To think it is ridiculous that a woman with 11 kids is getting a £400,000 house for nowt

[angelos02]

Especially when most working people couldn't never afford to live somewhere costing that much?
Link: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280385/Home-fit-dole-queen-Mother-11-gets-BRAND-NEW-400-000-house-built-council-shes-struggling-current-homes.html

The only thing they do is sell stuff they no longer need anymore or when they get bored of hobbies sell the bits. I know they made £50 in one day on Facebook selling bits and bobs but I doubt that happens everyday.

I know that a lot of people do struggle on benefits but others who can live a very very good life. It does not seem to work out. Those struggling need more help but those who can afford things like my parents deserve to be given less but of course that won't happen as that would mean more work.

I feel sorry for all the people slogging away at a career, probably having to work well into their later years to be able to pay off the £400k mortgage when they could have just had loads of kids and got the house for free. They are going to be so happy to know that not only are they living next to this woman and her family but they are having to pay for their own homes through their hard work and pay for her home too. The only people going to the "workhouse" are the taxpayers who are supporting this woman.

Chatty I believe what you say in that a certain lifestyle maybe being had by individuals on benefits but as others have said there must be another income coming in from somewhere. Even dodgy comp claims!

With regards to reporting benefit fraud I totally back you but before you do it you should make sure you have all the facts. This is a hard thing to do because you need proof to make the claim stick. It's unfair to accuse someone on a whim.

The walk amongst us though, those benefit fraudsters! I have met several over the years and their pure cheek narks me no end.

I see what you are saying Orwellian but remember that the mortgaged house will be in the ownership of the family who have worked to pay for it, this cobbled together property will never belong to the family in question.
Families like this are rare because most people do not have so many children. Why would anyone want that life.....I wouldn't?

When I started reading this thread there were only 12 pages.

Many, many years ago, when I worked at the courts, I processed statements of earnings. People owing money and not working had a much higher standard of living than I had, eg could afford Sky when I couldn't (can now, thanks to OH's hard work). They could afford holidays when I couldn't. I certainly couldn't afford cigs and drink. I was on the old civil servant package as well.

That was some time ago. I don't think it is the same any more, and I think it will change significantly in the next few months. I do think life is going to get a good deal harder for those who are unable to work, for whatever reason.

If there is enough jobs for every 1 in 4 unemployed in the uk and I'm
Guessing that takes into account stay at home mums/dads and those who just don't need to work due to their partners income. Surely then there is no reason (excusing disability and the likes) that so many people are unemployed anyway..

Her kids will no doubt follow in their mothers footsteps maybe one or two will get jobs but that still leaves 9/10 children to grow up like this women. It should of never been allowed to happen that this became a life choice.

If you use the hmrc tax calculator app the majority of the tax goes onto benefits and pensions( not fussed about pensions but its how they work it out)

I watched Saints and Scroungers this morning....the sheer brass neck of the fraudsters is amazing. I generally dislike the generalised terms of people being saints or scroungers but am happy to see the "scrounger" label being applied to fraudsters because they utterly deserve it.

One woman allocated a one bedroom social housing property in Westminster has been subletting it for three years.....at £1400 a month and making a fortune . Needless to say she has now been evicted and has to repay over £30k made from her illicit activities.

That sounds fabulous but your personal experience and anecdotal evidence does not mean that this is widespread does it?

pmsl - but anecdotal evidence and personal experience is ok to prove that benefits are too generous?

Hohoho I will always report someone if I'm sure and I agree there are lots of them. I have heard while in the garden with the kids about her claiming as a single person and this man living there for two months so far goes against all of that.

My parents have been reported as apparently working and where investigated and innocent ( when not on their trips you can ring their landline and always get an answer)

Forgot to add so no idea where they et the extra money if its not all benefits

Two of my ex tenants have been benefit scroungers. This all became apparent when they left the property and I was receiving their post! I wish they could devise a system to root out this scum. It disgusts me when there are people out there truly struggling.

Guessing that takes into account stay at home mums/dads and those who just don't need to work due to their partners income - no it doesn't

Surely then there is no reason (excusing disability and the likes) that so many people are unemployed anyway.. oh dear god

The council have an obligation to house this woman and she is at present taking up two houses that could be used by other families. I think they have dealt with this problem in quite an innovative way. Firstly they sold the plot of land where (I think) 13 new houses are to be built to a Housing Association. The Housing Association will build the houses. Council got (I think) £210k for the plot which had garages for other accommodation on it. Housing Association were going to build the houses anyway, but they are building one much bigger one to accommodate this family as part of the scheme, so they are not paying out shed loads of money just for her, just more to build one bigger house. Council will then get back their two houses to rehome other people. I very much hope they will move her out of the six bedder into something smaller when her children become grown up.

