I can’t believe my £220 a week in benefits from UK, says mother living in Warsaw
A POLISH mother living in Warsaw has told of her delight at pocketing more than £2,600 a year in benefits from Britain.
Restaurant- owner Evita Kossman said she uses the extra cash, claimed by her husband who works in the UK, to treat her son to toys and feed her pet rat and dog.
And she said she was surprised that the ‘trustful’ welfare system in Britain has never checked that the family is actually entitled to the handouts.
Her husband Sebastian is one of 20,000 EU immigrants currently receiving payouts from the UK for children who live abroad – leaving taxpayers with an annual bill worth £31million.
The family nets £220 a month in child benefit and child tax credits which they are entitled to claim because Mr Kossman has an £18,000-a-year job in a Bristol factory.
Critics yesterday said it was ‘madness’ that hard-pressed British taxpayers should be funding children living overseas at a time when the country faces a huge deficit.
Mrs Kossman, whose son Mateusz is ten, said: ‘I was positively surprised that Great Britain supported us and helped my family well.
‘No one comes from Great Britain, from the welfare system, to check on us. No one comes to check that I am here with Mateusz. They pay. I am very surprised. They are very trustful.’
Mrs Kossman uses the extra cash to buy food for her family and pets, and treats such as books, toys, and cinema tickets once a month.
She said: ‘A lot of Polish comments are that I am lazy, I am counting on benefits only.
‘This is not true. I am hard- working mum. I try to be the best mum for my son. It’s difficult to read stories about myself and their opinion. In my opinion, it is absolutely normal to receive benefits from abroad, from United Kingdom. It is where my husband works and I am entitled to claim benefits because of the system.’
The handouts she receives are worth almost two-thirds of the Polish minimum wage and are ten times what she would receive in benefits from her home country.
She added: ‘I know a lot of people spend benefits smokes and drinks.
‘But look at me – I am a hardworking mum and businesswoman. I earn my own money, my business is doing well.’
Mrs Kossman was one of a number of Eastern Europeans interviewed for Channel 5 documentary Benefits Britain: Life On The Dole.
Roma gipsy Ion Lazar told how he has used the £10,000 he has claimed in benefits since arriving in Britain in January to refurbish his home in rural Romania where his wife and three children live.
He said: ‘It’s like free money. What can I tell you? Thank you England, because it’s helped me.’
Mr Lazar is entitled to benefits because he has self- employed status as a scrap metal collector in the UK – even if he spends much of his time in Romania.
The most recent figures reveal that 20,400 European immigrants whose children live abroad received payments for a total of 34,268 children, nearly two-thirds of whom are in Poland.
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of Taxpayers’ Alliance said: ‘It’s madness for taxpayers to fund children overseas when our public finances are in such a perilous state. Politicians must crack down on this practice.’
Benefits Britain: Life On The Dole is available on Channel 5’s catch up Demand5.