couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

saw this on GMTV this morning, what are your views on it?


GMTV - scratchcard couple

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Can we add another option for "Why not we pay for Polish kids that have never even seen England" so I can vote please?

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

I suppose really have to look at the situation they are in now. OK, they appear not to have handled their windfall very well, and now left with nothing, so do not see why they should not be able to claim benefits at the end of the day.

I have never handled my money terribly well when I was on a good income, ( spent on my kids obviously) so would the benefits people judge me and say you had your chance so tough. :(

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

They were obviously getting too much money in benefits already, if they can afford to buy scratch cards.

They should be forced to pay the money they owe, and should not be entitled to housing benefits until the goods they bought with their windfall have been sold.

Some people have the cheek of the Devil.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

That link shows how they misspent half of it - was the other half spent on day to day living when they had Income support stopped?
That link doesn't say WHEN they won it - could be years?

The rules have always been there on Income Support which ask claimants to explain how capital has been spent.

Many old dears lost out by giving away money to their children and then found out that they were treated as still having it!

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

if they have no visible income and can prove past expenditure
can clear any debts on housing surely they would fit the critique
and would be entitled to benefits :mad:
it doesnt mention what has happened to the static caravan they bought ?

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

it does Beechy, they have it up for sale

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Cheeky beggars. They fritter away £100,000 and then expect benefits.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

they will surely have to much money for benefits then :hehetable

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

If they can prove where that £45,000 went then they wil get the benefit, but they cant so they stuffed!!

but if they are telling the truth then , yes they should be entitled to it!

what i cant understand is why they spent it stupid!
they could have bought a house with that!!
better still, instead of selling the caravan, why dont they live in it:D

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

I disagree.

What if someone on benefits won millions on the Lottery, but spent it all on a Picasso, would they still be entitled to claim benefits?

Not in my book they wouldn't.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

To me thats an investment, so no then they shouldnt be able to get benefit!

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Investment/asset, however they decide to spend it, means that their benefit should be stopped or adjusted.

Benefits should be there as a safety net for those who need it.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Do you claim anything and is your house your own?

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

My house is mine, and paid for. If I was renting I presume I'd get housing benefit, though not if I'd squandered a windfall on a chain of houses.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

So should you be forced to sell it?

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

They should get diddly squat, it's taking the michael . How can they have not noticed that they were down to their last few thousand..... :eek:

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Would you feel the same if it was their redundancy payment?

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

While it may be seen as cheeky it as to be said they won the money fair and square.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

As the law of the land stands now, I currently don't have to sell it, because I could then blow all the money on whatever I wanted, and the state would be obliged to then house me, and cost the state more money.

I don't play the Lottery, so that is not relevant, but if I were to ever inherit any money I wouldn't expect to recieve what I do now.

I sincerely hope you are lucky enough to remain in good health until your dieing day, and are never troubled with any of these dilemmas.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Yes I would. Benefits are, and should be means tested. Someone with a stash of cash in the bank, from wherever, shouldn't also expect to recieve the same benefits as someone without a penny.

Here's a first.

Me with the conservative approach, and you spouting Marxist garbage.:D

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

So do I and I was not having a dig. It is just that some people have been a little contradictory on this thread.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Who........?

Not like you to be so unforthcoming.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Please don't ask me to read all those posts again by people upset 'cus they did not win £100,000

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Good luck to them, that's what I say, though I still don't think they should be entitled to benefits that are means tested, when they have assets bought with money from their win, and money so far still not accounted for.

Would you be in favour of someone who was on the Dole, or whatever it's called now, still receiving their money if they had a couple of million in the bank, after a Lottery win? I wouldn't.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

No, but if they did something stupid and spent it all I would.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

whats not been said yet is that....if i won that much money i would like to BUY myself a house or something to live in, that would be an investment, yes i know £100,000 wouldnt get me much of a house (well i could buy my house for a lot less than that) then they would have no need for housing benefit, then i would get a job after i'd bought the house so no benefits needed

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

If most benefits weren't means tested, which they currently are, except in Scotland, where you can still receive residential care without having to sell your house and use your savings, unlike in England and Wales, the country would be facing an even bigger burden, with the tax payer giving money to those who've decided to blow any windfall that they had.


Would I begrudge paying this man any money from the public purse, whilst he still had disposable assets? Yes I would.

