Plan B Forum

A single mother with eight children who receives £2,000 a month in state handouts has complained she is struggling to make ends meet.

Marie Buchan, 31, whose children range in age from 12 to two months, lives in a three-bedroom housing association house in Selly Oak, Birmingham, but says it's not big enough and has applied for a bigger one.



And she says her benefits payments, which were reduced from £582 a week to £500 a week in September after the government introduced a cap on handouts, are not enough for her family to survive on.

Now Miss Buchan, who is £2,000 in arrears with her rent, says she fears she may be evicted after falling behind with her rent.

She said: 'The benefit cap has hit me hard - money is very tight. I am £82-a-week worse off and, when you have eight children, every penny counts.

'I don’t waste my money - everything goes on my children. It is tough bringing up eight children on your own, a constant battle.

'I feel the threat of eviction all the time. I have already been to court once due to rent arrears and I fear I may be dragged there again.

'I am scrimping and saving to try to get the arrears down but it is very difficult.'

Miss Buchan's financial problems are compounded by the fact that she owes £600 in bus lane fines after receiving ten tickets for straying in bus lanes in Birmingham city centre in three days.

Miss Buchan's financial problems are compounded by the fact that she owes £600 in bus lane fines after receiving ten tickets for straying in bus lanes in Birmingham city centre in three days.

rubato wrote:Do they look different enough? Look like a matched set.

Sean wrote:I agree. Most of those kids look like they come from the same father...

rubato wrote:$42,484 per year seems very generous but 8 kids has to cost a fortune. I can see capping welfare after 2 kids unless the adult agrees to be sterilized. Or maybe giving a 1-time cash payment of $15,000 for tubal ligation and $7,500 for men going to "Dr Snip".

yrs,
rubato

Joe Guy wrote:

rubato wrote:Do they look different enough? Look like a matched set.

Sean wrote:I agree. Most of those kids look like they come from the same father...

You two are quite obviously racist. You are saying that because the woman has eight children that have African-American characteristics and they all look alike, all of these children must have the same father. Further, you are implying that all black men are absent parents and are attracted to white women.

You could both use some diversity training to help change your racial and culturally stereotypical views.

Miss Buchan, whose relationship with her former partner and father of all her children ended this year, has children Tia, 12, Leah, 11, Latoya, eight, Joshua, seven, Alisha, five, Mikayla, three, Amelia, two, and two-month-old Olivia.

MajGenl.Meade wrote: Where is the support from the father? She says they've been on and off again together since she was 14 years old.