Romanians stop paying benefits to anyone who owns gold jewellery

By
John Hutchinson

Last updated at 9:28 PM on 1st February 2012

Harsh? Romanians who own jewellery will miss out on benefits

Harsh? Romanians who own jewellery and gold will miss out on benefits

Romanian officials have denied targeting gypsies under tough new laws introduced to cut back on the amount of benefits paid – by refusing to pay benefits to anyone who owns gold jewellery.

Under the regulations introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions, any person claiming any sort of social benefit will be excluded if they declare that they own jewellery, or have more than 100 grams of precious metal, works of art, porcelain or crystal objects, fur coats or designer products.

But officials are relying on people to volunteer the information about what they have at home meaning few are being excluded for their art collections – but in contrast gypsies who turn up with their traditional gold jewellery are being turned down.

Gypsy groups say the law is discriminatory as the gold jewellery is often handed down through the generations and is also a cultural and status symbol that they would not sell, it should be worn with pride and not hidden away.

The tough new laws also ban anyone who wants benefits from getting a payment if they are not a registered taxpayer, again ruling out many gypsies who are discriminated against in the job market and are often forced to earn income from illegal casual jobs or begging – neither of which is taxable.

Recent data showed that 7,994,000 people received benefits direct from central government and many others received additional benefits from the local councils.

That compares with a figure of 5.2 million active employees in Romania, out of a 19.5 million population.
 

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

That’s OK, the UK are generous and we will pay their benefits and also for their children that live in Romania. What fools the UK are setting the limit at £26,000.

They don’t need to worry because they’re all over here getting our benefits! IT HAS TO STOP.

Have they still got anybody claiming social benefits over there? I thought they are all over here!

They can just come here and claim benefits, everyone else from europe seems to ……and our lot never refuse !!!

Then they will just come over here and claim benefits here instead.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes