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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think MN posters have a weird attitude towards potential benefit cheats?

98 replies

Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 10:27

I say potential as they won’t all be, obviously.

But it’s almost like a ‘beak out everyone, if they want to steal from the public purse then good for them, and what’s more you should be happy to fund it’.

Whereas MPs fiddling their expenses, or tradespeople (ESPECIALLY if they owe CMS) not declaring earnings is seen as ‘immoral’ and something that should be exposed/punished.

What exactly is the difference?

OP posts:
ilovesooty · 03/03/2023 12:48

Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 11:24

So nobody should ever be investigated?

Show quote history

You're welcome to your misinterpretation of what I actually said.

lazycats · 03/03/2023 12:48

Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 11:48

£65 million lost to benefit fraud a year. More than twice the total cost of the MPs fraudulently claiming expenses.

Show quote history

That's a miniscule amount. Barely a crumb of the overall welfare pie.

ghostyslovesheets · 03/03/2023 12:52

Erm - not really seeing this - two threads I have read today :

1 - gossipy curtain twitching about something which is NOT fraud - yes keep your beak out!

2 - actual fraud - bank and benefit - report to the police asap

am I missing something?

ilovesooty · 03/03/2023 12:53

ShimmeringShirts · 03/03/2023 11:44

@Moonicorn youre not though, you’re advocating reporting someone as potential benefit fraud and not giving a shit that they will have all income removed for them for an indefinite period of time while an investigation goes on when you’ve no hard evidence fraud is actually being committed.

You realise that when someone has their claim stopped for that kind of investigation they have no access to money for food, to pay their bills and rent? What do you think happens then? Rent arrears build up which can result in eviction, they have no food meaning they might be entitled to help from a food bank for 3-5 days depending on their area but not for the weeks/months it can take to investigate. For all of their utilities to be cut off because the bills are going unpaid, to end up with sherif officers serving them papers for unpaid council tax. You’re advocating for the entire removal of necessities for life but hey, if they’re not committing fraud then they’ve nothing to worry about!

I’ve seen a lot of callous attitudes on this site but you more than take the biscuit. Your attitude is entirely inhumane, I hope you’re proud of yourself.

She doesn't see it as inhumane, and doesn't care. People with her mindset never do.

BMW6 · 03/03/2023 12:57

*Shitting on your neighbours by shopping them to the government defrauding the benefits system is awful.

It's punching down.*

Fixed that for you.

Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:25

ilovesooty · 03/03/2023 12:48

You're welcome to your misinterpretation of what I actually said.

Show quote history

It’s not a misinterpretation. If investigations shouldn’t be carried out because of the stress and disruption they cause… then what? Hi

OP posts:
Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:25

No idea what that ‘hi’ was about 😂

OP posts:
Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:26

Sugarplumfairy65 · 03/03/2023 12:38

How many benefit claimants are there compared to how many sitting MP's?

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Why does it matter? The overall loss is much bigger.

OP posts:
Tinkerbyebye · 03/03/2023 13:27

None but it’s a rabid anti Tory, beat anyone who does well, site

Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:27

Kois · 03/03/2023 12:47

I don't give a shit. A woman earning a few quid a week cash in hand doing a bit of cleaning to ensure her kids get fed isn't even on my radar.
Nor is a tradie doing cash in hand work.
If it's good enough for the politicians then it's good enough for the rest of us.

But if ‘the rest of us’ all did it, where does the money come from to pay the benefits in the first place?

OP posts:
lazycats · 03/03/2023 13:28

Tinkerbyebye · 03/03/2023 13:27

None but it’s a rabid anti Tory, beat anyone who does well, site

Actually if you look at polling the general consensus on this site about in line with public opinion. Maybe after 13 years of being shit, it's quite normal for a government to be disliked.

Kois · 03/03/2023 13:29

Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:27

But if ‘the rest of us’ all did it, where does the money come from to pay the benefits in the first place?

Show quote history

Oh I dunno, maybe the politicians could pay their share, or maybe chase up such as Starbucks and Amazon etc for the taxes they owe or something 🤷

Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 13:33

@Kois so we ignore fraudulent activity because someone else is doing it better?

Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:37

Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 13:33

@Kois so we ignore fraudulent activity because someone else is doing it better?

Wonder if that applies to blokes hiding their earnings so they don’t have to pay CMS 🤔 just one person and the amount is virtually negligible, right?

OP posts:
Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 13:43

@Moonicorn fraud is fraud. But I find falsely representing yourself as sick/disabled or out of work when you actually working at the expense of the taxpayer particularly egregious.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/03/2023 13:48

It would be nice if we lived in a society which was proud of providing for people who have fallen on hard times rather than treating them like thieves just for claiming

Among normal people we already do live in that society, and nobody's suggested for an instant that those in real need shouldn't be supported

But however inconvenient, the thread was about those actually cheating as opposed to those claiming what they're entitled to

Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:53

Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 13:43

@Moonicorn fraud is fraud. But I find falsely representing yourself as sick/disabled or out of work when you actually working at the expense of the taxpayer particularly egregious.

Yes, I do. I’m a very strong supporter of truly disabled people having access to generous benefits not just the minimum needed to survive. But that doesn’t apply to people with a ‘bad back’ who can merrily do their own gardening, or people who feel ‘depressed’.

OP posts:
Original poster
Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:54

But however inconvenient, the thread was about those actually cheating as opposed to those claiming what they're entitled to

Well yes and their conflation of the two is interesting…

OP posts:
DrPepperDiet · 03/03/2023 13:56

MamaCanYouBuyMeABanana · 03/03/2023 10:41

Usually the posts on here are based on hearsay, or a single mum having a holiday or whatever, the problem being that if they report and are wrong that (usually) single mother will get her benefits stopped while they investigate, meantime she still needs to feed and clothe her kids.

MPs struggle for fuck all, milk the system that they set up for extra, vote to pay themselves more and use their jobs to line their own pockets.

Hear hear!

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/03/2023 13:59

Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 13:54

But however inconvenient, the thread was about those actually cheating as opposed to those claiming what they're entitled to

Well yes and their conflation of the two is interesting…

It often is, OP, and as here the support tends to wax and wane according to taste

Ditto your comment about disgusting men who cheat to get out of paying child support, which will no doubt be considered "different" ...

Clarabell77 · 03/03/2023 13:59

MrsSkylerWhite · 03/03/2023 11:10

NowDoYouBelieveMe · Today 11:06
Shitting on your neighbours by shopping them to the government is awful.“

Yes it is. Shitting on your neighbours by making false claims is awful, too.

Which one of these neighbours being shat on suffers the most?

LakieLady · 03/03/2023 14:08

Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 13:43

@Moonicorn fraud is fraud. But I find falsely representing yourself as sick/disabled or out of work when you actually working at the expense of the taxpayer particularly egregious.

I work in welfare rights, and I do a lot of applications for ill health/disability benefits.

Around 50% of PIP applications I do are turned down*, and around a quarter to a third off fit for work cases. I appeal them all, and have yet to lose an appeal.

I know that getting ill-health benefits you are entitled to is bloody hard, and consequently cannot accept that "falsely representing yourself" leads to a significant amount of fraud. Claimants need medical evidence, reports and to give clear examples of the difficulties they have.

I think it's important to remember that not all disabilities are visible. People often don't take into account that poor MH can be incredibly disabling.

*this isn't because I'm crap at doing them, either! It's the same or worse for my team colleagues and friends in the same line of work get similar outcomes.

BridieConvert · 03/03/2023 14:53

Moonicorn · 03/03/2023 11:40

Yeah, I do feel it’s slightly different than the Tories robbing the country blind and billionaires paying no tax.

But the money they’re fiddling doesn’t come from the same coffers as the MPs and big scale tax avoiders. It comes from the tax paid for by people like me - who earn 1600 a month, are just over the limit for UC but haven’t had a holiday in 5 years and are dicing with their overdraft every month. Why does everyone keep acting like they’re heroically plundering the coffers of Jacob Rees Mogg?

I seriously hope you're not implying that people on UC get more than the £1600 a month you get 😳

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