK.... She hasn't for over 20 years.... tough titty.

If your reply is representative of the average UK citizen, and I strongly suspect that it isn’t, then you want to punish the grandmother in question for having lived in Spain for more than 20 years. Why?

Actually, that seems to be a recurrent theme from the UK, punish people who have had the temerity to live abroad in the sun. It’s worth bearing in mind for the rest of us who have lived abroad for a long time.

If I return to the UK, which I don’t want to happen but it could, I would be entitled to Nada, so I’m going to have to make quite sure that I can survive without encountering the wrath of people like you, not that it bothers me.

I’ve got a small flat left in London and I was thinking of selling it later this year and making a total commitment to Spain. This silly little story and others may make me think again.

JLFS Apr 25th 2010 6:43 am

Re: A cautionary tale.
 
This seems to be a very touchy subject on this forum.

Things are never so black and white, there are a lot of people who were taken out to the UK by their parents when they were underdage, and they had no choice in the matter.

Of course these children have never paid into the UK system, what happens if they decide as adults to come back. It could be years later, may be the stay to look after ageing partents or whatever.

Should they not be given help, to re establish themselves in their birth country.

It just seems very harsh to me to leave folks floundering with no support.


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