Michael Carroll (lottery winner) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

If these people have been stupid enough to spend the winnings, without investment, then as long as there are no assets from the proceeds, there is no choice but to allow them benefits, so a lot of the arguments posted are irrelevent, I think they should be allowed thier benefits, they will at least have the privelage of kicking themselves eternally, and forever have fingers pointing at them, they will of course, with hindsight, realise that they should have invested and spent the interest, it is also fair comment that the money they have spent will have been taxed unmercilessly, so they have made, albeit a token, contribution to the coffers.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

I apologise for being simple but why do you need to buy a house before you can get a job? :confused:

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

'They were turned down because they could not account for £29,580 withdrawn from cash machines and £12,000 moved to a new account.'

Scratchcard spongers | Waste £100k | Still want benefits | The Sun |HomePage|News

The benefit they are attempting to claim is means tested, and therefore they shouldn't receive a penny until they can prove where the money has gone.

Thanks to the Sun, for the full, and sorry, tale.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

you dont you tool :rolleyes: i was merely saying that as an example, if i where in that situation thats what i would do rather then beg to go back on benefits

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

£5million lotto winner goes from millionaire to the dole in just three years | the Daily Mail

This bloke is even worse than them - he won £5.1 MILLION and spent/lost it all.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

As usual I'm confused, where in the lottery rules does it state win yourself a pension?

I would hope that if I had such a windfall I would manage it better than this couple, but isn't the whole idea about winning something like this so that you can treat yourself to things you couldn't afford before?

If the lottery is no longer giving prize money, (which I always thought was tax free), but now expecting everyone that wins to use the money as a 'rainy day fund', then whoever started it is misrepresenting themselves to the people that choose to buy tickets.

http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies...inking0018.gif

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

NO NO NO NO NO NO What a waste..........:confused:

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Can anybody get their head round that? He would have to spend £4,600 a day to get through so much.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

It must have kept a great many people in employment, Landlords, Bookies, Horse owners, Jockeys, Ladies of the night and on, and on and on............

http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies...inking0003.gif

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Tales like this make my blood boil, what total waste, they are privileged to have had such an amount whilst the rest of us just get by....grrrrrrr:mad:

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

No point letting it get to you he won the money fair and square. He would still be able to claim disability and mobility if he had been careful with the win.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

It is, as long as people don't still expect to get any means tested benefit they were awarded previously, while they were splashing their new cash.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

No they shouldn't be allowed benefits.
They were so lucky to win that money and to be in a comfortable position that many of us will never know.
If they couldn't manage the money responsibly that is their fault.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Out of interest how long do you think £100,000 would last to live on?

You would struggle to buy a decent house in a nice area for that.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

According to the law regarding benefits, the minimum a person can live on is £80.15 per week. So in answer to your question, it would last a few days short of twenty four years.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

There is a big difference on what the minimum you can live on and what you would like to live on.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Perhaps I'm being particularly dim here, but to me it is very clear cut.

For most means tested benefits the amount you're allowed to have in savings is up to£16,000.

If you have a windfall, from wherever, and don't inform the relevant bodies, who then adjust the amount of benefit claimed, then it is treated as fraud.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Am sure the figure for savings is £12,000 anything above that is taken into account

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Of course that's quite true.

As was pointed out in another thread, after buying a house, car, holiday, paying off relatived mortgages/debts, there wouldn't be much change left from a million pounds. However in law that is the figure that a person is supposed to be able to live on.

An example.

A lovely chap is diagnosed with an incurable disease.

That chap eventually finds out he is able to claim benefits, because of said illness.

The chap also discovers his private pension will pay him a small weekly sum, because there is presently no cure for his illness.

The benefits paid are adjusted, as the pension is included in the amount the law says he has to live on.

The lovely chap understands this, and thinks it is quite right.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

I've just been checking, and you the figure does vary, depending on the type of means tested benefit, as well as your age. For people over pensionable age I don't think there is a limit, unless you need residential care, where again the limit is set at £16,000.

Of course if you live in Scotland you get to keep all your savings, including any property you might have.

To me that is wrong. The laws of the U.K. should be applicable to all.

I'd much rather people got a bee in their bonnet about this discrepency, than worrying about feckless people who still expect to get means tested benefits after receiving a windfall.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

Now that is out of order.

So I am paying my tax in England to fund people in Scotland who could have massive savings and live in a mansion.

Anyone up for helping me rebuild Hadrian's Wall?
While we are at it lets dig Offa's Dyke deeper as well.

Re: couple want benefits after spending £100,000
 

In Scotland, as well as free residential care for the elderly, without the need to use your savings or sell your house to pay for it, students don't have to pay tuition fees to attend university, which they do in England.

Not a very united kingdom at all really.