Should I report benefit fraud?

[Greeksummer]

Firstly, this isn’t a benefit bashing thread. It’s something I feel hugely conflicted about.

A couple I know is committing benefit fraud and have been for quite a few years. They live together with their school aged child however, the dad is not actually down as being at the address so their rent is paid for as the mum works part time, as well as single persons council tax discount. The dad earns a very good salary (not 6 figures but for where we live in the UK it’s a lot of money) so there’s absolutely no excuse for it. I know the mum better than the dad and she’s quite open about it all and money in general. Both of their parents’ help them out as well - regularly buying their weekly food shop, covering the costs of their child’s school uniform every year, school trips etc (no issue with parent’s helping out if they’re able to, I’m just highlighting that they’re in no way struggling financially).

It just makes me so cross as I know a disabled person who’s benefits were stopped as they were deemed not disabled enough and had a horrendous ordeal trying to get them back. I think it’s so wrong that they’re taking money they’re not entitled to and don’t need when so many people are struggling. However, I’m also aware that it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what millionaires and billionaires get away with hence why I’m conflicted as to whether I should report it or not.

YABU - keep your nose out, people get away with much worse

YANBU - it’s wrong and you should report it

Funny how the benefit cheats always brag about it.

Report them, the cost of the welfare state is unsustainable and when harsh cutbacks start having to be made, it will be those least deserving of the financial pain that suffer. The UK spent 23 billion pounds last year alone just on supporting housing costs. The "official fraud figures" are meaningless before someone trots that bs out

Hopefully their benefits will be stopped and they’ll have to pay it back.
You may not care where your taxes go, but I certainly do!

Send an anonymous letter to say if they won't stop you will report them.

If I was committing benefit fraud, I'd keep it quiet not tell some nosy 'friend' all my business.

Give them.an opportunity to stop themselves.

Anyone who tells you to ignore benefit fraud has a reason to do it. I don't commit benefit fraud so I find it so bloody annoying that all my taxes increase to support people who take advantage of our shit system Nonsense, I have no reason whatsoever apart from I think the kind of people who do sneaky stuff like this and smile at those same people in the street are the worst kind of people. It's always the kids who suffer in the end. Snitching on someone when it's none of your business and doesn't involve any kind of abuse is always done by a certain type of person. Unless you have lived a faultless life, keep your nose out of other people's affairs.

They brag about money in general and are quite open about him not being registered at their address but carry on wilfully misinterpreting my posts @Paperlate.

Write them an anonymous letter and detail your suspicions.

Say unless they stop the fraud u will report them.
Give them a chance to correct it.

I have a distant family member who is committing benefit fraud pretending she lives alone as a single mum and not with her partner.
I absolutely despise the partner and was so pissed off at him and his sneering and looking down on me that one day I actually wrote an anonymous letter to HMRC -although I can't bring myself to post it and it resides in my bedside drawer.😕

This woman is very stupid to talk about making fraudulent claims and if it's been going on for several years she could be imprisoned if she can't repay the amount she's claimed. What would stop me reporting it would be that fact there's a child involved who would suffer if their mother was imprisoned.

Nope. I'd do it because I feel strongly about it. I'm not the worst. I'm most definitely above stealing money.

On the plus side me being a bitch won't cost you a penny in tax. You're either a total wimp with zero morals or you're leeching off the system yourself. 🤔

How do you know he’s not financially abusing her? Maybe she’s not allowed any of ‘his’ money. Maybe he’s making her do it. Maybe he’s one of these ‘what’s yours is mine, what’s mine is mine’ men who contribute nothing. It’s a very odd setup for him to be registered at another address so it’s not outside the realms of possibility. It would also explain why the parents are buying stuff.

I think there’s probably something else going on here and you should stay out of it.

Yeah none of this is happening at all.

I hadn’t even considered that @bellabasset. Would it be likely they’d be sent to prison for benefit fraud??

Yeah none of this is happening at all.

Yeah you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors though, do you?

Mumsnet is a weird place . I while back a poster was flamed for not paying 20p for a carrier bag because the rest of us pick up the bill . Last week there were numerous posters talking about tax payers footing the bill
for the Coronation, but now there are
so many people saying turn a blind eye to a selfish person abusing the system and living off tax payers money while those in genuine need are going without .

Or a lesson in not committing benefit fraud

I don't understand people who chat about the crimes they're committing. If I was committing fraud you bet your arse I'd keep my gob firmly shut about it!

Nope. I'd do it because I feel strongly about it. I'm not the worst. I'm most definitely above stealing money. On the plus side me being a bitch won't cost you a penny in tax. You're either a total wimp with zero morals or you're leeching off the system yourself Ah, I see, you think it's your perfect moral compass that would bring you to do this? And people who disagree with you are either wimps with no morals, or leeching off the system? Gosh, aren't you arrogant to think that because you would be salivating with excitement to snitch on people and stick your nose in their affairs that that makes you better than others. I can't say the word on here what it makes you, as my post would be deleted, but I'm sure you can use your imagination. I seriously hope you haven't done anything morally questionable or committed any kind of crime (speeding etc) in your life, as that would make you a hypocrite too. My thoughts would be with the kids involved and the potential fall-out for them, which can sometimes be devastating in these cases. I'm certainly not going to be party to destroying a child's life as their parents end up in massive financial trouble or even with a criminal record. No thank you. I'm quite happy with having that moral compass. If it was abuse or something like that it would be a different story.

Report. It's theft and fraud.

No one seems very keen to say that they'd tell someone to their face that they were going to report them, do they?

Yes she would as the claimant, depending on how long it’s been going on and what they can prove.

If he is maintaining a property of his own/paying bills there and they have separate finances, then it’s not fraud, as you can stay over in partner’s house several nights a week.

There may be other reasons they are doing this - if the mum and/or the child have disability (hidden) then it wouldn’t work for them all to live together - she’d be utterly ruined financially. That could explain why the parents are helping out so much too.

I'm actually very social minded but as long as I was100% sure of the circumstances I would report all these absolute pisstakers. They actually deprive very genuine people needing help of much needed funds and are a total leech on the economy.

I hadn’t even considered that @bellabasset. Would it be likely they’d be sent to prison for benefit fraud?? They, no, the mother would be the one to receive a custodial sentence as she is the recipient. Any penalty would be for her and her alone. The partner would get off completely as the claim is in her name. This is what people don't think about, the potential fall-out for the children, but if you could live with it, then go ahead and report her.

I'd never report someone in case I get found out. I think if she's bragging then someone is bound to get jealous or annoyed and report them soon enough and they will have it all to pay back. I've heard that the benefit office can check up on Facebook and that as well now and are cracking down on all the people committed benefit fraud.

Also are you 100% sure that they don't get help from universal credit? As most people who are claiming that work but are on low wages.