Our Local Romanian

[mrs_overall]

As far as I am aware, we have just one Romanian woman in our small town and guess what....she sells the Big Issue.
Yesterday I was browsing in a shop when she came in and began chatting to the shop owner. They were both moaning at the cost of the fees at the private school their kids go to. It turns out she has four kids at the said school.
I think I followed the wrong career path!

[EDDIE51]

Selling the 'Big Issue' is a scam to get benefits. Once you are a seller you are classed as self employed so you qualify for 'In Work' benefits which ae far more generous than JSA. She and all the other sellers are claiming working tax credit, child tax credit , 100% housing and council tax benefit , free health care and more. The less they sell the more benefit they get.
Romanians seem to have cornered the market in this particular scam, the seller in our town is a Romanian as well as are all the ones in Cambridge.

[ummmm]

The benefits wouldn't be enough to send 4 kids to private school though.

[Baldric]

http://www.bigissue.com/about-us
www.bigissue.com/about-us
The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless and long-term unemployed people. Vendors buy copies for £1.25 and sell for £2.50.

[EDDIE51]

Possibly the private school is in Romania? or she is just confused between the difference between public and private schools. That is something that confused me for years as a child. A 'public' school is actually a private school not one that is open to the general public as the name would suggest!

[Retrochic]

Why would a Romanian even consider sending her child to a Private School in the UK when the Local Authority ones are far superior to any school in Romania? Even on the max of all benefits she could claim she could not send her 4 kids to private school.

[EDDIE51]

Baldric read my post. The do not have to sell any copies, the entire idea is to be registered as 'self employed' and then claim 'in work' benefits. She will be on at least the equivalent of £500 a week for a worker
Retrochic, you are wrong claiming benefit is the ONLY reason she is here.

[EDDIE51]

Or possibly the kids are under 5 and go to a private nursery school , she can claim 'child care allowance' for that as she is classed as 'self employed'
Child care allowance can be £1500 per child for under 5s for 'employed' people on a low wage.