Ema

bestpud

Narva wrote: »

Please do not come on here and give some whitty reply, today is a hard day, and no one but no one can know what it is like to be in someone elses situcation.

Please don't assume everyone on a low wage is in a better position than you as that is judging another's situation.

karen_newcastle

Bestpud - I appreciate your situation and I am sorry if you feld criticised by this thread that was never my intention. I agree with Narva that we need to walk a mile in someones shoes to understand their situation.

But where I think we will all agree is that it is really unfair that so many people claiming this allowance who aren't entitled to it. After all what they are getting is your tax that you are paying into the pot to help out others.

Linda_Secker

Benefit fraud is benefit fraud.

I don't know how much Government money (ie our taxes) goes on the benefit budget, but it is something enormous. Benefit fraud is theft, just as surely as walking into a shop and walking out without paying is. The people falsely claiming EMA for their children are stealing from us. All of us - even the poorest in society pay tax - it is added at 17.5% to almost everything we buy, even if we don't earn enough to pay income tax.

What people are 'supposed to be able to live on' is irrelevant here - £30,000 sounds like a vast sum to me, but then we are careful and always have been.

We are all paying for these kids to get paid to stay on at school. We should all ensure that only those whose families are entitled to it are getting it.

Regards
Linda

mitchaa

Linda_Secker wrote: »

Benefit fraud is benefit fraud.

I don't know how much Government money (ie our taxes) goes on the benefit budget, but it is something enormous.

The figures are..

We raise £158bn through the income tax system
We spend £161bn out in benefits to those in need.

Absoloute extraordinary:eek:

pepsicola_2

karen_newcastle wrote: »

I don't have too much information on the subject and wondered what your views were?

you seem to have enough information to form an opinion on your daughter's friends and their families though?

karen_newcastle wrote: »

But if you dont declare your partner then they wouldn't ask for their P60......so it's probably easy to cheat the system.

A close friend gets EMA for her daughter and didn't tell them about her HUSBAND!????!!!!??

and your close friends obviously tell you their financial business, so report them as you say you will, probably loose a friend or two along the way but hey

quote=karen_newcastle;10152743] We do manage put savings aside each month for both our childrens future and have even considered stopping this to give my daughter something towards £120 per month the EMA would give her.[/quote]

i'm sure your close friends will be able to explain to you that not every student gets the full £30 per school/college week.

karen_newcastle wrote: »

From what I can see some of those on 'lower' incomes have more luxuries than I do!!! I went and picked my daughter up from a friends house the other day (one parent doesn't work the other works at local supermarket) and they had a top of the range massive plasma TV, a Wii, a expensive sofa and a very nice car outside the house. They also own a caravan up the coast and the parents are out every weekend!!!

your friends/daughters friends must love you coming about their house noting what they have, where they go and heaven forbid one even works at a supermarket what a snobby remark. i hope for your sake none of these "friends" ever read what you have to say about them.

karen_newcastle wrote: »

Great comment :T .....and exactly what I told my daughter when she 'suggested' we lie about our income so she qualifies.

Hell will freeze over before I become a benefit fraudster :eek:

so it was your daughter who suggested you do this, not what you said in your opening post

karen_newcastle wrote: »

But where I think we will all agree is that it is really unfair that so many people claiming this allowance who aren't entitled to it. After all what they are getting is your tax that you are paying into the pot to help out others.

is their a link to back up your statement here please and can you explain the difference between benefits and what you are now saying is an allowance although in fact allowance is the correct terminology.

sheilavw

Like I said in an earlier post we got £10 for our daughter (now 20 and at uni) but I always wondered how many people down South qualify for this. We live in the North where wages are a lot less. Also the threshold then was £30.800 and it remains the same, you would think it would alter a bit. Our youngest leaves next year and we will again get the £10 (unless we get any drastic pay rises. Live in hope!!!!

karen_newcastle

you seem to have enough information to form an opinion on your daughter's friends and their families though?

Yes I do have enough information to comment on my daughter friends families. I can comment on whatever I like as it happens!


and your close friends obviously tell you their financial business, so report them as you say you will, probably loose a friend or two along the way but hey

I would have to think carefully about reporting a close friend - I would rather try and talk them out of it and ask them to re-consider the risks they are taking.

i'm sure your close friends will be able to explain to you that not every student gets the full £30 per school/college week.

