To dob in family member - benefits

It’s absolutely none of your business.

Most of my wider family don’t even m kw I have a disability. They see me at family events, they see carefully selected photos on social media that make it look like I have a life. They have no idea how difficult life is for me, how much pain I’m in, how little I sleep because of that pain, how any amount of activity leaves me back in bed for hours or even days. How much my husband has to help me, how utterly exhausted I am all the time!! They just see me smiling and appearing to have a ‘normal’ life, not knowing how much I’m struggling just to not rot away in bed all the time (because that’s what my body wants to do).

And do you know how HARD it is to get approved for benefits? Your relative has had to go to tribunal, jumping through hoops they really shouldn’t have to, to PROVE that they are disabled to a bunch of people who simply do not care. That’s why they had to have a “Rottweiler” to support them - because they needed someone to advocate for them, because it’s so damn stressful doing it alone. It is so utterly demoralising having to lift every single aspect of your disability and how it impact your daily life, having to be confronted by all the things you struggle with and cannot do and write them all down in detail for a stranger to pick through, to interrogate you about as if you’re lying, and smirk and snicker at the awkward bits. They will ask you the same thing in five different days trying to ‘catch you out’. It is completely degrading, and it doesn’t matter how much medical evidence you have, they still turn most people down. And then you have to fight, again, and harder, to go through a tribunal. It’s honestly shameful how we treat disabled people in this country! The incidence of fraud is extremely tiny yet the majority of people face uphill struggles fighting for what little help they are entitled to!

Your relative would not have won their tribunal if they didn’t have appropriate and adequate evidence of their disability. YOU may not think they ‘deserve’ it, but you don’t see what happens behind closed doors, whereas the tribunal panel/judge has had access to the evidence and deemed them worthy. Not only that, they’ve awarded them the higher rate, which means they are significantly impacted in their daily life by their disability.

Just because they don’t open up to you about it, don’t think they’re not struggling. Perhaps they haven’t been honest with you simply because they know how judgemental you clearly are!!

I know a guy who was on this, his wife and daughter were on benefits too, they were all carers for each other. Yet they had a horse and he would go to the stables throwing bails of hay around. Someone dobbed them in and he lost his benefits.

I would report - they might weasel their way round it even if checked out.
If we dont' cut benefit payments the country is stuffed - how many thousands are being signed onto them a year - PIP and DLA claimants rose by 450,000 in a year.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/disability-benefits-pip-dla-soar-450000-dwp-3543847
All that could be paying for teachers, pothole repairs, SEN needs, mental health support for teenagers

I don’t understand. You don’t want them to live a normal life? Why not?

Are you struggling? Is that why you are so jealous? It is not a good look. Focus on your own life. See what you can do to bring in a bit more income if that’s what will make you happy. Otherwise you will remain miserable, bitter and twisted.

This.

Made me LOL. Thanks.

I assume you have a degree in medical science from Oxbridge then! To know so much better than all those medical professionals. Its said that we are all only a banana skin from disability.

This case is different. Tribunal panels do not change or make decisions lightly and the evidence has to be solid.

People like you should actually be prosecuted for making malicious allegations just because you’re jealous someone is getting something you aren’t. Such a shitty thing to do to anyone, but to even consider doing it to a disabled member of your own family is unforgivable.

Trust me, it was. I do this as a job and a tribunal board are more than thorough, believe me.

But it isn't just for people who "can't walk miles" - under the mobility descriptors enhanced rate can be awarded under the planning and following a journey criteria, physical mobility notwithstanding. There are also absolutely no points related activities under PIP relating to gardening, moving furniture or domestic chores. Not relevant.

I'd love to know what the related knowledge is that you have that made you feel you know better than the tribunal panel. The average appeal evidence bundle that I receive for clients is between 120 and 200 pages long, the same bundle the appeal board examine.

Haven't a clue. There you go. I represent at tribunals as part of my job. The tribunal panel scrutinise all evidence thoroughly, ask extensive and detailed questions and only decide on an award after significant deliberation and examination of all that evidence. Unless you literally live that person's life and are privy to their movements and how they manage their conditions 24hrs a day, who are you to make this kind of judgment? Incredible.

