BRITAIN’S notorious Welfare Queen has admitted it’s FINALLY time she gets a job after spending most of the last 25 years living on taxpayer-funded handouts.
Mum-of-eight Marie Buchan, 44, who previously made headlines for buying a horse and splashing out on a boob job and a designer vagina while claiming benefits, says she can no longer rely on welfare payments to raise her family.
Speaking after this week’s Budget, which did nothing to tackle Britain’s ballooning £400billion welfare bill, the controversial benefits celebrity admitted: “Not everyone can claim Universal Credit for the rest of their lives.”
“It’s got out of control now. The country can’t cope.”
The single mum, from Selly Oak, West Midlands, says she receives £1,200 a month in Universal Credit and Child Benefit, but says the money is no longer enough.
And despite years of defending her lavish lifestyle, which saw her buy a horse and undergo breast enhancement surgery using her benefits, she now admits that returning to work may be her only option.
Asked whether she would consider getting a full-time job, she told The Sun: “It is going to have to come to that now.”
“I’m 44 now, my life has been raising the children and living on benefits.”
Marie, who has been on and off benefits for 25 years, claims she has qualifications as a car mechanic and has previously worked as a carer during Covid.
But despite spending five years at college gaining qualifications, she admits she hasn’t put her training to lasting use.
She said: “If a job landed on my lap tomorrow I’d take it, but it would have to work around my family.”
The Welfare Queen insisted she would be prepared to return to work for the new minimum wage of £13.20, provided she could find a job that fitted around her family.
But she admitted that previous attempts to return to employment had ended badly, including suffering a nervous breakdown while working as a carer during the pandemic in 2021.
She said: “I was trying to prove a point to people. No one could see I was having a mental crisis.”
Her change of heart comes after the Chancellor’s Budget this week, which saw millions of families promised an additional £100 to help afford their energy bills this winter.
But Marie, who still has seven children living at her four-bedroom property, says the latest Government handouts will barely scratch the surface.
She said: “£100 sounds like a lot, but it won’t go far, not if you’re raising a big family.”
Despite receiving £1,200 a month in benefits, she claims she is struggling to pay her bills and has been forced to rely on food banks.
She said: “It’s not a lot, not with the rise in food prices and energy bills. I’ve had bailiffs at my door because I didn’t pay a £2,000 water bill.”
She joked, “The most lavish thing I bought this year was a new tyre for my car… And I fitted it myself!”
But while Britain’s Welfare Queen admits she may finally have to swap welfare payments for wages, other claimants across the country insist the Government still isn’t doing enough to help them.
Locals living on taxpayer handouts on Britain’s notorious Benefits Street told The Sun: ‘We’ve got cheaper baked beans, but we still need more cash’.
This week the Government also revealed a cut in tariffs on 100 supermarket products such as baked beans and gherkins, which it says could save Brits £21 over the year.
But its taxpayers who will be forced to cough up the billions needed to bankroll the Government’s pledges, with income tax thresholds frozen again, meaning millions will pay more tax as their wages rise.
Lesley Mead, 45, says she also relies on a food bank each week to feed her family.
The mum-of-four moved to Jaywick, near Clacton-on-sea, to live with her auntie, over the summer holidays but claims she is unable to work due to arthritis in her spine.
The former Brentwood resident says she receives Universal Credit and is waiting for a decision on her Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim.
Lesley welcomed the Government’s announcements but questioned whether they would make any meaningful difference to families already struggling with soaring household bills.
“We do like our baked beans, so we welcome the £21 off our food shop!” she joked.
But she added: “The cost of living is going up with the energy prices. We’ve got cheaper baked beans but how are we going to afford the fresh fruit and vegetables, especially when our electric is going to go up that high?”
When she was told the energy price cap is forecast to go up £469 in January, she responded: “What’s the £100 for, to keep us quiet? That’s disgusting, really!”
Jaywick Sands has been named the most deprived area in England four times since 2010, with 75% of residents living in “income deprivation”, which means they are either out of work or require benefits to top up their income to get by.
As a result, the town has featured in a number of TV documentaries which have painted the 1930s holiday resort in a grim light, with boarded-up properties, rundown streets and fly-tipped driveways and gardens.
But behind the media reports is a tight-knit community where residents say the Chancellor’s Budget still doesn’t go far enough to help fund their lives or make working worth it.
As part of a raft of measures announced this week, the Government said it would scrap the standing charges on gas bills, which it estimates will save 60% of households an average of £45.
But Jaywick resident, Carol, who asked not to give her surname, dismissed the announcement as “not enough because the amount it will go up in January will far outweigh that amount. We’ll still be worse off.”
The grandmother-of-one claims PIP but says it is not enough to deal with the cost of living crisis, and has cut down on her food shops and “stopped buying any luxuries”.
She added that the cost of heating their 3-bedroom house is their biggest problem, as her housebound 78-year-old husband needs the heating on all day.
Her concerns were echoed by Dawn Butler, 49, who was visiting Jaywick with her children for the half term holiday.
The community support worker from Southend, who claims Universal Credit to top up her minimum wage job, said the cut on VAT would do little to ease her financial struggles.
She told The Sun: “Once you put your gas on over the winter, you could easily do £20 to £50 a week”.
“I’m a single mum with three kids, it doesn’t really help.”
Down in South London, Angela Lewis, 40, who claims to suffer from anxiety and depression, welcomed this week’s Budget as “truly amazing”.
She last worked in 2002 and receives £1,460 a month in benefits, which will increase by 3.5 per cent.
The South Londoner will also get an extra £150 from the Warm Home Discount Scheme, plus the Government’s £100 cash payout to help with energy bills.
She told The Sun the additional support will help her “put extra food on the table that I can’t afford at the moment”.
She added that with the Labour Government’s latest handouts she “might be able to get away on a holiday”.
But 180 miles away in Ebbw Vale, south Wales, the reaction from some benefit claimants was very different.
The area is home to the highest number of people who claim the state’s disability benefit, PIP (Personal Independence Payment), due to mental health issues.
One in 30 people claim PIP for anxiety or depression and receive a standard rate of £76.70 per week or the enhanced rate at £114.60.
Jessica George, 28, told The Sun: “I used to be a carer but now I’m on PIP for anxiety and it’s barely enough to pay my rent and food.”
She added: “It’s very difficult, the Budget should have given us more.”
Meanwhile, Dylan, who asked not to give his surname, said: “I’ve lived off benefits the last five years and it’s a struggle, especially with no jobs around.”
The 31-year-old added: “The Government hasn’t a clue on the things we miss out on, like taking the kids out, not being able to afford a decent Christmas. The Budget just ignored people like me.”