Private companies checking benefit claimants

[Hammy02]

David Cameron is going to work with Experion to check that benefit claimants are not spending money that they should not have. I think it's a great idea. Why should taxpayers pay for someone who doesn't work to have Sky TV, a car or a huge TV? If they can afford these, either the benefits they are receiving are too high or they have another source of income. Surely benefits are to keep people out of poverty and that is all?

contract phones work out cheaper than a new phone on top-up

its the attitudes to benefit claimants that tickles me (here on mn)...shouldnt have alcohol,cigarettes,nice tv,sky....etc,etc.....

why not???

i can budget and feed my family well for £40a week....admittedly have excellent stocked cupboards built up over time.....but the money i save from that can be used elsewhere

also...brighthouse,doorstep lenders and social fund loans,ainly aimed at claimants...mean that they can buy the 'latest gear' legitimately!

arent there 4 1/2 million people unemployed?

so 100,000 is a very small proportion, no?

and all those complaining benefit claimants have too much....then why dont YOU budget better????

How will David Cameron reconcile this with the party's supposed civil liberties agenda?

I mean, it's all very well removing CCTV cameras and binning identity cards, but isn't checking on benefit claimants' spending worse?

Or do benefits claimants have no civil liberties?

Not the bloody flatscreen tv argument again

I don't give a flying doda about what benefit claimants spent their money on as long as they do not claim fraudulently.

FWIW though I cant understand all those people making claims I see with Iphones etc

how do they do it?

We have a mobile each (remember, working poor not jobless family) but we need ot for the boys and they cost £8.49 a month to run, we never go over the credit bundle as we woudl struggle to repay.

We have no laons etc, other than student.

And LMAO about the eprson who suggested internet- DH's work is internet based; am not entirely certain we'd be on less money if he packed it in and I would certainly get a lot more help around the house. maybe they should do that.
Or not.

Exactly mingg. Some people seem to have missed the point about it being about fraud!

(though why anyone would choose to buy fags whether they're on benefits or not is beyond me, but there's no accounting for some people's priorities....)

I think the authorities should wise up to people who claim benefits but live a different life abroad.

I know of one woman who claims benefits in the UK, but owns property in Italy and Spain from which she receives cash rental payments in those countries. Her daughter in Italy handles the cash.

Clearly if this is just one person I know, then there must be thousands doing it. How many people who arrive in this country purporting to have nothing actually do have assets in their home countries? Can money being sent out of this country be monitored?

their tellys are too posh i tell you

It's just a cheaper way of doing what they already do. Currently the DWP employs benefit fraud investigators, but they have to pay them salary, pension, sick leave etc. Instead they are planning to employ Experian to do the work for them and not have to pay all those things.

Experian already has all the information from the banks/credit cards/store cards etc so I'm not sure how it makes much difference.

I don't think they're worried about the odd tv, they're after the guys who have multiple fake identity invalidity benefit claims going into one account.

Agree with MumNWLondon. I feel that I do have a right to know what benefit money is being spent on as it was my money that I earned, in the first place!

The benefit system in this country needs a massive shake up. My Dsis is PG with her second baby and hasn't worked for 4 years and lives on benefits. I've worked full-time for 20 years, never claimed any benefits other than maternity for 2 months last year and can't afford to have any more children. How is that right? My Dsis and BIL have a car each, although in fairness they do rent a 2 bed house as opposed to having a council house and don't get any housing benefit. BIL works long hours for £11k a year - yet still they can afford a second child. I don't begrudge her another baby, but I do think that it's irresponsible to have another child if you can't afford to support it. That certainly needs to be sorted out - although I have no idea how!

' Do you think that they should have their TV and other stuff taken away fron them'

perhaps they should just stopp paying the credit whilst they are poor? After all, unpaid credit harms nobody- right?

Bills don't go away when your income drops: new finance etc yes OK, but tenancies of nice houses and car loans etc take time to sort.

'Agree with MumNWLondon. I feel that I do have a right to know what benefit money is being spent on as it was my money that I earned, in the first place!

And teh 40 years DH and I paid NI- does that count for nothing then?

Seems not in MN land.

my tv is this big

if your BIL is earning 11k, apart from tax credits, what do they claim?

Dawn, surely if your bil works then your sister is not living on benefits . She is being supported by her partner. And really, if they choose to budget to afford another child that's their decision. Let's not let this descend into a 'feckless mothers on benefits spending my money' thread, there's plenty as it is.

:o

"benefits family have extention to council house to accomodate much wanted flatscreen tv"

"I feel that I do have a right to know what benefit money is being spent on as it was my money that I earned, in the first place!"

Do you feel as strongly about receiving a breakdown of all the government's defence spending, DawnAS? Or is it just flatscreen TVs and pot noodles you don't want 'your' money to buy?

Gramercy - it doesn't follow that because you know one person there must be thousands of others. Am not convinced the average benefits recipient owns property abroad.

Well, re: budgeting, we're all going to have to tighten our belts, because cuts are the one thing we can all be sure of!!!

You know what affect all this is having though?

Not fraud stuff- we're ok on that, not an issue as far as I am concerned, catch the fraudsters whether rich or poor IMVHO 9and I can assure you when I use IMVHO it's an H for honest not humble )

We don't claim CTB, qualify but choose not to as we can cover it atm, mainly due to our complete lack of debt. but DH and I are starting to get very shaky about the way the media etc are lumping working poor / carers etc within the feckless state parasites bracket and wondering if we too will be penalised, and whether we should beclaiming every penny we could after all in order to have some kind of cushion.

Productive huh?

oh dear dawnas!!

you really think your taxes are still your money to oversee???

what ,do you believe that if someone claims benefits,then you own a part of them????

That is exactly what I think sancti. I am a carer but I have paid into the system for years and dh pays into it now as a higher tax payer. But I do and can claim carers allowance because I am a carer and we claim DLA. No amount of money will ever make up for the scarifices and the day to day difficulties we face with our profoundly disabled daughter. I wonder whether people would like to take my money and my free car and live a day or two in our shoes?

I don't even have a flatscreen tv

Quite MB.

Dh isn;t a HR tax payer: far from, he was recentlyish amde redundant so ahs set up self employed and is also a student (and the repaybale loan helps enormously, covering the cars for a start!)

But we get up every day and work our guts out trying and I cannot see any link between us and the sort of people who people see as the stereotypes TBH. I see us as having get up and go and a grit we are and should be proud uf.

And yes, those NI credits count for a lot, as they would if they had been regular insurance payments.