send them your money! lol

£24m overseas child benefit bill

Child benefit is being paid for more than 50,000 youngsters living outside the UK, according to Treasury figures. Most of them are not British citizens and have never even been to Britain

They include 37,941 children who live in Poland, from which there has been a large influx of migrant workers since the country joined the European Union in 2004.

Details of how much the payments are costing the British taxpayer (you and me!), have not been released, but one estimate put the bill at more than £24 million. In total 50,586 children outside the UK are the designated beneficiaries of the entitlements for people working in Britain, Treasury minister Stephen Timms revealed to the Commons.
 Due to EU rules, however, not all of the payments are made at the full UK rate of £20 a week for the first child and £13.20 for others.
After Poland, the next biggest concentration was in Slovakia, where there are 2,573 children named for benefits claims. Then it was France, with 2,346. The figure for Poland has risen by about a fifth from 31,400 in the past 18 months. Tory Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond said: “With Britain facing a debt crisis, it beggars belief that we are continuing to send millions of pounds of British taxpayers' money to children who don't even live in this country.” It's yet more evidence that we are completely out of touch with the concerns of ordinary families struggling to make ends meet in this country during these difficult times."

This has been going on for years Ron, as part of an incentive for free movement of workers in the EU-- i.e. come to Britain it seems to me--as 1) they likely make more money here than where they came from, and 2) they can claim for children left at home, as noted above. No wonder millions of pounds each week are being sent back home from foreign workers here.

I must be a bit like you Ron ... I remember feeling like I'd been kicked in the teeth, especially after the Rainbow Warrior affair which was our first experience of a 'friendly' state sponsored terrorism involving the French DGSE. However I've seen that we are still fondly remembered in Le Quesnoy (WW1) and Firenze, and Trieste in Italy and Crete in Greece (WW2). In both my visits to the UK everything was so familiar it felt like home .... I know it wasn't .... but? Time marches on and events change reality.

The only problem I have Kahu is regarding those who arrive here penniless, are not prepared to work, but take our benefits that we and our parents have paid into for a lifetime. In a situation like that you have to ask who is responsible, and the answer I think lies firmly at the feet of our Government!

I agree with you, Ron. I don't know about Britain but people who are not able to legally work in the US are able to collect welfare, etc. What the b---- h--- is that all about? Grrrrrrrr.