Tragic face of Benefits dependent Britain

[papko]

I was wondering if anyone had any insight into this conundrum in our town A Local man 71 year old , vulnerable person , history of mental illness , living in the community now for the last 30 years . He gets about £400 a week from the social what with pension credits disability and rent and council tax paid

Well he's the kind of chap who can't say "no " to anything , and the bigger the waster that asks ? the more he tries to beg or borrow , to get them funds . This is all well known to the local alcoholics , who usually arrive with a sob story , and they end up getting some cider , well the last few years the heroin addicts have got wind of him , and they badger him constantly , with the end result , that he gives them everything he has , and leaves himself with out food , heating or tobacco , its then that he goes round the neighbours doors asking for money . Most have got well sick of him by now , and just ignore it . I sometimes help him , he does manage to pay you back sometime , and he usually lends a hand when I need it , so it levels out . Well now the druggies realise that I am financially solvent , and are leaning on him harder to get me to lend him money , which I wont off course . he is miles in debt with everybody as it is must owe over 20k , plus 2k overdraft , he spends £100 a week on mobile phone calls , and also gets contracts for other people in his name , the druggies promptly sell the phone and get him to pay the monthly bill , hes barred from most of the phone companies as a result , and his credit rating is zero . because he is complicit in all this , and the druggies know how to press the right buttons so to speak , there is nothing really you can do , or is there ?

[right-then-petal]

🙂 thats a tricky one to answer

how about getting police and social involved

[mitzigirl_123]

Definitely Social Services (and his doctor) need to get involved and they can arrange for him to be moved out of the area and re-homed with a housing association that provide individual support for vulnerable adults - they will help him manage his finances, medication and teach him to live independently, securely and he will protected.

With regard to the "druggies" activities, then that is a matter for the police.

[papko]

The druggies arenet actually doing anything wrong though are they ?

 They call him "father " and he calls them his "sons "

 he agrees to it , and will not prosecute , he is mentally

 ill afterall , he changes his mind 40 times a day , changes his bank card or reports it stolen  3 times a week !

 if you put him in a differnt environment , he would phone them up and ask them round , for a hoodwinking session 😉

 I think social service already know this , and they just think

 " well if they are all in the same pot , robbing each other , it contains the problem "

Surely a middle aged man say , can have a "high maintenace " girlfriend  , she "uses " him , displays affection and he lavishes her with money .

 Thats a hard crime to prove .

[ronnybabes]

It's not really the "Tragic face of Benefits dependent Britain" though, is it?

You have given a scenario  that is happening to someone who is on benefits, but it is his inability to handle his life (maybe, because of a mental illness, I grant you) that puts him as the tragic figure, not "Benefits Britain".

£400 a week from the social, with pension credits, disability payment, rent, and council tax paid, is not tragic.  I earn nowhere near that by the time I've paid my taxes, and, - I still have to pay my Council Taxes.

😮 Good grief, with his Income, it should be entitled "The opulent face of Benefits Britain"

[electric*mayhem*band]

Well I'm amazed - and gobsmacked - that he manages to rack up four hundred quid per week, even with Council Tax and Housing Benefits taken into consideration. There's people grafting five days a week with nowhere near that amount, and they have to pay their own Council Tax and Rent out of their weekly wage.

There's something wrong in the state of Denmark.

[papko]

It's not really the "Tragic face of Benefits dependent Britain" though, is it?

You have given a scenario  that is happening to someone who is on benefits, but it is his inability to handle his life (maybe, because of a mental illness, I grant you) that puts him as the tragic figure, not "Benefits Britain".

£400 a week from the social, with pension credits, disability payment, rent, and council tax paid, is not tragic.  I earn nowhere near that by the time I've paid my taxes, and, - I still have to pay my Council Taxes.

😮 Good grief, with his Income, it should be entitled "The opulent face of Benefits Britain"

I think its a very real insight , into how people in receipt of "lifestyle " benefits , go about their lives .

 None of the dozen folk , in his social circle , has ever worked in the last 15 years, yet they find ways by hook or crook , to sustain their addictions .

 Quite uplifting in a way , a triumph of the will to survive .

No doubt these scenarios are played out amongst "benefactors " and "mistresses " all over Britian , it jsut makes it more interesting , that these ones are all , fully provided and housed by the State .

[ronnybabes]

:^O:^O

[lhasa.two]

papko, I do agree with mitzi but the problem is that at 71 he's hardly likely to change however much help he gets. He sounds very vulnerable though and racking up those kind of debts is really not good and he's going to land up in a heap of trouble somewhere along the line because people are going to come after him...

What do you think would happen to him if he said "no" to the druggies, would they hurt him?

I don't think Social Services can do anything other than arrange to have him sectioned... and that's pretty harsh, but it would get him away from his current day to day activities and "they" could better asses his mental and physical health I would think. 

[papko]

What do you think would happen to him if he said "no" to the druggies, would they hurt him?

 They might argue a little , but they know they can "bring him round " , he does change his mind 10 times a day , one of them is his carer , and he is always getting money from him , he has his bank card , and pin , and does the shopping for him as well .

 The point is , he "wants " to be absued so , he likes the attention iMHO

ironically he was always the same , but 15 years ago , he did not get so much of benefits , it was more like his rent paid and £50 a week then , he used to buy a big bag of poatoes , make chips and tomato ketchup , that wa shis diet for months , the rest went on buying drink or drugs for whoever , but back then off course , when the money was gone it was gone .

Now that he has more , he can give more ,

Sometimes in his lucid moments , he will say " I help the people who nobody else will , the scum , the underclass , the addicts "

he is quite a philospher sometime 😉

I don't think Social Services can do anything other than arrange to have him sectioned... and that's pretty harsh, but it would get him away from his current day to day activities and "they" could better asses his mental and physical health I would think. 

 Sectioning has been done before , he was troubled teenager , who was sent to borstal , then when he was 21 , he was in mental homes for years , , I think he was cured so to speak , about 20 years ago .

He is not the worst chap , just gets draining on the neighbours , I suppose it s a bit like somebody leaving food out for rats , the other neighbours might not like it .

[ronnybabes]

I suppose it s a bit like somebody leaving food out for rats , the other neighbours might not like it .

Stoppit!!

[Anonymous]

you have said it, he is a vulnerable man of 71. as such he is dependant and should be given a case worker to take care of him and his finance's. the first thing the council should do call the police to stop those smack heads getting his money, then they should look into getting him a decent shelter home to live in. btw why does a 71 year old man require £400 p/w to live on? that money should be for care so where are his care workers?

[bankhaunter]

btw why does a 71 year old man require £400 p/w to live on?

Pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit could make up the large majority of it.

The danger is that some of the housing benefit might be siphoning off unless it is being paid directly to the HA/council.

[Anonymous]

so here I am a qualified electrician and I am earning less than what he is given per week, its so good to see my taxes are being put to good use................

[ronnybabes]

Are you expecting sympathy Pete!   ?:| 😄

Unfortunately that is the one thing hard working tax payers do get exemption from.. 😉

[Anonymous]

hi RB, life imho owes nobody nothing, what I have and I dare say the same applies to a majority of us here, is what I have worked darn hard for with no hand outs...............yet

[ronnybabes]

That, Pete, ... is why I get bemused at some of the posts.  😐

[papko]

I was learning today

 that the "vulnerable person "  has another freind who is a vulnerable person , (on similar money from the state ) , this other chap is a bit of a social recluse , whose only freind is the

"vulnerable person "

 Anyway the "vulnerable one " , has been borrowing and not paying back form the other saying

 "Give me that £150  i need it , if you dont , i wont talk to t you "

 Then with the money , he phones up the druggies , gets thme to come round , and gives the money to them willingly .

 Whats causing all the ruckus , is that every penny he gets from the state (or borrows embezzles from his freind , goes to crave the insatibale desire of the druggies )

 Then he spend sthe rest of the week ,knocking on the doors ,asking for money for "food " or "electricity "

I was working out today that the two "vulnerable ones " get £800 a week from the sate between them , including rent paid in one bed roomed flats , spending money , and money for travelling , cars .

 The druggies get their rent paid and council tax , and £100 a week , one of them has 5 children , and he is split from his partner , so they get housed seperately and must get £500 a week to keep them , and he gets a one bedroomed flat , in a ncie area (£150 a week ) and £100 a week to livie on

 So amongst the 5 involved in ths "menage a trois " 😉

 there is about £2500 a week of state expenditure .

 Its not all black and white though , as am sure thta crime figures are down in the UK as a whole , and perhaps treating everyone well in our society , is the secret to our success , as an economy and a country .

[kiss*my*pixel]

I'm with Mitzi and Mrs Slocombe here - the poor chap needs some help from Social Services and the Police with this, he is clearly vulnerable and struggling to cope.

And to those posters who have chortled at this fellow's problems, then shame on you!! None of us likes to be taken for a fool, and the benefits system is surely exploited. However, cases such as this are exactly what the benefits system is designed for - catch those who fall, those who cannot cope. Yes, we all pay into the "system", but we hope it will help us if and when we need it - this chap needs it, and I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I'm happy to give it.

Papko's man needs somewhere safe to go, and somewhere he's not annoying his neighbours ('cos that's not fair either).

[ronnybabes]

No one is chortling as far as I can see.

Just saying it as it is.

The poor fellows plight as portrayed by papko is patently obvious.

Please do not confuse frustration with the Benefits System, as an attack on its recipients.