Is it true that…
Rumours about life in Britain travel faster than the rules do. We take what people forward to each other most often and check it against the primary source — GOV.UK, the NHS, a regulator’s decision. Below: the verdict, the reasoning and the links to check us by.
- 100%checks out
- 50%half right
- 0%does not check out
- ?nothing to check against
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False
Tell a doctor you are stressed and you can smoke cannabis freely
False. Cannabis is still Class B: up to 5 years for possession. Only a specialist hospital doctor can prescribe, never a GP, and only for severe epilepsy, chemotherapy sickness and MS spasticity. Stress is not on the list.
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False
You can shoplift in England and nothing happens
False. Shop theft is ordinary theft under the Theft Act 1968, with a maximum of seven years. The £200 rule only decides which court hears the case. Charges rose 17% in a year.
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False
Settlement in Britain now takes ten years instead of five
No. The ten-year period is a government proposal from a consultation that closed on 12 February 2026. No response has been published and the Immigration Rules have not changed.
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Half true
The NHS has become paid for foreigners
Half true. GP care, A&E and treatment of most infectious diseases are free to everyone whatever their status. Hospital treatment is chargeable for people who are not ordinarily resident — but that was already the case.
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True
With a licence from Russia, Kazakhstan or another non-EU country you may drive in Britain for 12 months only
True. A GB resident may drive on such a licence for 12 months from the day they became resident. After that a GB licence is needed, and for most countries there is no exchange — you sit both tests again.
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Half true
Students do not pay council tax
Half true. A household where everyone is a full-time student is exempt. Add one non-student and a bill arrives — and it is addressed to them.
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Half true
If you rent out a room in your own home, you pay no tax on it
Half true. The Rent a Room scheme exempts the first £7,500 a year — but only for furnished accommodation in the home you live in, and the threshold halves if the income is shared.
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False
On a UK visitor visa you may not work remotely for your overseas employer
False. The Immigration Rules expressly allow a visitor to deal with their overseas job remotely — provided that is not what they came to Britain for.
True or false?
Heard something about visas, tax, benefits, driving licences or the NHS and cannot tell whether it is true? Put it in one sentence. We check it against primary sources and answer with a published piece rather than a private reply — other people need the answer too.
