Dave n Dee

A few may start to panic ??
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/182036

jdr

The comments sound about right, if people are entitled to them then the part of EU they live should not matter.

pete_l

The question you then have to ask is: should (for example) Polish expats in Britain be paid british or polish benefits if they can't/don't work?
At present people moving to the UK, providing they qualify, have the same benefit rates and entitlements as british citizens. If you think that's fair, then it follows that brits who move to Spain (even if not resident there) should be supported by the spanish benefit system.
OTOH, if you think that people who paid into the british welfare system should be entitled to the same benefits where ever they reside, then consistency requires you to exclude people who move to the UK, but haven't got such a long history of NI payments.
I'm entirely neutral in this one, since I haven't a scooby what the answer is. No matter which way you jump, some will suffer and others will benefit. Nightmare.

JLFS

Whatever the rights or wrongs, I think that as the government seems to be getting tough on benefits, they want to cut child benefit for those on higher incomes, and put a lot of incapacity claimants onto jobseekers allowance, then there will be a hugh outcry if the overseas claimants are not assessed with the same vigor.


If some expats are moved to jobseekers, then they will have to sign on and will not be able to stay, I suppose.

They want to slash civil servants pension right because it is unsustainable, so as the CSs are the ones who are in charge of the dishing out of benefits, I cannot imagine they will be happy to lose out themselves, without cutting expat rights to the bone.

jackytoo

Invalidity benefit does need reforming, not just for claimants overseas but those in the UK too. Seems as everyone and their Mothers are on it. People being signed off sick for life can't be right for so many, especially the younger ones. Some have it made, come out to Spain and work property repairing etc. plus around £90 from the UK. never any checks made on them.

I know an ex-school teacher claiming it plus early retirement pension. Suffering from stress. He may have been stressed when he left the UK but he seems fine now. Things like that aren't always a life long condition.

bobd22

Yes I am of the same view too many people taking the mick no atter where they live.

JLFS

At the risk of getting a lot of flack from members of this forum, I am going to post a text that I received form a mate of min last night.

reassessmants to IB due to implemented soon, the benchmark is

.if Stephen Hawking can work..................

I know...... I know, but I just had to laugh...............

twistedmelon

What a typical load of tabloid trash, as usual.
Shouldn't the article headline be £?????? millions in benefit scandal.
This isn't about expats, it's about benefit cheats and the rules should be changed to stop ALL benefit fraud.
To say that there is a loophole which means that expats are not subjected to the same rules as apply for ANY claimant is a downright lie, the criteria for claiming is exactly the same as UK and the DWP has designated medical examiners in Spain also.
The problem has always been the same. "Some" people have found a way to pull the wool over the eyes of what are supposed to be fully qualified medical professionals, either that or Doctors are to lazy to care or are corrupt.Therefore the focus should be firstly on those professionals.
Anyway, I've lost count of the number of times this old chestnut gets wheeled out, pathetic rhetoric.