How an alcoholic couple cost the UK taxpayer £1m in just three years
THE “chaotic” lifestyle of an alcoholic couple has cost the taxpayer more than £1million in just three years.
An alcoholic couple cost the UK taxpayer £1m in just three years
The bill – the largest ever recorded for a single family – includes the costs of 25 agencies.
It includes hundreds of emergency call-outs to deal with accidental fires, late-night rows and drunken falls at the family home in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
The case emerged during an inquiry by an all-party parliamentary group, which revealed that alcohol abuse now costs the NHS £3.5billion and the fire service £131million every year.
The inquiry heard how the unnamed family-of-four needed regular visits from emergency services and the NHS.
They were living a chaotic lifestyle. The concern is that having spent all that money the issues, including alcohol dependency, are still there
The couple’s two sons, aged eight and 10, rarely attended school and received visits from social services and education officers.
Peter Dartford, chief fire officer in Staffordshire until the end of last year, told the inquiry: “They were living a chaotic lifestyle.
"The concern is that having spent all that money the issues, including alcohol dependency, are still there.”
Alcohol abuse now costs the NHS £3.5billion and the fire service £131million every year
Why Alcohol is Bad For You
The family was part of ex-Premier David Cameron’s “troubled families” scheme, set up after the 2011 riots to turn around the lives of 120,000 most “troubled” families.
Sir Bill Cash, Tory MP for Stone in Staffordshire, said: “It’s outrageous this money should be used in this way. It’s perfectly clear that somebody is fleecing the system.”
The inquiry into the effect that alcohol abuse has on the emergency services was told how frontline staff often suffer physical and sexual abuse from drunk people.