This x 100! That you would do such a rotten thing to anyone far less a family member! Decent people despise a grass.

The only histrionics here are from you. Obviously, no-one would know if random people in the pub or the playground either had a disability or were on PIP for it, would they? You've got yourself all wound up and now you're being a bit silly, aren't you.

Gosh, I can't imagine looking at someone else and judging them when medical professionals and the assessors for PIP have agreed they deserve the benefits they get.
Unless they're claiming they can't walk at all then they're jumping up to run marathons every weekend, I have no idea how you can determine they're lying.
My wonderful friend gets PIP, she's a hiker and she's fitter than me. She's also severely suicidal and only about 5 people close to her know about that. She often struggles to even brush her teeth on bad days, she's gone days without eating because she's so low, but if you ever knock on her door she'll have the brightest smile and convince you she's thriving.
I think it's best to let people be. Unless you are them, you will never have the full story. It's not just about them looking like they live a "normal" life, it's about what goes on that they don't let people see.

All the 'theys' and 'thems' is confusing, you were initially talking about just one relative who is claiming. Make up your mind.

What I don't understand is why you (and other family members), are so invested in this How does it affect you?

I do 'get' that people feel uneasy about those who work the system and receive benefits they don't need, it's fodder for documentaries and the likes of the Daily HateMail, but this is somebody to whom you are close; so close thta you know the ins and outs of their finances!

You know she or he has health problems. Why can you not be glad? It must be a great relief to know that your bills will be paid and you can have a reasonable quality of life, despite your health. This person's health would be a heck of a lot worse without these benefits. Please do not resent this person and don't encourage your wider family to pry and tut over the situation, it's unfair and unkind.

It would be best if you refused to discuss it at all - and it would certainly have been better had this unfortunate person not trusted you with personal information.

Quite simply, not your business, butt out, end of.

Any benefit claimants on here be warned by this thread, trust nobody, including family.

I have a cousin who received benefits she wasn’t completely entitled to.

In my country if you are a single mother and live with a boyfriend then he is expected to financially provide for you and the child that is not his. Except in his case he couldn’t afford to take care of them.

She was on benefits living in an awful area in a house that was overrun with fleas from the last tenant.

I didn’t report her. She had nothing and absolutely needed the money.

She works now, gives back to the community and is studying for a qualification. The money was only temporary to care for her baby. Once her boyfriend got a better paying job then he started providing for my cousin.

I think you should report your relative. This is a lifestyle choice and they are living their best life and defrauding the system.

If you can move, aided or unaided, more than 200m and can plan a journey, you get no points at all for mobility.

To reach the 12 points required their description is completely accurate. They are getting higher rate mobility, to then get motorbility.

So now we've moved on from "relative is disabled but I feel not sufficiently for their award to be proportionate" to outright claims of fraud. That you and your equally delightful sounding relatives get together to bitch about.

I can't imagine being related to such bitter and malicious gossips. What a nightmare.

Of course you do love. Presumably this is going to be the first in a long succession of posts where your personal disabilities become more and more severe.

Indeed. Anyone would think @bert3400 was talking complete bollocks

pip is so hard to get, to be rewarded through courts too. So stay out of it

I would never usually say this to someone, but you feel a bad person because you are a bad person. What makes you think you’re in a position to judge these things. I truly feel sorry for people like you. Hope that you will be better one day.

@askmenow Nobody should be on PIP without regular reviews.

I am on PIP without regular reviews. I have MS, have lost the use of my legs and am wheelchair dependent. Do you think I am suddenly going to get better? Do you really want to see taxpayers money wasted reviewing people whose condition cannot improve, or is it just that the thought of pointlessly inconveniencing people for having the temerity to be disabled that pleases you? Incidentally I work full-time. My motability vehicle enables me to do this. By the way, the number of people receiving PIP has not suddenly massively increased since the General Election. I'm guessing you have conveniently forgotten the fourteen years of disastrous Tory rule?