To think reporting someone to dwp for going on holiday is ridiculous?

[CactusJelly00]

As it doesn't actually mean they're hiding income!
It's happened to someone I know; and she's now in the unfortunate situation of having some of her money stopped while everything is investigated and being treated like a criminal, as someone has reported her for having undeclared income.... because she went on holiday!
Aibu to think this is a ridiculous reason to report someone?
They know who's done it and why, but now she still has to prove herself to the DWP and I just think it's awful that someone's reported her for that.
Would anybody report someone for that? I just can't understand it.

Omg. Has anybody not read THE OP PAID FOR THE HOLIDAY.

My god there are some real twats in this world. Sun/daily mail reading twats who are so bothered about what they haven't got, that they blame everyone else.

It’s unreasonable to maliciously acuse someone of anything

Surely though the main fault is with the government for stopping benefits while investigating? I understand that if someone is claiming fraudulently you don’t want to keep paying them especially as it’s unlikely it will be repaid. But that’s a better choice than leaving innocent people with no money and no option.

Thefirstmrs no one is saying people not on benefits are better than those that are but the benefit system was created to support those in hardship not to fund a lifestyle. I've been on jsa and incapacity benefit when I was younger so I understand and am grateful for the help I got to get back on my feet but what's not fair is people who only out to work, don't get a bean from the government(and don't need to) but can't afford luxurys like holidays. I'd love to go to Florida wouldn't we all but it would take years of tough saving. Why should someone not working hard get more than me? We know people defraud the system. The should be stopped. The public purse is empty.

To add I wouldn't report someone unless I had actual evidence of defrauding.

I don't know how anyone can afford a holiday.....dh and I both work but will spend another year not going anywhere because we can't bloody afford it.
Good luck to anyone who can.

Of course people on benefits can go on holiday. How the holiday was paid for is not normally an issue - however continuing to claim while out of the country is not allowed on certain benefits.

I'd like to just stop paying my taxes while I investigate what they're using it for and review whether or not I'm paying too much ffs.

If she's on JSA then she should have been seeking work.

She still might have been. Sign up to job alerts from websites. Put your CV on a memory stick and/ or back it up onto a Hotmail onedrive. Check email accounts for job alerts each morning and evening and if something suitable comes up, spend a couple of hours filling in the application form/ writing a covering letter.

You can job seek anywhere there is an internet connection. If you're staying with a friend for 10 days you just say you're available for interview after x date. If they were interviewing people in employment it would not be unusual to have to wait a few days to interview them. Depending on the kind of job applied for, they might not even have shortlisted by the time you're back anyway.

Being unemployed is miserable, stressful and soul-destroying. Becoming too depressed to job hunt wouldn't help anybody. A few days respite might tip the balance into someone being happy and positive, and therefore a better potential employee.

To be clear she is not on JSA. The issue isn't that she went abroad and that wasn't allowed, the issue is that someone's reported that she funded it with hidden income (since she obviously couldn't possibly have afforded it otherwise ) as I've said. She didn't pay for it, I did. But it's no ones business even if she had and there are ways of going on holiday eg family fund and other charities or shock, saving up and going for a cheap break. I went on holiday for £250 a few years back - a week in Spain from the UK. Tbf I was on my own. But I think that would definitely be in reach of some on benefits - £5 a week saved over the year would cover it with change...
I don't think you can blame people working cash in hand either unless they're doing the reporting. The fault for people reporting for such stupid reasons lies squarely with them.

i have no issues with keeping an eye on someone if they seem to have means more than they should - whether they're on benefits or not. but reporting them and plunging them into debt (because otherwise she won't be eating or heating her home until the investigation is over) over something like this is just horrible.

OliviaStabler
What's your point Olivia? I think you saw the word "benefits" and decided to have an impromptu rant.

I think reporting people for benefit fraud is shitty full stop. I would never do it. They stop all money whilst they investigate. Do you really want someones kids to go hungry because you are jealous of a holiday? ffs

My exh reported me for'living beyond my means 'because I had a new car and' jewelry '. My dm bought me a car so I could get to work, and a Pandora bracelet for my 40 th. An inspector came to my house and quickly noticed most rooms didn't even have a lampshade!! She went away more than happy. Some people just have too much time on their hands - oh and bitterness.

I have a friend who committed ‘benefit Fraud’ years ago. V long story and difficult circumstances but she was suddenly made homeless with small children and desperately rented a grotty mouldy flat that was too expensive but it was that or nowhere and they needed a place ASAP. She had been apart from her dp but trying to sort things out but they then had no choice for the kids sake. She didn’t say to DWP she had moved so was still ‘single’ and they used every penny to keep a roof over their heads till they could move and she came off IS straight away
They had no choice and I didn’t even consider reporting as saw the utter poverty they lived in. A mouldy overpriced flat, the beds were cold and damp each night and they had basic/value food it wasn’t like they were living the high life

Why should someone not working hard get more than me?

