Spannish TV show on how to claim UK benefits ..

[Frederick]

Different from a Home in the Sun ...Perhaps the BBC should go round the EU showing how to live of the various states on the cheap....How to sign on in France after 6 months and get claiming !  Watch the video http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=142596

TV show as reported on in English                  http://www.spanishvida.com/2010/05/13/spanish-tv-show-tells-how-to-get-benefits-in-the-uk/

[bubbles]

I suppose it is a joke but I still think that should have been posted somewhere else!!

I'm not laughing.

[Benjamin]

About a year ago the Consulate in the Malaga area organised a series of seminars to explain the benefits (British) which the ex-pat residents were able to claim. A retired friend discovered that he could claim £ 54 per week (I think) for his younger wife as an addition to his old age pension.

He's now whingeing because he's having to pay UK tax on it.

Yes, I know he should be in the Spanish tax system but like so many Brits in Spain he just sticks with the UK system which he knows. As it happens he would almost certainly be paying less tax if he were in the Spanish system.

[Frederick]

I like the idea of a TV show showing how the Brits survive dossing in various parts of the EU on state hand outs ...Got to be more interesting than watching old houses being cobbled back together or what to cook which is about all we get these days .

[mint]

Not directly related to the topic but I saw a TV programe a couple of nights ago called "Paradise Lost" about some Brits living in a village just outside Almeria in the Costa del Sol.

There were 19 couples/families who bought these houses without planning consent.  Couldn't help but felt sorry for them.  Most of the savings had gone into buying the houses and now the houses were due for demolition.

There was also a couple who'd bought a bar in Benidorm and not earning enough to live on, so hubby went back to the UK to work.

I suppose the lesson we could all learn is, as so many advise on here, when you come here to live, don't sink all your savings on your house, keep some money back and have an exit strategy in case things don't work out.