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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

This is going to upset you:outrageous benefit cheats.

128 replies

GabbyLoggon · 15/10/2010 13:18

The bizarre benefits cheats who are caught on film make me laugh.

You will have seen the following:

The one filmed running in a marathon and staring at the camera.

The older bloke playing football very vigorously.

The recent one driving a van whilst claiming
incapacity.

The running linesman doing a good job on incapacity.

The golfer playing a nifty round.

OP posts:
ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 15:36

EEvilEye- hugs, I ahd hyperemesis too (on a drip, tehn meds) adn it stinks

I was lucky as had employers willing to wait for me (probably as SH worked there as well Wink)

sarah293 · 15/10/2010 15:38

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sarah293 · 15/10/2010 15:38

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AnnieBeansMum · 15/10/2010 15:38

I don't understand this poster at all! Have read and re-read her posts countless times and have also read her profile. She lists herself as a writer but...errmmm....really??

I'm not going to enter into the discussion as I think benefit cheats have been done to death. Of course there are benefit cheats, but there are also very deserving people who legitimately need the support.

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 15:44

I'd only twigged she was profoundly disabled, so I assumed that the trip to the hospice was a new development. Not that that would make the situation any different really .

In any case, I'd sincerely hope that no-one was implying that she doesn't 'deserve' her DLA.

2shoeprintsintheblood · 15/10/2010 15:45

i know riv I think it is about time our dd's stop faking it (and giving people like the op fodder for their crappy threads)
surely they should forget the brain damage and just get out of the wheel chairs, what with all the medical advances.

springlamb · 15/10/2010 15:56

I'm sure I'm entitled to council tax benefit on my £183 a month bill. Twice I looked through the forms and I just cannot be filling them in, sometimes feels like my whole life is spent filling in these 30 pagers. People say there is some automatic entitlement to it if there is a registered disabled person living at the address, there is so why do I need to tell it all again. Oh, I can't be bothered.
The car and the free taxc would be nice but I forgo that so that ds could buy his dream wheelchair rather than put up with the manual one he is 'entitled' to. See, he can walk around indoors so doesn't need an electric. A manual chair is kind of hard to use when you only have one working hand - he was getting a little dizzy.

slhilly · 15/10/2010 15:59

"bubbleOseven Fri 15-Oct-10 13:25:37
What, it's ok for people to cheat the benefits system because vodafone owe the government money?

Grow up."
Huh? I neither said nor implied that it was OK to cheat the benefits system. If I was implying anything, it was that
a) it doesn't actually cost us very much, especially by comparison with more significant frauds, and
b) people prefer to kick a poor cheat than a rich one

As for why people tend to ignore (a) and behave like (b), well I guess it'll be ignorance, stupidity or malice, or some toxic combination thereof. From the tone of your comment, I'm clear which bucket I'd tend to put you in.

pigletmania · 15/10/2010 16:04

I was referring to the ones that milk the system that take advantage of it, not people like Riven. My cousin has MS too ad is confined to a wheelchair being cared for by his elderly mum. The ones who claim DLA and other beneftits, yet have a £500,000 house and drive a top of the range Merc or BMW and are physically fit enought to go skiing or play tenis. Or the ones just want to take the pee.They tend to display a certain arrogance and cockiness about them, like the world owes them a favour.

pigletmania · 15/10/2010 16:05

Until they are caught in the act on camera.

pigletmania · 15/10/2010 16:06

Of course there are totally genuine claiments not everyone is. Not everyone in this world is honest and decent unfortunately.

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 16:11

Piglet how many do you actually think are faking? As a percent? And the wuestion I always ask: have you ever filled in that damnation of a form?

I worked in a related sector for years and I have yet to meet a cheat. I am sure theye xist but they are rare. Esp. at the £500kj house level (although you know dla is not means tested so people are quite entitled to have a merc and large house if they wish? EMA is the one for replacing rearnings; DLA is about the cost of a disability.

cory · 15/10/2010 16:12

Yes, but the point we are trying to make, piglet, is that people with an intermittent disability cannot be "caught in the act because a snapshot of one moment gives no idea of what their lives are actually like.

