Mother who gets nearly £29k a year in welfare payments says she can't work

A mother-of-three says she has no choice but to claim benefits because she can't hold down a job and be a parent. 'I didn't choose to be on benefits, I had no choice because I had children,' she said on Channel 5 documentary Benefits Britain: Life On the Dole. Scroll down for video Mother-of-three Claire, pictured holding her youngest child Louis on TV show Benefits Britain, says it’s not worth her time to work as she can get more money by claiming benefits Defending her position, she added: 'I am a mum, why should you be put down for being a mum and wanting to live your life with your children?' Ms Fitzpatrick and her family get nearly £29,000 a year in income support, child tax credit, child benefit and Disability Living Allowance - which they qualify for as her eldest son, Ronnie, seven, is autistic. Claire is pictured pushing a buggy outside her two-bed bungalow in Jaywick with her mother and fiance behind her, while her son, Ronnie, is pictured on the right An aerial view of Jaywick, Essex, one of the poorest places in Britain where 60 per cent of the working age population is on benefits 'People say "you are on benefits, you shouldn't have so many pets" but we were bought them cheap as presents and the children cost more to feed,' she said.