Ive Just shopped someone for benefit fraud, do I deserve to burn in hell.

[Gulitladen]

I feel quite bad.

This person is an acquaintance, She was a single parent for a few months, then she met someone who pretty much moved in, he was paying her bills for her and moved in properly earlier this year.

She has always worked full time with a salary of around 20k.

She seems to have an awful lot of money, and, as a single parent myself, I couldnt quite work it out. However, I have seen her tax credits renewal form as she didnt understand something and asked me to have a look for her, and shes claiming to be a lone parent, working 16.3 hours a week, earning 12k a year less than she actually is.

She is also claiming housing benefit as a single parent.

So, I have completed the DWP form and sent it off. I couldnt help it, it makes me see red.

But I now feel terrible.

I never claimed any benefits apart from child benefit and have always worked.

I don't resent our high taxation level, it's needed to pay for our services.

I don't resent people on benefits, even the ones who really do take the piss....huge families all on benefits, never worked a day in their lives ( we've all seen the program ).

I do resent cheats

MrsDowneyJunior ...Bend a few rules? Some people, and not just the DWP would say that you broke the law and committed fraud.

I would suggest it says she has nothing to hide as well

unless she was wearing a flashing sign saying I AM A BENEFIT CHEAT at the same time.

Huge families all on benefits who have never worked represents a very very small proportion of government spending on benefits.

You wouldn't think it for all the exploitative crappy tv programmes though.

No nothing to hide, as in 'sign my time sheet, 38 hours this week, and btw what do I do about this 16 hours form malarkey'?

A little naive as well as arrogant and cheating the system!

As are some of the posters here! (Naive that is, the rest is down to their conscience)

www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/06/welfare-britain-facts-myths

In fact according to this they struggled to find one family for three generations, and a very small amount over two generations.

So we can all relax.

Exactly why I don't resent huge families on benefits a la DM!

And they are only claiming what's rightfully (according to the law) theirs

Not with my council Corey I've also lived in a London borough council and the same thing applied. Roughly once a year they'd randomly spot check and ask for three recent payslips. I'm shocked that all councils don't do this, thought it was a done thing as both of the places I've lived I've been asked for this information.

Also with tax credits this is the first year I haven't filled out a form but all the previous years I have but when I've got the renewal back it's always been checked against P60's anyway so never really got the point of doing them anyway. :S

normalishdude so how would you have suggested I get out of it? I was looking for proper work and getting nothing, I had bills which were mounting to over £1000 a month with an income of £288. I was facing losing my home and getting a record on top of everything I had already just lost. How would you have got out of it? I did the maths, if I had gone to work at Tesco in the mean time as I couldn't find the jobs I was qualified for and had been on a proper payroll officially I'd have lost the benefit and still not been able to cover the bills. If I hadn't worked cash in hand to get out of a difficult situation I'd still have been there now, still £20k in debt, would have lost the car and living in the middle of the countryside with no public transport wouldn't have been able to get to work, so you tell me, how would you have got out of it? Unless you've been there you have no right to judge. I was stealing apples and packets of cereal from the welcome desk and breakfast buffet in hotels to eat! Not everyone on benefits wants to be there and believe it or not it's not a fun or easy life for everyone.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your reports.

We understand that this is an emotional subject, but can you all please keep our talk guidelines in mind?

We have no reason to suspect that the OP is not genuine, or that this thread is not genuine.

And one of the people I know who got shopped and interviewed under caution with photos if her going in and put of work actually ended up better off. She had no idea about TC and wasn't claiming WTC. Instead she was still claiming her JSA and getting cash in hand as she thought she would have to pay full rent. Turns out she was better off declaring it, claiming WTC and getting some HB. Her money want stopped whilst they were watching her or after they had photos of her working or after she sorted it out.

MrsDowneyJunior

But that's a chance you took and I assume you knew the risks you were taking. Had someone informed on you for fiddling your benefits then they would have been right, you were. Maybe it would have been someone know the same situation as you. Would you the blame them for reporting you. Are they at fault or you?