I know this already.

your friends/daughters friends must love you coming about their house noting what they have, where they go and heaven forbid one even works at a supermarket what a snobby remark. i hope for your sake none of these "friends" ever read what you have to say about them.


So what if I notice what other people have? I huge plasma screen is pretty hard to miss when it's right in front of your face. It's not like I am going through their drawers LOL :rotfl:

so it was your daughter who suggested you do this, not what you said in your opening post

This is what started the conversation between me and my daughter. She asked why she doesn't qualify and it transpired that some people she knows aren't disclosing both parents income. She said 'why can't we do that?' so I exlained to her about benefit fraud. I apologise for not writing war and peace in my opening post. However it changes nothing.


is their a link to back up your statement here please and can you explain the difference between benefits and what you are now saying is an allowance although in fact allowance is the correct terminology

Not sure what you mean? This is a means tested allowance. If using the work benefit I have confused you then I am sorry but I am not sure what the relevance it? Whatever its called there are some who are claiming this when there are not entitled.

karen_newcastle

pepsicola wrote: »

I am sorry to hear you have a hard time budgeting on over 30k a year and are having to send your 16 year out to work :rolleyes:

Funny how you criticise me for commenting on people I actually know yet you do exactly the same about me.....yet you know nothing about my financial circumstances at all!!

I am not 'sending my 16 year old out to work'....you make it sound like she it being forced to work down the pits or something :rotfl: . I've just explained to her that she doesn't qualify or EMA and she already gets her child benefit and if she wants more money she can find a Saturday job to supplement her income. I think that will teach her a valuable lesson in life....that things don't always come easy in life and handouts aren't the answer.

hustle90

I'm 17 and get £30 a week for going to college/6 form. £30 goes absolutely nowhere. I live with my mum who is single/divorced from my dad. She gets paid a low wage (Hence why I get £30). The £30 just about covers the train cost for me to get to and from 6 form and maybe a little left over for food/drink.

EMA is meant for people who really do have a low income and are possibly on bread line. 30K a year is hardly bread line. If it's hard for you living on 30k, then try 15k, which is what some families are living on. You can have my parents wage and my £30 a week and we'll have your 30k salary. You wouldn't cope if you can't cope on 30k now.

I'm not trying to be rude, but a 16/17 year old who's parent has enough money to pay the bills and have a happy lifestyle doesn't NEED EMA. Myself and some of my friends NEED EMA to be able to attend college. My mum couldn't afford for me to go to college/6 form without EMA.

For those who say that EMA is spent on social life etc, well thats not the case for most. For the people I know, EMA is spent on actually be able to go to college.

At 16/17, what does your daughter NEED £30 a week for?. I have to earn my own money if I want to go out socializing on a weekend, not simply sponge of the Government to go out with my friends.

My friends all have the latest laptops, mobile, money to go out every week, parents have flash cars and houses. Does that mean I have to have all of that?, no. Just because my friends/peers are gettting/got something, it doesn't mean I have to have it.

Tell your daughter to grow up, get a part time job and start living in the real world, because not everything in life is handed to you on a plate.

(Sorry if this sounds rude, but your original statement annoys me a little)

karen_newcastle

Hustle90 I think you should re-read my original statement!!

I have never said that we should get this allowance - my point was that some people are getting this WHEN THEY SHOULDN'T!!!!!!!!

Being only 16 and never had to think about benefits, my daughter was asking me about it and explained about benefit fraud and how I would never do that.

I have also never said it was 'hard for me' so you are making that bit up. I've also never said my daughter needs this money.

You've also suggested my daughter get a job....if you'd read my post properly you will see that is EXACTLY what I've told her to do.

As for suggesting my daughter grows up.....she has just turned 16 for gawd sake, give her a chance!!!

In you case - I am pleased that EMA is helping you stay at school and it sounds that you are the type of student EMA should be helping but sadly this isn't always the case is it? Do you know of some people who have lied on their application form to get this allowance?