But.

I think this woman is totally reprehensible for bringing into the world so many children that the state of her present house clearly indicates she is struggling to cope with. I wonder where the fathers are? I also don't understand why her grown up children are also being housed by the housing association in this huge house?Sbhe has a total lack of social responsibility and her comments that she would ask the council for a different house if she didn't like the new one shows a disgusting sense of entitlement.

I think that there are dangers in over generalising from our own experiences Amberleaf and as I have said, your anecdotal evidence is meaningless in the context of the whole of the UK

You asked for an example I gave you one as did two other posters, is it that difficult to see that it is possibly more common than you knew?

To draw any sort of conclusion from that would be as ridiculous as drawing any sort of meaningful conclusions about all benefit claimants from the woman in the DM story - two sides of the same coin

No sorry, I see the point you are trying to make, but it doesn't really work.

Heres a thought.

If the council do not help and her children suffer somewhat, maybe just maybe these children will grow up to think a life on benefits is not all it it is cracked up to be.

Then the circle will be broken.

I haven't read all the thread but just wanted to say that no one knows this woman's history, what led her into the situation and what kind of person she is, too many assumptions being made.

What we do know is that she fell pregnant at 14 to a23 yr old man, had that been the headline this thread would have different. We don't know how this affected her or set her life in motion.

We also know that she has 11 children who need raising and a roof over their head. We can shout she should get a job but we also know she has been fighting cancer.
Had headline been mother of 11 beats cancer this thread would again have been different.

Ok she is getting a new house, but it's not hers and as her children grow and move on she will be held ransom to new bedroom tax and will downsize homes. This home is not hers, will never be hers.

Yeah I agree having 11 kids may be irresponsible but on another thread recently people were debating wether having more children after having a disabled child is irresponsible, personally I think it is not but many do. It's all relative and based on opinion. The kids are here and no where in the article does it say she is a bad mum. She can have 11 kids, be on benefits and be a fantastic mum.

Come on ladies look at this story from all angles

mablemurple perhaps if you had actually bothered to read my post you would see that I make the very same point that you have just made regarding personal anecdotes being used to prove any point at all.

So fine, you can pysl but perhaps closer reading of what people are actually saying would prevent you from looking foolish in future.

Hohoho the person living here before us was climbing for this house while we are living here got a big chunky council letter so I rang them up..

Marble if they don't include those people then the figure is not accurate on the amount of people not working?

Ok, for the third and last time before I go out and enjoy the sunshine, does anyone, honestly, think that this situation happens often enough to make even the slightest jot of difference in the grand scheme things?

Do none of you see it for what it is, which is a cheap and easy way to whip the natives up into a frenzy and distract from what is actually going on under our noses.

And to everyone who is so quick to write off every one of these children as the next generation of scroungers what if they surprise you? What if they all get jobs and live happy productive lives? Will that make it worth the money? Will you still resent them growing up with a decent roof over their heads? Or is that impossible because the child of a "scrounger" is always a "scrounger".

Chatty I'm presuming you have no doubt followed in your mother's footsteps yes?

A better standard of living LisaMed but likely unaffordable if they're ending up in court with statements of earnings

Chatty either your parents are benefit fraudsters or you are making it up as you go along.

Many thanks for the tip countrykitten, but this thread is so fast moving you had posted as I was still in the process of writing my own.

Perhaps a greater level of imagination would prevent you from looking foolish in the future.

Amberleaf it doesn't work how? You use personal experience to claim that volunteering amongst benefit claimants is widespread and others are using one woman's lifestyle as highlighted by the DM as proof that benefits are far too generous.

There is no difference!

No because I only lived with my parents for a couple of years out of my whole life. Before I lived with them I lived in a working household and when I moved out I moved into again a working household. So I mainly grew up seeing people go to work and working hard to have what we had.

mablemurple I do not really see the need to be unpleasant and personal. You did look silly but have explained why. No need to say that am lacking in imagination - bit of a bizarre insult in any case.

Jen if they are committing fraud it must be on what they claim or working from home? I said I don't know what they claim but I know their out goings, and I know that apart from their trips you could ring the landline any time of the day and get an answer. If they where/are committing fraud and I found out I would report them just like anyone else I found/find out about.