We have just been told that my wife is not entitled to her D.L.A. as she is now living in Spain most of the time. The disability has not changed. and she  still needs help. We are still in the e.u. so why are the new goverment stealing from the poor to help the rich get richer we all know that the rich caused the problems in the first place and they have to stay rich. Where is the compassion ?   This new goverment is a lot more ruthless than the Thatcher  era which distroyed the industry in the uk, thus causing the rich having to import most of the need of the U.K.   coal, steel,etc

 This government is not more ruthless. (IMO) They are at last stopping the gravy train of people ripping off the benefits system.  They are not "stealing" from the poor to help the "rich" get richer either.  In these troubled financial times, sadly, compassion plays no part. If you want the benefits, maybe a return to the UK is the answer.  

If your theory that as we are all part of the EU  you should get benefits etc, then why doesn't Spain pay your wife a disability payment or provide the help she needs? 

I am sorry if I sound unsympathetic to your plight, but a lot of the problems of the UK have been the abuse of the generous benefits given here. 

Is it not just the Mobility portion of the DLA benefit that has been stopped as the rest of the payment is still to be paid if your wife lives in the EU

Well said Tish.

I'm no expert on tax law but as the government Benefit website states

'To get Disability Living Allowance you must also meet certain other conditions about your residence and presence.'

Not sure how you would meet these requirements if you are living in Spain for most of the time. Prehaps it's about time the UK stopped some of the other universal benefits that thoes over 60 choosing to live offshore have such as winter fuel allowance.

I'm not sure that many people living in Spain are as honest as they should be with the UK tax authorities.

Yes I believe they are looking into the winter fuel allowances, that the expats claim!!!!

Pat

Pat and Roy.

That's good news.

Prehaps they will also looking into the ISA accounts being held by non-residents.

The next thing we will have complaints from people that they can't use their 'free' bus passes in Spain.

 Would any of you report someone that you KNEW were claiming benefits illegally, either from the UK or who were living in an EU country?

The current government are no more ruthless than the previous. Eligibility for DLA has not changed since the new government came in.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport/Introductiontofinancialsupport/DG_073387

Sorry, I have to agree with Tish, if DLA was handed out on compassionate grounds the benifit system could not cope.

 haydngj, my son is badly disabled, so I do have a little insight to your problems.

Yes Tish happily report them, or alternatively let them spend a few weeks in my sons shoes....that would stop them!!

How on earth would you know they were claiming benefits illegally and who is qualified to know the circumstance they are claiming for

 fpegman,

Re-read my post.  I wrote KNEW (capital letters) denoting it to be a known fact.  

It is quite obvious  that Tish and the like have the attitude that ''sod you i'm ok' they think that the dissabled should fend for themselves and not bother those who have plenty. I do hope no harm comes to them and they have to suffer any disablement. They can keep there ill gotten gains, don't even try to tell me that none of you weathy people have not employed  an accoultant to look for loophole and avoid paying  tax. The way you come accross smackes of the Dickens era I worked for 50 years  and my wife worked untill she was in her 50s and all that time all the taxes were paid by us both so it is not  a free hand out. think of others Tish. Of course there are the fiddlers in the working class but not as many as there are in the middle classes with thier tax havens

Haydengj,  unnecessary and unwarranted remarks...not worthy of an intelligent response.  

Well you think its ok to offend me by insinuating my wife is  a benifit scrounger but under no circumstance must anyone offend you and your selfish like. We never had the opertunities that you and yours have had with the schooling  haveing been on wartime rations untill we were 5 years old and after that low pay for my parents for many years school  was vey basic and snobbery was rife but I mistakenly thought snobs were almost exstinct. Pease excuse my spelling

 my son looked after  his disabled  wife up untill here premature death at 35, she was ubable to do anything for her self from the age of 12 he   kept her clean and well fed made her life a little more human taking her on holidays they had two children in the time she was with him  which was for 17 years and when she did leave us  I found that my son was left with quite  a debt because the help he got was not suficiant. I'm not asking your kind for sypathy but I paid off the debt so he could contnue with his life and not scrounge off the state. so up yours you selfish woman tish

haydngj. Your reply was rude and unnecessarily insulting. At no time did Tish imply that your wife was a benefit scrounger. Humble beginnings do not excuse rudeness. I was born  in 1945 in the east end of London so know all about poverty. Our schooling was basic but we all learnt to read and write. That, and a lot of hard work was all you needed to better oneself then. Snobbery had no place in my education and I certainly don't think that I was looked down on because of an accident of birth. You can't use that as an excuse for the rest of your life.

