Jobless couple with six children to go with £27,000-a-year benefits handed four-bedroom home after claiming their council flat wasn't big enough

Chat 212 - News Summary...

• The jobless couple - Maggie Flisher and husband Gavin have not worked since 2005
• Couple have six children aged between 3 months and 8 years old
• The couple had been living in a one-bed flat with their children
• Mrs Flisher says she is 'super-fertile' - which makes contraception fail
• The Family say the council has ignored their demands for a new home for 8 years

Chat 212 NewsMail... Report

A jobless couple with six children living on benefits have been given a spacious four-bedroom home after complaining their council flat was too small.

Maggie Flisher, 26, and her 30-year-old husband Gavin have not worked since 2005 and between them receive around £27,000-a-year in state benefits.

The couple had been living in a one-bed flat with their children - aged between three months and eight years old - for the past eight years.

But after years of complaining about the cramped conditions, a housing association has finally found them a larger house.

Gavin with his daughters Elektra (left), Lacieann and his son Gavin Jnr in their one bedroom, which they have now moved out of

The family rely on a total of £27,000 in benefits paid out to them and their six children, who are all under the age of eight

Mrs Flisher said today: 'We are very pleased to be in.'

She added: 'I had to pay for the move myself, so it took us three weeks.'

Mrs Flisher claims she has been unable to work due to depression and mental health issues, while Gavin has to stay in their cramped home to look after her and their family.


The couple complained in July that Maidstone Borough Council in Kent had ignored their plea for a new home for eight years.

She explained she had six children, aged between eight and three months, because she is 'super-fertile' and contraceptive methods do not work for her.


Until this week, their three eldest children - Lacieann, eight, Elektra, six, and Gavin Jnr, five - all slept in the only bedroom.

Maggie and her two-year-old daughter Lilyrose slept on a sofa bed in the lounge alongside three-month-old twins Martinjames and Paris Nicola, who lay in Moses baskets.

Gavin slept wherever he could find a space.

But now, in their new Maidstone home, the parents have a room with their twins; daughters Elektra and Lilyrose share a room; and Lacieann and Gavin Junior each have their own room.


A Maidstone Borough Council spokesman said he could not comment on any particular case.

He said : 'We maintain a housing register for homes offered by Kent Homechoice.

'People can apply. They bid for a house and some are successful. All our social housing is in short supply and there is only a small number of four-bedroom houses.'

In July, the family said they received an annual total of £22,900 in benefits, including £540 a month in jobseekers allowance; child benefit of £85 every week; and child tax credit of £1,000 a month.

They have also been receiving housing benefit of £270-a-month to pay the rent on their flat in the town.