Ashley Nietfeld's Opinion Column

[Binky Bainbridge]

A significant number of people in Britain "milk" the system, either legitimately, (because the system is so gullible), or fraudently.
Most people here believe that state benefits should be a "leg up" not a "hand out" for those who find themselves in short-term difficulties - the trouble is some people make a career out of it!

Take just one recent example out of many, this one was based on fraud, but is shows you how easy it is to beat the system.

Couple made up 16 children in benefit fraud

The Guardian - Steven Morris, Friday April 11 2008

A man who claimed more than £75,000 in benefits by inventing 16 children who did not exist to fund his gambling addiction was jailed for 20 months yesterday.

David Wilshaw, 58, and partner Nancy Stevenson, 59, fabricated a huge family to milk the system for four years. The fraud began when Wilshaw applied for tax credits for two of Stevenson's children who did exist and nobody asked to see birth certificates or other proof. He went on to make up the names of 16 children and pocketed more than £400 a week for them between 2003 and 2007.

Bristol crown court heard Wilshaw spent up to £600 a week in betting shops and Stevenson drank at least two bottles of brandy a day.

Full story: Couple made up 16 children in benefit fraud | UK news | The Guardian

[Justoo]

Anyone who has, or claims to have, 16 children should be given a mental evaluation.

[Binky Bainbridge]

Here's one more example of the sort of scroungers who prey on our generous state benefits system:

Meet the families where no one's worked for THREE generations - and they don't care

The Daily Mail 24 April 2008 - By SADIE NICHOLAS and DIANA APPLEYARD -

Known as the "Shameless" family among horrified neighbours, the McFaddens "boast" three generations of adults who are not working.
All ten members of the clan share a council house and live off benefits amounting to around £32,000 a year. And very happy they are, too.
Matriarch is grandmother Sue McFadden, 54. "Our neighbours are so snobby - they call us the "Shameless" family and say that we ought to go out to work. But how can we work when we have all these children to look after?
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Jean Thompson, right, with son Steven and granddaughter Jessica, who says: 'It is my right to claim benefits'. All ten members of her family share a three-bedroom council house

"The only problem is," she says without a hint of irony, "that we're living in a three-bedroom council house, which is ridiculous.
"I'm asking the council for a ten-bedroom home for all of us. We need more space. It's awful sometimes when all the children are squabbling. Still, we do have a big TV with Sky, but we need some relaxation."

Of course they do, poor lambs. What a damning verdict on our claim-it-all society, a grotesque mirror of the dark television drama Shameless. That show features fictional father-of-eight Frank, who is work-shy and self-pitying. Living on the Chatsworth Estate, he heads a family of dysfunctional teenagers living on an estate of benefit claimants and cheats.

Full story: Meet the families where no one's worked for THREE generations - and they don't care | the Daily Mail