Benefits, Do some people deserve them? - General

Quick Story Are you sitting confortably children? My dad has worked hard his whole life, 12 years ago me and my family moved to lanzarote in spain to enjoy the high life which we had heard so much about, for the first 5 years on the island my mum and dad were doing very well managing hotels for a living (even i got envolved in hotel entertainment and is now a trainer) but after a while it got boring to the extent we decided to open our own bar! and called it "the funny farm" (heres the fb group to it [url]http://www.facebook.com/groups/13596429363/[/url]) the bar went down an absolute storm and we were packed everynight to the extent people had to start reserving tables to get in, we even had a camera crew in a couple times for some "relocation style programs!" and i couldnt have asked for a better life,then something very unexpected happened,THE CREDIT CRUNCH!. The bar suddenly went from always packed to always empty over night. we survived a good 3 years though it, however The spanish goverment quickly ran out of money and started taking drastic actions, to the extent that we were fined 30,000€ for having "too loud music" when infact it was perfectly withing the legal volume! the bar next door to us got fined the same because there SIGN WAS TOO BRIGHT! so thats how spain planned on getting there money back, destorying the buisnesses the evil bastards! sadly the bar had to close and everything was lost including our house,cars even pets! and my parents even broke up.. so my dad had no choice but to go back to he uk and apply for benefits a week ago. He was told he was not aloud benefits because he did not have official residence in the uk ( even though he does) they just dont wanna give him anything since he moved away from the country,the only way they will give him anything is if he declares himself "HOMELESS!" and when my dad asked the woman in the town hall where would i live then? the woman replied "i dunno, you might just have to live rough for a couple weeks before we find you a hostel" my dad is 60....and the town hall told him to live on the streets. The people after my dad was a lithuanin man. we was given a house,car and a job within 30 minutes. So did that man deserve the house and money for than my dad? (a british citizen) Thats my question to you. If you read the whole story, Thank you very much for your time. Facepunch has always been full of good people! p.s ive just found out my dad also has C.O.P.D and has been told by the uk council he will never be able to get a job. great huh? [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Not a debate" - Megafan))[/highlight]

You don't get given a house, car and a job within 30 minutes. Council houses are based on a points system, the worse your circumstances, the higher up the list you go.They also don't give you a car (unless you're disabled) or a job. They're also right that you can't apply for benefits without an address or bank account, but if he does and he's a British citizen like you say why can't he prove it? But yes some people deserve them but I think they need to be controlled more. For example with job seekers allowance you have to apply for 3 jobs per week but the only way they can control this is by trusting you when you said you have and when you write it on a piece of paper.

I think it's criminal that someone who has just arrived in the country can get a free house, benefits and what not when my Dad is apparently not entitled to any despite having worked for over 30 years because he hasn't paid enough national insurance due to being self-employed.

I've heard of some ridiculous cases, like the one you mentioned. Like a woman who couldn't even speak english and had 6 kids being given a £700,000 house to live in, in London, and having no intention of working. Absolutely ridiculous and dispicable. It's hard not to hate the system when it fucks people over so badly. Best of luck to your dad and family. Here's an idea.. write a sob story and pay some money (probably like £50 max) to launch a press release and/or contact newspapers and magazines to run an article. With any luck it'd raise awareness of the benefits system and your case.

[QUOTE=SCopE5000;38151833] Here's an idea.. write a sob story and pay some money (probably like £50 max) to launch a press release and/or contact newspapers and magazines to run an article.[/QUOTE] If you go this route, please make it legible and not a giant wall of poor word usage, neglectful capitalization (or lack thereof), and despicable punctuation placement.