Soft touch Britain

[anotheoldgit]

Another one just to keep oneeyedvic and his mates busy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-102340 0/33m-child-benefit-paid-foreign-chldren-live- abroad.html

72% rise in just 9 months? �33m, what could this be used for in this country?

Quote,
The UK benefit is so attractive because it is �977 a year for the first child and �652 for young siblings � as opposed to �160 for each child in Poland.

And before the leffties jump up and say "yes but our workers in Poland also get Child Benefits paid out for their children".

Quote,
But the reciprocal agreement under European law means Britons working in that country get only the �160 from the Warsaw government.

[ruby27]

Your question is �33m, what could this be used for in this country?

What a broad ranging question. Do you have any specific areas you are interested in, or are you particularly curious about what different posters will suggest.

EU rules, EU nationals living and working in the UK can claim child benefit for any dependent children, even if they live in another member state . Are you suggesting that if we could exit the EU, the saving of �33 million would be greater than the cost of leaving? If you are I think you are being a little naive.

[ruby27]

And another thing

What is with the complaint about Oneeyedvic, you often refer to him having a gang. Just because posters agree on certain topics doesn't result in a club membership. (Having said that I would be happy to be a member of his gang).

If groups were formed on the basis of opinions in the news section, consider who would be your bedfellows - doesn't bear thinking about?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Eire - �1,564.79
Germany - �1,451.67
Belgium - �2,256.06
France - �788.64
UK - �977

So, actually, we're on the low side compared to many.

Git in 'believes everything he reads in Daily Hate' shocker.

[vehelpfulguy]

I dont agree with paying child benefit to children living outside this country. FULL STOP

BUT

IF we are going to do it then it should be based on the cost of living in that country. If it is �977 for the first child in the UK then for a child in Poland it should be based on the cost of living in Poland.

So if it is half as expensive to live in Poland then they should get half the �977.

People in Poland must think we are mad giving them so much money for doing nothing.

[vehelpfulguy]

One other thing............

Once someone from say Poland has come here and signed up (to whatever they sign up to) and we have agreed to pay child benefit.....

Do they only get it if they are working. If so how do we keep tabs on the fact they are working.

I assume they only get it if they stay in this country. Suppose the person goes back and "forgets" to tell us. How long do we carry on paying the child benefit. What triggers stopping the payment.

It seems very easy to "fiddle" this sort of thing. After all a man was jailed recently for claiming tax credit for 36 CHILDREN, when he only had 2.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/ 642196?UserKey=0

[vehelpfulguy]

One final final thing....while 33 million (the cost of Polish child benefit) seems a lot of money, do you realise:

Fraud called "VAT carousel fraud" (where the same items, like mobile phone or computer chips, are continuously imported into this country and VAT claimed each time) costs this country BILLIONS of pounds each year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5204422.st m

And tax credit fraud (and admin errors) have cost this country over 9 BILLION pounds since it started (well done Gordon Brown).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jul/12/ta xcredits.politics

So on that scale 33 million does not seem that much.

[lynbrown]

Im a bit confused. If a UK man is working in Poland but his wife and kids are still here, does the wife lose her UK child benefit and get the Polish rate instead? That doesnt sound right.

[Whickerman]

By the way - it's not just child benefits.

As Waldo has pointed out, the level of benefits here in Ireland are much higher than in the UK. There are quite a few UK citizens living here now drawing benefits, and as RedHelen pointed out, you are given the choice of UK benefits or those of the host country. I've never encountered any who have chosen the UK level whilst living here.

What i'm saying is it's swings and roundabouts, and whilst you'll always have outgoings as a country, your citizens are happy enough to exploit this too.

And a vehelpfulguy says, you've bigger fish to fry...

[jake-the-peg]

�33 million?

Well we could probably just about steretch to buying every adult a half pint of beer at Christmas with that.

We could build 3 miles of motorway

Or we could buy half a Typhoon Euro fighter

Better still we could all club together and buy a brain for a Mail journalist

[Gromit]

Did you know that the Daily Mail Group publish Pravda in Slovakia?

[sp1214]

Whatever statistics are printed I find the British are always the losers. I put it down to foreigners being more cleverer than the people we elect.

[Oneeyedvic]

Whatever statistics are printed I find the British are always the losers.

Is that possibly because you don't read the full statistics, but just the stats that are printed by those with an agenda.

As already pointed out, Ireland, Belgium & Germany have more beneficial systems, but you seem to choose to ignore those and place us as the 'losers'

[Oneeyedvic]

Also please to note that I have so many mate

(well at least according to AOG)

[sandbach99]

The Government are refusing to publish the amount of money paid by way of Child Tax Credit to people whos' children live in Poland or elsewhare

Given that a lot of the immigrants are working for a low wage this bill could easily run to millions of pounds.