Sixty British residents in the Dordogne are among those who have been accused of defrauding the French benefits system, by unlawfully claiming unemployment benefit. Residents who have worked in France and paid taxes are entitled to Revenu minimum d’insertion (RMI) if either their income from a job falls below a certain annual level or if they are out of work altogether. Most of those accused, some of whom will have to pay back benefit for up to three years, are believed to hold jobs in the so-called black economy and therefore have undeclared income. 

RMI used to be paid on a central basis but was allocated to the individual departments in January 2004, in an effort to combat fraud. Some of the foreign claimants are thought to be working in another country, returning to France only for holidays. Since November 2003 foreign residents are no longer required to have a titre de séjour, which used to make it much more difficult for them to claim for benefits without the proper entitlement.

Sympathetic benefit clerks in the Caisse d’allocation familiale are blamed for many of the unlawful hand-outs to British ex-pats who have fallen on hard times. Not everyone, however, is quite so understanding. One French resident of Périgueux said it was disgusting that British people welcomed in France with open arms should abuse the system.