Tax credits- We'll get nowt, Euro SIL and her family do :/

[cherrypieplum]

Just having a quick look at tax credits to see if we'll get anything at all. Fair enough we earn too much and this government are wankers who are stripping the poor so I'd rather it go to someone very needy but what annoys me is my SIL is a resident of EU and therefore can live here and claim here enjoying a much longer maternity leave than I can dream of.

Has she got a plasma tv and a goat?

She probably has, and they are parked in a C and P space.

yakbutter (great name!) I saw a really grim documentary on it about a year ago - and there was definitely a thread on here - about how some UK pensioners had gone to retire in Spain, come home after it had all gone tits up, and found out that they had somehow lost the right to free ongoing NHS treatment. I still don't 'get it', but that's certainly the assertion.

Sorry, a bit of a digression from the thread, really.

I think ex pats as EU residents in other countries retain the right to ACCESS healthcare in the UK, like we can abroad. so fine if you need to go to A&E or get admitted to an emergency ward, but not if you need more elective care for chronic contitions maybe? So if its something that warrents going through A&E and ends up in an emergency op, fine, other things, not so much!

Its just like how people missinterpret what the EHIC cards give you abroad, it doesn't give you all the same free healthcare you get here, it gives you the same ACCESS to healthcare that the rest of the people in that country have. which isn't quite the same

But back to the OP, I come from a country with traditionally generous benefits, more generous and less checking up on you than the UK (maybe not now, but pre euro crisis) and it was full of UK benefit tourists who really took the piss - full unemployment benefits and blatent cash in hand work.

You want them back and in exchange you want to get rid of people who by definition are working honestly (in order to get tax credits)?

and I do a job thats SHORT of willing workers (because its a bit gross) which is still not that popular with british nationals despite recession. There was a thread titled "What Job would you NEVER do" or something like that and many many MNers cited my job. Everyone would suffer it all us euros left as we make up the majority in my job! And no we're NOT taking jobs from anyone as recruitment in this area is ongoing and it's always short staffed

So just those that earn a 6 figure salary are supporting the benefits system are they Pedigree? What are all the other tax payers contributing towards then?

In that case thank you all 6 figure earners from the city for funding my £20 per month Tax Credit allowance.

Thanks monkey that makes sense about the health care access.

like if you're having a heart attack you'll be admitted and treated
but if you need a knee replacement you wont get it maybe?

Tax credits are just disguised benefits, unless a worker pays more tax than they get back. And while an immigrant does the job, one local worker is sitting unemployed at even further cost to the country.

"You want them back and in exchange you want to get rid of people who by definition are working honestly (in order to get tax credits)?"

Yes. Because then we can deal with the welfare dependence problem without idiots hand wringing about racism, when racism has nothing to do with it.

The fact that there are jobs that no Brits would do is a reflection of the dependency problem and a soft welfare system. We are far from full employment in this country and dont need extra workers from abroad. We need less people choosing to be on the dole or pretending to work for two days a week.

noone is sitting unemployed because I do my job because they could be doing it too, there aren't enough people doing it. Anyone who isn't doing my job it is either because they are not suitable or because they don't want to, ANYONE who is suitable and willing will be taken on in a heart beat

and I haven't always claimed TCs, that is only in the last 2 years, have paid tax here for over a decade and when LO is older probably will go back to not qualifying for TCs so over my lifetime I'll pay way more tax then I'll ever claim in TCs.

most people only claim TCs for periods when their incomes dip, because of having children etc, and over a lifetime pay way more

and I brought WAY more money into the country than I have yet claimed because I sold my house abroad and bought here

Ten years here monkeymoma? You're more Brit than EU now.

And bringing money into the country (and 100% moving here) is rare. The EU migrant workforce is normally more mobile and much less afluent.

But when you first arrived you took a job that someone on the dole here might have taken. The main problem at the minimum wage end of the job scale is the willingness of locals to do the work. They aren't willing currently because they can rely on the state to pay them to idle around until something better comes along (if it ever does). That has to change.

There are more English people in my home town then there are people of my nationality in the English town I am sitting in.

I fail to see how re-patriating us (as it would be a TWO WAY THING, there are a hell of a lot of brits abroad) would suddenly mean there is more than enough to go around!

