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Repaying magistrates' court fines whilst on benefits
This concerns me a little, partially in relation to how you can reconcile these two parts of the story:
'Under current rules, claimants convicted and fined can be made to pay a maximum of £5 a week. That will rise to £25 under plans announced by David Cameron to ensure criminals on welfare forfeit a “significant amount of their benefits”.'
and this:
'Courts will still have discretion about payments and legal obligations requiring the state to ensure a basic minimum standard of life for all claimants will remain in place.'
if you're on £67.50pw JSA and someone takes £25 a week of that for fine repayment, that's going to leave £42.50 to pay for utilities and food (most people would struggle to maintain a basic minimum standard on this level of income).
a large percentage of magistrates' court fines are linked in some way to lack of income (e.g. TV Licence*, petty theft, driving without insurance) - so surely a hefty deduction is just going to lead to more offences.
*tv licence non-payment being a criminal offence - that's a whole different issue.
anyway i'll leave you to debate this. 14 replies.