Is this true?

[Jim Sarakun]

I received this in an email a while back, and meant to post it. I have googled it but have not come up with anything positive, or an acceptable review from what appears to be a reliable source.

 

Can any PW members, who may be involved with government , like a civil servant say, confirm or deny this.. Coming close to pensionable age and having paid in all my life............ well, if it is true............. to me................... it stinks...

 

Tell me it's all sensationalizing bumph.................................PLEASE..........................

 

 

 

Dear Prime Minister,

RT. Hon. David Cameron, MP.

 

I wish to ask you a Question: "Is This True?"

 

I refer to the Pension Reality Check.

 

Are you aware of the following ?

 

The British Government provides the following financial assistance:-

 

 

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER

(bearing in mind they worked hard and paid their Income Tax and

National Insurance contributions to the British Government all their

working life)

 

Weekly allowance: £106.00?

 

IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN

(No Income Tax and National Insurance contribution whatsoever)

 

Weekly allowance: £250.00

 

 

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER

Weekly Spouse Allowance: £25.00?

 

 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN

Weekly Spouse Allowance: £225.00

 

 

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER

Additional Weekly Hardship Allowance: £0.00?

 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN

Additional Weekly Hardship Allowance: £100.00

 

 

A British old age pensioner is no less hard up than an illegal

immigrant/refugee yet receives nothing

 

BRITISH OLD AGED PENSIONER

TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £6,000?

 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN

TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT: £29,900

 

 

 

Please read all and then forward to all your contacts so that we can

lobby for a decent state pension.

 

After all, the average pensioner has paid taxes and contributed to the

growth of this country for the last 40 to 60 years.

 

Sad isn't it? Surely it's about time we put our own people first.

[SakoQuad]

Is it true - no its not.

 

Here are this years Benefits rates scroll down to Income support for rates paid to those entitled.

 

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/benefitrates2012.pdf

 

Asylum seekers were not entitled so got £35 food voucher from the LA and a room in a shared house until they got leave to remain or sent to a Centre, they were not allowed to work to try to keep themselves. Out of touch with current arrangements but don't think they have changed much.

[Sha Bu Le]

Seen this going around before, don't know if it is true or put out by the BNP or similar. suspect its not true.........but this crazy country who knows.

[Diceman]

No.

 

From Hoax-Slayer: (written 2010 so figures quoted may be different now)

 

According to this widely circulated protest message, an asylum seeker (refugee) in the UK is eligible to receive a much higher weekly benefit payment from the British government than do aged pensioners who have lived and worked in the country for years before retirement. It decries this apparent disparity in benefit amounts as unfair to British pensioners. The claims in the message have caused much consternation among British citizens.

 

However, the claims in the message are untrue. The refugee payment figures stated in the protest message bear no relation whatsoever to the amounts actually payed to refugees. In fact, the message is nothing more than a UK specific version of an email hoax that has circulated in Australia, the US and Canada for several years. The rumour first began circulating in 2004 after an inaccurate and misleading letter to the editor was published in a Canadian newspaper. This initial Canadian version was dismissed as a hoax by government entity Citizenship and Immigration Canada and other credible sources.

 

Unfortunately, the false protest message later spawned other, equally spurious, versions set in several different countries. As early as 2007, an Australian version of the hoax was circulating. The message caused a great deal of anger and resentment among recipients and has been discussed at length on various talk-back radio shows and in letters to the editor in newspapers across the country. However, the information in the Australian version of the message is also total nonsense and in no way reflects the real level of entitlements for refugees or pensioners in Australia. The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship was compelled to publish information refuting the false rumours.

 

And the UK government has also published information dismissing the UK version of the protest email as false. A briefing paper available on the UK Parliament website denounces the claims in the message as a hoax, noting in part:

The email contains text from a protest email which has been circulating in Australia for some time now, but which may have originated in Canada. Versions also circulate in the United States, and elements even appear in protest emails as far afield as India. The UK version has been adapted, somewhat crudely, for a domestic audience by someone or some organisation unknown. The figures quoted bear no relation whatsoever to the situation in the United Kingdom.

