Yes it's the DM, yes it's about a large family on benefits, but surely even if only half of it is true it's shocking!

[StrawberriesAndCherries]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265508/Peter-Davey-gets-42-000-benefits-year-drives-Mercedes.html

Are they wrong to get what they are entitled to?

42K a year though - I must be going wrong somewhere!!!

Nobody ever complains about the fact that wages are so low and housing costs are so high, in threads like this.

It should never be financially more rational to be on benefits than to work. The reason it is, is not because benefits are so generous (even the most deluded, in their saner moments when given the facts, agree with that), it's because wages are so low and housing costs are so high, that it does sometimes make more sense, financially, to live on benefits. The answer to this is not to abolish benefits or make them even meaner, but to reduce housing costs and increase wages.

But that is a pipe dream.

And don't they live in North wales - ie. place with no jobs and terrible poverty?

I think that's South Wales LFC.

And it's bollocks to say that both parents need to give up work to look after one disabled child.

I somehow muddled through with ds1 in hospital frequently, while dh almost always working away, and I worked pt.

There are these people called childminders, babysitters, nurseries, grandmas, friends, etc etc.

They live on Anglesey - there really must be no jobs there

See, I don't understand that argument. If you live in an area with no jobs, you look at other areas for jobs and you move. People have always moved to where the work is. Why is it that people feel it's impossible? I've always lived here. I was born here, My family's here...

and?

Of course, it's not a case of move and get a job. There may not be one anywhere! But you've more chance if you understand that maybe you might have to move. Nobody's going to knock on your door and say I built a factory at the end of your road so you can come and work in it.

I know that's going to prompt a barrage of abuse, but it's a genuine pondering. I simply do not understand why people are so attached to a location that they can't look beyond it.

Anglesey is N Wales, & a very seasonal holiday sort of place - very little regular work outside shops & local professional offices I should think.

'Those figures are so misleading though. £400 a week income support?? ANd council tax benefit isn't actually something you even recieve'

I read this so many times on benefit threads and it pisses me right off.
Housing and council tax benefits are something you receive, otherwise you would be paying rent and council tax.

Lazy bloody idiots.
Here we are with our one child, saving carefully for holidays and luxuries, knowing that to continue with our comfortable lifestyle we can't really have any more children atm.

I don't envy them, but I would like to see, as others have mentioned, a cap on the increases in benefit payments with each new child born.

I am not the type to resent paying my taxes but families like this make me wonder why I should.

I think it's the attitude this family displays that makes me . I don't begrudge needy families benefits if they've fallen on hard times and need support for a period of time. And certainly having a disabled child is reason enough for help. But this woman appears to be saying "I'm entitled, so I can do what I like" and has stated her intention to continue having kids (up to 14) of them and why shouldn't the state (we) pay? There is no mention of any attempt on their part to support themselves.
That annoys me, to be honest.

I agree, TwoPence.

I think this particular family would have to have a complete change of mindset to even think about doing that, and that ain't going to happen.

You don't recieve HB and CTB - it comes off your bill so you pay less.

And they need 2 cars to ferry them all around.

How did the DM find this family?

What did they say to them to get them to agree to an interview?

What was cut from the conversation?

If only half of it is true, then I guess it is shocking. But there is another story here which we are not hearing, I am quite certain.

Think the DM found them in Closer magazine. As did the Telegraph.

Don't suppose you know what the "angle" was in Closer, do you Clam?

If there is no angle then, agreed, this family is just a freak show.

And presumably not very well briefed on the fall out that will come from their 10 minutes of fame.

Its all a bit ghoulish.

that boys skin looks so sore? isnt EB life-limiting in its severest cases?

Sorry, I don't. Closer magazine is one vice too many, even for me!

he has EB

I only have one child as me and DH decided we couldn't afford another, couldn't afford a bigger house/another bedroom, etc. We both work, have quite good incomes.

Sorry, but I do find it annoying that some people have this attitude that everything should be handed to them. What sort of work ethic are those kids going to have? Parents are hardly a positive role model in that respect.

I can't afford Sky at £50 a month, maybe I'd have been better off having loads of kids and neither of us working?

I don't begrudge people who need help having a reasonable amount of income support, etc. But if they can afford a top of the range Sky subscription and to spend 2k at Xmas they're getting too much.

Idon't know why i am defending this family but...

just think about it - your family is HUGE - how much do you think they would spend on xmas of they weren't on benefits? Wouldn't you think it would be a similar amount?

Oh that's sad misdee. Whatever the rights or wrongs it is sad that their child has such a horrible condition.

Rom the site on Misdees link :

"Only time will tell how EB will effect my life , but I know I will probably need a wheelchair as walking will damage my feet, I've been told my fingers will web and deform from the age of three on - so I guess I won't be doing any piano recitals. Alot of children with this condition need feeding tubes in their tummys as their throats narrow too much to eat through blistering and scarring."

Still think he shouldn't recieve disability benefit? Or have a bigger car - because presumably if a sibling bumps into him it causes a hell of a lot of pain?

They spent £2000 on presents for 7 kids - thats far too much, sorry. More than £300 per kid. I'm not on benefits and I don't spend that much on my DD at Xmas.

that is so sad reading.

Sorry i got muddled up with her "target" of 14 children and read that she had 14

the other way of looking at it is

if they werent caring for their ds, which by the sound of it, takes up a lot of their time, how much would it cost for specialised care for him?

i was dh carer when he came home from hospital. 24hrs a day care. couldnt be left alone, me £50 per week. 16hours per week care package in place with trained carers as dh was on an LVAD, then upped to 24hours. that cost the PCT thousands of pounds per week. dh mum learnt to do his dressings to save on nurses coming in to do it. more money saved for the pct.

when i was interviewed by the press regarding dh, i refused to comment on benefits. i wouldnt discuss it. as that wasnt the issue. the issue was raising awareness.