Attractive Britain

A family has been paid £189,694 of public money to live in one of Britain's most expensive areas, according to figures that reveal the biggest recipients of housing benefit. The family have received the sum from the taxpayer in order to live in a seven-bedroom house in Oxford that has been rented since January 2004. Oxford City Council, which paid the £189,694 sum, was unavailable for comment.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show a family of seven in Camden, north London, have received £189,653 since August 2001 for a series of properties. They now live in a five-bedroomed house that costs £1,515 a week.
A claimant in Westminster has been paid £76,000 in 12 months while a family in Brent, north-west London, are paid £2,827 a week and have received £177,497 since they began claiming in 2004.
In total, the housing benefit system, which sees families paid by their local authority to cover all or part of their rent, costs £15 billion a year. More than 4.4m people receive housing benefit in Britain.
Last year it emerged a mother of seven, Afghan migrant Toorpakai Saindi, was receiving £170,000 a year in benefits to cover the cost of a seven-bedroomed rented home in west London. The local authority, Ealing Council, said the amount was high because of a rate set by the government.
Susie Squire, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These figures are staggering and show an alarming amount of taxpayers’ money is being haemorrhaged year after year. In many cases the rent is so high a property could have been purchased outright with just a few years’ rent.”
Several councils, including Mid Sussex, Renfrewshire, Walsall and Harrogate have paid totals of £50,000-£80,000, although many of these cases are for claimants who require adapted properties and 24-hour care.
The figures came as actors Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow and director Ken Loach spoke out against cuts in support allowances for asylum seekers. Screenwriters, authors and actors, including Miriam Margoyles and Jason Issacs, are among the celebrities who have signed a letter of protest to the government from charity Refugee Action.
Refugee charities also condemned the move, calling the cuts "appalling" and calling for asylum seekers to be given the right to work. Telegraph.