Because life’s not fair? Because some people inherit and never have to work? Because some people win the lottery? Because some people have nothing to their name but have supportive family and friends?

People are on benefits for all sorts of reasons. It doesn’t make them second class citizens or some kind of underclass. You don’t deserve more by virtue of working because you have no idea of anyone’s starting point and what life may have thrown at them or how Lady Luck has affected them.

I might get a bit of stick for saying this, but I would never judge someone for reporting someone if they 100% knew they were committing benefit fraud. I don't think anyone can be judged for reporting a crime as at the end of the day it is against the law. I would never do it myself however, as I have more important things to be doing.

Reporting someone based on a hunch however (in this case, because they have been on holiday), is quite awful. Everyone is entitled to a holiday, and I know people who are on benefits who have scrimped and saved and gone without simply so they can take their kids away. It's very judgmental, and presumptuous. Some sad sad people out there unfortunately.

An inspector came to my house and quickly noticed most rooms didn't even have a lampshade!! She went away more than happy.

What a shitty story. Sorry for whoever this is. That made me feel sad.

I despair of some people so arsed about neighbours MAYBE claiming £50 they aren't entitled to, while the bigger issue is fucking billions evaded and avoided in tax. Fraudulent claims are a fucking red herring. Benefits bashing is a tool used to divide and conquer the working class. And guess what? - They are fucking winning this battle

When people shop their neighbours for going on fucking holiday for a couple of weeks. Jesus wept.

From this article here 87% of cases where a member of the public reports benefit fraud resulted in the cases being closed as a result of insufficient evidence. Meaning all the time and money spent investigating public tip offs only results in an actual discovery of wrongdoing. Thousands of people are penalised because their "friends" and neighbours are nosy interfering bastards.

Sorry, should have said "only results in evidence of wrongdoing 13% of the time."

The people doing the reporting are costing lots of money and resources for nothing in most cases.

Just a quick google and I found this. Benefit fraud is tiny compared to tax and other fraud. So to all those sun/ daily mail pearl clutching idiots , get your facts right!

cheeky you might feel less aggrieved if you stop imagining those hoards of JSA claimants jetting off to Florida. The woman in the OP isn't on JSA and didn't go to Disneyland.
People getting £73 a week don't go to Florida despite what people want you to think

You must be earning a shed load if you don't get a 'bean' off the government. Are you sure you don't get anything paid for with my taxes?

Do you live on a private island?

Hi. I don’t think it’s so much about who paid for the holiday etc. They’ve been putting rules in place in lots of areas recently about how many hours a week you have to spend actively looking for work. So your friend had gone away for a week let’s say, that’s one week where she wasn’t available for work, which you can get sanctioned for.

Also they will want to make sure that there is not a partner living with her that shouldn’t be who may have paid for it or she isn’t doing any undeclared work to pay for it, which she can prove with your invoices but she will most likely be sanctioned due to not being available for work the time she was away and not informing them this would be the case as well

Good point whowants

Don't see Daily Mail articles on "taxpayers money being wasted on false reports of benefit fraud" do you??

This happened to my MIL. Her nephew paid for her and my OH and SIL to have a holiday to Dubai, with his family years ago when OH was a young teenager. Her payments were stopped for 10 weeks whilst they investigated.

Very true Adner. There will always be people who take the piss, but it's nowhere near what people imagine.
Does anyone have an issue with elderly people who go on holiday whilst claiming PIP?

Fraudulent claims are a fucking red herring. Benefits bashing is a tool used to divide and conquer the working class. And guess what? - They are fucking winning this battle

This. So often when people complain about benefit fraud, what they're actually complaining about is the world of work. "Why should they have a holiday. I can't afford one". Well there are two* answers to that problem. One is to batter the unemployed so they sit in the cold and dark, eating value beans once a day whilst writing their CVs out with a pencil stub. The other is to improve working conditions and pay so you too can have a holiday.

Personally, I choose the latter.

• OK, those are the two extremes, there are things in between. The point is to improve working conditions, not reduce and demean the unemployed still further.

DannyLaRuesBestFrock

"Probably someone one here."

That was my first thought too. 🙊

The OP already said she paid for her friend to visit her, so her friend hasn't done anything wrong. Someone nasty took it upon themselves to play benefits police and has now caused loads of trouble.