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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think immigrants should work before being entitled to benefits?

216 replies

judgejudithjudy · 27/11/2013 16:50

EU immigrants will only be allowed to claim benefits 12 weeks after entering the UK but surely EU immigrants should only be entering the UK to work - not claim? I can understand if they enter the country to work & then lose their jobs - more than entitled to benefits but surely you should pay into the system first?

ready to be flamed so wearing my flame coated coat :-)

OP posts:
akachan · 27/11/2013 17:30

What if they are children, WooWooOwl?

moogy1a · 27/11/2013 17:31

*Really? Really?

Why do you care OP? Why are you asking*

Because she's a member of this country and entitled to an opinion about how it's run.
How can you not care one way or another about such a societal altering policy?

WooWooOwl · 27/11/2013 17:31

Then their parents claim, if they have worked.

Heartbrokenmum73 · 27/11/2013 17:32

Right, so what do we do about the lazy-arse young men in this country who simply don't want to work and have no intention of doing so?

Or do you feel that stopping benefits to immigrants would make everything wonderful somehow?

JanineStHubbins · 27/11/2013 17:33

Here is the link to existing EU legislation.

akachan · 27/11/2013 17:35

And if their parents haven't worked they starve? It doesn't work! There needs to be a safety net even for the terminally lazy. It isn't their kids' fault.

moogy1a · 27/11/2013 17:35

Right, so what do we do about the lazy-arse young men in this country who simply don't want to work and have no intention of doing so?

don't add to their numbers with their counterparts from Eastern Europe , maybe?

WooWooOwl · 27/11/2013 17:36

Why just the lazy arse men! What about the lazy arse women?

Tbh, I think the thing that makes people lazy is knowledge that they don't have to work to be able to sustain themselves.

I'm sure we would have less of those lazy people if it was a choice between working, proving that you are looking for work or starving.

JanineStHubbins · 27/11/2013 17:38

How can you not care one way or another about such a societal altering policy?

In what way is it 'societal altering', moogy1a?

Original poster
judgejudithjudy · 27/11/2013 17:38

moogy got it in one :-)

OP posts:
Dawndonnaagain · 27/11/2013 17:38

we already struggle paying benefits to UK residents that dont want to work
Yes, you just dismiss all those who are IN WORK and in receipt of benefits, all those who want to work, all those who are physically or mentally unable to work. Let's just count a handful of shirkers because that's what the daily fail says. Hmm

Thisisaghostlyeuphemism · 27/11/2013 17:39

Praps the lazy arse men in this country could be encouraged to go to Bulgaria to enjoy their extensive benefit system, national health service etc etc

BrianTheMole · 27/11/2013 17:39

Why do you care OP? Why are you asking

A bizarre question. And an aggressive one in an attempt to shut the op up quickly, without bothering try and debate a little.

LadyBeagleEyes · 27/11/2013 17:40

I always thought it was 3 months before you could claim in a EU country.
I know that in the Netherlands where I lived for a few years, that was the case.
This was back in the 80s though, maybe things have changed.
I never claimed myself though I knew a Brit that did.

FlankShaftMcWap · 27/11/2013 17:40

Where the blazes are all these threads coming from? It's not even a debate when the same tired old cliches are trotted out every time. Bang on Heartbroken, I find myself agreeing with you so often lately Grin

moogy1a · 27/11/2013 17:40

Sorry, society aletring if it was the made up word you were pulling me up on.
if you were genuinely asking how mass immigration has altered our society in the last 20 years then you have led a very sheltered life on Eigg or some such place

Heartbrokenmum73 · 27/11/2013 17:40

The vast majority of EU immigrants come over to work.

They generally have jobs to go to when they get here. I speak as someone who also knows lots of Polish and Lithuanian people. My SIL came here some 10 years ago and worked three jobs at one point, sometimes going from one job to the next with no sleep between the two.

It's scaremongering at its best and it's sad that people buy into this.

JanineStHubbins · 27/11/2013 17:40

don't add to their numbers with their counterparts from Eastern Europe , maybe?

Why don't you find out what the LAW says on this, instead of buying so eagerly into the 'bad immigrants coming over here to loll about on our benefits' stereotype?

JanineStHubbins · 27/11/2013 17:42

Sorry, society aletring if it was the made up word you were pulling me up on. if you were genuinely asking how mass immigration has altered our society in the last 20 years then you have led a very sheltered life on Eigg or some such place

I'm an immigrant myself, as it happens. Have never lived on Eigg though. I'm interested to know in what ways you think mass immigration has altered UK society in the last 20 years. Any examples?

Heartbrokenmum73 · 27/11/2013 17:43

A bizarre question. And an aggressive one in an attempt to shut the op up quickly, without bothering try and debate a little.

It wasn't an attempt to shut the OP up - don't be ridiculous.

I'm just tired to seeing this lazy attempts at starting arguments. We had one about a month ago, more or less saying the same thing. It's just thinly-veiled racism. And it always, always turns nasty, so why do it in the first place?

theladyrainy · 27/11/2013 17:43

Well OP - less immigrants claim benefits than UK nationals. So you may want to direct your frustration elsewhere.

And why are you friends with these immigrant single mums who flock to the UK to drain every last penny from the tax payer while throwing parties in their council houses anyway?

People have always immigrated to the UK (and from the UK). My parents came here from Ireland in the 50's and no doubt got the same bigotted bullshit that the Polish get now.

inkyfingers · 27/11/2013 17:44

Surely people moving here from any country mainly do so to work. It wouldn't occur to me to move to another country without a job or expectation that I would work when I got there. So why is it so odd to withhold benefits for a time to people coming to the UK. They'd still be able to access health and education. If they're not benefit tourists, then there isn't a problem....

lottieandmia · 27/11/2013 17:45

All the Polish people I know who moved here work long hours - I don't know any on benefits.

WestieMamma · 27/11/2013 17:45

I don't understand this issue really. As an EU immigrant I know you can't just move to another EU country under any circumstances, only if you meet certain criteria. One of the EU rules is that you cannot move without the resources to support yourself. So it seems that this is a problem with the way the UK works not the way the EU works. Confused

Original poster
judgejudithjudy · 27/11/2013 17:46

am confused janine as on the radio today, from the 1st jan 2014 EU immigrants can claim benefits 12 weeks after arriving to the UK?

& dawn - where on earth in this thread did i say some people like the ones you mention are not entitled to benefits? of course they are & perhaps there would be more help if the benefits system wasnt paying out millions to non UK taxpayers? :-)

OP posts: