How will you vote in the EU referendum?

I was shocked to learn (where have I been? ) that child benefit is paid to EU workers from (in the main) Poland and sent to Poland to pay for their children living there. How can this be right?

Or have I got it wrong?

No gillybob I heard that too.

I remember when I had a child benefit book many years the rules were very strict and printed in the book: if the child went to live with anyone else for longer than - was it two weeks? - you had to inform the authorities.

Yes I remember that too Jalima . No wonder this country is so short of money to invest in its public services if we are sending money all over Europe to fund large families. I find it hard to believe.

It's worse than that, there is NO check to see if the children exist. This is from a Mother being interviewed in Poland.
If memory serves me correct, the last figure given out (for Poland) was 36,000 children.
Your right to ask "how can this be"

Granjura I did say we can choose how we vote - not how the votes are counted or which bin they end up in. I deliberately left that bit out.

We seem to have wandered on to bennies. What will happen to those UK ex-pats in Spain/France/Cyprus - to name but a few countries - who are claiming bennies? Even being in the EU, who is going to check to see if they are entitled; eg, claiming disability bennies yet finding work in these countries.

Realgrandad

Interesting to read your post.

However it's such a shame you elected to join the ranks of those who feel their reading matter and knowledge is superior to others as noted in the wording of you first and last paragraphs. A pity really as without the obvious class warfare rhetoric and partisan politics you made some interesting comments .

What the hell is a bennie? Apart from that woolly hat guy from Crossroads?

Assuming you mean benefits CelticRose I would assume all of those ex-pats will have paid tax/NI in this country (or may continue to do so??). I cannot agree to someone coming into this country and claiming benefits for 10 children (real or imagined) living in Poland.

I'm staying in! We have no commonwealth now and are far better off in Europe. (IMO).

I find it utterly crazy petra and thought perhaps I had got it wrong and that it wasn't the case.

So we are paying our taxes to fund up to 36,000 Polish children (real or imagined) , still living in Poland ? and [shocked] and

I am a bit slow, had to have a think about who or what 'bennies' is

I thought it could be an MEP

or the chap from 'Crossroads' in the woolly hat, as gillybob said

Gillybob Why discriminate against the Polish peoples? Aren't you aware that other foreign nationals do this also; ie, claim (woolly-hat) bennies - or benefits - to send back to their families in other countries. I have known about this system since the early 70s. But I think the post is about BREXIT.

I thought it was slang for some sort of drug...

Gillybob So if we pay NI and taxes and ask for disability bennies, and then go and find work in another EU country - this is ok? You should be working in Government with this logic.

Bennies - easier to type than benefits.

I am not discriminating against the Polish people CelticRose just using them as one example. If you read my original question I do say EU workers from (in the main) Poland but I mean all of them !

I wasn't aware of it at all until very recently and tbh I thought I had misunderstood.

There was a Polish postman interviewed on the Jeremy Vine radio programme today who said it would be unfair to cut the amount of child benefit allowed to be sent to Poland (or other EU countries) because he pays his taxes in this country.

CelticRose I have no desire to work in government thank you.

However if the disability "bennie" to which you refer is of the kind that enables one to work then I think it should be paid only if one resides within the UK.

Likewise other "bennies" with the exception of pension entitlements that someone has worked for and paid into.

I am at risk of confusing myself now. I am still shocked.

If your main worry about being in the EU is the amount that immigrants receive in benefits, then you may be interested in this from the Telegraph:

'The data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC, also show that the majority of welfare recipients are British.
In 2014, 4.9 million (92.6 per cent) working age benefit claimants were British while only 131,000 (2.5 per cent) were EU nationals. The number of recipients from outside of the UK — but not from the EU — was 264,000 (five per cent).
Likewise, in the latest data from 2013 for those tax credits, 3.9 million (84.8 per cent) families receiving the benefits were British citizens, 302,000 (6.4 per cent) were EU citizens and 413,000 (8.8 per cent) were from outside of the UK.'

Stopping benefit payments is going to make practically no difference to the amount of money that is paid out in the UK

But his children do not live here Ana so I don't get it?

gillybob. "But his children don't live here, I don't get it. EU ruling. We have no say in it.

A Pole living, working and paying his taxes in the UK sends Child Benefit back to his family in Poland.

Would people prefer that he bring his family here, so they attend school here, use the NHS here, etc.?

This works two ways. UK nationals can and do claim benefit in EU countries too remember. In fact, more UK nationals claim benefit in EU countries than vice versa and often get paid more too.

The government has never provided any evidence other than anecdotal, that our benefit system is a reason to come here and hard data shows the opposite is true.

It doesn't matter how often this is pointed out in the media, some people seem to just ignore the facts.

I don't get it. Why do people think that is?

It used to be that the child benefit was allocated to the person who was actually looking after the child. So if grandparents or friends were looking after the child they were able to claim it. That has obviously changed at some point. It still seems to me to be the most transparent and fairest system that would mean the money was paid in the country where the child lived and would negate any accusations of racism or discrimination.

On an aside, taxation and national insurance provide a safety net and not a savings scheme. Some people will always pay in more than they take out or the opposite. It doesn't matter what an individual may have paid in, all that should matter is a person's need at the time they claim. So whether or not the Polish postman (or whoever it was) had paid his taxes in the UK is irrelevant in my opinion.

Child benefit isn't paid according to need, though.