To not reprt afriend for benefit fraud even tho she has told me she is livin with her partner but pretending she doesn't?

[burgerandchipswithredsauce]

My friend has told me that her partner is living with her but pretending he ives with his mother so that friend can claim benefits for herself and her 3 children whilst her partner works fulltime to earn money to enable them to afford luxuries that most working families can only dream of.

AIBU not to report them because I am afraid of losing her friendship even though I do not agree with her lifestyle.

BTW myself and OH work all the hours God sends to provide ourselves and our children with basic essentials. We have no money left at the end of the week for an evening out as we cannot afford a babysitter. We have to pay our rent in full - no HB for us as we are a working family. We also have to pay full costs for childminding as we are not a single parent family. Our council tax costs per month push us over the edge.

Also our children have to have a packed lunch every day for school because we cannot afford to pay for hot school dinners. My friends children, however, get their hot school dinners free.

Friend has been awarded over £500 for a laptop for her eldest to have access to the internet so that he is not made to feel different from his peers - even though friend already has 3 PC's at her home. We have a secondhand PC which is well past its sell by date but cannot afford a laptop as we make sure our bills are paid on time as our priority.

Friend has informed us that she is going to try for another baby because that will enable her to obtain a larger house for her family. We live in a (very) modest two up, two down terraced house and would love to have another child but cannot afford to move to a larger house to make this possible. As the law states the ages of my children it would be against the law for different sexes over the age of 8 to share a bedroom. Because of this law the LA go all out to house families on benefits accordingly.

Am I jealous? Yes in monetary value I suppose I am, but overall I think I would prefer my children to know they have a mother and a father who is always there for them and will always put them first.

(biscuit)

sorry that didnt work. Get on with your own life and enjoy it thats all I can say.

I truly do not mean to be rude about that its just that there is so much benefit fraud going on that the goverment are trying to combat that I dont think we will ever know the true levels and if we all assume that "billy next door" is a benefit fraud we would be constantly on the phone reporting everyone including family etc. Again I will say unless there is absolute proof in blood writing etc no one should report anyone. What happened to love thy neighbour, live and let live thats all I can say :)

I don't report a lot of people I know. I reported one person a while back, because she was here as the dependent of a student, married, not entitled to ANY benefits and constantly boasting under her real name about their huge savings back home.

But people entitled to benefits and such, nah. I can't be arsed reporting them and we are working poor.

Could be me, is how I think of it, and the government doesn't care about me and mine anymore than it does about them so fuck it.

I don't ask people what their benefits status is because I don't really give a toss.

If they tell me, oh well, I don't care, either.

Can complety see where you are coming from burger. This fraud has to stop or it will not be worth anyone working in the future.
Sad that people claiming benefits are just as well off as most people who are working yet still resort to pushing their luck and making more than they should illegally. Unfortunatley it has become the norm for people to now be involved in a very short relationship, become pregnant, claim they are pregnant and homeless in order to secure accommodation paid by the government, whilst the babys father moves in with the mother and claim he is living elsewhere to claim benefits seperatly. How long are the people of britain going to be taken in by this blatant criminal activity?

'How long are the people of britain going to be taken in by this blatant criminal activity?'

Oh, c'mon! So government-by-Rupert-fucking-Murdoch, may God see him in Hell, and Tony B.Liar is passable? Sending thousands of boys to their deaths for FA then stabbing your colleagues in the back is above a few thousands pounds?

FFS.

I know who helps me up the close and it's not the likes of those in goverment.

They want to see me starve for being working poor and then turn in the person who offers me hot tea on an already dark at 3PM day in Scottish Highland winter?

Do they fuck?! As if they care about this place anyhow we're all just derided as senseless Jocks.

They can go straight to Hell with their VAT rise and child benefit freeze and job cuts and cutting housing benefit for both those on benefits and the working poor if they think I'm going to deprive my neighbour of the money she earns cleaning their bogging toilets cash in hand to keep the metre topped up up here.

And those boys, those ones they sent to Iraq and now to Afghanistan, they recruit them from here, mostly, or from N. England.

They could be my only son.

And so help the Tony Blairs of this world if one day they are and he perishes by their hand.

They're no better than Taliban. Even worse, IMO, at least Taliban had more to motivate them than a fist full of pounds and greed.

My own neighbour or the likes of David Cameron.

Oh, what a difficult choice.

Good God, how can sheeple be so stupid?

Wil nobuddy fink of va childrin??!!?

Expat- I can see where you're coming from, but what worries me is that if the government aren't seen to stamp it out, then more people start doing it because "everybody's doing it", and then other people feel "justified" in trimming their tax returns because "I'm not paying for all these benefit fraudsters" and then it all unravels.

