Wednesday 5 November 2008

Unemployment Benefits for all!

The UK is rightly proud of its social security and benefit system which was invented as a safety net for people in this country fallen on hard times. However it has now been admitted by the British government that under EU rules unemployment benefits and social security payments are being paid to workers who have now left the UK and returned to their country of origin after loosing their jobs in the face of the credit crunch and downturn in the British economy.

It should come as no surprise to learn that this is due to another of those little-known EU directives which says, that provided an unemployed worker is seeking a job in their homeland, they can continue to be paid benefits by the country where they were laid off. This means thousands of EU migrant workers who have returned home and subsequently failed to find work in their own country are being paid dole money by the British taxpayer.

This is on top of child benefits being paid for children who have never even been to this country. The government admits to 34,000 children in Eastern Europe for example are receiving UK taxpayer funded child benefit at a rate of £18.10 a week for the first child and £12.10 a week for subsequent children. The EU rules do allow any Britons living and working another EU country to claim their child benefit from the government of the country where they are located. However, should that be Poland for example the total paid by that government is £160 a year. Doesn’t take a mathematical genius to work out which country is the soft touch does it!

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