intrusive questions on council tax form

SnooksNJ

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

Quite right.

I don't think the person who your comment was aimed at has the mental capacity to understand.

If anyone DARES to mention the benefits that we pay out to people who are granted immigration status, or woe betide us, if we mention the fact that 40,000 children who do not even live in the UK are getting child benefit paid straight from our taxes (Based on £20 per child this is £41,600,000 per year) or the fact that these immigrants arrive homeless so straight to the top of housing registers etc.. but no, don't mention any of that, because you might get called a racist or worse.. and why oh why would they then take a minimum wage so they would actually be worse off than claiming benefits..They do know how to play the system. Of course they do - and anyone who thinks otherwise is plain and simple kidding themselves with this bleeding heart liberal stuff . This is why immigrants come here and never leave.

People are quick to judge their own kind, but its a case of simple mathematics. Our economy simply cannot support such a growing population whether it was an influx of any race/creed. It is maths. Sheer maths. By the time it is realised, our ecomomy will be beyond f00ked

There is nothing Great about Breat Britian anymore, we cannot hold our heads up and be proud any more . Our forefathers fought wars, and then our generation do this!!

My Forefather's fought for and died for this great country and when I arrived I assure you I didn't claim any benefits or get on the top any housing list.

MissMoneypenny

SnooksNJ wrote: »

True, I was able to figure out what taxpayer handouts were available to me from the "no recourse to public funds" stamped on my visa.

Not all welfare payments are classed as "public funds", so even those immigrants who don't use the EU route to the UK (EU route means they have access to all UK welfare payments), do have access to some welfare payments in their own name.
Here are those welfare payments classed as 'public funds'
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/while-in-uk/rightsandresponsibilities/publicfunds/

But they can get access to some of those 'public funds' if they have a partner who got ILR (Indefiante Leave to Remain) or UK citizenship, as long as the claim is in their partners name. i.e. working tax credits. This means that even the children who also have 'no access to public funds' stamped in their passport, can have public funds too i.e. child benefit, child tax credits, housing benefit, council tax benefit etc.

So 'no access to public funds' doesn't mean no access to any welfare payments or the NHS, council houses, schools.

Just out of interest, Cameron has shut down a load of routes to UK citizenship for the low skilled, to protect the UKs welfare state; including the new visas that Labour invented; over the last decade; for the low skilled (future Labour voters) to get to the UK. These are some of the low skilled visas Cameron has closed.

• PSW visa
• The '14 years an illegal and never got caught; have a British passport' visa
• The Tier 1 general visa
• The Tier 2 ICT visa route to UK citizenship
• The ILE visa
• Elderly parent visa
• Discretionary visa under human rights with instant access to all welfare payments
• Chen EU route to UK citizenship

As well as making other visas now very hard to get and even harder to remain in the UK unless they really are highly skilled and wanted by firms. It is easier for low skilled people to get into Australia now than it is to get into the UK; unless they use the EU route of course.

galeforce81

Just wondering why there is so much talk (not on here) about people from the eu coming over here that we can't prevent under eu law, yet the 2 countries that have the most people entering the UK are Pakistan and India which we can control. Is this because of Student Visa's or is there another explanation.

Hope this post doesn't make me sound like i read the daily mail as most certainly don't. I'm just curious.

thegirlintheattic

Don't like it, don't claim benefits.

MissMoneypenny

galeforce81 wrote: »

Just wondering why there is so much talk (not on here) about people from the eu coming over here that we can't prevent under eu law, yet the 2 countries that have the most people entering the UK are Pakistan and India which we can control. Is this because of Student Visa's or is there another explanation.

Only the first two countries were non EU according to the last census, then it was a lot of new countries (EU countries) that dominated our cencus numbers in 2011. i.e 3rd was Poland.

See my post above, these non-EU visas to citizenship that Labour opened up, are now shut down. It is now virtually impossible for an international student to get UK citizenship unless they really are skilled and can find a company to sponsor them in a graduate job at the correct level of pay (no more being able to stay as taxi driver, shop worker, waiter). The low skilled visas closed down now in 2011 and 2012 and won't be relected in the census figures in 2011.

As you say, while we remain in the EU, we can't control the numbers of low skilled that enter under EU law. Highly skilled EUs will always be able to enter the UK under UK immigration laws and won't get UK welfare; as they will earn too much.

plum2002

Did Labour bring in the non-EU route during the 70's for students? Because I have a number of friends I was at boarding school with in the 80's who came from: India, Nigeria, Bahrain, Kenya, Tanzania just for starters all of whom spent 5 years at boarding school in England, then went on to Uni. Everyone of them got British citizenship before the completion of University studies (in 1991)

MissMoneypenny

plum2002 wrote: »

Did Labour bring in the non-EU route during the 70's for students? Because I have a number of friends I was at boarding school with in the 80's who came from: India, Nigeria, Bahrain, Kenya, Tanzania just for starters all of whom spent 5 years at boarding school in England, then went on to Uni. Everyone of them got British citizenship before the completion of University studies (in 1991)

Thanks for reminding me: that is another route to UK citizenship that the conservatives have just closed too.

missapril75

PoorCharleyBear wrote: »

So how can a government agency decide if someone is entitled, if they do not provide the required information?
Surely by supplying the information, it helps them to make an informed decision?

Given I have actually been justifying asking for information throughout this thread, I don't understand why you ask that question of me.

sunnyone

dori2o wrote: »

Actually sunnyone, yet again you are wrong. It's becoming a habit this.

DLA is still a non taxable benefit, it is still unable to be taken into account for any means test, that includes council tax benefit, despite the fact councils can make up their own rules on how to administer it, they cannot change what income is and is not included in the test.

fluffymovie wrote: »

Unfortunately, this is simply incorrect advice.

From 1 April 2013, each council will have it's own scheme and it will be able to determine what income it chooses to disregard or not. For example, I know of a council which will be using child maintenance in full as income for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme but for HB, it is still disregarded under the national HB scheme and 2006 regs.

It may or may not be true that someone's council is using DLA as an income and I know of some councils which are.

DLA has always been disregarded in the assessment of Housing and Council Tax Benefit by virtue of the HB and CTB Regs 1997 and subsequently 2006 and not by virtue of it being non taxable. It has also been used in determining claims for Discretionary Housing Payments over many years in the last 3 council's I worked for.

Thank you fluffymovie, I know this is your job so I hope that dori2o can accept that both you and I are correct and DLA is now fair game under the new rules for council tax benefits, I will await his apology especially since he has accused me of being habitually wrong.

dori2o

sunnyone wrote: »

Thank you fluffymovie, I know this is your job so I hope that dori2o can accept that both you and I are correct and DLA is now fair game under the new rules for council tax benefits, I will await his apology especially since he has accused me of being habitually wrong.

I will apologise. I seems you have got this one partly right. Lets face it, the trend had to reverse sometime.

It is allowed to be used for income tests, except for those who are pensioners, for whom it is still not included as income for the purpose of Council Tax Reduction Schemes.