I guess it's about collective responsibility- if you claim benefits fraudulently or evade tax, it's easy to think you're taking money from the government because that's a faceless and unpopular monolith, but really you're not. You're stealing from other people like you.

i don't really see what your rant has to do with the issue at hand expat. the money going to people commiting benefits fraud comes out of all our pockets, and just because you're pissed off at the government doesn't mean people should have free reign to rip the rest of us off

btw, nobody is forced into military duty, it's a personal choice

OP I understand what you are saying but please think long and hard about dobbing your mate in. Consequences can be far reaching and I don't just mean the loss of friendship. I know because I received a custodial sentence for benefit fraud (same circs as your friend) some years back. It wasn't good or clever but I can't turn back the clock and I've paid my debt both in monetary terms and in many other ways.

Going to prison fucked up my life, upset my family and distressed my kids. I lost my home and screwed my career by having a criminal record that will be with me forever. You're scarred and marked for life!

What I would encourage is telling your mate about someone like me! Because she is living on borrowed time and is going to become a cropper if she carries on as she is and no mistake and even if she thinks she can handle that, the people closest to her will be hurt through the whole process beyond belief.

It's harder now than ever to commit benefit fraud but clearly some still try their luck.

Interesting fact though...according to DWP figures for incapacity benefit, the amount of money that is lost through official error is four times greater than the amount lost through fraud (2.1% compared with 0.5%).

There are a few MP's that should have been put away for being fiddling bastards as well!

On the plus side...I now work with ex/offenders of all kinds and love what I do! :)

YANBU, fraud is a crime. It's a very dodgy argument when people start cherry picking which crimes they personally feel are 'acceptable' and which ones they don't.

Hang on, are you saying you don't want to report her? In which case, YANBU.

"For people to say farewell to welfare, they must fare well on welfare" - Tony Bird

Benefits payments for couple haven't gone up since 1998, whilst the cost of living has risen massively. It's not right to commit fraud, but most people doing it are just trying to keep their family afloat. And the expense to the taxpayer is minimal compared to many other things (Iraq war? Afghanistan war? Pope visit? Trident?)

Get a sense of perspective and some bloody compassion.

She won't just "be awarded a larger house" if she has another baby. There is a massive shortage of larger social housing and anything bigger than a three bed has waiting lists of 7+ years in this area and we are by no means alone.

In not reporting her YABU as I would be filled with . On the other hand if it was a friend I would have a dilemma too.

Trouble is that wages have not kept pace with the cost of living so housing costs etc push benefits up artificially and make them seem a good option when in fact they are not.

Over 22k in benefits sounds good until you realise that a large bulk of that is in housing/council tax benefit and actual money in the pocket which has to do everything else is not that great. I have only had one experience of this when exH was laid off.

His allowance was around £52 a week because I worked full time and was deeme to bring in enough! My salary just about covered the mortgage and council tax and electricity. His £52 went on food for a family of three. Hardly the high life that your friend appears to be living but then we were not defrauding the system.

according to DWP figures for incapacity benefit, the amount of money that is lost through official error is four times greater than the amount lost through fraud (2.1% compared with 0.5%).

How do they know its only 0.5%? it may be a lot more but people who know there is a fraud going on wont report it, I wouldn't mind betting the figure would be much higher if everyone committing fraud was caught

Would I report someone yes I would in fact I have done so,

Last year my DH was made redundunt for the 5th time since our marraige due to the fact the DWP made an error he was REFUSED contribution based JSA even though he had paid into the system and was entitled to it, we had to go to a TRIBUNAL with P60s and three years worth of pay slips to get his money he was in tears trying to get a job appyling for 20 or so a week

So when my sisters new boyfriend openly admitted claiming benefits and working cash in hand I went mad, ended with me giving my sister and family a choice, either that thieving cheating scum bag leaves the house now or me and DH will and we wont be coming back if he is still welcome, luckliy my parents and two other sisters backed me up and he left after SNEERING at me.

Well he was sneering on the other side of his face when I reported him - my sister didnt talk to me for a few months, then when SHE was implicated in his fraud even though she was working she dumped him pronto.

Why the F@ck should a kind decent honest man like my DH have to fight for his legal dues when people like sisters ex just lie cheat and steal then think they can sneer at honest people.

I would do it again

How old is her ds? Because you get a free laptop for certain aged school children.....not 500quid dont you?

The amounts for fraud aren't based on those caught but on an estimate of fraud in the system.

YANBU, but if you're a friend I would make sure she's aware of the risks she is taking. If she's caught (not unlikely) she'll certainly have to pay the money back and she may end up with a criminal record. If she's claiming as a single parent the amounts involved are likely to mount up really quickly (you don't say how long she's been doing this?)

and how flawed is the estimate if they dont know the extent of the problem

If you don't feel you can dob her in, then hopefully someone else will. She is effectively stealing from you and your hard working family.

you dont get £500 to buy a laptop......

you dont easily get moved to a new house with a different mix of sexes,or a new baby,its not 'against the law'

childminders cost the same single parent or not

working families can still be awarded HB
GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT OP.......FFS!!!

how many threads like this have there been lately??

Your post is rather "text book", it really ticks all the boxes.