BENEFIT SCROUNGERS

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
 

Pete and Sam Smith don't need jobs. Instead they just work the system, pulling in a staggering £95,000 a year in state benefits. The huge handout package, five times the starting salary for a schoolteacher, includes a rent-free four-bedroom house, daily breakfast delivered to the door and enough spare cash to keep five pets pampered in a cattery. But mum-of-ten Sam, still moans. Their home is too small, the breakfast portions too mean and Britain's mad benefits culture only allows her enough cash to buy the kids one Nintendo Wii games console!

She said, "It's very cramped here and we've been told we might not be given a new house for another nine months, which is ridiculous. And the breakfast supplied by the council isn't like proper hot food. It's usually eggs, beans, tinned tomatoes and cereal, which isn't really enough for us all and we have to heat it up ourselves." The Smiths were moved into the property in Kingswood, Bristol, by the local authority a month ago after being evicted from a house in Bath which the landlord claimed they had wrecked.

The couple have not worked since Pete quit the Army in 2001 to care for Sam, who suffers curvature of the spine, and their three kids. Nevertheless, Sam has been well enough to give birth to seven more and now enjoys £140 a week child benefits thanks to her happy brood of 10, aged from 14 years down to four months. Along with disability living allowance, carer's allowance, tax credits and income support, that brings the family's cash handouts to an incredible £44,954. But Sam's not satisfied. She said, "It's not really that much money we get. It's certainly not enough for all of us. By the time we pay for food, clothes, electricity and £100 a week for the cattery, we don't have much left. It's tough."

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions admitted, "The current system is broken. That's why we're reforming it to ensure work pays and we get people off benefits and into jobs." A representative of Bath and North East Somerset Council said they had a legal duty to rehouse the homeless children and the £950-a-week bed-and-breakfast deal is just a "temporary" arrangement, adding, "Due to the size of this family there are very limited options." (Source: News of the World, Sep/10)

Residents are petitioning to have Jane and Lee Houghton, their five youngest children and a grandson evicted. But with a new bathroom and kitchen on its way, paid for by the council, and a house filled with numerous games consoles, computers and TVs they have no intention of moving. And Mr Houghton insisted they need more than the £20,000 a year they get. He is paid £150 a month disability allowance because he has a 'personality disorder' which makes him 'kick off in crowds'. He has not worked since 1999 and says drinking alcohol helps him cope with his condition.

He has been threatened with an Asbo for violent behaviour as well as being drunk and disorderly and has 24 previous convictions. The comfortable lifestyle of the Houghton family is funded by benefits including £640 income support, £212 carer's allowance a month as well as Mr Houghton's £150 disability allowance. Their four-bedroom semi-detached house in Crawley, West Sussex, is paid for by housing benefit. The Houghtons boast about spending £1,000 on each of their children at Christmas. They have seven children and their eldest daughter has her own council home.

Mrs Houghton said, "I only get carer's allowance because my 16-year-old daughter Chelsea has ADHD. We get disability allowance for Lee too because of his personality disorder, but we should get more. They've even stopped giving me child benefit for Chelsea because she's a mum now, yet they won't give her a council house until she's 18, it's so unfair! We only get £150 a month disability allowance for Lee, which isn't enough. His personality disorder makes him really moody so he should get more." The couple have been together since Mr Houghton was 17 and his wife was 14.

They had their first child Lee, now aged 23, a year later, followed by Emma, 20, James, 18, Chelsea Ann Stamford Bridge, 16, named after Mr Houghton's favourite football team and their home ground, Joanne, 14, Jack, ten, and Summer, two. They share their home with their five youngest children and Chelsea's son Dion, ten months. Emma lives with three-year-old daughter Chanelle in her own council home. Their only child with a job is eldest son Lee, who works as a cleaner. They've got a computer and a laptop, four TVs, two Xboxes, three DVD players and we've all got mobile phones.

The Houghtons moved to their current home in 2001 after being evicted from their previous house for failing to pay the rent, despite receiving housing benefit which covered it. They freely admit they 'did it on purpose' as they wanted a new home. Mrs Houghton said, "We made up some bullshit about Lee chucking me out as we knew if we played the game I'd get another house." Since moving in, the family has made the lives of their neighbours hell, blasting out loud music from their home, while Mr Houghton drunkenly falls over in the street and rides his motorbike on the pavement.

