Thousands Of Illegal Workers Claiming Benefits In The United Kingdom
It has recently been revealed that the previous Labour administration allowed some 155K illegal immigrants to be able to qualify not only for sickness benfits but also maternity pay.
It has been estimated that the cost to the Exchequer runs into "tens of millions of pounds".
There can be no doubt that this total shambles is a highly damning indictment of how Labour completely lost control of not only the immigration systems but also the benefit systems as well.
To resolve matters It is anticipated that Ian Duncan Smith the Work & Pensions Secretary will stop this practice by introducing in new welfare reform legislation early next week.
it is believed that those who are exploiting the system came to the UK for a short period and then stayed on after their visa had expired.
Some possibly obtained employment with out having the required work permit.
At the moment if someone was in Gt Britain illegally they would be in a position to be able to claim ESA which is Employment and Support Allowance which is paid to those to ill to work and also able to claim sick pay and maternity and paternity pay.
Quite amazingly the Department of Work & Pensions had not previously asked to examine work permits when approving payments for ESA.
Surprisingly under the previous Labour government hundreds of thousands of NI numbers were given out to illegal workers as there was no requirement to check if the person was in the country legally.
Naturally many employers incorrectly thought that having a National Insurance number meant that they were legally in Britain.
At the same time employers have not had to show any proof that employees are in the UK legally when making claims for maternity or paternity pay and sick pay.
This is beyond belief that people who are not eligible to work in Britain are able to get benefits which are a direct substitute for earnings.
This is a clear example of how the British welfare system has been allowed by the previous Labour administration to get totally out of kilter.
Work permits will now be required showing that people are here legally for ESA claims or an employer will require to have one if processing claims on behalf of employees.
Rather than expelling illegal workers the last Labour government was prepared to pay out state benefits to some tens of thousands of people who had just overstayed their visa entitlement.
I am a great believer in a social system but obviously it should be one that is properly run and administered so that benefits are paid out to those who are duly entitled and have paid into the welfare system.
It just can not be right just to allow any person to claim in the naive hope perhaps that an over generous benefit system will purchase votes.
About the Author
The author writes a great many articles on politics and for more detailed information please go to http://www.ed-miliband.blogspot.com
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here