Nicholas
13-09-2006, 06:45 PM
ALMOST £25 million a year is flooding out of Britain to Eastern Europe - because of an astonishing EU loophole in CHILD BENEFIT.
Immigration consultant Przemyslaw Szymanski is one of a growing number helping hundreds of thousands of Poles take advantage of a system that the British taxpayer will regard as crazy.
For a one-off payment of £75, Szymanski tells his countrymen and women now in the United Kingdom how to...
DEMAND nearly £1,000 a year in benefit for their first child back home in Poland - a fortune in a nation where the average wage is £5,200 a year.
GRAB an extra £600 for every other child.
APPEAL against a refusal - and almost always win.
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A Briton trying to claim child benefit in Poland would have virtually no chance under their means-tested system.
But here it's easy and all perfectly legal thanks to an EU loophole - and shrewd Szymanski knows it.
The shaven-headed East European who operates from an office in Fulham, west London, under the name Sara-Int said: "There are so many refusals, official letters saying we cannot grant you child benefit because your children are in Poland.
"That is obviously not true. It is actually against the law. So we appeal against such decisions."
Adverts in Polish-language papers in Britain encourage the estimated 600,000 flood of Eastern Europeans since May 2004 to claim.
They rake in £907.40 a year for a first child back home and £608.40 each for all the others.
Posing as the boyfriend of a Polish mum who had left her kid at home to come and work in Britain, our undercover reporter visited Sara-Int.
Szymanski smiled as he said: "She can claim." He told our man he had helped a "significant number" to get the windfall.
He outlined the prices - £75 for him or a colleague to fill out the forms and send them to HM Revenue and Customs.
He added: "Often they make a decision that is against the law so you have to appeal against it, and there is an additional charge for that of £30."
Around half are initially rejected but Szymanski boasted they almost always win appeals.
We also spoke to Poles planning to exploit the loophole.
John Stanislaw, 42, who lives in West London, said his three young children are in Poland with their mother while he works here in construction.
John, who has been here two years, said: "I may apply in about a month." Since eight former Communist countries joined the EU two years ago, the British Government has approved 27,280 applications for child benefit and is processing thousands more.
That means almost £25 million of taxpayers' money leaves Britain as child benefit every year.
The payment is open to any EU national with children and can be exported back to the country of origin provided the claimant is registered and working here. Sara-Int, who also offer cleaning and building services and had a turnover of £1.45 million last year, admitted to The People they had been helping immigrants claim child benefit for a year.
Asked whether this might upset UK taxpayers, spokeswoman Angela Giedroyc replied: "I don't know why because people from Poland come here legally, they work here and they pay taxes. If it's normal then why shouldn't they apply for it?" HM Revenue and Customs said: "All applications are checked here and with the authorities back in the applicant's home nation.
"It is an EU-wide benefit, and we have a responsibility to provide it."
Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: "It may not be illegal but it is undeniably an abuse of what the system's designed for."
http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17717503&method=full&siteid=93463&headline=hand-me--pound-75-and-i-ll-get-child-benefit-for-your-kids----in-poland---name_page.html
Immigration consultant Przemyslaw Szymanski is one of a growing number helping hundreds of thousands of Poles take advantage of a system that the British taxpayer will regard as crazy.
For a one-off payment of £75, Szymanski tells his countrymen and women now in the United Kingdom how to...
DEMAND nearly £1,000 a year in benefit for their first child back home in Poland - a fortune in a nation where the average wage is £5,200 a year.
GRAB an extra £600 for every other child.
APPEAL against a refusal - and almost always win.
Advertisement
A Briton trying to claim child benefit in Poland would have virtually no chance under their means-tested system.
But here it's easy and all perfectly legal thanks to an EU loophole - and shrewd Szymanski knows it.
The shaven-headed East European who operates from an office in Fulham, west London, under the name Sara-Int said: "There are so many refusals, official letters saying we cannot grant you child benefit because your children are in Poland.
"That is obviously not true. It is actually against the law. So we appeal against such decisions."
Adverts in Polish-language papers in Britain encourage the estimated 600,000 flood of Eastern Europeans since May 2004 to claim.
They rake in £907.40 a year for a first child back home and £608.40 each for all the others.
Posing as the boyfriend of a Polish mum who had left her kid at home to come and work in Britain, our undercover reporter visited Sara-Int.
Szymanski smiled as he said: "She can claim." He told our man he had helped a "significant number" to get the windfall.
He outlined the prices - £75 for him or a colleague to fill out the forms and send them to HM Revenue and Customs.
He added: "Often they make a decision that is against the law so you have to appeal against it, and there is an additional charge for that of £30."
Around half are initially rejected but Szymanski boasted they almost always win appeals.
We also spoke to Poles planning to exploit the loophole.
John Stanislaw, 42, who lives in West London, said his three young children are in Poland with their mother while he works here in construction.
John, who has been here two years, said: "I may apply in about a month." Since eight former Communist countries joined the EU two years ago, the British Government has approved 27,280 applications for child benefit and is processing thousands more.
That means almost £25 million of taxpayers' money leaves Britain as child benefit every year.
The payment is open to any EU national with children and can be exported back to the country of origin provided the claimant is registered and working here. Sara-Int, who also offer cleaning and building services and had a turnover of £1.45 million last year, admitted to The People they had been helping immigrants claim child benefit for a year.
Asked whether this might upset UK taxpayers, spokeswoman Angela Giedroyc replied: "I don't know why because people from Poland come here legally, they work here and they pay taxes. If it's normal then why shouldn't they apply for it?" HM Revenue and Customs said: "All applications are checked here and with the authorities back in the applicant's home nation.
"It is an EU-wide benefit, and we have a responsibility to provide it."
Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: "It may not be illegal but it is undeniably an abuse of what the system's designed for."
http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17717503&method=full&siteid=93463&headline=hand-me--pound-75-and-i-ll-get-child-benefit-for-your-kids----in-poland---name_page.html