BENEFIT SCROUNGERS

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Families living in local authority “mansions” have become Britain’s biggest scroungers, raking in £6million a year from the taxpayer. One couple with 14 children get their £1,700-a-month rent paid by the local council and receive another £50,000 a year in benefits. In another house, a family of eight adults and nine children live in luxury. While most of us struggle to meet rent or mortgage payments, an investigation by the Sunday Express has exposed a catalogue of families on the fiddle up and down the country. It discovered six, seven and eight-bedroom properties used to accommodate huge households, all at taxpayers’ expense.

Inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act to 108 town halls found the average cost of providing accommodation to the biggest family in each council area was £17,500 a year or £1,450 a month. It means the cost across all 335 councils in England and Wales is close to £6million. Margaret Wilson, her partner Eric Jamieson and their 14 children live in an eight-bedroom house in Newcastle’s West End. Ms Wilson has 17 children in all, though three have grown up and left home. She said she had no regrets about the huge cost to the taxpayer of keeping her family.

She said, “They have called me the mother of all scroungers but I couldn’t care less. I have 17 kids and 14 of them still living here. We need the room.” In addition to the rent, the family also claims tax credit of £619 a week, child benefit of £165, carer’s allowance of £58, income support of £37 and housing benefit of £61, a yearly total of almost £50,000. The rent is paid by Newcastle City Council under a scheme called Local Housing Allowance. Families can use a complex formula based on the number of adults and the age and sexes of their children to claim entitlement to a house with a specific number of bedrooms.

The scheme has left councils struggling to find homes big enough to house families with a large number of children, and means they often rent more luxurious properties than would be offered to a smaller family. Investigation uncovered 19 houses with six, seven or eight bedrooms. In the London borough of Barnet eight adults and nine children share a five-bedroom house which costs £3,146 a month. Seven London councils admitted paying more than £3,000 a month to put up extended families, including £4,117 a month for a six-bed home in Wandsworth for a family of 12. (Source: Sunday Express, Feb/10)

Unemployed father of 14, Mick Philpott claims that his four-bedroom council house in Allenton is far too cramped for him to share with his wife, girlfriend and eight of their children. The city council has told him that it is unable to help at the moment, but Mr Philpott said, "They always come up with the same excuses. They're just not good enough. I love my country, but at the moment I feel ashamed of it. I think the country is going down the pan."

Mr Philpott's girlfriend, Lisa Willis, is expecting his 15th child, and he claims that when two more of his children visit at weekends he has to sleep in a tent. Mr Philpott lives with his wife, Mairead. The family live on £508 per week benefits, which are awarded to the two women, along with income from Mrs Philpott's part-time job as a domestic assistant. Mick Philpott admitted he was jailed for seven years at Nottingham crown court in 1978 for the attempted murder of a woman he had been living with. He said, "That's one of the reasons no one will give me a job today."

Mr Philpott said, "People who think I am a scrounger, do they pay £68-a-week rent and £51-a-week on council tax? We are paying that, not the council or the social." Er, £51-a-week council tax for a four-bedroom house? And where do the £508 a week benefits come from? Channel Four and Channel 5 are reportedly interested in contacting him, including Closer magazine who paid him £2,000 for his "story". Following the £2,000 payment by Closer magazine for his story, the city council decided that housing benefit paid to his girlfriend and his wife should be reviewed.

Councillor Paul Bayliss said, "Mr Philpott seems quite keen to emphasise his rights and I think it only right that Mr Philpott is reminded of his responsibilities, so, to that end, I contacted the city council's benefits service." It is understood that the housing benefit will be frozen until the benefits service has reviewed the situation, subject to receiving a change of circumstances form from the claimants. Mrs Philpott said, "We've sent off the change of circumstances form to the council like we've been asked. I don't think it's fair but, hopefully, they'll do the right thing."

According to a report in the Daily Mirror (23 Mar), Mick owes Derby City Council more than £130 council tax from 2001-2002 and 2004-2005 and is facing a visit from bailiffs for not paying up. Mr Philpott refused to pay saying, "They should have sent me the bill before now." He has also not paid his last rent bill. He still denies he's a scrounger. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Mar/06)

Mick Philpott's wife and girlfriend are both pregnant again. He said, "I know I'll get some stick but I'm prepared for it. People should know before they attack me that I pay all my council tax, all £712 of it." How can he be paying his Council Tax if he is not working? What he means is that he is paying it out of benefits which in turn comes from the taxpayer.

Mr Philpott said that he had been looking for a job but, that since his demand for a larger house was reported in the local and national media, he has not managed to find work. He said, "I've applied for a few jobs but, when they realise who I am, that's it." Another factor which he said was stopping him from getting a job was his conviction in 1978 for attempted murder. He served time in prison. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Nov/06)

Father of 17, Mick Philpott, has landed a job after three years out of work. He was found three potential jobs by MP Ann Widdecombe during the week she spent filming a television documentary with his family earlier this year. One of them has resulted in an offer of employment with Burton-based barrel maker Cammac Brewery Support Services. However, he failed to turn up for his first day of work. He called TWO weeks later to say he couldn't start because he needed an operation on his hand.

Cammac managing director Paul Hancox said, "We had to put the day he did not turn up down as a no-show because he had not given an excuse. Then he called a couple of weeks later to say he couldn't start because he needed an operation on his hand. Mick has since been in touch this week and said he would be ready to start work in a couple of weeks' time. We are now aware that he needed an operation and we are more than happy to leave the job open for him."

Miss Widdecombe spent a week with the Philpotts filming Ann Widdecombe Versus, as part of an ITV1 series. During filming of the show, which focuses on the benefits system, Miss Widdecombe found him three potential jobs but Mr Philpott said that one was unsuitable and he was offered the second, so he did not attend the interview for the third. Miss Widdecombe, who did not stay with the family, said she was left unimpressed by the experience, which had reinforced her views that state handouts should have strings attached to them.

She said, "My solution remains workfare: if you want benefits, you have to earn them. After a certain lapse of time, if you're not working, fine, you still get benefits for the children but only if you do some community work." Mr Philpott said both he and his family struggled to get along with Miss Widdecombe. He said, "None of us liked her. She was rude to the kids and would tell them to be quiet even though they were just being kids." Does he mean unruly and running riot? After watching the programme it's safe to say that Mr Philpott has certainly not gained many supporters!

Mr Philpott claimed he was misrepresented in the documentary and said that it was "edited to portray him in the worst possible light". Or, as some people might say, "as he really is", swearing at the MP and describing her as a "dragon". The programme highlighted the luxury goods which he had at his home, including two cars, a pool, widescreen television and stereo with karaoke system. He claimed he didn't have two cars, despite them being shown on the programme, and that he sold his Shogun to buy a sports car. But why a sports car? Surely a single-decker bus would be more appropriate with his brood? Regarding his new job, he said, "I'm back at work in six to eight weeks."

Cammac Brewery Support Services later withdrew its offer of a job because he never turned up. Managing director Paul Hancox said the last time he had heard from him was in August and that the job offer had been withdrawn. The Derby scrounger said he had not started work because he had been offered a driving job, although he wouldn't give any details about the role, and that his girlfriend was now employed full-time in the canteen at the University of Derby. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/07)