To consider shopping a benefits fraud?

[jekyllnothyde]

Spent day with a friend who has v good reason for being on incapacity benefit because of her condition. also single mum with two preschool DCs and is in process of being reassessed under new disability rules. She is worried sick but also thinking while her condition is life-limiting and not made any easier by stresses of DCs whether she can realistically think of attempting to work. I really feel for her.
Meanwhile friend's has got himself switched of JSA on to disability benefits but everyone knows he is basically capable of working. He does physical work doing up where he lives and also does sport and keeps himself busy generally. Today made me really angry as on one hand someone who needs support is really trying to think how to deal with her illness and wonders if with help she could mange something while this guy is basically taking the piss and doesn't support his DD at all except basic minimum from CSA. None of my business, or is it?

You are being unreasonable. My close friend is on disability benefits because of a back injury. If you saw him some days he would seem perfectly normal, carries his dds around, can even play cricket - other days he is crying with agony can't move for 12 hours at a time. He simply can't hold down a job. You just don't know the facts.

I really think the general public needs to educate themselves. They seem to be stuck on the idea that "disability" means minus a leg or arm or paralysed. Anything else just doesn't seem to occur to them, or they automatically assume fraud. There are loads of conditions that qualify someone with care needs for DLA, and you CAN work while receiving DLA.

I firmly believe that if you're considering reporting someone, that you should have educated yourself in DLA in general prior to making the report. Otherwise people just make ridiculous assumptions and judgements based on rumours combined with a basic lack of knowledge. Perhaps if more people took the time to educate themselves, then there wouldn't be so many reports of genuine claimants for fraud, which would mean less investigators tied up on groundless reports wasting their time.

Really helpful links. Thank you.

Have come very late to this thread, sorry. I would do nothing. From the OP it seems that this guy has come off JSA and gone on to ESA, a benefit for sickness or incapacity for work - nothing to do with DLA which is a completely separate issue. He will still be in the assessment phase and receiving the basic level of benefit while still supplying GP medical certificates. Once assessed at 12 weeks or so by an ATOS medical officer he will in all probability 'fail' - most people do, rightly or wrongly! Then it's back on to jolly old JSA for him.