"And bringing money into the country (and 100% moving here) is rare. The EU migrant workforce is normally more mobile and much less afluent"

no it's not at all rare, migrant workers are a sub set of a whole group of EU immigrants and THAT subset are by definition transient, people like you choose to conveniently not include people like me in the wider group, and only see the migrant workers. Most europeans I know are home owners, a lot sold to move, its REALLY COMMON you're just choosing to ignore us for the sake of your arguement!

"But when you first arrived you took a job that someone on the dole here might have taken"

I arrived from a place abroad where a lot of the people I knew there who were on the dole, were english, in their place I came here and did an important job that was SHORT OF WORKERS and paid a big old pile of tax for years

I second what monkeymoma says, there's more brits in this village I live in than there were Swedes in the village I came from, and the benefits system here (particularly parent/child related ones) leaves Britain crying in the dirt.

TheUnMember

What about disability benefits?

Thinking about moving

and people living on benifits "back home" live much more comfortably than I ever could her if I didn't work, the generousity and leeway there pisses me off TBH, claiming anything here is much more of a ball ache!

It pisses all over the benefit tourist shock tactic headlines, there are better places to be out of work, or short of work, than here!

So there are more Brits abroad claiming benefits than there are EU nationals in the UK doing the same?

Would love a link to the evidence for that.

And if its true, then everyone is welcome here!

the actual figures WOULD be interesting

On the flip side, where's your evidence that there's more EU claimants here than brits claiming abroad?

There are a lot of brits claiming abroad, no I don't know the exact figures, but where I'm from most brits who worked did cash in hand whilst claiming full benefits, can't actually name one EU neighbour I have here who does that! If you actually know any IN REAL LIFE, do report them!

and if you think claiming benefits in the UK is an easy life then I doubt you've ever been unfortunate enough to end up in a fix where you need them

but you don't want to hear that there are other places in the EU where it actually IS easy and leaves enough for a very comfortable life!

So, your SIL is a SAHM?

Sigh. If women go out to work they get shit, if they stay at home and don't have a husband earning loads and loads they get shit. (isn't the boundary for tax credits really really high when compared to minimum wage, which is what an awful lot of people are feeling lucky to get atm? Or do we live in a world where everyone has a professional job where they earn £10 an hour or more?)

Bear in mind that she will not get tax credits for childcare unless she works (or is too ill to look after children). So by staying at home she could well be saving the state money, if the alternative is childcare costs for several children and she is likely to only be able to do minimum wage jobs. Which often want you to do shifts.

Working class people: don't have children. Disabled people: don't have children. Carers: don't have children. People who can't trace their ancestry back generations: don't have children. And of course we can't have dirty foreigners marrying and breeding with good strong hardworking English men, can we?

and the TCs don't actually go on my shoe and handbag collection, they go on childcare for my british son, and on food which I share with my british son and british husband
But it'ld be better if I just left them to it I suppose?
hang on though.. DH does unsociable hours, he couldn't do his job AND get DS to nursery and back if I wasn't here.. hmmm, he'ld probably have to quit and stay home to mind DS, then they'ld probably loose the house.. but somehow if I just left my job and the country I'ld save you all money?????

Sashh Just like the UK there a various different entitlements and it's very confusing. The biggest difference I've noticed is that means tested benefits are dependent on my income alone, not my husbands.

Sickness benefit rate is upto £43 per day (dependent on previous income). You can claim sickness benefits at other rates than 100% (eg I'm autistic and can work part-time but couldn't manage full time so I get 50% of the daily rate, regardless of how much I earn the other 50% of the time)

Attendance allowance (to pay for an assistant) is upto £25 per hour although you can claim more for special circumstances.

Disability living allowance is currently up to £3755 per annum

Then there are quite a few benefits in other forms that you can/may get eg help with housework; subsidised gardener costs; contact person (professional friend) if you are isolated; goodman who takes care of all your paperwork and finances if the stress is too much for you; 'meaningful work' if you want to work but can't find anything because of the limits of your condition then the council have to find something suitable for you; free dental treatment for some conditions (eg autism) as it's all private here;

Travel costs to medical appointments are reimbursed for everyone.

There are others that I don't know much about, like if you qualify for say attendance allowance then you can claim for expensive hobby activities such as horse-riding or sailing.