This latest benefits scam sparked outrage last night.
Loopholes in the system mean cheats are free to return to their homeland while being paid £87.55 a week. Workers from the EU see our 28-week statutory sick pay as easy pocket money.
Some even claim the payments while holding down second jobs back home. The deception was rumbled by company managers across Britain who say they are powerless to act.
The scandal confirms Britain has “lost the plot on immigration,” said a Ukip MEP last night.
It comes days after the Government conceded it was helpless to stop £30million a year in child benefit payments flowing out of Britain for the off-spring of EU migrants working here.
The Department for Work and Pensions said the system is not abused but admitted it does not keep records on sick pay for migrant workers. But it is worried enough to urge companies to report staff suspected of lying.
Last night a payroll manager at a firm in the South-west employing Polish drivers said one took 16 weeks sick leave last year and has racked up 12 weeks this year.
The company says the man has a second job abroad but as they receive certificates from his Polish doctor the absence goes unchallenged.
Two other drivers have also travelled home while claiming sick pay for long stretches.
The manager said: “Days before the employee is due to return we receive a doctor’s note and just before that expires, we will receive another one, and so it continues.
“How is it right an individual is paid benefits when they are not even in the country? It is happening and there is nothing we can do about it.”
The scam is a particular burden for smaller companies as employers are responsible for sick pay and cannot get a refund. Before rules changed in April this year, firms could claim back the money.
By law, employees can self-certify sickness for seven days. After that, companies can seek a doctor’s note.
Official guidance says notes from GPs are “strong evidence” of legitimate absence – £50million was paid out in the last tax year.
Doctors are told they should not issue sick notes longer than 13 weeks in the first six months of an illness.
Ukip MEP Tim Aker said: “This scandal once again demonstrates the Government has lost the plot on controlling immigration. Britain needs to get a grip and stop those seeking to milk the system. We can only realistically do it by getting out of the EU.”
A DWP spokesman said: “There are already strict rules in place to stop people abusing sick pay.”
Yesterday, when asked about “benefits tourism,” Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “A good example of that is The Big Issue, a magazine which is a brilliant idea by a brilliant individual who himself was homeless.
“It is wonderful. But actually what is happening more and more, is people mostly from southern and eastern Europe have ended up being Big Issue sellers and they claim, as self-employed, immediately, tax credits.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.