His previous convictions are mainly for drink-related offences, such as swearing at police officers and shouting abuse at people in the street but he insists it is his family who are being picked on. He said, "We've had enough of being branded thugs. We're a good family. The old woman opposite us was always watching my kids out of her window and moaning about them being loud. About ten of our neighbours signed her petition. Drinking helps me cope with my personality disorder. I start with a bottle of Jack Daniels then have a few cans of cider. If people want to work, good for them. I would if I could, but I'm too ill." (Source: Daily Mail, May/10)

Francesca Walker receives more than £90,000 a year in benefits to pay the rent on £2.6m five-bed villa, plus other payouts. Her four-storey home boasts five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a double living room, study and roof terrace. Miss Walker said, "All my life I’ve lived in overcrowded flats on estates with gangs that kicked our door in and harassed my children. We lived in some hellholes. One stank so badly we couldn’t use two rooms. Another had a gas leak that made my children ill."

Miss Walker, whose children range from five to 16, was given the house because a new rule introduced by the Government in April forces Kensington and Chelsea council to fund suitable homes for large families. None of the available council houses was big enough, so the local authority pays for her to rent from a private landlord. Miss Walker admitted the move, in September, had caused ‘a lot of jealousy’.

She said, "My best friend accused me of swallowing up everything the world has to offer and becoming materialistic. I didn’t ask to be here. I’d rather have a job and an ordinary house than be trapped in a Catch-22 situation where going to work will actually make me worse off because I can never make enough to pay the rent. Now that I am here, I’m not going to pretend it isn’t great. It’s amazing to have so much space and not to have nine of us queuing to use one bathroom in the morning."

The council said, "We could not give Miss Walker a property outside the borough because her children go to local schools." Miss Walker gets £15,000 a year in benefits in addition to the £91,260 rent paid by the Government via the council to the landlord's agency, Foxtons. She has two 42in flat-screen TVs, a computer and a clutch of expensive-looking sofas and Ottoman beds. The house does not feel sparsely appointed, as some might expect, given that she's meant to be living on the poverty line and it was rented 'unfurnished'. (Source: Daily Mail, May/10)

A jobless couple with ten kids would have to earn £67,000 a year to match what they get from the state. Sue and Pete Davison, who haven't had a job between them since 1997, want to work. But our handouts culture pays them nearly £45,000 a year. Meanwhile it's tax paid by the average worker, earning just £25,428, which foots that bill. Pete last worked 13 years ago when he was made redundant from a factory job. He said, "At the same time Sue was in a bus crash and became unwell so I started to care for her and the kids. But I am ready to get back to work. There just aren't the jobs at a salary which would it beneficial. I can't work in McDonald's for little more than minimum wage."

At their four-bedroom council maisonette in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, mum Sue admitted, "People might say we're only having kids for the benefits. But that's nonsense. I'd always wanted a large family and we have very little money at all left over. The house isn't dripping with mobile phones and computers. I have a laptop which the kids fight over to help with their homework. Our weekly food bill is often £300. Pete likes the odd glass of beer but he doesn't go to the pub. I might take the kids to the pictures but we go early when it's cheaper. We have days out to the seaside and picnics rather than holidays. If we had loads of money we'd be living in a big house but that's not the case."

She added, "Everything goes on feeding and clothing the kids plus household bills. Our one luxury is the £35-a-month Sky TV." The family's current tax-free handouts include £76-a-week housing benefit, their £700 council tax bill, £390-a-week child tax credits, child benefit of £104 a week and school meals to the tune of £63 a week. Pete gets income support of £80 a week but ironically the family is financially better off since Sue sadly lost a leg this year after complications following a fall at a leisure centre. Pete is now her full-time carer with a weekly allowance of £53, while Sue gets £97 a week in disability payments. It all adds up to £44,820, they'd have to earn £67,000 gross to take that home after tax. (Source: News of the World, Aug/10)

<<< Prev