to have reported my "friend" for benefit fraud

[buttercupp]

ok so cant go into too much detail for obvious reasons but i have a friend (not know for long but lives near me) and i have been debating for a while now whether to report her or not for living with her partner who is also claiming as living alone.

so today i have done it finally after being fed up of hearing what other electrical applicance they have bought with the stupid amount of money they have been given when my DH is out at work slogging his guts out just to make ends meet.

The reason i havent done it before is like i say she is supposed to be my friend,we have had nights out together and she has a baby so have felt a bit bad in that respect too but i knew i had to do the right thing.
would i be a hypocrite to continue to be her friend or should i avoid her from now on? i do like the girl just dont agree with what she was doing.and anyone know what will happen now i have reported her?

Won't be reading the thread as it's like Groundhog Day but get off your high horse because you don't have the morals you think you do you sneaky woman. And the people that have congratulated you are wrong. Wrong aint strong. That's my level of debate for today sse ya.

ccp - yes, when you look at the amounts involved, it is huge sums vs a few.

Corporate tax avoidance is estimated by the HMRC to be costing the country anywhere between £3.7bn and £13bn. Whereas benefit fraud is around £15m. So rather a big difference in the sums involved.

3 years ago, somebody reported me for cheating on benefits (I wasn't). My benefits were stopped pending investigation. As a result I became homeless and am still suffering the chain of events from that.

I dislike cheats & chancers, and get suitably ourtaged at the kind of massively cynical benefit frauds that are exposed on TV, but feel a small amount of 'grey market' activity or minor cheating is understandable given the skin-of-your-teeth levels benefits are at.

It wasn't "wrong" of you to report her - if you're sure of your facts - but it was petty-minded IMO. If there is any possibility you were wrong about it, you might just have irreversibly ruined somebody's life.

grace,happened to me too....didnt lose my home tho. i had 5 dc to support ON MY OWN.....its not funny,and to those posters who shrug their shoulders and say 'no harm done if a genuine claim'......are you SURE about that??!

I agree that you never know the whole story.I know someone who had split from her dh and he was renting a place 4 miles away from the family home which was crippling them financially but neccesary.The woman concerned allowed her ex to be there every day after work to eat and do bedtime as the 2 kids were so distraught about the split.Someone reported her and she ended up in very bad financial circumstanv=ces which lasted over a year while they looked into it Think before you act Life is complicated enough

Yes you were wrong to report her if she is your friend.

You would be better off telling her you have reporting her in the spirit of coming clean and then have nothing more to do with her.

However it is also wrong to do things on the side but then it goes on everywhere you would be busy reporting all day long if you looked hard enough.

Biscuit your point is? Tax avoidance is not a crime, benefit fraud is.

Cashmygold that is exactly the problem I think it's a sense of entitlemnt rather than just getting by and moving onwards and upwards. The benefits system is more generous than it has ever been.

I do not think for one that the benefits are generous as people say. We get JSA and CTC. We are living each day as it comes, if we run out of money the day after our tax credits have gone in because we have had to buy food, pay rent and gas and electric. I would love to actually meet someone who says they love life on benefits and have more money than getting a full time job.

I was a benefit fraud investigator.

These things aren't quick they will grade it to decide if its worth looking into. As neither of them are working its probaly not a priority as it would be if he was working and living with her. The housing/council tax benefit department will also want to look into it if he is claiming rent for somewhere he isn't living. Get in touch with the local council to report this.

Then run credit checks to see who's registered there then check with utility companys ect. They may do survalance but this is often costly and probaly wouldn't be done anytime soon.

You are probaly not the only person to report this but the more info you can provide the better.

emmyloulou - that's not quite true. Tax schemes are graded according to risk of the loophole that's being exploited being either closed by the Treasury or being deemed illegal, meaning the company in question has to repay the tax. There are many forms of tax avoidance that are sailing very, very close to the wind.

And to be honest, why is it illegal for me to evade my tax but not for GlaxoSmithKline (picking a well known company at random there - am not implying they evade UK tax) to do so? Do you not think there is something wrong with that?

Tax evasion by companies when we have one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the developed world is disgusting. And I don't understand why you're more concerned about the trifling amounts claimed by benefits 'cheats' when if companies paid the right amount of tax, it would have a significant impact on our national deficit.

CheekyLittleSox sorry, but were you serious about putting money in the back of the TV? I have never heard of anyone doing that (the lecky box - for sure!!) What does that pay for - the TV or the licence fee? If it's the TV have you tried Freecycle, there are always loads of TVs on ours - none of them are flat screen, but the 2 men to carry them jobbies - but free none the less....

I don't know what causes the difference between the 'comfort level' of some people on benefits and others (if you assume they are all claiming legally) as some say they can save for things and others say they struggle and fair enough, some are better than others at budgeting, but CLS doesn't seem like the kind of person to 'fritter money away' but is on the bones of her bum - why? Is it the area some people live in (higher costs) or how many kids you have (more money?) what is it??

Because tax evasion is illegal LadyB - you can legally take advantage of tax avoidance schemes though

But my point mingg is that they should be. Why is it okay to avoid tax if you're very rich or a company but not if you're an middle/low income person? The system sucks and I think focus on benefit fraud is a total waste of time. So many people on here have used the 'well there's less money available for the people who really need it' argument against benefit fraud when it's a drop in the ocean.

And like I said, quite a few of the more aggressive schemes are challenged by the HMRC so legality is a bit of a grey area in those instances I would suggest.

It is ok for anyone to arrange their tax in the most favourable way including middle / low income people, it is not ok for anyone including the very rich and companies to evade tax. Tax avoidance and tax evasion are not the same and at present tax avoidance is perfectly legal.

Doesn't that bother you though mingg? It does me.

I think you were brave to report your friend and you did the right thing. As long as you were 100% sure of the facts.

It bothers me too Lady biscuit,thats why I would never report benefit fraud ..as you say its a drop in the ocean

i have a relative who was very senior in the tax office and used to lead a department investigating tax evasion.He found it very frustrating that they would get onto a case and got to the stage where they had nearly nailed them, when a message would come from his superiors to drop it.No explanation -nothing.it happened whatever party was in power.

It's distasteful because of the underhandedness, but otherwise you did the right thing.

That is your underhandedness and secrecy in reporting.

CheekyLittlesocks I live on benifits - we also get HB and Council tax help. I don't love it and sure it would be better to have a job finacially but it isn't that tight that I need to commit crime. That's crazy. You need a roof, you need heat, you need food, council tax etc but apart from that everything else is a luxury. NO ONE should commit crime and use living on benifits as an excuse.

Meltedchocolate, I just came across this survey of what people feel are necessities for a family with children.

I agree with you btw, living on benefits is not an excuse to commit crime.

Feeling strongly about benefit fraud is one thing but actually reporting someone who calls you a friend? Surely you could never look this person in the face again. You can't continue to see her, even if avoiding her does mean she knows it's you who reported her.

I know the govt loses a lot of money to benefit fraud but tbh I just can't get that hot under the collar about it when there is so much more lost to tax evasion / avoidance by people who can well afford to pay their fair share. IMO anyone who has paid their builder / cleaner cash in hand, accepted money from parents who are giving it early to avoid inheritance tax etc has absolutely no right to judge scroungers who have a lot less than them in the first place. That really makes my blood boil!

Well done, OP, for reporting the thief. It must have taken a lot of balls to do that, but it is right that you did so. It is irrelevant, IMO, whether or not she is/was a friend - she is stealing and needs to be stopped.

To those who are criticising the OP - you clearly think stealing is acceptable. How low your morals must be. Shame on you.