Also I thought that DLA was not a means tested benefit therefore was available to all who qualified, regardless of income. It is very easy to find out that DLA is not usually paid abroad and that surely you should have taken that into account before committing to a move. It's no good moaning now.

It amazes me that people expect the best of both countries ie the benefits of the UK and the lifestyle of Spain. How I wish that life was like that!

I am not unsympathetic to your situation,haydngj but really can't see how you can say that the UK Government is 'stealing' money off you and your wife. After all YOU chose to put yourself outside the UK benefit system.

I think that perhaps on reflection you might consider that Tish is owed an apology?

G.

Well said xetog.

haydngj you started this thread by heading it 'the UK gov stealing money off the poorest' -- I have to point out the Government HAVE NO MONEY other than that they collect from tax from Companies and the good people who reside in the UK. As I said it my previous post it seems only right and proper that they allocate their spending to people who are UK residents. Indeed this is the 'rule' to be able to receive DLA. No one is saying a UK resident should not receive DLA, but one must meet the requirement to be a resident.

There is really no need to be rude to other members of the forum when the problem seems to be of your own making.

Just to clarify the situation this is from the Government website and I aggre with the comments made re rudeness to Tish

D B S

The european courts ruled that the DLA minus the Mobility allowance must to be paid to claiments living in the EU the UK goverment changed the words  "must be paid" to "may be paid" and are using that as a basis for refusing TO PAY THE BENEFIT TO SOME PEOPLE BUT ARE PAYING TO THOSE THAT APPEAL

So my advice to haydngj is to get the leaflets and appeal against the desicion but please try to treat members with a bit of civility .

fpegman, the UK government are right to do their best to restrict the benefits to those that are residents and really need help. Else, benefits would be available to all those that decide, like me, to reside else where.

By all means provide advise to people to appeal, but I would provide a caution that an appeal will cost monies and you should only go down that route if you have a chance of winning. I suspect with the 'new' government looking to save as much as possible, such an appeal could end up in the long grass and appealant out of pocket.

I read this thread with interest and agree on the importance of civility between forum members. I really cant see where the issue of who has more money and who may or may not be a snob has anything to do with the title of the thread, you could argue that anyone who can afford to live outside the UK will be considered to be quite wealthy by many working class people.  There are rules about benefits and anyone in receipt of benefits must expect to have them checked or altered occasionally. So I felt I must point out that an appeal is likely the best way forward as the UK government are looking at ways to reduce the amount of benefits they pay out and so sadly some rules may be more strongly enforced than before or even changed. I just wanted to point out that it was splashed across the newspapers earlier this week that an injured serviceman had had his benefits slashed and wasnt that terrible? Yes it is, but the authorities were quick to point out that he may not have had them slashed if he had completed the necessary paperwork and made an appeal on their decision. They acted on the information they had and welcomed additional information to help them make a decision. So I can only suggest haydngj makes the appropriate enquires and hopefully can make an appeal but if the time he and his wife are spending in Spain exceeds the time limit for some part of the DLA maybe they do have to reconsider their decision.

This just serves to underline the importance of taking very clear advice when making such a big move.

This it why the Gov't choose to deal with claimants ruthlessly, and quite rightly so.  These type of people ruin it for every legitimate claimant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zghEnyjHXeM

And ALL he got was a 12 month CSO and 120 hrs of unpaid community workfor ripping us (the tax payer) off of £20000 - disgusting.

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