£500 A WEEK IN BENEFITS
A young mother who has had seven kids
since she was 15 is raking in £500 a week in
benefits. When Susie Christian, 24, first became
pregnant at 15 she told her family that she
wanted another seven children.
She has been pregnant every year since and is
planning her eighth baby with husband Dax, 25 but
they are living at the taxpayers’ expense
because neither of them works.
Susie said, “We always wanted lots of babies
and we only take what we are entitled to. I would
love to work but I don’t have time. Dax
can’t because he has arthritis. People may
say we shouldn’t have kids if we can’t
support them, but it’s not our fault Dax is
unfit.”
All the kids – Hope, Neisha, Ethan, Neo,
Rhiver, Marli and Taio-Ashar, were planned. Their
parents pay £15 a month towards the rent of a
three-storey, four double-bedroom house in
Norwich but Susie claims they still struggle.
She told Closer magazine, “We have little
treats once all the bills are paid. We bought the
kids a Nintendo Wii but it’s tough. I
don’t splash out. I shouldn’t be
criticised for being on benefits. Being a wife
and mum is the most important job in the
world.” (Source: Daily Star, May/09) |
WORLDS GONE MAD
Anna Taylor has been off work for five years
since being diagnosed with post-natal depression
following the birth of her first child and in
that time she has had another four babies with
husband Alan, who is also unemployed.
Together the couple collect £501 a week in
benefits, £179 child tax credit, £64 child
benefit, £90 job seeker’s allowance, £126
housing benefit, £24 discretionary housing
payment and £18 towards their council tax.
They also receive free school meals and around
eight pints of milk a day, making an annual total
of £26,052, or the equivalent of a
£33,000-a-year salary before tax.
Now Mrs Taylor has been told that because she is
receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance she must
actively look for work. Otherwise most of the
handouts will be frozen.
She claims her family would be worse off
financially if she worked a 40-hour week on the
minimum wage. She would lose her housing benefit,
costing her £167 a week in rent, council tax
benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and free
school meals.
She has written to Tony Blair to complain and is
also lobbying her local MP. She moaned, "The
world’s gone mad. What’s the point of
going to slave your guts out for 40 hours? What
do you get for it? Absolutely nothing."
(Source: Mail on Sunday, Feb/07) |
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BENEFIT SCROUNGERS
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A jobless couple whose large family get
£815 a week in benefits to pay for their comfortable
lifestyle have complained "life's tough for
us." Peter and Claire Davey, who have seven children
and another one on the way, live in a four-bedroom house
and run two people carriers, one of them a Mercedes.
State handouts have also supplied a 42in TV complete with
Sky at £50-a-month, a Wii games console, three Nintendo
machines, a computer and four mobile phones.
But Claire, whose husband Peter gave up his job nine
years ago after realising he would rake in more from
benefits, is far from happy because she reckons their
council semi is too small. She said, "We're waiting
for somewhere bigger. I'm worried how we'll cope. It's
really hard. We can't afford holidays and the price of
living is going up but benefits are going down."
Claire, who hopes to have 14 children eventually, said,
"It doesn't bother me that taxpayers are paying for
me to have a large family. I don't feel bad about being
subsidised by working people. I'm just working with the
system that's there. If the Government wants to give me
money, I'm happy to take it. We get what we're entitled
to. I don't put in anything because I don't pay taxes but
if I could work, I would. We couldn't afford to care for
our children without benefits. But as long as they have
everything they need, I don't think I'm selfish. Most of
the parents at our kids' school are on benefits."
Peter, a former office worker, said, "We are
actually better off unemployed". But Claire, from
Anglesey, North Wales, insists Peter is not workshy. She
said he would do any job "as long as we could still
afford the lifestyle we have now". They get (per
week) income support: £439, housing benefit: £87,
carer's allowance: £53, disability living allowance:
£119, child benefit: £99 and council tax benefit: £18.
The couple, filed for bankruptcy 18 months ago after
racking up £20,000 of debt on mail order catalogues.
(Source: Daily Mirror, Apr/10)
Joanne Sheppard is spending £1,500 on
Christmas for her ten kids, but taxpayers will be picking
up the bill. Joanne and partner Gary Bateman, boast that
their front room will be piled high with presents for
their family. They brag that they will lavish hundreds of
pounds on festive food and decorations but the bill for
their Xmas extravaganza will be paid by taxpayers,
because the jobless spongers don't earn a penny and are
happy to live on benefits.
The Sheppards, who claim £28,000 a year from the state,
splash out a fortune on Christmas to make their home
'look like Santa's mansion'. Joanne said, "I
understand people who criticise but I can't go out to
work because my kids are my job and I don't like the idea
of leaving them with a childminder. And Gary can't go out
to work because he's on the sick after a back operation.
This may look like the life of Riley but it's not. We
don't get a lot of benefits."
The couple live in a three-bed council house in the
Bristol suburb of Yate. Their benefits includes £286 a
week in family tax credit, £96 a week in child benefit,
£284 a month in housing allowance and another £85 a
week incapacity benefit for Gary. The family home boasts
a modern £1,000 kitchen, a giant TV, a computer with
Internet access, a DVD player, a state-of-the-art hi-fi
system and an indoor aquarium. The family also has a
large collection of porcelain dolls worth £140.