*Maybe it would have been someone in the same situation as you.

Why do I need to suggest how you should have got out of it? You owned half a house. Maybe you could have sold it/rented a room/got a lodger, etc? And how do you know I haven't been there? Look, I understand it is tough, and of course I don't know your individual circumstance, but it would be a hell of a mess if we were all ripping the tax payers off at every turn.

Downstairs, Idk, I have never sent payslips to tax credits and I have only handed in proof on income twice in 5 years to HB. Once when I made a claim for HB whilst on IS and once when I started working almost 5 years later. They didn't know I had a 4 year old and sent me an arrears letter for bedroom tax as they thought I had a spare room and had no idea I had a 4 year old as well as the other 2

Corey frankly yes I would blame them. I'd also have gone for revenge having nothing to lose at the time. I have paid taxes for 22 years, 10 of those at a higher rate. I have bought houses, uses private schools and health care, I had never used any state benefits and the one time I fall on hard times, not even through any fault of my own but totally down to the lies and behaviour of someone else and the state did bugger all to help me. At one point I had no electrics and no hot water! No one helped. I had no choice but to work cash in hand and get out of it any way I could, otherwise instead of doing that for a year you all would now be paying for my home, benefits and kids. What would you prefer? It was a simple choice and I stand by it.

Who would shop someone in MrsDowneys position, because I certainly wouldn't.

normal I tried to sell the house, my ex blocked the sale. I couldn't rent a room out as there wasn't a room to rent. I couldn't remortgage without the ex's agreement and he wasn't going to agree. I was stuck. You criticised me for "breaking the law and being a benefit cheat" so you suggest a legal way I could have got out of it because I could not see it at all and I'd really be interested to hear. I couldn't magic a £30k job out of thin air and in the absence of one I had to do something. So what else could I have done?

Mrs Downey. I had my house repossessed after a breakdown and was homeless for 8 months with 2 kids under 6. I could have went on the fiddle and if I did and was reported then I would have no one to blame but myself as that's a choice I made and I got myself into that situation

You could have declared yourself bankrupt, a friend of mine in an almost identical situation to yourself did this. It wrote off a large proportion of her bills, she lived in a b&b with her 2small children whilst she awaited housing. They offset her half of the equity on the home to her debt, her ex had no choice, it also screwed him.over too. So she liked that outcome.

That was one legal way of doing so.

I just don't get this attitude of people on the fiddle blaming a tax payer for grassing them up. You done what you had to do, pleased it worked out for you in the end but if you fiddle the system then are grassed up its no one else's fault but your own. It's a risk you take knowing the rules

I had never used any state benefits and the one time I fall on hard times, not even through any fault of my own but totally down to the lies and behaviour of someone else and the state did bugger all to help me.

So I assume the state did help somehow or how else were you fiddling the system if you were not getting anything from the state?

Corey there's the difference between us then. I'd rather break the law temporarily to keep a roof over my kids heads and stop my life spiralling completely out of control. You'd rather take the moral high road and stay on the right side of the law. Honestly in cases like this I don't think either is right and I don't think wither of us should have to make that choice. But when good people do have to make that choice I do judge those who then interfere and shop them when they are doing what they can to get out. There's a difference between sponging chav who stay on benefits for 4 generation and pump out a dozen kids just to get a bigger house, and those who legitimately fall on hard times and wany to get out. It's like those who chuck a bucket of water on a homeless person for sleeping in a sheltered doorway, or those who call the police on a starving child for stealing a loaf of bread. A little compassion and not kicking someone when they are down wouldn't go amiss. And any call to any authority should be done with absolute certainly and proof, not just a hunch.

Actually MrsDowney they didn't find any "chavs" pumping kids out for 4 generations at all.

You are a saint and deserve a medal. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for stopping this woman stealing from me (and all the other hard working honest taxpayers).

It is people like this acquaintance of your who make lots of people quite resent paying tax because they know it goes on people like her.

Well done!