yes John, this country is very good at hand outs, more so to people who move here.My advice to you is, before you move, get the addresses ofthe housing benefit, social security. social services. pensions offices,your friends in Wiltshire could maybe supply the addresses,I would be very interested to hear what thet suggest and how much they profor. Good luck

Mac, that almost happened to my father. He was running up a bill and didn't have the money in cash and they started trying to get his house. He tried to put his house into a trust for the children but they would not allow it. In the end the only way he got around it was to get out of hospital and  back into his home. They were against it, didn't want him to go home because it was not wheelchair-friendly!!! In the end we flew over and I put in the ramps and rails and handles. After he got home there were two nice ladies came regularly to help take care of him, but it was not for nothing. The bills ran up and in the end it was settled out of his estate after he passed away. My father received two pensions, one for 23 years in the army and another for 25 in the police. When my mother died the taxman took one away. At the age of 81 he married an old frind from years ago, before the war even... we rather think they were more than friends once.. and that enabled them both to survive.

Jacqui and I have done a fair bit of looking into the coming home options and discussing the ethics of the benefit system. There is no doubt that he who does not take advantage of te system is refusing what he is entitled to, like it or not. It affects many aspects of one's options, from whether you rent or try for shared ownership, to how you use what money you have got. The system encourages you to spend or hide what money you do have, because if you appear to have more than a very minimal 16000 pounds you lose a lot of what you are entitled to. And yet according to the system you get paid a little credit if you have savings!!!

One thing is for certain, the minimum wage is not a living wage at all, and the system just forces people to ask for help. I am amazed how little people get paid there and how small is the difference between the rate for a cleaner and a tradesman. When I asked about it I was told that cleaning is not an attractive job... well nor is being a foundry moulder, a centre lathe operator or a toolmaker. I know of a toolmaker there who pushes trolleys at Sainsbury's on the morning shift because it lets him drive taxis in the afternoon and early evening and in this way he gets more than doing skilled work!!

On the subject of immigrant workers and the risk of the country being over-run by itinerant Armenian hod-carriers, why not operate the system that they have here, where one needs to have a temporary residence permit to get employment, which may be upgraded to permanent if one keeps out of trouble  and is still gainfully employed after five years. Mind you, that is in theory now, the thousands of illegals from Zimbabwe now just come through cuts in the fence!!!

Keep the home fires burning, Ee'll be there for our winter fuel allowance one of these days!!

Well, we are still trying to figure out the ethic over there, Mac. The wage for a 168 hour working month cannot support life, so one goes to the "system" with your hand held out, and that is how it is geared. It is terrible that crime has become so bad over there, it was nothing like that when I left in the sixties. Times were hard but you could at least walk the streets.

Where else to go???  You need money anywhere. We would just like to live where there is a "system", where one can work if you choose to or need to and where I can ride a bicycle without carring a 38!! Perhaps France would be nice, that is where Jacqui is from originally. By the way did you know that if you are a pensioner and live overseas you do not get any of the increases, your payment is locked from the day your pension kicks in. There is a big case coming up at the court in the Hague soon to get that dealt with. It was tried before by asking nicely but no luck!!! Have a lovely evening, and don't forget to bolt the door.!!

Yes John I did know about the pensions being frozen,some of my friends in spain say in the five years they have been there the rises arent worth worrying about,and the tax they pay to spain in very minimal so it more than makes up for the rises.
I love the south of France John,properties are cheaper than here too,and you usually get a bit of land thrown in,you could be self supportive there !

 i wish to correct one item:

 you get a pension freeze, if you emigrate to all
 Commonwealth country,in America they recieve the
 increase, every year !

no Mac................a lot of thing are not fair:
America was not a commonweath country..... so they
get the full cost of living rise...... every year.

i think its...about two million British pensioners
living in Canada should be entitled to an increase
but.........when i was in Canada 10 years ago they
were fighting for the increase..like America then.

Is there really any Hope, that Life and it's relevant standards, can and will improve ??