The kids will get at least EIGHTY presents between them.
Their wish-list for Santa includes a Nintendo DS games
console, stacks of pricey Disney toys and several bikes.
Joanne bragged, "Last year the kids had so many
presents you couldn't even get in the front room. They
got so bored opening them all they started chucking them
across the room." Gary added, "Last year we
needed 15 binliners just for the wrapping paper and
packaging. It's not Santa's grotto, more like Santa's
mansion."
And it's not just at Christmas that Joanne and Gary fork
out fortunes on their kids. Private ballet lessons and
gymnastics classes cost hundreds of pounds each year.
Their kids also have regular days out at a local
playcentre, weekly trips to burger bars and annual trips
to a holiday camp. And every week the couple spend more
than £200 on kids' clothes and catalogue goods. Joanne,
who has not gone out to work since getting pregnant at
17, had her children by three different men.
Gary fathered the youngest four, but he acts as dad to
the other four who live with them. He used to work
dry-lining houses but freely admits he went on the sick
18 months ago when work dried up. He said, "I was
having back pains and didn't know what it was. But after
that I went on the sick because work was slack anyway and
it went from there." Gary and Joanne are now
reluctantly planning to get sterilised. They'll use £200
of benefits for Gary to have a private op while Joanne
will get hers free on the NHS.
Joanne insisted, "The benefits go on the kids, not
on me. They are not a lot and we struggle. I'm NOT a
scrounger. I'll have to go to work when the kids grow up,
so it's like I'll be paying back what I have borrowed
now." Blair Gibbs, spokesman for the Taxpayers'
Alliance, said, "This is a sickening case of welfare
abuse. The benefits system is still supposed to be a
safety net, not a free ride. Taxpayers have to pay for
all this and it sets a terrible example to others who are
planning on freeloading. By all means have a large
family, but don't expect ordinary hard-working taxpayers
to pick up the bill." (Source: Sunday People, Nov/06)
Sara Norkett and John Hodgkins face eviction
unless their ten kids stop terrorising an estate. The
family have driven people from their homes, bullied old
ladies and threatened violence in a 16-year nightmare for
locals. The jobless pair (of course) are crammed into a
three bedroom house and said they would move if the
council gave them a bigger property. The family, from
Riverleaze, Sea Mills, Bristol, brag about claiming
£22,176 a year in benefits but their history of damage
and intimidation has driven the council to obtain a court
order. It means one more anti-social act could see them
thrown out.
Sara said, "The local policeman was biased against
us. One or other of my kids was getting arrested every
month. They were being blamed for intimidating
neighbours, burglary and assault. Most of the time it
came to nothing. The police drive up and down the street
victimising us." Prams and bikes litter the family's
garden, which locals say used to be full of old cars.
Inside it is filthy and has no carpets but there is a
32in TV. They have three social workers and were given a
£100 grant to go ice skating.
John bragged, "People say booze and fags will give
you a low sperm count, but look at me. My secret is John
Smith's bitter. Those who complain are just snobs. People
find any excuse to report us. They came to arrest Jamie
on suspicion of burglary and I knocked a WPC over, but I
was disorientated after ten coppers had CS gassed me. The
police even warned our kids they can't walk in more than
two's. It means if my family wanted to walk to church on
a Sunday, we couldn't, not that we go to church,
mind." (Source: Sunday People, Aug/06)
The Cromptons
have two free houses, £32,656 a year in benefits and a
host of mod-cons, yet they're suing for more claiming
they've been treated "diabolically". They're
even demanding a cleaner to rid their home of two years
of filth. Their super-sized seven-bed house looks like a
Currys warehouse, with at least three computers, two
widescreen TVs, a DVD player, video, hi-fis, Xbox
computer console and a little-used vacuum cleaner.
Mum Tracey, who hasn't worked for 18 years and who has 10
children aged three to 18, said, "We're not
scroungers. We don't want to be on the dole. We just want
a good place to live." Tracey and husband Harry, who
hasn't worked for 13 years, were given two council houses
knocked into one two years ago, at a cost of £20,000.
They claimed around 20 repairs were still needed. While
the council tried to work through their demands, Tracey
said she couldn't clean or decorate, meaning every
surface is covered with dirt. Now the council in Hull has
reluctantly agreed to send in professional cleaners at a
cost of around £500. Tracey said, "They're meant to
be coming any day now for two days to give us a fresh
start. It wasn't our fault we couldn't clean up
properly."
The Cromptons are now preparing a claim for compensation.
They say one leak caused bedding and a mattress to go
mouldy and want £700 back, even though the items were
bought with a social services grant. Tracey said,
"It's not our fault we can't work. Harry has angina
and I'm raising kids. Once we finally got the bigger
house, they left it in such a state. The way they've
treated us is diabolical. We're working on a claim for
compensation."
As well as their £120-a-week rent being covered by
housing benefit, the couple rake in £628 a week in
benefits, including income support, disability allowance,
carer's allowance and non-working family tax credit. A
working parent would have to earn £46,500 a year before
tax and National Insurance to enjoy the Cromptons'
£32,656. The only wage earner in the family is eldest
Michael, who contributes £20 a week from his factory
job. (Source: Sunday People, Jul/06)
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