These are people, not like Riven's daughter, but like Riven herself, who may be able to walk in the morning but need a wheelchair in the afternoon. And who cannot take on a job, because they cannot assure their employer that they will be fit to work on any one day.

Or my dd who might be crawling on her hands and knees to get to the toilet on Friday and still be able to make ballet class on (the occasional) Saturday. It's not as if her being caught dancing would actually finance the wheelchair she needed for the rest of the week (which is what DLA is for).

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 16:14

But the problem here is that people assume in the first instance that people on benefits are 'milking the system', unless they can 'prove' otherwise. Why should cory's daughter have to feel bad about doing ballet when she's able to because people will assume you're/she's cheating the system? Surely she should be able to delight in it.

People don't necessarily assume that corporations are doing us all out of tax they should be paying just because some do, and that really is of more consequence to the economy.

They also choose not to get angry about a system that puts genuine claimants off because it's so byzantine and its utterly exhausting to have to constantly justify themselves. Nor do they get angry that the system is so bloody stingy that a boy can't have a wheelchair he can push himself because he can walk indoors. All that is great, you see, because it saves the country money.

It is utterly unreasonable to have a system that assumes everyone is a cheat. It doesn't actually stop the cheats, but it upsets and deters those in genuine needs.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 15/10/2010 16:14

Yes its completely outrageous when people cheat the system, especially when people such as my husband are entitled to DLA, and refused.

2shoeprintsintheblood · 15/10/2010 16:17

i am always amazed at the amount of medical experts who post on mn, and that they can dx without any facts or meeting the person.

pigletmania · 15/10/2010 16:17

You cant deny that there are people that do take the piss, yes there are people like yourselves that are genuine, you know you are so have nothing to worry about, but others are not and its these people that make me mad, as they would be denying somebody who genuine.

cory · 15/10/2010 16:18

Tries to imagine job interview with Ehlers Danlos sufferer:

-So Miss X, will you be able to start on Monday then?

-I can't possibly tell you that. I may be able to get out of bed on Monday, but then again I may not.

-But you would at least be able to let us know if you are well or not.

-No, I am afraid I can't do that. Even if I am in the wheelchair on Sunday night, I may still be fine to do a full day on Monday.

-Well, that sounds quite promising.

-Though then again, I may just collapse on my way to the bus stop. Or I may make it in the office and collapse while I am seeing a client. We'll just have to see how it goes, won't we?

-No, I don't think we will. Thank you for your time, Miss X. Next please!

2shoeprintsintheblood · 15/10/2010 16:19

oh come on the op was just stirring, she has just posted crap and now it has turned into a thread about disabled people(or cheats)

pigletmania · 15/10/2010 16:20

Cory you would put this information on the form and a doctor would support your claim.

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 16:21

But isn't it better to assume people are genuine and deal with the minority who cheat separately, than to assume everyone's a cheat on the basis of a few well publicised examples and deny someone in genuine need.

It's awful that we're willing to take the risk of leaving someone vulnerable without the help they need just because we're worried someone will cheat the system.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 15/10/2010 16:21

That's not true, my husband has copd, its diagnosed its a chronic condition. it prevents him from breathing, he cant so much as walk past someone with perfume on. And bloody hell if someone boils a kettle in his presence he has had it. But they still try to weasel out of paying him what he is owed.

His life is constricted in every way, even reading to our son proves impossible for him, as he becomes out of breath!

pigletmania · 15/10/2010 16:22

Unfortunately my cousin was not able to make it to my wedding, the day before he felt fine, but his MS was bad in the morning of the wedding.

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 16:22

Piglet can you link to the post where anyone denies it?

This is what grates; some people seem actually programmed to see a benefit and think @@where's teh evidence they are not scamming' rather than 'Oh poor sould, glad they can get that help'.

When you see us I don;t want to have to prove the boy's validity before I am acceptable.

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 16:22

The problem might be that this is not a light hearted topic for having a laugh at.