To point out that this family ARE on benefits

[barbiecollector]

Not a benefit-bashing thread at all, but I hate how smug these big families are when they say they are not on benefits like they are superior to people who are. In fact, this family get £180 a week in Child Benefit!

Story here: Big family

YABU to suggest the family "are", should be "is" or better still "is not"

Would they have had 16 dcs if they werent raking in thousands in cb and tax credits?...

I would love to know how they manage on a salary of 40 grand-thats around about what we bring in and we really struggle with 3 dcs,a shit car and we certainly dont live in the huge property they do.

But hey they are happy so maybe we should all be popping out 16 dcs...

They are getting the child benefit that they are entitled to, nothing wrong with them claiming what they are entitled to.

Does the state have the right to refuse to pay child benefit if you have more than X children? And if the state did so, how does that differ from the Chinese system where they "encouraged" you to just have one child?

I read the article twice and couldn't find a hint of smugness.

It was perhaps telling that she mentioned she and her husband are adopted.

But with regards to "benefits" they are receiving what was a universal benefit, and will receive it in future as they are still entitled to do.

It's not like you'd have 16 kids to pull in £180 a week is it

She's a woman I'd like to meet. Those kids look happy, well fed and dressed, she's clearly doing something right!

I don't think it's benefits bashing either.

It irritates me greatly when people talk about benefit claimants without understanding that pretty much all of us receive some form of benefit - few of us are net contributors. I'm certainly not.

And yes, we are all one (not beyond the realms of possibility) catastrophe away from being out of work.

What a load of old shit OP.

This isn't even a benefits bashing thread...they're not on benefits...they get child benefit the same as everyone else! They are entitled to it. £180 a week for all those kids won't go far!

What's your beef? They aren't doing anything wrong. They're not smug. They're fine...wholly unremarkable, save for the fact that they have a huge family.

Cannot see the problem. Are you jealous? I can't imagine why you would be, but I can't think of any other explanation for this non issue thread.

Eek! Just to qualify that - I don't resent people receiving TCs! And I almost cried when this bunch of arsehats managed to do away with the universality of CB.

It was perhaps telling that she mentioned she and her husband are adopted I missed that, Enjoy. That possibly is quite telling.

HollyBerryBush what do you mean about people with diabetes being on benefits? are you referring to them getting their prescriptions for free?

Dizzy, I certainly don't think there should be a cap on the number of children you can claim CB for, but if there was it would still be a million miles away from the Chinese one child policy and the way it is implemented. I can't quite see local officials abducting women and forcing them to have abortions for a start.

You can't really take the moral high ground when it comes to people claiming benefits they are entitled to.

Yabu. I don't have any problem with this family. They are hardworking and support their children financially. They are entitled to claim child benefit and do so just as everyone else who is entitled to claim does.

its fair to assume those 17 children will one day be paying tax to go towards you pension or care or whatever elderly people are entitled to then.

its fair to assume those 17 children will one day be paying tax to go towards you pension or care or whatever elderly people are entitled to then.

Yes, but you could say the same thing about the children of so-called 'benefit scroungers'.

Is that really a fair assumption considering the levels of unemployment we have at the moment?

Hopefully we will have enough Jobs for everyone in a few years time, but there's every chance we won't, especially since we have more women working outside the home and people having lots of children.

It would be fair to suggest that there is a high chance that not everyone in this family will be able to find long term employment.

It's an even bigger assumption to make when you think about them contributing enough tax to pay for other people. With the personal tax allowance being raised, it's actually fairly unlikely that every one of those children will find employment that pays enough to make them pay enough tax to pay for others as well as themselves.

There are no such things as "benefit scroungers."

They looked for long term unemployed, couldnt find any. Looked for multiple generation claimants, couldnt find any.

The family aren't smug, it's just bad journalism.

Whoever wrote the story put that little fact in as a "Froth Guard" for the vile readers who see a big family and automatically think "Am I paying for all those children?!"

There is no way they aren't claiming tax credits, on their income they would be picking up £800 a week. Do not believe they've decided not to collect those.

It'd be great if she was a MNer, as I imagine she'd have a wealth of advice and experience to share. I doubt very much that she has time though.

The point for me is not about claiming benefits, but rather the way that people claiming benefits are demonised yet large families like this are not, because they work. I don't think that's fair.

No such thing as benefit scroungers? Really? Are you living in the same UK as me?

I appreciate they might be in a minority, and I appreciate that they are generally claiming what they have been deemed entitled to by government.

But if you think that there aren't people that don't deliberately arrange their lives so that they can claim the maximum possible from the state, then you are very naive.

Oh, and who is 'they'?

i WOULD say the same about childrenof so called benefit scroungers.