Reply to: Claiming benefits between contracts

[AtW]

There were so many rules which would have disqualified me had my circumstances been the slightest bit different from what they were.

It's funny how it is almost impossible to avoid paying NI, yet claiming money you paid is also impossible. There is something fundamentally wrong in such an arrangement.

[IR35 Avoider]

I signed on once.

I told them my exact situation (company director of one-man company, no work, no money in company account.) They let me sign on for seven months. Think I might have had to get P45 from accountant. Far from forcing me to get work as a data-entry clerk, their pamphlet stressed that they wanted me to find similar employment to my previous one. Not only did I get the £50 a week (or whatever) - they paid my mortgage for a while as well. In order to qualify for the latter I had to have little savings. I wrote them a letter explaining that I had 10-20K in shares in unlisted companies, which I could not sell easily, and under the rules the difficulty of selling meant those savings did not count. (The unlisted companies were "Business Expansion Scheme" investments, which I'd put my savings into in order to get the 40% tax-relief on offer.)

That was 1991 though. The rules have changed since then. In particular, people with large mortgages no longer get help. There was outrage in the early 90s when some guy with a 450K mortgage was getting his interest paid, and they brought in a limit saying income support would not pay out if the mortgage was over 100K. My mortgage was 120K, so even two or three years after I claimed I would no longer have been eligible for what I got, due to rule changes.

I worked out that I would have to be paid well over 20K to be better off working than on benefits. (At the time my flat was worth 40K less than the mortgage though, so even if it was in my personality to be work-shy, the threat of repossession and bankruptcy would have been enough to motivate me.)

Even at the time, I realised I was very lucky to pass all the tests to qualify. There were so many rules which would have disqualified me had my circumstances been the slightest bit different from what they were.

[Churchill]

Eh? Unless I'm still p1ssed from the continuous 4 day drinking binge I've been on, from your message I gather that:
- You're permie
- You earned £16k last month and hence paid £6.5k in tax

Xmas bonus time.

[DiscoStu]

Eh? Unless I'm still p1ssed from the continuous 4 day drinking binge I've been on, from your message I gather that:
- You're permie
- You earned £16k last month and hence paid £6.5k in tax

I earn that every couple of minutes.

Threaded

[ChimpMaster]

My payslip was on my desk this morning. On opening it I've found that total deductions this month are just under £6.5k and I'm a staffer FFS!

Eh? Unless I'm still p1ssed from the continuous 4 day drinking binge I've been on, from your message I gather that:
- You're permie
- You earned £16k last month and hence paid £6.5k in tax

[Churchill]

Look - we all know that honest hardworking taxpayers get screwed in this country. The benefits go to those who are either very rich, or very lazy, or very foreign.

But you can't change that, it's just the way this Benefit Nation operates... so the only option is to up and leave. Here in the UK you are but a criminal for earning more than the average man, and you are made to feel as though you owe the government for their own incompetance. You are penalised for working hard and wanting to improve your standard of living.

Plan your departure in plenty of time, and take your horde of cash and your valuable skillset to somewhere where it will be appreciated.

My payslip was on my desk this morning. On opening it I've found that total deductions this month are just under £6.5k and I'm a staffer FFS!

[ChimpMaster]

Look - we all know that honest hardworking taxpayers get screwed in this country. The benefits go to those who are either very rich, or very lazy, or very foreign.

But you can't change that, it's just the way this Benefit Nation operates... so the only option is to up and leave. Here in the UK you are but a criminal for earning more than the average man, and you are made to feel as though you owe the government for their own incompetance. You are penalised for working hard and wanting to improve your standard of living.

Plan your departure in plenty of time, and take your horde of cash and your valuable skillset to somewhere where it will be appreciated.

[TheFaQQer]

Isn't it time for you to leave the board again in a huff...for a few months at least?

No doubt he will when he slips even further down the CUK posters list

A good bout of insomnia from Diver over a couple of days ought to do it.

Unless he goes off in a sulk when someone else hits 10000 posts

[AtW]

Isn't it time for you to leave the board again in a huff...for a few months at least?

Why?

[Sockpuppet]

I'd be brilliant. Just like in everything else I do.

Isn't it time for you to leave the board again in a huff...for a few months at least?

[AtW]

Lucky for you. I bet you'd make a carp street cleaner.

I'd be brilliant. Just like in everything else I do.

[Sockpuppet]

But this won't happen.

Lucky for you. I bet you'd make a crap street cleaner.

[AtW]

I then had to live off my savings for two years, whereas other people with no savings, who have probably never made any attempt to work or save can claim for year after year and then fake illness and go onto validity benefit.

It sucks.

IMO people should have recorded amount of tax they paid, and everyone gets benefits unless amount on this account is very low - in this case you have to take any job that comes around or work for charities, clean streets etc.

But this won't happen under Govt that claims to redistribute incomes while in effect wasting those incomes.

[Cyberman]

Did you sign declaration with the words to the effect of "I have provided complete and honest information about my current affairs" when applying for benefits?

Yes. Unfortunately I was naive enough to give all details about company, directorship etc. I then had to live off my savings for two years, whereas other people with no savings, who have probably never made any attempt to work or save can claim for year after year and then fake illness and go onto validity benefit.
Thus, we now have over 3 million people claiming long-term validity benefit, many of whom should not be, and I don't see any court cases happening there.

[AtW]

Let me rephrase that. There is no way that this is illegal.

Did you sign declaration with the words to the effect of "I have provided complete and honest information about my current affairs" when applying for benefits?