The briefing paper also provides details about the actual entitlements for UK pensioners and those seeking asylum in the UK:

Actual entitlements for people from abroad and UK pensioners

 

“Illegal immigrants” are people who have entered the UK unlawfully, or who have stayed here for longer than they were allowed without making another application. They do not have the right to work. Since they are in the UK without legal status, they are liable to be removed if they come to the attention of immigration authorities.

 

People who require leave to enter or remain in the UK, but who do not have it, are ‘persons subject to immigration control’ within the meaning of section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and as such are not eligible for social security benefits, except those which depend on National Insurance contributions, such as contribution-based JSA. However, it is highly unlikely that a person in the UK without legal status will have a sufficient NI contribution record to gain entitlement to contributory benefits.

 

“Refugees” – i.e. asylum seekers whose application for asylum has been successful – are able to claim social security benefits and tax credits on the same basis as UK nationals, but may find it difficult to gain entitlement to contributory benefits since these depend upon the person having a sufficient contribution record.

 

The figures in the final column of the table in the email bear no relation to any UK out-of-work benefit rates. The current rate of income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, for example, is £65.45 a week for a single person aged 25 or over, or £102.75 for a couple. People in receipt of out-of-work benefits may also receive Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, but the table does not mention assistance with housing costs.

 

Asylum seekers – i.e. persons waiting for a decision on an asylum application - are not entitled to mainstream non-contributory social security benefits including income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit. Instead, they may be eligible for accommodation and/or financial support from the UK Border Agency. Cash support for asylum seekers is less generous than social security benefits; for example, a single person.

Thus this protest email is nothing more than a British version of an utterly false rumour that began life in Canada and has since spread around the world. Regardless of your views on the handling of refugees, spreading such misinformation will help no one and will serve only to muddy the waters of what is often a complex and contentious issue. If you receive a version of this hoax please do not forward it to others. And please take a moment to let the sender know that the information in the protest message is untrue.

[Zapp]

If it says, suggests or implies in any way that you should "pass this on" then it is made up hoop (polite wording) that your email contacts will not thank you for sending on.

[Wharf Rat]

Have a read:

 

http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/Resources/Refugee%20Council/downloads/Tell%20it%20like%20it%20is%20-%20Refugee%20Council%202012.pdf

[showe]

99% of IMMIGRANTS cume to this ****ry to see there own doc lol

[maxie]

It`s strange what people believe or want to believe.I recently asked ten acquaintances what percentage of the UK`s population was black and the average of their answers was 50%,unbelievable.

[Billy.]

If it says, suggests or implies in any way that you should "pass this on" then it is made up hoop (polite wording) that your email contacts will not thank you for sending on.

 

Don't be silly. You get cursed for 20 years if you don't forward it on to at least seven friends within twenty minutes.

 

 

PS - Repost this five times in 10 minutes, or you'll be banned by Teal.

[Zapp]

 

 

Don't be silly. You get cursed for 20 years if you don't forward it on to at least seven friends within twenty minutes.

 

 

PS - Repost this five times in 10 minutes, or you'll be banned by Teal.

 

Wrong, if you dont type "gullible" within 10 seconds and then like and share it means you hate bacon and puppies and you love Al Qaida.

[Jim Sarakun]

Thanks for your replies, it made some interesting reading.

 

How do you find that stuff? I googled for at least an hour when I first received it but found nothing plausible.

 

I wont bother next time, it will be quicker to ask the PW fraternity.

[Dekers]

It`s strange what people believe or want to believe.I recently asked ten acquaintances what percentage of the UK`s population was black and the average of their answers was 50%,unbelievable.

 

What a load of Numb Nuts, it is obviously much higher than that! :whistling:

[four-wheel-drive]

I think that people tend to believe what they think or are told by people who have no idea about anything rather than put themselves out to find out the facts I have no doubt that some things go on in government agencies that most rite thinking people would think are quite mad.

 

Also if you live in London probably half of the population is black/brown but outside of the large Cities we are still mostly white Anglo-Saxon I like to think.