This should be good.

suffolkb

On 5live after 10 this morning. A couple who won £100,000 on a scratchcard have spent the lot. Now they are going to be on the radio to explain why they should get their rent paid as they are on benefits.
Can`t comment yet, but I`ll be listening.

pinkshoes

That's how the whole of the UK system works.

A penniless person who gets sick in old age gets everything free. Someone who has savings will be forced to cough up nearly every single penny of their hard earned cash before they get anything paid for by the state.

Hence this couple probably blew their £100k, knowing that if they didn't, they'd have to contribute towards their cost of living!

I wonder how many people smoke and/or drink alcohol yet get full benefits??

wymondham

suffolkb wrote: »

A couple who won £100,000 on a scratchcard have spent the lot. Now they are going to be on the radio to explain why they should get their rent paid as they are on benefits.

They know the system don't they! If you can get away with it who can blame them? This is more to do with the way the system works than anything else....

carolt

pinkshoes wrote: »

I wonder how many people smoke and/or drink alcohol yet get full benefits??

Agree with the rest of it, but this seems a bit harsh?!

Should all people on benefits not be allowed a drink, ever?

Where will it end? Fat people not be allowed enough food?

We may not like the life choices of people on benefits, but that doesn't give us the right, in a humane society, to police it down to that level.

suffolkb

I won`t judge yet. It is possible that they were quite well off when they won, and fell onto hard times long after they spent the £100k. Wouldn`t put bets on that though.

PasturesNew

Link to listen to it when it's on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/fivelive.shtml

Should just be able to click that and it links straight into the programme, no finding it, no software, just click and listen.

bobby-boy_2

Hi can someone let me know what they said please. Did they spend the cash or debt repayment living expenses etc or just "waste the cash?". Was their argument convincing or a couple of un-educated Chavs trying it on?

suffolkb

They sounded fairly old. Spent £22,000 on a caravan and bought a car. Paid £12,000 they owed in back rent. At £80 a week rent, they were about 3 years in arrears! The chap from the council was saying that unless they could account for the rest, then the council was not going to pay their rent. They said that they were skint, having spent the lot in 18 months and were upset at having to pay their own rent.

bobby-boy_2

Thanks for that suffolkb. A couple of chancers if they were 3 years in arrears!! Why did the council let it go on that long? Anyway seems the rules are similar to redundancy you have to acount for the cash, some things being allowed as a disregard such as debt repayment. Well at least they can live in the caravan.

arthur_dent_2

Ignoring the obvious house prices argument, £88,000 would have been one hell of a deposit. If you can spend that much money and only have a car and caravan to show for it there is something wrong with you.

PasturesNew

suffolkb wrote: »

They sounded fairly old. Spent £22,000 on a caravan and bought a car. Paid £12,000 they owed in back rent. At £80 a week rent, they were about 3 years in arrears! The chap from the council was saying that unless they could account for the rest, then the council was not going to pay their rent. They said that they were skint, having spent the lot in 18 months and were upset at having to pay their own rent.

Outrageous.
Make them live in their caravan.
If they didn't pay rent for 3 years prior, they don't deserve help now.
They're not worthy